I've been speaking out about this, and they're my first posts in months.  Here - and in other forums - those of us scratching our heads and asking for answers are being portrayed as helpless whiners.  Well, helpless I'm not.  I head a fairly thriving little music production company, which my wife and I have nurtured and built over the years.  We're active in our local business community, and we work with a committed, talented group of composers, sound designers and the like.  When it comes to certain costs (capital expenditures, as my accountant calls them), we have to balance MANY needs.  We also provide health insurance to our team (paying 100%).  Costs are skyrocketing, and their health and well-being is more important than owning the latest and greatest sample library.

So, would I have LOVED to have been able to upgrade to VI already?  Yes!   But other priorites have interceded.  To set those priorities, we used information we trusted.  Had we known that VSL would rescind the very offer that played a part in my decision to invest in their product; had we known that at some future date the upgrade price would effectively double, we might have placed the upgrade higher on the priority list.  I remember my wife saying specifically, "The health insurance is going up again and we had some unexpected repair costs.  What can we cut from our spending plan?"  I answered, "Well, as much as it pains me - the VSL upgrade is over $5,000.00, so we can wait a while longer.  The upgrade price will still be there."

See where I'm going with this?  If I offered my best clients a free session for spending a certain amount of money with us, never mentioning a deadline, then arbitrarily told them that they only have 3 months to use it - or they'll lose it - I would EXPECT them to be upset!  If they ask why I'm suddenly putting a cutoff on the offer, they have every right to EXPECT a good answer, and I'd feel a responsibility to give them one.

That's the thing about the free enterprise system - there's no law that says you can't make a bad decision.  Heaven knows I've made MY share.  And that's all I'm saying.  My opinion as a customer, and as a businessperson, is that VSL has made a bad decision here.

So, am I whining?  Call it what you will.  VSL doesn't owe me anything.  And I don't have the time or inclination to pursue the matter further.  I'll either be able to afford the upgrade during the (now) 6 month period or I won't.  With the enormous expense of building a new studio looming, the timing's pretty lousy - but that's not VSL's problem, or their fault.  I'll deal with it.  

I just hate to see a company I admire so much make such a misstep.  It's left a bad taste in my mouth, and - for the first time - has me listening to demos from the other guys.  

Thanks for indulging my lengthy post.

Fred Story 

@Fred Story said:

We also provide health insurance to our team (paying 100%).  I remember my wife saying specifically, "The health insurance is going up again and we had some unexpected repair costs.  What can we cut from our spending plan?" Fred Story 

@Errikos said:

Come on people! We do not need to explain ourselves, we have done nothing wrong, and we are not asking for discounts! We are asking what we are due; and if there is anyone that has to explain himself, that is not us.

Perfectly summarised!

@PaulR said:

None of you will get any sympathy from me - I happen to disagree with most people and if that rocks your boats - then tough sh!t.

Noone asked for your sympathy - but noone asked for your opinion either. You seem to be a very irritable, immature little whiner, who just can't help picking fights for the sake of it, doesn't think things through, and can't see different angles to a problem. Most of us are here to ask VSL some questions - since you're not them nobody actually has any interest in your views.

Bottom line is their actions are quite simply wrong, and we'd like to know why. No amount of jumping up and down and saying that other people do it is going to make their actions right.

@Fred Story said:

No, Paul. I haven't complained to my health insurance company. But then, they didn't tell me my premiums wouldn't go up - then raise them anyway...in which case I would have raised hell. (But we did switch to another provider who offered premiums we could better afford.) My point (poorly made apparently) was about keeping your word. Nothing else. I didn't ask for, nor do I want, your sympathy.

@PaulR said:

None of you will get any sympathy from me - I happen to disagree with most people and if that rocks your boats - then tough sh!t.

Noone asked for your sympathy - but noone asked for your opinion either. You seem to be a very irritable, immature little whiner, who just can't help picking fights for the sake of it, doesn't think things through, and can't see different angles to a problem. Most of us are here to ask VSL some questions - since you're not them nobody actually has any interest in your views.

Bottom line is their actions are quite simply wrong, and we'd like to know why. No amount of jumping up and down and saying that other people do it is going to make their actions right.

@Pingu said:

Bottom line is their actions are quite simply wrong, and we'd like to know why. No amount of jumping up and down and saying that other people do it is going to make their actions right.

@PaulR said:

I'm sorry, but call me old-fashioned - I don't understand how some of the people on this thread know how to walk and breath at the same time - I mean - HOW do some of you ACTUALLY live? Huh? How do you manage to pay your bills. Beats me. . . . .

Have you complained to the health insurance company about their rising prices? Have you gone onto their forum website and told them it's left a bad taste in your mouth? If not - why not?

None of you will get any sympathy from me - I happen to disagree with most people and if that rocks your boats - then tough sh!t.

Paul:

It appears that, from your point of view, making promises and then breaking them without explanation is a good business model. I'd guess that most in the bvusiness world would strongly disagree.  There was no fine print in VSL's advertising of the VIP program stating that it could be withdrawn at any time, rather what was emphasized that you were making a "lifetime investment" because purchase included the VIP program.

In every form of relationship, whether business or personal, making and then breaking promises without an adequate explanation

elicits distrust and anger - - and lawsuits. Moreover, one might construe VSL's original advertising to have the force of an implied contract. I might also say that your implication that those who hold views contrary to yours on this subject are out of touch with the way things are done in the real world is, among other things, inapt. Indeed, in the real world, were a similar situation to occur between two large corporations - - where one perceived the other as breaching an implied contract - - there might already be armies of attorneys beginning litigation over the issue.

Your comparison of the current situation with VSL and rising health insurance costs is an apples to oranges comparison. The general question of the cost of health insurance can only be addressed - - and it will be - - politically since it affects every member of society in countless ways. However, even in this instance, there is a question of contractual obligation between the insurer and insured. In a recent case, for example, an insurance company, Healthnet, cut off payments for the chemotherapy of a woman being treated for cancer. Contrary to the insurance company's expectations, the woman survived - - because her doctors refused to stop the treatments. She won a nine million dollar settlement from the insurance company. 

I have the greatest respect for the folks at VSL, their products and their commitment to excellence - - but that does not mean that I (or anyone else) should stay silent when I (or they) think VSL is doing something likely to be self-defeating in the long run.  Again, VSL's policy change does not affect me personally, so I really have no need of your sympathy. 

@DG said:

Pingu, when you post on a public forum, you make the discussion public. You have no right only to solicit opinions that agree with your own.

Absolutely, which is why I'm entitled to respond to you in the same abbrasive manner that you employ in all of your posts. Dismissing your opinion seems to have rattled you rather quickly.

Now things are getting out of hand. Why let this PaulR guy drag this thread anymore of topic? He is not contributing at all, neither way, to what we are trying to say. I, for one (naively enough)  is trying to reach the VSL company, although the attempt problably won't do much good.

There have been quite a few responses to this thread, but I can't see to many asking for PaulR opinion in any of the relevant questions, but he has nevertheless been quite eager to state his mind. Which ofcourse is fine as this is an open forum. But when you, PaulR, start handing out insults it has gotten to a level which does not belong here at all.
 
Disappointingly enough (or should I say, "as expectet") it seems like VSL will block out the opinions of their customers, and just let this whole thing blow over.

@DG said:

Pingu, when you post on a public forum, you make the discussion public. You have no right only to solicit opinions that agree with your own.

Absolutely, which is why I'm entitled to respond to you in the same abbrasive manner that you employ in all of your posts. Dismissing your opinion seems to have rattled you rather quickly.

Have you read all my posts? I highly doubt it. [:O]

You think you "rattled me"? I highly doubt it. [:D]

DG

@tommalm said:

But when you, PaulR, start handing out insults it has gotten to a level which does not belong here at all.
 

@PaulR said:

[quote=Pingu]Bottom line is their actions are quite simply wrong, and we'd like to know why. No amount of jumping up and down and saying that other people do it is going to make their actions right.

Don't be so stupid. Right and wrong is not a matter of opinion. You are confusing them with legal and illegal; I have no doubt at all that there is no legal recourse against VSL's actions, particularly in the international market they operate in. But their actions are still wrong. Unless you believe dishonesty was declared to be ok at some point.

@PaulR said:

[quote=Pingu]Bottom line is their actions are quite simply wrong, and we'd like to know why. No amount of jumping up and down and saying that other people do it is going to make their actions right.

Don't be so stupid. Right and wrong is not a matter of opinion. You are confusing them with legal and illegal; I have no doubt at all that there is no legal recourse against VSL's actions, particularly in the international market they operate in. But their actions are still wrong. Unless you believe dishonesty was declared to be ok at some point.

@Pingu said:

Sorry DG, completely used the wrong quote - I meant to grab a part of PaulR's post, and got distracted, then wrote a response to what was in my window, without spotting your name at the top.