Google is definitely a trusted source, however, they're a monster in size and that sometimes leads to the inability to contact them should something come up.
I had a pretty severe Gmail problem once and I remember trying to contact someone or report the issue, a nearly impossible task. All I found were static help documents. Of course, that was ~4 years ago. And their support for Google Checkout may be handled entirely different from that of Gmail, but it's still something to consider.
Then again, I got burned by the Chargify pricing hike recently, so I can't really advocate to go with the smaller "Chargify-ish" companies, either.
Yes, exactly. I thought the same thing. "Finally, there's someone out there who understands the needs of a bootstrapping, young business". But apparently it was a scam. If it's too good to be true, it probably is.
There's no way Chargify would have the customer base they have now having launched with these pricing plans from day one. With the several other options out there, someone starting out with nothing would NOT choose to pay $100/month right off the bat, without even considering hosting costs and merchant/gateway costs, knowing there are other options out there for $19/month. I'm happy for them that their "too good to be true" pricing sucked in some customers, but it sure does suck for us.
The attitude that "there will always be cheaper options out there, but we won't be one of them" is a far cry from how it was early on. It used to be "we understand, and offer the best pricing around". It was so relaxing to know that $50/month would get you up to 500 customers, with 49 of them being at no charge (even 10-15 at no charge would be great). Coming from that, no, $39/month for as little as 1 customer does not feel like a good deal, unfortunately. Downgraded from $100, maybe, upgraded from $0, no.
I'm truly shocked the old prices aren't going to be grandfathered in.
I think I'm going to bite the bullet and (re-)integrate with someone else. Ugh.
I was blown away by the newsletter earlier today. It felt like I got punched in the stomach by Rocky Balboa himself.
In the beginning I considered the same billing service providers that I'm sure every other Chargify customer has considered (Spreedly, Cheddargetter, Recurly, etc). The main differentiator was your pricing model. It was the fact that I could launch my product and see if I could get to those first 50 customers before I had to pay you. You made it almost a no-brainer because of your pricing, it was perfect for people like me just starting out. It was inspiring that you were putting trust and hope in your customers. 10 months later, I'm completely integrated with Chargify, have an app in the wild with real users, and boom... All of a sudden Spreedly, Cheddargetter, Recurly, etc are looking a lot better.
Aside from the massive price increase, I (like many of your beta users) spent a year testing out your application and giving you a lot of feedback to improve your product. I have also responded to several of the "[name] is looking at Chargify, can anyone help us out?" tweets and have said nothing but great things about Chargify since day one. I have helped several of your customers via email, support forums, blogs, and twitter with integration issues, and more-or-less evangelized your product. And I'm happy to do that for great services, and I'm guessing I wasn't the only one. But this was all under the impression that what I signed up for was what I was, well, signing up for.
Receiving that newsletter made me feel like I was (we all were) being used to help establish Chargify as a viable option, only to get shit on in the end... and that sucks. It's a horrible feeling.
I understand your needs for a price increase and that you can't support freemium at a massive scale, but to be honest, even $39/month is $39 more than what I signed up for considering the first 50 customers were free. I never have needed (and probably never will need) to call you on the phone, so I'd be happy to be on a plan where 24/7 phone support isn't an option.
It seems like your early beta testers and customers, who shouted to the world how great Chargify was, should if nothing else at least be given exactly what they signed up for. Now I'm just getting started, so I don't know the ins and outs of business, but that seems like an obvious play to me.
Unfortunately, there's now a big lack of trust in Chargify... what will happen to its customers in 2 or 3 years from now when we're even more locked in? After this move, that's a little scary, and potential grounds for departure.
I had a pretty severe Gmail problem once and I remember trying to contact someone or report the issue, a nearly impossible task. All I found were static help documents. Of course, that was ~4 years ago. And their support for Google Checkout may be handled entirely different from that of Gmail, but it's still something to consider.
Then again, I got burned by the Chargify pricing hike recently, so I can't really advocate to go with the smaller "Chargify-ish" companies, either.