Price Increase Actinic Payments.

[mje]

There has been a 20% increase for the annual Actinic Payments licence according to an invoice received today.

There is no explanation as to why such a steep increase, no discussion or consultation from Actinic and the page below is live on the Actinic webs site clearly says £100.00 plus VAT not £120 plus VAT.

http://www.actinic.co.uk/ecommerce-s...d-pricing.html

It is completely wrong to advertise one price but charge 20% more.

[leehack]

Is the setup cost an annual one perhaps, rather than a one off? Any mention of that on there?

[mje]

I have just checked the historical invoicing Lee, and the "set-up" fee has only ever been charged once, when the account was well "set up".....

[cbarling]

Apologies, you are quite right, the latest price isn’t up on the web site. That’s corrected now. It was due to a breakdown in internal communications (someone was asked to change it and they forgot, and a check wasn't made).

The increase was however stated in the email sent two weeks in advance of the contract being renewed and money being deducted.

I know a 20% increase seems like a lot, but please bear in mind the following:
- We have never increased any Actinic Payments prices before, over several years
- We continue to innovate with Actinic Payments, for instance when we added The 3rd Man there was no increase, but Actinic has itself had our prices increased
- The price of £100 was the lowest available in the UK market for this type of service. Even after the increase we are still, I believe, the equal lowest price in the UK market while offering a considerably better service and much better features

I understand that all price rises are unpopular. I just hope that an explanation eases the pain a bit.

Chris

[mje]

With respect, there is no mention, nor explanation in the email, nor do we have a separate email to that effect.

If we did Chris, I would not of posted.

[Neil Bayton]

Hey Mark,

I have looked at your account and cannot find a recent invoice for your Actinic Payments contract. I did take note that your contract does not expire until the 24th March 2012, could it be that you just received the order and renewal notice?

Id would be happy to investigate in more depth if you could please e-mail me the invoice to nbayton@actinic.co.uk.

As Chris said price increases are never popular, the decision to increase this servce was not taken lightly.

Im happy for you to call me as well, im available on 01932358348.

Rgds
Neil Bayton
Actinic Desktop Sales

[mje]

Neil. When was the price increased and why is it only the Actinic 100 package that has an increase ?

[Neil Bayton]

Hi,

The price was increased March 1st 2012.

With all of Actinic's products and services we constantly try to maintain value for money for our customers as well as still being competitive in the market place. After contemplating this for a number of months we felt that £120 per year for a PSP with the functionality and features of Actinic Payments was both value for money and competitive.

Neil

[mje]

The product is a good one,part of the Actinic family, that is not the issue. "We" consider ourselves loyal customers of Actinic - Business version since V6 with support contract last couple of years, EPOS full system, Payments and Feefo and are not about to change anything for £20, but the whole thing has irritated me to the point of feeling that as a loyal customer Actinic will push it as far as they can, be that right or wrong, it is the way I feel.

"Advertising" the wrong price for 12 days is at best "naughty"

Increasing the price 20% in one go is something that no business other than this service sector or possibly insurance can impose on clients and get away with.

Increasing the price to remain "competitive" of just one price plan, having stated that costs across the entire sector have increased, I find all but impossible to understand......most of us cut margins to achieve comparison with our competitors, not increase prices to match them.

It may only be 38p a week, but it is 20%

[cbarling]

Mark, the failure to put the right price on the web site was cock-up not conspiracy. I'm afraid that these things happen from time to time. There's not much we can do about that in retrospect except to try to make sure it doesn't happen again.

In terms of Actinic Payments generally, yes our underlying costs have gone up significantly, and yes the lowest package is the only one increased at this time. I guess that's because it was the one that in comparison with the market was particularly cheap / particularly good value according to which way you look at it.

I hear all of your other points. We certainly don't want anyone to feel they are being treated badly, so I'm very sorry that you feel that way. I can assure you that we will bear all of this in mind in the future.

Chris