RoboForm software purchase help please ??

highroyds

Hi,

I was wondering if someone can give me any advice or help.

I purchased a program for the computer called RoboForm that saves all your passwords for all the web sites you visit. Now when I purchased this I also purchased the same program but for the USB stick and a backup on CD, all back in 2008 for £48.

When I purchased this they were advertising "guaranteed lifetime upgrades" so that when ever a new version came out I could upgrade for free, which I've been enjoying since I made the purchase.

But now they've just upgraded to the latest version 7 and stated that version 6 (which I have) will in the future no longer be supported and if I wish to continue to receiving support I need to pay for each one I purchased which will be a total of £25 or subscription @ £6.38 1st year and £12.81 every year after, plus that the Lifetime upgrades has now been withdrawn.

I was not informed by any means that they were changing anything. I have sent them a message about this and they've told me:

"Sincerest apologies, we were waiting to announce it until we had the upgrade system worked out. We will take that suggestion into account for future versions."

I was just wanting to know where I stand on this issue as when I purchased the software I was promised and had been guaranteed lifetime of upgrades for free like thousands of others who bought this software. Is there anything I can do about this ??

Cheers

The_Pedant

It's probably best not to hold your breath on this one.
Being an american company, you'd have an uphill battle trying to get them to honour the original terms.

One of the first questions I would have is what terms & conditions were originally agreed to?
Is there anything in the terms that allows them to withdraw that option?
What did the 'free updates' cover? Without any further info then they might simply claim that it was simply updates for that version etc.

That aside, unless you can get hold of a large enough group of people who have the same claim then it's going to pretty much be a non starter getting anywhere I think.

highroyds

The_Pedant wrote: »

It's probably best not to hold your breath on this one.
Being an american company, you'd have an uphill battle trying to get them to honour the original terms.

One of the first questions I would have is what terms & conditions were originally agreed to?
Is there anything in the terms that allows them to withdraw that option?
What did the 'free updates' cover? Without any further info then they might simply claim that it was simply updates for that version etc.

That aside, unless you can get hold of a large enough group of people who have the same claim then it's going to pretty much be a non starter getting anywhere I think.

They didn't have any terms or conditions as such as far as I know, but their web site and support kept on informing their users that the free updates / upgrades were for life. This means that when ever they brought out a newer and better version of the software you could upgrade the software for free. As of December of last year they deleted the information from their web site and any references of the free upgrades for life were totally removed.

As stated on wikipedia:

In December 2010, Siber Systems announced a change in their longstanding license model of guaranteed lifetime upgrades, and purged from their website all mention of their previously-published free upgrades policy. This policy applied to all users who since 2004 had purchased Roboform software for their PC, USB stick, and other devices, as well as Siber Systems GoodSync file synchronization program (used to sync Roboform between devices).

There are quite a few of their customers who are all complaining about this removal of the free upgrades for life and being told by the company that they will need to pay for the upgrades of the software even though when we all purchased the software one of the main parts that everyone agree's on is that the free upgrades were for life was the main selling point. Taken from their old web site:

Why Buy RoboForm Pro?
Free Upgrades.
Fast and Efficient Support.
Instant Delivery. Activate RoboForm Pro in 5 seconds.

One customer even had an email from them informing them that the free upgrades for lifetime was just that, when ever a better version came out they would just need to activate the program again and they wouldn't have to pay.

Lottie-B

I've not used Roboform but if I had, and paid for a program thinking I would get updates for life, I'd be very cross and wouldn't want to use it again!

Here's a free program for storing passwords:

http://keepass.info/

At first glance it appears to use at least the same type of encryption as Roboform (AES) and uses Twofish.

pmduk

I've always found Lastpass to be better than roboform. The basic version is free, far more money-saving!

highroyds

pmduk wrote: »

I've always found Lastpass to be better than roboform. The basic version is free, far more money-saving!

I had a look at lastpass today and did install it until I noticed that your passwords are not only kept o your pc, but they are automactically stored on a remote server too - sorry but I didn't do that with roboform and not going to start now.

I was told that no one can access your passwords without the master password, but no one can say that no ones going to gain access when they are the ones who know how the program works and knows all the coding.

Freddie_Snowbits

Ah, the days of yaw and IE3, banking and stored passwords! Wonderous in the late 20th century, today all my passwords are the same!

The_Pedant

I use KeePass myself too. I was impressed by all the layers of encryption used & find it nice & lightweight to use.