Home Forums Discussions General Discussion Credit card renewal......

Let me again clarify our misguided credit card policy and address some of the concerns voiced here.

Our policy was intended to provide existing clients who used a credit card to be re-billed at whatever price they paid, for as long as their card automatically went through. Since it meant no time or employee expense on our part to handle the transaction, we thought we could do this as a courtesy and a means to allow our existing customers to receive a special benefit for being loyal customers. (Since simply having the card automatically bill is a lot less onerous and expensive than invoicing and following up to ensure payments are made.) Once the client?s card expired, however, they would have to pay our current price, as all new and most recurring customers do. We felt this was fair for Amazing Charts, in that we would eventually be paid the money we require to remain in business, but also provide some benefit and ?thanks? to the clients that trusted us and signed on when our prices were lower.

Of course, we soon heard about clients who reported their card was stolen, or their staff member used the wrong card when originally signing up a year or two earlier, or that their card was lost, or their card number changed by the credit card company, or many other issues that happen to all of us at some point in time. We decided that rather than be a judge who decided that one client?s reported experience warranted an exception and another client did not, our policy would be simple, straightforward, and without exception. If a card previously used re-bills automatically, we won?t stop it, or the services it was paying for. If a card is/needs to be changed, then our price is our current price.

All of this was done trying to be fair to clients that have supported us in the past, while being fair to our company to allow the required revenue to continue advancing the software and providing excellent support and other services.

I saw this as an being exemplary of our Kind Capitalism concept of being fair and reasonable, and treating our users as we would like to be treated ourselves (the basis of Kind Capitalism).

Of course, I now see all too clearly (and frequently), that there was an obvious flaw in my perspective. That being: I see Amazing Charts clients as a single group that I?m trying to do right by.

Unfortunately, Amazing Charts clients are not a single group. Rather it is 5000+ practices each individually owned. And frankly, most of these practices really don?t care ? and in fact are likely more frustrated knowing ? that some other practices are getting an extra year or two at a lesser price.

And now your credit card get stolen and not only do you have to deal with all that nonsense ? but the cost of your EHR just doubled from $500/year to $995/year per provider. That?s worse than unfair, that is kicking somebody when they?re down.
And that?s the mess a Kind Capitalism policy can cause when not adequately thought out.

So we figured if we provide plenty of notice of our upcoming price increase (e.g., 3 months), AND we provided the means for people to pre-purchase 2 years at our old price, it would be better. We sent out newsletters and emails to all our customers as we wanted to be sure everybody had the chance to buy 2 full years of support, upgrades, ePrescribing, etc., at our then-current price.

We even put off the price increase by another month ? ?til December 1, 2010 - when we heard from a few clients they hadn?t received our newsletter or email, so we could put the price increase announcement in the Amazing Charts program to be sure that everybody actively using Amazing Charts would see it when they first logged on (announcements come up in the lower right corner of the main Amazing Charts Desktop window when the program is started).

Anyway, that is the history of our price policy. There is nothing sinister about it ? the goal was to be fair to clients and ourselves.

But nobody wants to pay more, especially if they feel they are penalized through no fault of their own. So again, this is just policy that really doesn't work and I feel that the simplest approach now is that when our price goes up, it goes up for all, without exception, new customer or old, paying by credit card or not.

Like the EULA discussion, I?m certainly open to discuss an approach that doesn't have these flaws. An approach that recognizes our most valuable asset, our existing clients, while generating the revenue we need to move forward ? especially in this rapidly evolving Health IT industry. Any ideas?

Jon

Thank you for the explanation of the fee increase.I understand that costs increase. But I am upset about the way it was communicated to me. My e-scribing system quit working and it was only after 2 weeks of leaving messages that someone finally told us why. We were told that an email was sent but I have no record of any emails from AC.I renewed it at the increased cost and it is now working.

As I have felt all along, this is the simplest and fairest and least complicated of doing this. One price fits all.

I feel very fortunate that AC notified us all that the price was headed up. ! was able to renew our practice for 2 years last September. Best deal I have received from a software company in a long while.

Jon, Bert and the Gang on this thread

My problem with the notification was also that I only found out e-prescribe simply stopped working. I do not recall getting a price increase email, but would have assumed that my renewal would still be at the $500 and not apply. My error if that was the case.

When your credit card is stolen, you are not only faced with replacing it, you have to figure out which of your many automated payments come from it. Mine include my internet service provider and a variety of online subscriptions. I try to catch these when one of my cards disappears, but since these may come off one card, but not another it is easy to miss one of the automated withdrawls and that is what happened.

What I am complaining about is not being notified about the failure of the credit card to go through and not being given the chance to correct it before my price doubled. Of course I think support is worth it and would want the upgrades and would have certainly renewed at my prior price, but finding out the first time I sent a script was not just a bad way to be notified, and to further find the price had doubled since my card was refused, seriously interfered with my Zen-like calm mental health.

So still conflicted, I am going to hold off on the renewal and upgrades for a spell until I evaluate the utility of these (and probably until the price goes up even further). I am not vindictive about this, just feel a little jilted.

I totally understand your feelings and would no doubt feel the same way. The cold reality for us was that our price had to increase to support our continuing existence and growth. When we realized we were going to raise our prices, we tried to figure out how to do it in the most reasonable way and decided the annual maintenance price that provides all users our current features, enhancement, bug fixes, certifications, access to ePrescribing, etc., should be the same for all clients wishing to have the most up-to-date version and features.

Otherwise, $500 for older clients and $1500 for newer clients would have to be charged to have the same effect. That seemed unfair given that existing clients should also be paying their fair share of our current expenses (when our expenses were less, so too was our price, and our feature set).

We also combined our old $500 for maintenance plus the $420 we used to charge extra for ePrescribing (prior to V5) into the one $995/year payment.

Finally, we anticipate no further price increases through 2012, and hopefully 2013 as well - at least that is one of our primary goals.

drjj,

I see your point. My suggestion to you would be not to talk about your situation on the board (although I certainly understand the catharsis of venting), but to email Jon directly. I have always found him to be very fair in these situations and, unlike most presidents of companies, he will likely get back to you.

I agree with Bert's approach. I certainly understand the necessity for charges to pay for costs. I would feel better if I knew ahead of time when and why my costs would go up. I also have another issue. There is another provider who only works 1-2 days per week in this office. I would also like to add an on call provider to the clinic. It does not seem right that these part time providers should cost the clinic full price. My clinic is a non profit and it is hard to explain these increases to the board.
Kerry