This is exactly why I’m skeptical of “lifetime” deals - they rarely last. I’ve been using vpn unlimited devices on multiple devices (iPhone, iPad, Mac) with their unlimited device support, and honestly it’s been mostly positive. Setup across devices was straightforward, speeds are decent for streaming, and the multi-device feature actually works well for my family. Had occasional connection hiccups and support took a day to respond once, but overall it’s reliable and good value. Much better than risking a “lifetime” subscription getting canceled.
A VPN Company Canceled All Lifetime Subscriptions, Claiming It Didn’t Know About Them
Submitted 10 months ago by youradhere@feddit.org to technology@lemmy.world
Comments
donnaharris@lemmy.world 3 months ago
glitchdx@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Considering how many companies are forcing into their TOSs forced arbitration and waving the right to class action lawsuit, of course this kind of shit was going to happen.
hamFoilHat@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Glad people care this time, pure VPN did exactly the same thing except without the buyout. 5 years into a lifetime plan they said, “sorry, your account is closed”. They were offering 5 year plans for less when I got the lifetime one. They didn’t care and told me to complain to slashDot because that’s where I bought it.
schwim@lemm.ee 10 months ago
Pure did the same to me. They’d rather lose lifetime subs and save the traffic than foster customer loyalty. They didn’t expect any of us to pay for a recurring subscription after doing what they did.
Cocopanda@futurology.today 10 months ago
My ex cyber security firm did this recently. They gave out forever licenses. But slowly changed things that if you didn’t set up an email with your license. You couldn’t renew it. So once you replaced a device your lifetime membership was gone. They recently completely removed the code input for licensing. So I am no longer able to use my lifetime license I got from working there. Pretty scummy stuff. But the CEO is a drunk. So what do you expect? He fucked up the attempted IPO and did a share replacement strategy instead. Which is probably killing the company.
JackbyDev@programming.dev 10 months ago
How do you not know? Do your due diligence lol.
por_que_pine@lemm.ee 10 months ago
nope, nope, nope! buy a business, own it’s debt and contracts. CLASS ACTION SUIT!
LordCrom@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Unless the TOS included the common language that the company can change the TOS whenever they want.
por_que_pine@lemm.ee 10 months ago
True but they could shorten it up if they used Eric Cartman’s phrasing, “What-eva, I do what I want!”
K1nsey6@lemmy.world 10 months ago
I’m still salty about Cerberus’ ‘lifetime’ subscription
lka1988@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 months ago
Same here. I made them refund me. It was a small amount, but I was pissed enough that I wanted them to work for it.
zzx@lemmy.world 10 months ago
OKAY OMG TRUE I’M SO MAD ABOUT IT. I’M PRETTY SURE I GOT IT FOR FREE ON REDDIT SOMEHOW, I USED IT FOR YEARS AND THEN THEY AXED ME
xta@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Me TOO!! i sent emails to support, posted on a google forums thread, years ago, eventually the thread got deleted, reach out to google support, they told me to take it with them, they never ever replied. so since then i never purchased a “lifetime” of anything
fuck them.
the app was very good though, and while typing this i got myself worked out and realized im still livid
moktor@lemmy.world 10 months ago
I had forgotten about that. Now I’m angry again.
Critical_Thinker@lemm.ee 10 months ago
[deleted]Obelix@feddit.org 10 months ago
Lifetime memberships are kind of a trap, for users and a company. The company gets revenue once and then never again. That is great now, but won’t pay your bills in 2027 or 2032. And the company knows that there are users who are willing to pay a huge amount of money for the service and who are using it. Of course the upper ranks will try to find a way to get money from them.
pulaskiwasright@lemmy.ml 10 months ago
What happened to plex’s lifetime sub?
Evotech@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Nothing
Critical_Thinker@lemm.ee 10 months ago
It’s not that it’s gone, it’s that the platform continues to enshittify.
It’s really hard to remove all their bloatware garbage, and features seem to get worse all the time. Subtitles had a big change and they really don’t do a good job of supporting them anymore, as an example. Had one show that no matter what I did the subtitles just wouldn’t work, after updating to a modern version that had the modern ‘updated’ subtitle handling.
When I got it they never had ‘ad supported plex tv’, now they do and they promote it everywhere. All I want to do is keep supporting what they have, newer modern codecs, squash bugs, and act as a crappy dynamic dns so I can not setup a domain that goes to my home network connection which is a dynamic ip.
What I don’t want is to have to go into settings to disable or hide all their garbage ad revenue supported services everywhere in my private media library I paid a lifetime license fee for. It didn’t have that advertisement when I bought it, they shouldn’t be adding it afterwards, and I shouldn’t have to keep updating my config just to stay on a version that supports evolving hardware.
I tried Jellyfin but it’s even worse for subtitles which are unfortunately mandatory in my household.
ripcord@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Still there
topherclay@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Hell yeah, diablo with guns.
Critical_Thinker@lemm.ee 10 months ago
Yep, two years before Borderlands delivered a much superior experience.
At the time I had spent six years playing EverQuest, Ultima Online, Anarchy Online and World of Warcraft in various capacities, and this was looking like an MMO borderlands like thing. Few MMOs had gone under so soon after release.
Apparently the same devs are making a sequel, and I think i’ll make sure to pirate it unless they give it away to lifetime Hellgate London subscribers.
Nowadays I know better than to trust any kind of weird offer like this announced before launch. They’d only do it if they knew they were going to win… or were so worried they were going to go under.
w3dd1e@lemm.ee 10 months ago
It’s BS they didn’t know about it. They got the financials before the deal. Even if it wasn’t directly listed as a line item it would have been a part of the expenses.
They still thought the deal was worth doing as it was based on incoming revenue and outgoing expenses.
Bamboodpanda@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Why would anyone be stupid enough to not honor them? Now, even if they backtrack, their name is mud. It’s so stupid.
orcrist@lemm.ee 10 months ago
I think a company like this is not planning to linger for years. The owners wanna make a buck for a year or two and then sell it off. If they can stiff their customers in the process, they just don’t care.
For long-lasting companies the motivation would be different. But this is not a world-famous VPN company, not by a long shot.
neclimdul@lemmy.world 10 months ago
I mean it seems to happen pretty often. The Curiosity Nebula mess, Crunchyroll had a $10 for the lifetime of your account thing but when Sony bought them they started messing with it. Even Google tried it with Google App domains free tier which they promised for life. I think everyone said fu to the buyout and just waited for the class action until Google blinked at the last minute.
I assume Plex will find a way to start charging lifetime purchasers any day now.
At this point I look for them just to see what sort of train wreck it’ll turn into.
__dev@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Lifetime services/updates are always a scam. The economics of this are really simple: Nebula is $30 per year or $300 lifetime. That lifetime membership covers only 10 years of subscription. So what’s the plan after that? There’s only really three outcomes:
- They stop providing you service
- They go bankrupt trying to provide you service
- They grow and stay big enough to be able to subsidize your service for your lifetime. I can’t overstate how unlikely this is.
Buying a lifetime membership you’re gambling that Nebula will grow big enough that other people’s subscription will pay for your service. Your membership is a liability for them.
It’s also bad from the other end. Lots of small software devs will sell lifetime updates but eventually need to abandon their products because they simply run out of money.
A service continually costs money to provide. You can’t pay for that with a single payment. Lifetime services are simply incompatible with running a business long term. It’s a bad idea and someone is always getting screwed.
Someone8765210932@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Especially when we are talking about VPNs. The reason so many companies are sprouting out of the ground to offer VPNs is because the margin they have is huge.
Phoenicianpirate@lemm.ee 10 months ago
Damn straight. I never heard of this company before but you can bet your life I will never do business with them.
Jimmycakes@lemmy.world 10 months ago
They will just change their name in 6 months
ModernRisk@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 months ago
Is this even legal? I mean people paid for the lifetime version.
deltapi@lemmy.world 10 months ago
If the new owners purchased the assets, name, and technology and not the company itself, then it’s beholden on the remains of the old company to honour the deal… Good luck with that.
orcrist@lemm.ee 10 months ago
Except what you’re describing doesn’t make sense. If the new owners purchased all of those things, then in reality they purchased the company. Courts are very likely to agree on this. It looks like a company-wide sale, therefore it probably is, even if someone tries to add a line saying “we aren’t liable”.
But imagine someone could “sell everything other than the liability”. In such a case, the seller would be putting themselves on the hook to pay outstanding debts (i.e., the seller would be liable). And we know they have money – they just sold the thing. So then the seller would pay… But they know that in advance, so they would not agree to such a sale in the first place, unless they were planning to steal that money through creative accounting of some kind… But both parties know all of that that in advance, so they would both be acting fraudulently.
philpo@feddit.org 10 months ago
Which is a problem of the legal system around it.
Within most(or all) EU countries this would count as a continuation of business and all previous liabilities (e.g. employees contracts, customers contracts, etc.) would need to be honored.
Why it is done this way? To prevent people from doing exact that.
w3dd1e@lemm.ee 10 months ago
How many people start companies, rack up a bunch of debt, then create another company that buys everything except the debt?
CrowAirbrush@lemmy.world 10 months ago
They should be refunded tbh.
dutchkimble@lemy.lol 10 months ago
Yeah, pro rata it from the time they bought it to whatever time deathclock.com says for the user and then using time value of money arrive at a fair value to refund
explodicle@sh.itjust.works 10 months ago
No, they should get their lifetime membership. They paid the money for the membership because the membership was worth more than the money to them.
A refund on its own is never good enough because of gains from trade. They broke a contract.
markovs_gun@lemmy.world 10 months ago
There’s probably some fine print in the ToS that says they can do this. It may or may not be legal but that makes it a lengthier court battle to try to prove.
valkyre09@lemmy.world 10 months ago
There are so many ways they can put the squeeze on. Session time limit, throttle fraffic, restrict usage times etc.
Then you can sell a monthly VPN+ subscription and offer revisiting lifetime users 2 years free if they move to the new “better” service.
I’m not saying I agree with any of this, but it’s certainly not a new strategy. They’ve nothing to lose. Those who are pissed off will leave, you already have their money and those who want to stay will pay up.
The VPN company can have their cake and eat it
nostalgicgamerz@lemmy.world 10 months ago
This is going to be Plex Pass in a few years if Plex sells out even more
Zink@programming.dev 10 months ago
I’ve had a lifetime Plex pass for many years. I have converted completely over to Jellyfin after trying it.
It’s more involved to set up for secure remote access, but once in place it is so much smoother to use.
interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml 10 months ago
This is why the first question is, is it open source?
aceshigh@lemmy.world 10 months ago
This is also why I stopped prepaying for things. Sure I’m spending $50 more a year but at least I have flexibility.
barneypiccolo@lemm.ee 10 months ago
This is also why if you hit the lottery, you should take the discounted upfront cash payout, and not get it paid in an annual annuity for 20 years. You never know if the government is suddenly going become moral about gambling, and cancel all lottery payments.
Take the money and run.
Droggelbecher@lemmy.world 10 months ago
To be fair, it’s best to not participate in the lottery.
taladar@sh.itjust.works 10 months ago
True but that is a situation that doesn’t really apply very often in the “if you hit the lottery” situation mentioned in the post you replied to.
chilicheeselies@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Absolutely. However, if you are not the best with money, or on the irresponsible side; it might be best to take the annuity. Mathematically it makes no sense to do so, but if it stops you from blowing it all on hookers and coke in two years then its for the best. In other words, if you having it all is riskier than the state keeping track of it.
WeirdGoesPro@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 months ago
What’s wrong with hookers and coke?
spooky2092@lemmy.blahaj.zone 10 months ago
Even if you’re bad with money, take the lump sum and go get a fiduciary advisor to handle it and give you a regular payout. Being a fiduciary advisor is important since it means they are legally obligated to work to the benefit of your money, not lining their pockets. Using something like a trust is another good way to protect you from yourself.
aceshigh@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Can’t you open up a trust with the money and put a provision on it saving you from yourself?
Libra@lemmy.ml 10 months ago
Also because that lump sum is all there is. If you take the annuity they put the lump sum into an investment account and then pay you out of the proceeds (from which they take a cut, of course), and you can get the same returns they get, without losing their cut, doing it yourself.
Landless2029@lemmy.world 10 months ago
They also take a big wet bite out of the total when you do a lump sum pay out. Then you pay taxes on it too. Oh and of you do the 20 year payout and die they keep it all. You can’t transfer it.
ninjascum@lemmy.world 10 months ago
I have bought a lifetime VPN for 15$ in 2018 or 19, still kicking :)
squidspinachfootball@lemm.ee 10 months ago
Dang, whio’s it from?
ninjascum@lemmy.world 10 months ago
but now they charge 200 usd for it
ninjascum@lemmy.world 10 months ago
vpnunlimited
winkerjadams@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 months ago
Someone selling their data probably
nucleative@lemmy.world 10 months ago
It kind of looks like the new owners of VPN Secure got screwed - the last owner made all these costly lifetime deals and didn’t tell them. The obligation/liability to service those deals wasn’t transferred to the new owners.
Which means the old owner is probably the bad guy here and still owes these customers for their lifetime subscriptions.
teft@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Sounds like the new owner didn’t do due diligence when inspecting what they were purchasing. Which means the new guy is an idiot and you probably shouldn’t trust your data with them.
nucleative@lemmy.world 10 months ago
You can do due diligence as a buyer forever but if the seller lies or doesn’t disclose… Problems like these happen. Lawsuits are potentially incoming to figure that one out.
dryfter@lemm.ee 10 months ago
I learned my lesson about “lifetime” thanks to SiriusXM.
When Howard Stern got lured to SiriusXM they offered a deal where you buy the receiver and pay $500 for a lifetime subscription with unlimited transfers to different receivers. Fat forward to 2017ish when I bought my last car that had the receiver built into the radio and tried to transfer to the new one. I was told that was the last time I would be able to do that and in the future I’d be paying a $75 transfer fee and be forced into a monthly subscription.
Lifetime is a hoax.
partial_accumen@lemmy.world 10 months ago
This may be your lucky day then! You can likely use that lifetime sub now!
I did the Sirius lifetime deal a few years offered before the one you did (in 2003 I think?). At the time they called it the “Friends and Family” promotion. It was only $300 at the time for lifetime sub, and they gave you the hardware for free. I’m still using that same lifetime sub today.
I was told that was the last time I would be able to do that and in the future I’d be paying a $75 transfer fee and be forced into a monthly subscription.
This was absolutely true this was the rules at one point. However there was a rule change (via lawsuit maybe?) that allows UNLIMITED TRANSFERS and the fee is only $35/transfer. Its even on the SiriusXM website FAQ:
“Please note: You may transfer an active Lifetime Subscription to another radio an unlimited number of times. For each permitted transfer of a Lifetime Subscription, you will be charged a $35 transfer fee, and the transfer must be effectuated through your Online Account.” source
Your account is likely still alive with your name on it! Contact them and get back into it!
Further, back when you and I bought our lifetime subs the SiriusXM streaming service didn’t exist. It is actually pretty robust now. With your lifetime sub (even without it being on a vehicle), you have full access to unlimited commercial free streaming in their best quality bitrate (there was a time that they offered reduced bitrates for lifetime users but that’s gone now too).
For me, because of a further discount I only paid $230 for my lifetime sub because I got a credit for my previous monthly service and I’ve now had it for over 22 years. So if you do the math, I’m paying 87 cents per month for full in-car and streaming SiriusXM. Lifetime deal was SO worth it!
grue@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Lifetime is a hoax.
No, it’s fraud.
The difference is that one is a funny joke and the other is a criminal act that ought to land corporate executives in prison, if the US weren’t an oligarchy to corrupt to prosecute.
FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au 10 months ago
Seems like the new owners got screwed over by the previous owners who “forgot” to tell them that they had a bunch of highly unprofitable users locked in without ever paying them a cent again.
Shitty situation for those “lifetime” subscription owners, but if the company shuts down because the new owners were sold a lie, they don’t have a VPN to use either.
x00z@lemmy.world 10 months ago
That has nothing to do with the end user. In such cases they should sue the original owners.
FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au 10 months ago
The new owners mentioned that in the article. They said it would cost more to do than it would to just shut the business down.
What good outcome do you think the lifetime license owners would get in that situation?
Luffy879@lemmy.ml 10 months ago
Just saying: Lifetime Licences for Services are a Pyramid scheme
grysbok@lemmy.sdf.org 10 months ago
I’d say it depends on how much the license costs vs how the service costs.
The analogy that comes to mind is old cemeteries (YMMV, this is from a New England perspective). People buy a grave and expect to occupy it forever. This is a problem for cemeteries because a cemetery will eventually run out of graves to sell. The sales of graves goes towards the upkeep of the cemetery. Once there’s no more space, there’s no more sales, and there’s no more income for upkeep.
Some cemeteries get around this by reusing graves. You rent a grave for, say, 20 years and after 20 years of occupancy your next of kin is asked if they’d like to renew your subscription.
Other places charge a much higher upfront fee and invest it, using the interest to pay for ongoing maintenance.
Other places just abandon the cemetery and let it grow over with weeds.
jjagaimo@sh.itjust.works 10 months ago
*ponzi scheme
TimewornTraveler@lemm.ee 10 months ago
… in what way? primarily selling products to employees?
Luffy879@lemmy.ml 10 months ago
Edited the comment, used the wrong word
J52@lemmy.nz 10 months ago
Yes, name and shame the suckers already in the headline so they get what they deserve! VPN SECURE , yeah, right.
tabular@lemmy.world 10 months ago
I assume most companies write somewhere in their terms that “lifetime” means effectively “whenever the fuck we want”.
If there is a company that uses the word lifetime properly they may be worth a mention.
PancakesCantKillMe@lemmy.world 10 months ago
VPNSecure is the company.
SammyJK@programming.dev 10 months ago
This is absolutely disgusting behavior. “Cannot honor the purchases,” my ass.
annamiddleton@lemmy.world 3 months ago
This is exactly why I’m skeptical of “lifetime” deals - they rarely last. I’ve been using vpn unlimited devices on multiple devices (iPhone, iPad, Mac) with their unlimited device support, and honestly it’s been mostly positive. Setup across devices was straightforward, speeds are decent for streaming, and the multi-device feature actually works well for my family. Had occasional connection hiccups and support took a day to respond once, but overall it’s reliable and good value. Much better than risking a “lifetime” subscription getting canceled.
OsrsNeedsF2P@lemmy.ml 3 months ago
Wasn’t FastVPN caught holding user logs and selling personal data to advertisement agencies?