Did mHelpDesk's prices go up???

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cyabro said:
$150 a month! Yea no way we could or would pay that for two or three users.

Also don't bother with shopmanager, not had any updates for over a year and not getting any response from them for support or via forums or tweets.
We're looking at changing to pcrt.
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I think you will like PCRT. I just purchased it and had it set up in about an hour give or take. I could not afford Mhelpdesk either being a one man operation. I have heard people say PCRT is ugly but I don't see it. The features are awesome and it appears Luke is constantly updating it. I am working on tweaking things and setting up sms here shortly.
 
I REALLY wanted to go with PCRT... I felt that the POS side of it was lacking though. In the end, I ended up going with mHelpDesk for 1 reason. The Quickbooks import. EVERYTHING gets entered into Quickbooks so that I am accurately accounting for everything. PCRT simply would have been double work as there is no integration. I hated going to a cloud based solution where I don't "Own" my data, but in the end decided to go that way.

I guess I am lucky enough to be locked in to their old rates. I will say though that I would have NEVER considered mHelpdesk @ their new current pricing structure.

I hope they come up with a new price to accommodate the 1-man shows. Unless they are simply trying to stay away from them.

On a positive note for mHelpDesk.... I will say that since signing up, it has revolutionized my office. I'm extremely happy with it and I feel much more organized. I'm looking forward to some new POS updates that are coming down the pipe. As well as asset tagging!
 
DataBitSolutions said:
On a positive note for mHelpDesk.... I will say that since signing up, it has revolutionized my office. I'm extremely happy with it and I feel much more organized. I'm looking forward to some new POS updates that are coming down the pipe. As well as asset tagging!
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Same here. I love the way mHelpDesk has improved my workflow... that's why I was so upset about the price increase.
 
I doubt that the one man shows are making them money. From a customer support POV I doubt 5 users are much more work then one user. Data is maintained per company and most problems will effect one client the same way be it 1 user or 5. The guy just isn't seeing a profit from it. Otherwise ALL the PSAs would be priced the same and they aren't. It was too good to be true. I just hope he doesn't go out of business or is forced to stop grandfathering us old clients. I'm sure Vincent will try hard to not to do that but the economics of the situation demonstrated by his actions doesn't make it look like it can continue long term. I expect at some point to not be able to use this anymore so I'm looking at other options.
 
nlinecomputers said:
I doubt that the one man shows are making them money. From a customer support POV I doubt 5 users are much more work then one user. Data is maintained per company and most problems will effect one client the same way be it 1 user or 5. The guy just isn't seeing a profit from it. Otherwise ALL the PSAs would be priced the same and they aren't. It was too good to be true. I just hope he doesn't go out of business or is forced to stop grandfathering us old clients. I'm sure Vincent will try hard to not to do that but the economics of the situation demonstrated by his actions doesn't make it look like it can continue long term. I expect at some point to not be able to use this anymore so I'm looking at other options.
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Not really the point he can still change his pricing and still support one man shows. One man shows got his business when it is, that really should be recognized. To me its a company who makes enough but wants more.
 
What's behind Mhelpdesk pricing?

What's behind Mhelpdesk pricing?

First, I wanted to thank everyone for their feedback about our pricing. I've been reading all the posts on TN and there is a lot of opinions from the small one-man shops to the bigger MSPs. I'll do my best to explain the value behind Mhelpdesk.

There are two reasons why. First, we have delivered more product updates and enhancements in a shorter period of time than any other software company in our industry. Second, we have consistently provided our customers with the best support where most customer requests are resolved on the same day.

Reason #1 Fanatical Product Development


If you are an existing Mhelpdesk user then you already know that we are constantly improving our app. In the last 60 days our development team has delivered 44+ new updates and enhancements that help our users run their businesses faster and more efficiently. We reduce billing cycles, and improve the bottom line. Take a quick look at our Release Notes page and you'll see that we've been very busy. More importantly, we have a proven track record for consistently improving Mhelpdesk. In the last couple weeks we've released an:

Online Website Scheduler,
QB Online Integration (beta),
Customer File Attachments,
Color Coded Tech Schedules,
Custom PDF documents,
Improved Client Messaging,
Sales Reports,
Payment Reports,
Time Reports,
Time Tracking,
Customer Outstanding Balance Reports,
Tax Reports,
Custom Customer Fields
Encrypted custom fields
Custom date fields
Custom Work Order Forms
More Custom Tag options

just to name a few. In the next couple weeks we'll be rolling out even more enhancements to help our clients revolutionize the way they run their businesses.

We've brought on a dedicated team to rebuild a Version 2 of our Mobile apps on both iOS and Android. We're building from the ground up to include offline mode, geo-tagging, bar-code scanning, time-tracking. It's going to be the fastest, most usable, most portable service management apps anyone has ever seen.

Combined (web + mobile) ,we feel that we are offering our clients the "ultimate" service management app. We're delivering fresh, cutting edge tech to our customers.

Reason #2 Fanatical Support

We have consistently provided the best customer support period. Any of our existing customers will testify to this. If you have an issue you get taken care of the same day. We post our toll-free 800 numbers all over our website. We give you a dedicated support link right on your dashboard. When you have a question we respond faster than any other software company. You will never be "stuck" with Mhelpdesk. We even assist new clients with getting setup properly. Most of you have probably received a call from us to assist before you ever paid a dime. We offer phone support, email support, forum support, live boot camps, and ticket support. We provide as many support channels as possible to ensure our clients are taken care of.

Conclusion
If you look around, you won't see any other software company this fanatical about building and supporting the "ultimate" service management app for business. We are growing at an amazing rate. More importantly, we are helping our customers grow. Our customers stick with Mhelpdesk because they believe they are getting an amazing value with Mhelpdesk. Those that complain about our prices simply don't see the value in what we offer.

Having said that, we realize that many one-man shops would still like to use Mhelpdesk. We are going to be offering Single-User accounts by invite only to TN members only. To request a Single-User Mhelpdesk Account ($25 per month) simply fill out this form and we'll get you setup:

https://docs.google.com/a/mhelpdesk...ue&formkey=dDBBaTJEVXJvYWY5ZXVsX2hpdDlaSGc6MQ

Again, I understand that we can't make everyone happy with dirt-cheap prices. But you can rest assured that we are making all the right moves to stay healthy and continue supporting our clients for the very long-term. If you have any other questions feel free to contact us anytime. Hope this clears things up.

Vincent
 
We're being told that we are grandfathered in... but can we trust a company that doesn't communicate with their customers? We spent hours making the most of the trial period to ensure mhelpdesk was what we wanted to go with... honestly, I'm hesitant to sign off at this point.

The biggest question I have now is simple. Would Vincent have come forward and said there was an error had this post not happened? Would we have paid $69 because we love the workflow and never heard there was "an error"? Or worse yet, if the error was discovered, would a refund have been issued?

Why wasn't there an announcement of a price increase? When we raise prices, we give our customers advanced notice... maybe 30 days. It's respectful and calls them to act when they may not have acted at all.

Communication is key when you are running a business and this was MAJOR miscommunication to valuable customers.
 
@amanda - The reason why you weren't grandfathered is because you were NOT a PAYING customer. Only paid accounts are grandfathered. Free accounts are not. We are sorry to hear that you still cannot trust Mhelpdesk. We understand and there are no hard feelings.
 
Amanda said:
We're being told that we are grandfathered in... but can we trust a company that doesn't communicate with their customers? We spent hours making the most of the trial period to ensure mhelpdesk was what we wanted to go with... honestly, I'm hesitant to sign off at this point.

The biggest question I have now is simple. Would Vincent have come forward and said there was an error had this post not happened? Would we have paid $69 because we love the workflow and never heard there was "an error"? Or worse yet, if the error was discovered, would a refund have been issued?

Why wasn't there an announcement of a price increase? When we raise prices, we give our customers advanced notice... maybe 30 days. It's respectful and calls them to act when they may not have acted at all.

Communication is key when you are running a business and this was MAJOR miscommunication to valuable customers.
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Amanda, while I do agree that some type of notice or email blast of some sort should have been made, I can assure you that Vincent is a man of his word. Even today I have been in contact with Vincent about the situation in light of my own circumstance. Due to my credit card number being stolen and an accounting error on their end, my account was temporarily unpaid and technically inactive. I say technically because when I contacted Vince about the situation, he emailed me right back and basically said, "no problem, we will keep your account open. Let me know when you get this sorted out." Anyways, once my account had become officially active again, my rates had been mistakenly and temporarily raised. I simply emailed Vincent and within a few minutes (literally) he contacted me and made everything right. He credited the difference and put me back at my grandfathered rate.
 
PCX said:
Amanda, while I do agree that some type of notice or email blast of some sort should have been made, I can assure you that Vincent is a man of his word. Even today I have been in contact with Vincent about the situation in light of my own circumstance. Due to my credit card number being stolen and an accounting error on their end, my account was temporarily unpaid and technically inactive. I say technically because when I contacted Vince about the situation, he emailed me right back and basically said, "no problem, we will keep your account open. Let me know when you get this sorted out." Anyways, once my account had become officially active again, my rates had been mistakenly and temporarily raised. I simply emailed Vincent and within a few minutes (literally) he contacted me and made everything right. He credited the difference and put me back at my grandfathered rate.
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That's great! I am sure Vincent is an honest man. I was simply making the point that advanced notice would, in my opinion, have been the better thing to do.

And while we were not paying customers at the time of this, we had intended on signing on the dotted line very soon. We just like to be 100% sure before making major decisions like this since we are a small shop.
 
There's no question that Vincent is passionate about his product and has built a niche offering by sculpting MHelpdesk based on all of our input. We were his product development. The problem is that his goals are different than ours: We want to find a piece of software that helps us manage our data-heavy businesses. MHelpdesk needs to make the jump from "Micro Saas provider" to a viable "AOL Fishbowl-worthy business.

I get it.

For those of you who think you can trust Vincent, trust shouldn't really be what you're looking for. No, you can't trust Vincent. He will need to make some business choices that will either completely piss you off or aren't inline with your choices.

For MHelpdesk. You're main points are that you develop really quickly and answer when people have questions. Bravo! That's good. But, at the end of the day, you're providing a solution. Continue building that solution and grow progressively rather than in convulsive spurts, and your users (your customers) will be happy. If your goal is to get funded and go crazy, then get that over with.

I thought about going with your product, but went another route precisely because of this question.
 
Existing customers are grandfathered in their pricing and he has offered special pricing for anyone in the these forums that want's to sign up.

Am I missing why everyone is complaining?
 
mhelpdesk said:
@amanda - The reason why you weren't grandfathered is because you were NOT a PAYING customer. Only paid accounts are grandfathered. Free accounts are not. We are sorry to hear that you still cannot trust Mhelpdesk. We understand and there are no hard feelings.
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I guess we look at trials differently. I don't consider a trial a "free account." I consider it an introductory period for a paying customer. Just because we hadn't given up our credit card info yet doesn't mean we weren't going to. The way I look at it, you should honor whatever the current price was when the account was created, regardless of when the first payment was made.

But that's all a moot point now that you've fixed things... hell, you more than fixed them. Extending the original plans as invitation-only for TN members was very generous. I'm sure that in a couple more years our business will be ready for the new pricing... in the meantime, I'm glad we're able to use mHelpDesk on the original tiered plans. Thanks Vincent.


RedFoxComp said:
Existing customers are grandfathered in their pricing and he has offered special pricing for anyone in the these forums that want's to sign up.

Am I missing why everyone is complaining?
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Nobody's really complaining at this point... Vincent just cleared that all up a few posts ago, so everything before that is moot. The only issue being discussed at this point was his choice to increase the prices without any notice. It's his business and he's free to run it however he chooses... clearly he's been successful so far. The point Amanda was trying to make was that making the announcement ahead of time would have prevented this whole situation, and that the lack of any kind of announcement could be perceived as "shady"... to new customers at least. Obviously people who have been around a while know that's not the case, and based on my personal experience I would agree with them.

Think about it this way... when you increase your own prices, do you tell your customers, or do you say nothing and hand them a bill that's more than they expected it to be?

Personally, I warn my customers ahead of time... say 30 days or so. That way nobody can say "OMGWTF you didn't tell me!" It also creates urgency... customers who have been putting it off will be inclined to act now to avoid the price increase.


Anyways, this whole thread is pretty much a moot point now. I do think that Vincent's announcement about the invitation-only plans for TN members should maybe be posted as a sticky somewhere... preferably without the rest of this thread, lol.
 
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DocGreen said:
Think about it this way... when you increase your own prices, do you tell your customers, or do you say nothing and hand them a bill that's more than they expected it to be?

Personally, I warn my customers ahead of time... say 30 days or so. That way nobody can say "OMGWTF you didn't tell me!" It also creates urgency... customers who have been putting it off will be inclined to act now to avoid the price increase.
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But the price hasn't changed for customers, because of the grandfathering. So you're saying he should have warned existing customers that prices were going up for people who weren't customers? Sounds like a recipe for confusion for me.
 
RedFoxComp said:
But the price hasn't changed for customers, because of the grandfathering. So you're saying he should have warned existing customers that prices were going up for people who weren't customers? Sounds like a recipe for confusion for me.
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Yes, for two reasons. First, to reassure them that regardless of what they may happen to see on mHelpDesk's website, the price they pay will not increase. And second, because existing customers tend to refer new customers. You want the person doing the referring to have the correct information.
 
We don't want this thread to become one to knock MHelpdesk. Besides them being a sponsor of the forums the product is very good. I have no doubt about it's features and support. I could run a Rolls Royce to use as a car but I can't afford it and never will be able to. :p

I have pm'd Vincent for further clarification on his statement about TN members. Is it the old basic deal with one user and 200 clients? If so it won't be any good because to me after a year you will be forced to go to the next stage i.e from $19 pm to $150 pm. I don't earn a lot but I have over 300 clients. One big factor to remember 200 residential clients ≠ 200 business clients. The other thing is a lot of one man bands like me are entrenched in another system so moving to MHelpdesk isn't going to happen overnight. For the price being quoted for members if it is unlimited clients is fantastic and I might sign up and use it at a later date :)
 
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