Feeling Cheated by Corona Renderer: The Impact of Auto-Renew During Black Friday

[ronaldjung]

I have been a user of Corona Renderer since 2013.

Since it became paid, I subscribed to the SaaS service and have always liked the model.

However, it is with great frustration that this year I am feeling cheated and deceived by the company.

Last year I subscribed to Corona Premium Annual for 418.80 EUR. This year I was charged 454.80 EUR on Auto-Renew on November 29, 2024, right during Black Friday. In other words, if I didn’t have Auto-Renew, I would have purchased the year for a considerably lower price.

I asked support to refund the difference, and they gave me a generic response about high inflation and increased costs. But that was not my point. I was PUNISHED for having Auto-Renew enabled.

Apparently, Corona under Chaos’s management is following the poor management practices of Autodesk.

What a disappointment. What greed. What a lack of consideration for someone who promoted and cheered so much for this software.

Is anyone else feeling this way?

The original developers, who welcomed so many people who had difficulties buying the software in the past, what do they feel about this?

I hope the company thinks carefully about how to deal with people day to day, not just seeing the money.

Meanwhile, it seems that the Autodesk/Chaos duo wants to strengthen Blender/Cycles.

Let’s see where this goes.

Becoming a big corporation is truly a shame. They will fill their pockets with money and the hearts of their users with disappointment.

[aaouviz]

I'm not defending this, by any means, but I am genuinely curious;

My understanding is that your auto-renew already probably gives you a significant discount? My current subscription is the same price, but if I ever stop or cancel it, I believe it will increase. This is a sort of carrot that was offered to existing yearly subscribers when Chaos increased the Corona prices a year or so ago.

So, I'm wondering if you were to try to take advantage of the black Friday discount, perhaps your subscription price would have increased (by cancelling it) enough anyway that any discount would have been negligable?

Just theorizing, nothing here is researched or accusational :)

[hurrycat]

My experience is this exactly, the only way to take advantage of the discount is to cancel and purchase a new yearly licence IF you remember it in time (not being able to cancel one month before the yearly subscription is over is pure corporate greed - change my mind). I did that last year and guess what - I lost the corona nodes that came with my subsription prior to the first price increases that took place.

I didn't need them either way but to answer aaouviz's question, I'm not aware of ANY discount auto-renew gives you, in fact cancelling and purchasing anew is cheaper if you take advantage of the discount.

[TomG]

Just as a note, it has always been true that a renewal does not qualify for Black Friday discounts, right back to Corona 1.0. The discount has always been for new license purchases only, even before we merged with Chaos (7 years ago....)

[ronaldjung]

I know that, TomG.

I have an annual discount; I recently paid 454.80 EUR. A year ago, I paid 418.80 EUR.

However, I canceled the auto-renewal and changed my credit card to a new one, believing it would be a good move. Now I realize it would have been better to cancel the card and make a new purchase.

This stance by Chaos is shameful.

[ronaldjung]

So all Chaos is going to do is justify it this way?

It's not even so much about the money itself. It's about the damn attitude.

I am feeling betrayed.

The responses are not worthy of someone who respects their clients and users.

I have always liked and been a fan of Corona Renderer precisely because this type of situation did not happen. There was a human connection when making a purchase and not a simple attitude of ACCEPT IT, IT'S IN THE CONTRACT, YOU IDIOT. That's how I feel today.

[TomG]

Sorry to hear the experience was so bad. You won't find the Corona team here commenting on the situation, as the Corona folks on this forum (myself included) come from the development and tech / 3D support side, so that's the topics we are competent to engage in conversation about :) The ticketing system would be the way to reach beyond those kinds of topics and get to the people who can talk with you on things like pricing and payments. I will internally pass along that you shared your feedback here and what you had to say, of course.

[ronaldjung]

Thank you

[dj_buckley]

Just as a note, it has always been true that a renewal does not qualify for Black Friday discounts, right back to Corona 1.0. The discount has always been for new license purchases only, even before we merged with Chaos (7 years ago....)

This is a tactic that really grinds my gears.  Not just Chaos but most providers of anything.  Offers, discounts, better rates are only ever given to 'new' customers.  Surely it should be the other way round and the loyal customers are the ones that get rewarded.  Maybe this is why I'm not the CEO of a big corporate :)

[frv]

To attract new customers nearly all companies use discounts. If everybody gets a discount every year you might as well reduce the pricing overall. Until there is no business left.