Upgrades for Pro-tools 11 student purchase in 2013

[alanm]

Hi, I bought Pro-tools 11 student in 2013 and the retailer reassure me it included 4 years of complimentary upgrades (stating that in the receipt). I contacted avid support recently, they told me the product I bought was "mislabeled", only suggesting I needed to contact the retailer (East Coast Music) who should be responsible for the upgrades.
East Coast Music suggested creating a case with the avid support team, but I haven't heard from them yet.
Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Alan

[nigelpry]

Answer these key questions please ...
Exactly what date did you buy it?
Was it Pro Tools 11? Or ...
Was it Pro Tools 10?

Reason being ....
The cutoff date for the four years of free upgrades deal was in early April (11th if I remember correctly) 2013 .... the date that Pro Tools 11 was announced. Pro Tools 11 was never available with four years of free upgrades.

From the date of the Pro Tools 11 announcement, the student scheme changed to four years of upgrades at $99 per upgrade.

If you bought Pro Tools 10 BEFORE the Pro Tools 11 announcement, then you are entitled to four years of free upgrades.

If your retailer mistakenly advertised Pro Tools 11 with four years of free upgrades then you may have a bit of a battle to get those upgrades.

My retailer (Studica, UK Online store) incorrectly advertised that it still had Pro Tools 10 old stock with a free upgrade to Pro Tools 11 AND four years of free upgrades, well beyond that cutoff date. I bought it in early July 2013.

It took me over two years of arguing and fighting my case with both Studica and Avid before my case was resolved in my favour, and even then I compromised, giving up nine months of my four years, because that allowed Avid to harmonise the support plan end dates of both of my student licenses, and to do it while there was an active support case on the go.

This was necessary because Avid, even if they agree to let you have the free upgrades after examining all the paperwork and talking to the retailer about it (I hope the retailer is an Avid authorised reseller otherwise I can't see Avid helping you), can only give you a support plan for exactly one year.

So, if, for example, your four years of free upgrades that you were misled by the retailer into buying theoretically runs out in July 2017 (if you say bought it in July 2013 like I did), then chasing up the case now with Avid creates a problem, because if they issue you with a support plan say on 4th January 2016, then IT WILL run out on the same date in 2017, losing you six months or so of your 'four years'.

Unless you are better at twisting their arms than I am, you won't get them to agree to renew the support plan in January 2017, because a) they are keen to put these sort of cases to bed once and for all, and b) renewing it would take you well beyond the four years you thought you were entitled to.

I took the view that as it was the retailer's fault, and their obligation to correct the mistaken advertising would at most extend to refunding the original sale price, it would be better to get three years and a few months of free upgrades than my money back.

[alanm]

Hi Nigel, this is very helpful. Sorry for the late reply didn't see they moved my post to this thread.

I bought PT 11 in early June 2013. You're right I should have researched a little more before buying from that retailer but I had just bought Sibelius 7 from them a couple of months before (with the same 4 year upgrade system) and they seemed pretty serious. Around the same time of the year I was also told by a profesor at my school (UCLA, where I was taking a Pro Tools certification class) that AVID was still offering the 4 year upgrade program so when I saw it advertised in EastCoastMusic.com webpage I never doubt it or thought that there might be something wrong with it.

Would you recommend taking it back to the retailer then?

Thanks,

Alan

[nigelpry]

You could try taking it back to the retailer .... But ...

My experience with Studica was very unsatisfactory, they blamed Avid, they blamed the distributor, said they were only selling what they were given, blah blah ... But ... More importantly ...

If you take it back to the retailer, the most they could be obliged to do legally is refund you the original purchase price .... Which leaves you exactly where? After that, it would be a case of suing them for loss of the four years of free upgrades that were included.

Appealing to my retailer on a moral basis ... Look I just want what I was sold ... Just got me two years of ducking and diving by the retailer.

However, once I got talking directly with the customer care people at Avid, and demonstrated exactly what had happened to me, Avid sorted me out.

They ARE aware that there are multiple retailers who carried on advertising and selling the four years of free upgrades deal long after it stopped, but I don t know whether your retailer is one that they are aware of. If not, it's up to you to make them aware!

Avid did contact me a few weeks after I posted the outcome of my case on the DUC, to inform me that they had quite a few people come forward with the same problems I'd had, and that thanks to my efforts in getting the case the attention it needed, they had belatedly realised there was a genuine issue out there that needs to be addressed.

So, my recommendation would be to get all your information together ... Showing when and where you bought it, AND MOST IMPORTANTLY .... evidence of what was being advertised .... Hopefully that is on the receipt ... And present it to Avid via a support case.

Be prepared that if the customer care member who gets allocated the case (probably an automated system) hasn't had to deal with one of these cases before, you may initially get some stock response saying that the four years ended on ... Date .... And so you are not entitled.

Don't let it drop at that, point out that this is a known issue and that Avid has sorted this out for multiple people in a similar situation for you ... Point them to this DUC thread, point them to my username where they will find lots of information on my support case etc etc.

I'm confident you'll get there in the end, just persevere. Avid specifically said to me that they were happy fo me to report what had happened on the DUC, and that other people in a similar position should come forard via a support case. They said each case will be dealt with on its merits.

If you are also prepared to offer to compromise ... Say if you offered to accept a one year support plan, which means your four years would in effect run out in February 2017 instead of July 2017, then that bit of goodwill will stand you in good stead.

Good luck!

[alanm]

Hi Nigel, this helps a lot! Thanks!!