[AusNOG] Vendors back charging on support and maintenance.

[Peter Tiggerdine]

Seems to me it's a "just in time support" tax. If a business doesn't need
support for 2 years but then decides to get support and use the TAC
service, then they're paying for what they're using. To charge customers a
tax because they didn't require the service or support for 2 years is just
large Multinationals pork barrelling and over-inflating their annuity
numbers.

I've spoken to the Office of Fair trade on this matter and they seem to
share my view (that's its unreasonable, however fair trade is really a
mediation service it appears) Hoping to have a conversation later in the
week with the ACCC. I do seriously question the legality of the charge
under Australian consumer law. I suspect this is a North American policy.

Regards,

Peter Tiggerdine

GPG Fingerprint: 2A3F EA19 F6C2 93C1 411D 5AB2 D5A8 E8A8 0E74 6127

On Tue, Apr 24, 2018 at 6:47 PM, Robert Hudson <hudrob at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi Peter,
>
> This is relatively common in the IT Industry in a number of hardware types
> (servers, storage, network gear) as well as for software.
>
> I'm sure there are arguments for and against it - I personally dislike the
> practice, and I'd really be looking at what the options are - can the
> customer buy new for something close to the back-charging and end up with a
> better product with longer support?  I suspect driving a sale is one reason
> this gets done, as well as funding the risk the vendor takes on when
> bringing an old item with an unknown history back onto full support.
>
> Regards,
>
> Robert
>
> On 24 April 2018 at 14:33, Peter Tiggerdine <ptiggerdine at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi All
>>
>> Apologies for the noise.
>>
>> I've just observed an interesting situation where a vendor is charging
>> upto 18months "fee" to bring a device back into active maintenance and
>> support. The customer purchase the kit secondhand. Naturally the customer
>> is pushing back (don't blame them).
>>
>> Is this common in our industry? It's the first time I've heard of it.
>> Given some of the information coming out from the royal commission is this
>> not the same as AMP or CBA charge customers for a service they didn't get
>> or want?
>>
>> Happy to take feedback either on list or off list.
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Peter Tiggerdine
>>
>> GPG Fingerprint: 2A3F EA19 F6C2 93C1 411D 5AB2 D5A8 E8A8 0E74 6127
>>
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>>
>
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