
Show HN: My response to "Why isn't your service free?" - sbooks
At http://trackmydrive.com we have recently started charging for our service. We got our first email stating that our service should be free. Here is our response:<p>Dear xxxxxx,<p>We received your comments expressing concern about the price we have placed on our service. We have decided to charge for the service based on the following reasons:<p>1. There are hosting and development charges that we pay to provide the service. We had to pay to develop the program and continue to pay for the data that is stored on our website. Without this capability we would not be able to provide the reports –the most important part of our service.<p>2. If we did serve your needs for free we could cover our costs by flooding your phone or computer with ads. We have chosen not to use this approach as it is our goal to simplify your life and make technology an asset not a frustration.<p>3. With the charges that we collect we are able to continue to improve and further develop our company. We are currently making investments that will deepen the capabilities of the service to simplify other business functions.<p>4. By charging we ensure that we are able to provide top notch customer service. We respond to each email we receive personally and take each comment under consideration. We appreciate your input! We certainly hope you can understand and even agree with our decision points as noted. Please also keep in mind that we are conscientiously trying to avoid the "bait and switch" tactic that many other service companies use in which they attract lots of free users only to begin charging them at a later date or flooding their systems with “free” ads.<p>Sincerely, The TrackMyDrive team
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selectnull
Thank you.

This world needs more paid services and products and less ads.

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briandear
For real. This is the same philosophy we share for our iOS apps. I gladly pay
for great software/services (i.e. Basecamp, Vimeo Pro.) Youtube, while
ubiquitous, is a a visual pain, compared to paid Vimeo accounts.

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pestaa
Can you please elaborate on Youtube being a visual pain? I'm planning on
putting up some product videos somewhere, and honestly, I'm always coming back
for YT.

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bmelton
5) We value your trust and privacy, and by charging, we are able to continue
to respect those without the temptation of having to resort to selling your
data to third parties, as some other free services do.

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davyjones
Was there a positive response to this email of yours?

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sbooks
Nothing so far. Maybe they are confused? :)

