Lifetime Pro Account Cancelled for Non-Profits
Pewit
Registered Users Posts: 1 Beginner grinner
We are a registered 401C non-profit that had a "lifetime" Pro account as described in your blog.
http://don.blogs.smugmug.com/2007/09/27/lifetime-free-pro-accounts-to-non-profits/
It looks as if SmugMug has now removed this offer and is now only offering one-year discount.
http://help.smugmug.com/customer/portal/articles/98093
Can you confirm this is the case and that our options are to buy a Business or Portfolio account or to switch to another provider.
http://don.blogs.smugmug.com/2007/09/27/lifetime-free-pro-accounts-to-non-profits/
It looks as if SmugMug has now removed this offer and is now only offering one-year discount.
http://help.smugmug.com/customer/portal/articles/98093
Can you confirm this is the case and that our options are to buy a Business or Portfolio account or to switch to another provider.
0
Comments
grandfathered in there will be a lot of organizations very pissed.
My Website index | My Blog
http://mcq.smugmug.com
Welcome to the club, looks like SM has decided to unload another group of customers.
http://help.smugmug.com/customer/portal/emails/new
--- Denise
Musings & ramblings at https://denisegoldberg.blogspot.com
The other non-profits and other pro members (business members) who recommend this option to non-profits might want to know the bottom line too. That's part of what DGrin is for, isn't it? It's not like the OP's question was a tech support question. It affects a lot of people who might like to see the answer here.
http://mcq.smugmug.com
For me things started feeling Hinkey when we, the clients , started being routed to the email system, when we had always been told to keep it on the forum so it would benefit all......personally I feel the help desk should be used for only personal matters that no one wants aired in the public forum. JMVVHO
Monte
Dumping is such a harsh word.
SM is just making it unpleasant to stay and hoping they go away on their own.
I suppose it was inevitable.
Monte
Thanks for bringing this up - we have been brainstorming about this and will respond soon!
Support Hero
Sorry, I just found this thread.
I'm digging around internally to figure out what happened and why. We certainly want to help non-profits, but I'll bet it turns out there are various business, legal, and tax implications to these types of accounts that I didn't know about 5 years ago when I made that blog post. Amazing how complicated some of this stuff is.
Let me get informed about what's going on and we'll get back to you. Sorry it took me a few days - we've been buried up to our eyebrows in something huge that I'm sure you'll love (which, I'm happy to report, has its first private beta testers, so we're getting closer).
In a nation of children, Santa Claus wins, eh?
An "accurate" reproduction of a scene and a good photograph are often two different things.
We're still making sure we have all of our ducks in a row, but I believe what happened is an employee (who's no longer here) made a change to this policy two years ago that I wasn't aware of. Instead of lifetime accounts, non-profits were being offered first-year-free or discounted years.
I feel strongly that this was a bad decision. If I'd known about it, I'd have stopped it. Now that I know, I intend to. I feel like we (SmugMug) have a responsibility to help organizations that are trying to help their communities, and this is one of the ways we can do that.
Assuming there aren't any hiccups (again, still checking), I plan to fully re-institute the lifetime policy for verified, registered non-profit organizations so they can continue the good work they do for the rest of us.
Sorry for the confusion, it's not just me building this company any more, and sometimes things slip through the cracks. Thanks so much for bringing it to my attention, and please keep doing so - I try, every day, to do what's right for our customers, long term, above all else. I can't do that without great feedback from all of you.
Thanks again.
Actually the survival of most Not for Profit Organizations depends on the good will of people and companies like SM to provide services and even labor.
And it is not for 'nothing'. NPO's do a huge amount of good work that otherwise would not be done. We all benefit from this. Companies like SM do this sort of thing as part of their corporate responsibility to the community and should be applauded for it.
It's certainly not about having a mentality that we deserve to get something for nothing as you say. Many, many people involved with these NPO's work countless hours for nothing but the satisfaction that they are giving back.
Monte
Nice honest response. I anticipated nothing less.
Sam
Sherry
You talking to me? Cuz I highly doubt it. The features, fixes, and slight tweaks I want probably aren't on the horizon anytime soon.
All those in favor of an ObamaNation win too! (or do they?)
Where some may have had hope four years ago... at least us, at SM can have hope now:
However, I'm pretty sure the few non-profits I'm involved with would gladly let me set up a site in their name at no cost to them. Why involve SM beyond a one-time discount when the fees have just dramatically risen to all Pro (Business) users and most likely will for all other users too (at some point)?
Out of curiosity... how many free lifetime pro accounts would there be?
If its re-instated, my opinion of Smugmug will shoot back up. Here's hoping. (yeah, I get that there might be tax/legal reasons, fair enough)
The non-profit I work with is a theatre group, which works with kids from all backgrounds, particularly socially excluded. They have two part-time staff that work non-stop and the kids love it. I give my time as a photographer to them for free and suggested by selling the photos to parents through Smugmug they could make a bit of extra cash, without having the extra work of trying to self-fulfil orders. We set everything up, I spent time showing the staff how it worked and they got approval from their board of trustees to sell photographs as a revenue stream. Three months later the pro price plan increase was announced.
The price rise really screwed us up; it went from a "if we're careful we should make a bit more money" to "there's no way we'll even cover the cost of the subscription".
angelshed.smugmug.com
This is a direct, honest, and much appreciated response. I'd love to see more of these, especially in the places where they're still badly needed.
It would go a long way to repairing a damaged reputation.
http://mcq.smugmug.com
Enjoy!
Johnny
Hey Johnny, for you, and the others who find this post, we're pretty excited, too. We'll need for you to visit this page and complete and submit the form so we can get you hooked up: http://help.smugmug.com/customer/portal/articles/98093
Enjoy!!
Fab news! Thanks for the update
What's the turn-around time after a request? I filled out the form last Tuesday. Just wondering how long to wait to find out if approved??
Thanks,
Just bringing this topic back to the top as it appears the page linked above here indicates the free lifetime pro membership is no longer available again. We are back to getting a discount on the first year pro subscription.
Danielhaigh.com