Every now and then I check out the Evernote Reddit out of morbid curiosity. One person recently announced they’d finally had enough and were leaving because Bending Spoons increased their monthly bill from $20 to $30.

They’d been paying $240/yr for freaking Evernote.

I’m astonished at how much abuse many people will tolerate as an alternative to changing their habits. Bending Spoons made the same discovery, but gleefully, and apparently it makes a profit for them.

I just don’t get it. I mean, I do, but I wish I didn’t. It’s depressing.

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AlfeG 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Octopus Deploy year ago raised our payment from $50 per month to $15000 per year with 3 years in advance. We were able to agree on only a 1 year. This year we with use of 200$ Claude sub - created a "clone" of Octopus for our own use. No more payments to Octopus =)

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havaloc 7 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I do some tech consulting on the side and beg people (literally) to switch from Comcast (US TV and Internet Provider) to say YouTube TV, saving them hundreds of dollars a month. They WILL NOT do it, even though I would do all the work, show them how to do it, explain how it's essentially the same but much cheaper, how to use it, and not charge very much to do so (I bill typically less than $60 an hour, and it would only take a few hours to do all that).

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pmontra 6 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I think that Comcast is a USA only service so have no idea of what people watch or listen to on Comcast. But above all, why do they need a consultant to do the switch? There is more to it than a credit card and a subscription?

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ClarityJones 6 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Comcast is an ISP and Cable Television provider, with a terrible reputation. When I cancelled my service when them I had to mail the modem back to them. I did it UPS shipping with tracking, because I know not to trust them. They never-the-less claimed they did not receive it, and billed me for the device. Eventually - armed with the shipping confirmation - they acknowledged receipt of the package, but insisted that the box was empty and that I mailed them an empty box.

I forget the other details, but remember to never do business with Comcast or their subsidiaries / partners.

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strenholme 5 hours ago | parent | next [-]

A few years ago, someone recorded a phone call with a Comcast retention rep who kept trying to tell someone to not cancel their service; it took nearly 20 minutes for someone to cancel their service:

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/07/call-...

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kstrauser 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Oof. I upgraded my wife’s business from Comcast to AT&T. This is the only context, ever, where you’ll hear me describe AT&T as an upgrade to anything. I returned Comcast’s modem to the local office, photographed them accepting it from me, and archived the receipt and photos for safekeeping. I do not routinely do that sort of thing with other vendors.

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cagey 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

That sounds eerily like my experience 8 months ago with 'Verizon 5g Home Internet'. Lied to by the used-car salesman: "we'll give you $100 in credits", and when I canceled (mostly due to customer service saying "I see your $100 of credits, they are pending approval", then a few weeks later "credits? there are no credits showing on your account"), got nothing but runaround and a claim that my returned modem was damaged. I AM doing business with a Verizon MVNO (Visible, just because they provide the best deal for me, and don't really even HAVE customer service), but I will NEVER directly do business with Verizon again.

(Sorry; off-topic, but I needed to rant)

	▲	kstrauser 5 hours ago \| parent [-]
		You can take the Verizon out of the Southwest Bell, but you can’t take the Southwest Bell out of the Verizon.

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swiftcoder 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> why do they need a consultant to do the switch?

Last time I had to cancel a Comcast subscription it took half a day of phone calls, and then I still had to hand-deliver the modem to a pretty dodgy service centre the wrong side of Dorchester

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havaloc 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Just because it's easy for say you and me, does not mean it's easy for others to do. Helper seems like a more appropriate word here, consultant being a loaded term these days!

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toomuchtodo 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

People are fickle, resistant to change, and do not default to action broadly speaking. Various levels of handholding and potentially encouragement can be required, and even then, some folks will still be like "Nah, I'm good." Humans are tricky.

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trial3 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

i’m sure my parents could save thousands with YouTube TV - they have FiOS as a tv + internet provider. they’ve used those DVRs for probably two decades and know the interface and how to navigate it. that’s definitely part of it.

the cable boxes finally got EoL’d, a tech on a service call promised (lying) that the contents would sync to the new boxes, and replaced them. they were empty - my mom was in tears when she realized the DVR contents were gone forever

some of the things recorded had sentimental value (a sibling being listed in the credits of a show, etc) and also that her mental model of what she watched and had in her queue to watch was gone (sports games she had yet to watch, progress through a show)

the stickiness is UI familiarity but also the value of what might not be there with a provider change are both powerful reasons to not make changes

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csomar 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

It’s not habit. Some people build complex workflows on these and hold substantial data. Moving requires re-building these workflows which is both time and money consuming. Not everyone will have the proper time and capacity to move at a moment’s notice.

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kstrauser 6 hours ago | parent [-]

I get that. I do. And yet, once things like this start to happen, it’s exceedingly likely to continue, and you have to start making contingency plans. Evernote increased their annual prices like 40% in early 2024 and it’s been nothing but up since then. That $360 plan was a $125 plan in 2023.

At some point you have to either migrate or smile and accept the hikes.

	▲	csomar 5 hours ago \| parent [-]
		People migrate at a different cadence but they eventually do. It happened to me before. You are busy with other stuff and just accept the $xx/month cost until you have free time to do the migration.

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6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

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