Fed up with Micasaverde upgrade offers for Europeans...

Community Playground General Discussions
1

Hi all,

Like many, I have a love-hate relationship with my Vera. It is buggy, feels always like beta…but works pretty well and allows a flexibility for DIYers that no other system I know offers for this price.

I received another upgrade offer from Micasaverde per email. This time, they want to exchange my Vera2 to a Vera Lite with a $80 discount.
I am in Europe, so let’s try:
Vera Lite for some reason, shows up at $189*2=$378…hello Micasaverde, bug here?
Minimum shipping cost is $34.

Look at screenshot

That means, notwithstanding the bug, I will have to pay 189+34-80=$143, which is about 110€
Vera lite is available at 169€ in Europe, i.e. 60€ difference… that disappears if the Vera gets taxed by customs !!! I won’t send my Vera somewhere in Romania, wait for my new Vera, and then wait for my coupon for nothing in exchange.
Micasaverde doesn’t understand that this coupon culture does not exist in Europe…and surely very few people will take this offer if there is potential financial loss at the end.
If I want a Vera lite, I’ll buy one (and I might actually), but stop sending me offers that are obviously made for US users and pretend they also work for Europeans: this is a lie.

Last time, I got another offer: upgrade to Vera3. It was the same story: for Europeans, it was practically more expensive than buying a Vera3 from scratch. Even worse, they mentioned a reimbursment via “cheque”.
Great, cheques have disappeared in most EU countries for years, how was I supposed to cash a USD check in a country where bankers don’t even know how to handle EUR cheques anymore?

I sent a friendly/complaint email to micasaverde when I received the first upgrade offer, asking how it would work for us in Europe. I never got a single answer, even polite.

Now I am done with this nonsense:

  • I like my Vera, it’s not perfect, but it’s what I need. The new range (3, Lite), is indeed interesting. I know Micasaverde is a small company and I am willing to accept some caveats.
  • BUT Micasaverde has got no idea about overseas sales and marketing. The guy/gal in charge farthest foreign trip was apparently to Canada.

I hate companies that I believe have good products, and screw it up with bad marketing. Sorry, this had to be said.

Best,
Pierre

2

Hi Pierre,

you are not writing where you are at (apart from Europe), but given you quote in €, I guess you are in a EU.

If so.
The units are shipped from Germany, so no extra tax. Yes, the shipping is very expensive, but it is not really just shipping, as far as I understand, it is also handling (my guess is that MCV are outsourcing this for us Europeans) in order to take care of the tax issue.

The way it works, are that you purchase a new one, and then send your old unit back to Romania.

This was swift for me, living in Sweden. But sure, because of the shipping, the gain is maybe not as big as one would have hoped for. In the end, you always have the option of not upgrading, but to do the upgrade later on when you need to without the discount.

Not sure why you did not have this information, I got it instantly upon asking.
(I also where amused by the ‘cheque’ reimbursement, haven’t had cheques since many many years, but in the end, it worked just well with paypal)

Regards,
Micael

3

Hi Micael,

Thank you for the info, this is reassuring. I may consider the upgrade.

On the other hand I maintain this is extremely poorly handled by MCV; how come this info is not clearly written on the offer description ?

Thanks in any case!

4

Actually, I take what I just said back; I’m probably not going to upgrade.

Even if I were ready to pay $34 for “Priority Mail International”, despite the actual shipment being made in Germany*, where is it written that they won’t ship it from the US?
Cause if they do (which they are allowed to do), I will be stuck with having to pay import duties…or refuse my Vera.

In any case, nothing is indicated clearly.
Don’t get me wrong Micael, I believe you fully, and 30€ don’t make a big difference to me. I just don’t want to give money to a company that doesn’t care about adapting the fine print correctly ::slight_smile:

Kind regards,
Pierre

*since I am in Germany, the actual cost will be less than 10€

5

I just wanted to chime in and state that MCV does not have to offer any kind of upgrade. The fact that they are offering an upgrade is nice of them. Hopefully others here outside of the US can chime in on their experience with their upgrade.

  • Garrett
6

Thanks Garett, I fully agree !
And since they do, they surely have some interest in doing so, and in having large upgrade volumes.

This is why screwing up explanations for European customers doesn’t make sense. The upgrade offer is a sales offer, no more, no less…my criticism is something I humbly think they could learn from, that’s it.

I have no doubt about their good will, and I wouldn’t even care if the offer were limited to the US. But if you want to go international, do it properly and explain your procedure for each continent. That’s a friendly tip from an - admitedly too detail oriented :stuck_out_tongue: - customer.

7

[quote=“Pierre.bln, post:4, topic:172863”]Actually, I take what I just said back; I’m probably not going to upgrade.

Even if I were ready to pay $34 for “Priority Mail International”, despite the actual shipment being made in Germany*, where is it written that they won’t ship it from the US?[/quote]

I got this from MCV sales in a letter (where I specifically asked exactly the question that you where asking above). And yes, the “shipping cost” is high, but, like I stated - it is not just shipping cost. I think this is something MCV could be more honest/clear about.

In the end, I think that this is a cultural issue, in Europe we have different ways of the sales description. To some extent I think the consumer has stronger “rights” here when it comes to the sales process. You should, of course follow your heart, but in my book MCV did ok in the end.

Good luck,
Micael

8

Bring from Europe but having lived in the US for over 10 years I can see both sides.

It’s not all MCV as part of it is the way the EU works and shipping costs accross former borders in the EU are higher than they are within the US. (luckily no more currency conversions since the Euro) Also, MCV isn’t a huge company either so they are having to overcome obstacles without the same presence in Europe they have in the US.

Still, shipping my Vera2 back within the US set me back about $10 (utilizing our work UPS account which gives me a discount)

I’m still amused at the US being behind the curve on banking stuff compared to Europe. Here checks, drawn on your own bank, are still pretty common for a lot of people. But no such thing as Eurochecks. Still, apart from online banking, there is no US equivalent of dropping a set of transfer forms off at your bank to get your bills paid. If you want to do it the paper way, you have to send the payment stub to your creditor directly. Who has their bank get the money from yours. Luckily these days the vast majority of my bills are paid via online banking. It saves a fortune on stamps.

Having had a few bumps in my upgrade process I can testify to MCV’s level of customer service in trying to get it all right.

9

Well, with the Vera Lite sent within the EU, that would at least mean costs are under control:
($179+$34-$80)*0.77+8,60€ (ship. to Romania) = 111€ for a new Vera Lite.

But that doesn’t take away the fact that I would be officialy paying $34 for International (US to Europe) Shipping, and the official statement on MCV’s website is that they are shipping from the US ([url=http://micasaverde.com/europe.php]http://micasaverde.com/europe.php[/url]).
Again, I would be ready to pay $34 in “shipping, handing and custom taxes clearance” fees…whatever they want to call it, as long as I am sure I won’t have extra custom clearance fees to pay.
But as it is, I am rolling the dice: they are officially shipping it from the US, and I have to rely on comments here to believe that it will be sent within the EU instead.

I’ve had my Vera long enough to know MCV is not perfect, but I sincerely hope they will read this and clarifiy both their upgrade offers and their shop (incl. shipping indications in the shopping basket) to increase confidence for EU customers. The more they sell, the longer my device will be supported :wink:

As any geek - and as Micael said - I may still go with my heart with this upgrade ;D thank you all for your feedback!