Owned copy of the software - what is happening?

[isdoo]

I am very confused by the email that says that WHMCS is no longer supporting owned copies. 

What are our options? 

Why is there no warning? 

Very confused? 

[Ithiel]

Basically, we're all being forced onto plans that are an order of magnitude more expensive with zero days notice.

It's flat out fraud. We paid for a lifetime owned licence and have been paying our annual support fees for a decade, and these greedy bastards have decided that the middle of a pandemic is the perfect time to screw us all over.

[BigFoot]

So, let me get this straight.....

We took a chance years ago to support a budding WHMCS by shelling out for a lifetime license.

THEN, we pay our annual support fees for YEARS,

NOW, we are being forced to pay monthly?  What the hell man, this is how you treat your early adopters and supporters?

This is very cPanelish in that loyal customers are just being made to swallow higher prices as a reward for their loyalty.......

Edited April 6, 2021 by BigFoot

[Ithiel]

11 minutes ago, BigFoot said:

So, let me get this straight.....

We took a chance years ago to support a budding WHMCS by shelling out for a lifetime license.

NOW, we are being forced to pay monthly?  What the hell man, this is how you treat your early adopters and supporters?

Yes. They're forcing people who purchased a lifetime licence of a product that they still sell and support to repurchase that product on a subscription with worse terms and exponentially higher pricing.

It's a s-c-a-m and it's fraud. I hope those of you in the US can get a class action going against these asshats.

Edited April 6, 2021 by Ithiel
Apparently "s c a m" is censored... Ironic.

[isdoo]

This is dreadful and surely is against our agreement. 

[mbino]

Disturbing and unacceptable news.

class action time?

Edited April 6, 2021 by mbino

[isdoo]

Of course these posts will all be removed 😞

[krokos]

This is a flat out rip-off! I have purchased a LIFETIME OWNED LICENSE and I expect WHMCS to honour that agreement! I have been paying the annual support for YEARS too! 

Any suggestions to migrate to? 

[SwiftModders]

Absolutely disgraceful. As a developer of WHMCS products, you've not only hurt your clients but also handicapped developers with these outrageous fees. Will be re-evaluating many aspects of our business and our support for WHMCS moving forward.

[Ithiel]

4 minutes ago, mbino said:

Class action time!

Damn straight! Forcing people to repurchase a lifetime licence they already own on a worse subscription for exponentially more money... That's fraud.

[keencs]

There is nothing in the terms about lifetime license possibly ending at some point... this seems like fraud.

[blustic]

I’m just SHOCKED by the total disrespect.

I have literally NO WORDS.

I’m definitely seeking for an internal solution for our needs. I can no longer TRUST such a disrespectful company.  Just disgusting.

[Plambee]

I really don't know what to say, the abolition of the owned licenses is a big problem for WHMCS developers, but at the same time they increase the prices for the licenses, for me that's a price increase of 900%. How is this supposed to work?

[zitu4life]

Where can this notice be found? By email?

[gijs007]

I was angry that my owned lifetime license is no longer valid, and have to migrate to a monthly license.
But then I read this:

This is outrageous. I will stick with my owned license and look for options to migrate to another product.

[BigFoot]

Getting a 403 Forbidden from my IP now....

[dgbaker]

So been a faithful client for 14+ years and this is how they reward that loyalty?  Time to start evaluating other solutions and show them what we think of their new licensing.

[UnwilfulExpenditure]

22 minutes ago, SwiftModders LLC said:

Absolutely disgraceful. As a developer of WHMCS products, you've not only hurt your clients but also handicapped developers with these outrageous fees. Will be re-evaluating many aspects of our business and our support for WHMCS moving forward.

Love your work - Please send an email with whatever platform you move to! It will be a big factor in my decision!

[perdtmdehwhp]

I have had an owned license for years, that I just paid the annual support back in 2020.     

I just read this email minutes ago about the discontinuation of owned license support.  Just Terrible.   

My support expires in July.   I will start looking for alternatives by then.  I did the same with CPANEL, when they force everyone to their "new price model".    I'm using VIRTUALMIN for 1 year already, and VERY happy with it.  Some things are manually managed, yes, not that easy as Cpanel, but still worth it.    I will do the same for the billing platform.

[wsa]

19 minutes ago, zitu4life said:

Where can this notice be found? By email?

https://assets.whmcs.com/customer-licensing-guide-2021.pdf

[Remitur]

Just received from WHMCS:

 

Quote

Hello,

We are writing to you to let you know about important changes to owned licenses. Today we are discontinuing owned license support. What this means for you and your existing owned license is as follows:

• Your WHMCS owned license will continue to function as it does today. You may continue to run your WHMCS installation using the owned license for as long as you would like.
• You will not be able to purchase or renew support for your owned WHMCS license, effective immediately.
• If you have an active support agreement with WHMCS for your owned license, we will continue to honor that support agreement until its expiration.

If you do not have support for your WHMCS owned license, and you require product support or you would like to upgrade to a current version, you will need to upgrade to our standard license model. You can obtain a standard license by logging into the WHMCS customer portal (https://www.whmcs.com/members).

Keep innovating, building, developing, designing, and hosting, and know that we continue to make investments to improve everyone's WHMCS experience.

If you require assistance with our standard license model and what license is best suited for you, we are here to help. You can contact Customer Service by opening a ticket at https://www.whmcs.com/submit-a-ticket

- The WHMCS Team

( Did I already write that  oakey capital is unpleasant to me? )

[brian!]

Quote

We are writing to you to let you know about important changes to owned licenses. Today we are discontinuing owned license support. What this means for you and your existing owned license is as follows:

• Your WHMCS owned license will continue to function as it does today. You may continue to run your WHMCS installation using the owned license for as long as you would like.
• You will not be able to purchase or renew support for your owned WHMCS license, effective immediately.
• If you have an active support agreement with WHMCS for your owned license, we will continue to honor that support agreement until its expiration.
• If you do not have support for your WHMCS owned license, and you require product support or you would like to upgrade to a current version, you will need to upgrade to our standard license model. You can obtain a standard license by logging into the WHMCS customer portal (https://www.whmcs.com/members).

and the related kb article...

Quote

Support and Updates

Support and Updates was part of a legacy "Owned" license type which was removed from sale in 2016 and licenses grandfathered. As of 6th April 2021, Support and Updates have been discontinued and are no longer available. It determines eligibility to receive technical support and software updates. The following does not apply to monthly leased licenses.

Can I continue using the software once my Support and Updates subscription expires?

Yes. Owned licenses do not expire, even if the support and updates agreement has lapsed. You can still keep the license and even keep running and using our software at the current version for an unlimited number of client accounts.

Access to downloads from our website, software updates, or contact our support teams will be restricted.

How do I access new software versions once lapsed?

Accessing new software updates and technical support is a quick three step process:

1. Purchase a new monthly license via: https://www.whmcs.com/pricing/
2. Login to your WHMCS administration area and navigate to ? > License Information
3. Click the Change License Key button, enter your newly issued license key and click Change License Key.

What about Security Updates?

Security related updates are provided free of charge to all license holders. These do not require an active Support and Updates subscription and are available to download, install and run even should your Support and Updates subscription has lapsed.

Please Note: Long Term Support policy rules do still apply, and you can only run the versions up to and including the latest available minor version at the time your Support and Updates access expired.

explains why transferring owned licenses was stopped months ago.... i've still got an owned license, but I haven't used it in years - I haven't paid a penny direct to WHMCS in six years, and knowing the disgrace of what's been going on in the Support department for the last few years, that's not going to change...

35 minutes ago, isdoo said:

Of course these posts will all be removed 😞

not removed... consolidated into one thread, but some posts will remarkably fall through the gaps and never be seen again.... I imagine the threads on WHT will be the easiest location to say whatever needs to be said.

33 minutes ago, SwiftModders LLC said:

Absolutely disgraceful. As a developer of WHMCS products, you've not only hurt your clients but also handicapped developers with these outrageous fees. Will be re-evaluating many aspects of our business and our support for WHMCS moving forward.

so true - the more money WHMCS users have to spend on the core product, the less they can spend on addons, customisations etc.... I can see a lot of developers moving on due to this ridiculous change.... and a lot of users switching to nulled options... *sighs*

I will need to have a think over the Summer about whether it's worth carrying on supporting this nonsense - these forums have been dying over the last few years due to the neglect / incompetence of those in charge... the product is going nowhere... sadly, neither situation is going to improve any time soon.

Edited April 6, 2021 by brian!

[UnwilfulExpenditure]

1 minute ago, brian! said:

and the related kb article...

explains why transferring owned licenses was stopped months ago.... i've still got an owned license, but I haven't used it in years - I haven't paid a penny direct to WHMCS in six years, and knowing the disgrace of what's been going on in the Support department for the last few years, that's not going to change...

not removed... consolidated into one thread, but some posts will remarkably fall through the gaps and never be seen again.... I imagine the threads on WHT will be the easiest location to say whatever needs to be said.

so true - the more money WHMCS users have to spend on the core product, the less they can spend on addons, customisations etc.... I can see a lot of developers moving on due to this ridiculous change.... and a lot of users switching to nulled options... *sighs*

I will need to have a think over the Summer about whether it's worth carrying on supporting this nonsense - these forums have been dying over the last few years due to the neglect / incompetence of those in charge... the product is going nowhere... sadly, neither situation is going to improve any time soon.

Brian, For many moons I have enjoyed your sense of humour - even before I began posting! I could not agree more! I was kind of hoping they were going to start paying you with these price rises as you seem to fix everyone's issue here before they do with an update 🙂

[wsa]

That true Brain & no response from whmcs.com about this 

[brian!]

there are 101 different threads on this now - read them all now while you have the chance before their eventual deletion.