One of the problems I found in the Free model was that even though you claim something is free, a lot of times there are hidden costs, so in reality, it’s not. What a way to lore someone into something, by telling them that it’s free and then charge their credit card. As I was watching TV, a commercial came on that reminded me of this model. It was some watch for senior citizens that is basically a GPS so they can find you when you get lost and it can call out I guess to some type of emergency service if something goes wrong. In the commercial, it says if you are 62 years of age or older, then the watch is free BUT you have to pay a little over a dollar a day for it (the service). So basically, it’s free but it’s not. I’d much rather someone be upfront with me and say, “look, you need to pay,” versus someone telling me it’s free and then throwing in a bunch of extra fees.
–Shannon
Shannon,
I definitely agree. It’d be a nice for a company to be honest for a change and be upfront with the charges surrounding the product. It would also save our eyesight from having to squint to read the fine print!