Every country represents a different market with different levels of supply, demand and a whole host of other factors. Every business in the world sets it's prices based upon these factors. It seems a little economically naive to expect the price of a product to be a direct translation of the exchange rate in each country.

Look at the price of laptops, cameras or any other form of technology in the US versus the UK. It's almost always cheaper in the US. When my dad last visited me in New York from the UK, he bought a camera lens which was so much cheaper than it would have cost back home that it almost paid for his flight. And this lens wasn't manufactured here.

Well done Stockport, that was a well written e-mail.
 
At the end of the day guys, it's not about £11 lousy pounds or thereabouts but the fact that we've been offered a "loyalty upgrade" for $99!!!  So being loyal means we pay an additional premium?
 
Well, being OCD as I am and not particularly wishing to spend hours downloading, I like to purchase the media set so in that case, this whole package comes to £104!
 
Et Cetera a UK Cakewalk dealer are doing the whole package for £110 boxed, with disks, printed manual and VAT!  They also provide e-mail and phone support for UK customers direct!
 
So on that basis, for UK customers buying from the Cakewalk store doesn't compute.
 
In the past, I was offered X2 Pro as a loyalty upgrade for £39 and I snapped that up.  Now that's what I call looking after your customers so for the time being I'll wait until it drops sub-£50...
 
BTW 200bpm, most European's use Logic Pro or Cubase for that reason as they have multilingual staff and Sonar hardly gets a look-in so if Cakewalk want to break that market, they need to ensure they're being fair.
 
Also, Sharke I understand and accept what you're saying but we're talking about download software here which other than hosting fees, has little cost attached to it as there's no manufacturing, packaging or shipping costs, etc.  Also, you can't send an e-mail to overseas customers telling them that they can buy an upgrade for $99 and then charging more for having it in your own currency.
 
So, in that case let us UK/Euro folks buy it in dollars as I can tell you, my bank will charge 1 exact pound for such a transaction and I'll get the product at the near exact price.
 
Doing what Cakewalk have done is like me coming to the US and going to one of the shops you mentioned and for those same goods a salesman saying, "ah you're from the UK, well you can't have it at $99 but you can have it for $124", as that's the equivalent exchange rate which is being charged!!!

RickJP909

Also, Sharke I understand and accept what you're saying but we're talking about download software here which other than hosting fees, has little cost attached to it as there's no manufacturing, packaging or shipping costs, etc.  Also, you can't send an e-mail to overseas customers telling them that they can buy an upgrade for $99 and then charging more for having it in your own currency.

Think of it like this. The US price is a factor of the US market. Why wouldn't the UK price be a factor of the UK market? Regardless of it being a download, things are priced differently in different countries for reasons which aren't limited to shipping costs and taxes. But I agree, it's a bit off sending out emails to non-US users offering the price in dollars, if that's what they're doing. They should at least word the offer appropriately by country.

Stockport
 
Support failed to answer this second email. Seems they are more than happy to exploit their UK customer base and will continue to do so.

 
The math is a bit off, but at least they responded.  Also... keep in mind that Sonar upgrades are cheaaap compared to other sequencers.  AND they honor OLD versions of their software.  I just upgraded from SONAR XL to X3 Producer for $149, which included AD2, Melodyne, and several other plugs that can be used in other sequencers . Granted I gave Cakewalk a good bit of money for early versions of CWPA.  Other platforms penalize you heavily if you are more than one version old.  
 
For instance, I have been upgrading with Samplitude since v7, when the program used to cost $1000 (so Ive given them a ton of money.)  They recently lowered the price to $500 for ProX and they want $359 for my upgrade to stay in the "Pro" tier, which gives nothing but 64bit versions of plugs I already own.  Think about that.  I've probably given them $1500-2000 over the past 8 years or so, and to go from v11 to v12 they want another $359, when all v12 gives you over v11 is 64bit, and mild UI tweaks.  And if I don't upgrade now, the price will go to something like $600 (for the pro tier) if I wait until v13.
 
I think you should look at the big picture.  Cakewalk is upgrade friendly.

Man... People will quibble a lot over the price of a few beers!

Demand the coffee mug!!!

In my experience Cakewalk are the only company with pricing like this, maybe someone can give examples of others?

One thing to check out is who was the correspondence with? The person.
The upset is not with Cakewalk if the person you were in correspondence with could of very well of applied a total arbitrary to the situation.
I'd suggest checking this out on other external channels.
It is not uncommon for a new person at a job to make wreckless mistakes, in fact
in the competitive market the enemy within getting paid while underhandedly destroying a company is the subject of my latest book. 

Interesting.......we seem to have a divergence of opinion between those who feel exploited (UK/European Customers) and the US customers who are not being thus exploited and wonder why we should be making a fuss? Funny as I thought it a matter of common decency and respect to treat ALL customers in a just and equitable manner and as a matter not only of honour but of laws of offer and acceptance to fulfil the terms i.e. $99 or it's equivalent exchange rate. We are talking about a simple download no shipping or external factors.
 
BJN suggests the complaint may not lie with Cakewalk but it surely does! Cakewalk made an offer and then changed the terms to actively discriminate against non US customers.
 
I suggest that non US customers do not let the matter lie. I have still yet to receive a reply from Customer Services following my second email but will continue to pursue the matter. I can't help but feel that if the circumstances were reversed many of those who contributed above would be equally disgruntled! It's not a matter of it being 'the price of a few beers' it's about how you treat, engage, respect and further a loyal customer base.

Cakewalk responded:
 
and to avoid directly competing with local dealers.
 
Different markets have different rules.  If they want to grow their presence in UK based markets, they can't undercut UK-based shops.  Why would a UK store become a Cakewalk dealer if everyone could just order from their website directly for the same price?  You are disregarding the part of their answer that explains this practice.
 
Don't get your knickers in a twist.
 
 
 

"UK and speak English, funnily enough your country (USA I assume) inherited our language."
Never forget, we are two countries separated by a "common" language!

T