« Reply #19 on: Tuesday 03 May 22 00:56 BST (UK) »
It seems that nearly every company is jumping on the "subscription model" way of doing business. After all, it brings in loads of money for them doing virtually nothing.
You think you have paid for something, but the small print says that it isn't yours at all. You just have a licence to use it until the manufacturer says otherwise.
Bought an exercise bike or treadmill from that company with loads of telly ads? No you haven't. If you don't pay the monthly sub, the brakes are jammed on.
Bought a Toyota in the last couple of years? The heated seats don't work after the "introductory period" unless you pay monthly.
Of course, should the outfit involved go bust, everyone using their products has useless kit on their hands, because the needed servers will be switched off. There are already people with heart pacemakers which can no longer be monitored or adjusted.
That more or less describes the situation that large and small companies found themselves in who had bought commercial copying machines in the 1980s-1990s. The machines weren't cheap but the purchasing contract had the clause that the seller regularly maintained the machines. Along with the annual maintenance fee was the inclusion of twopence per copy that had been run off during the period in between maintenance visits.
We were lucky in that our maintenance provider folded and declared themselves bankrupt and their company's contracts were taken taken over by one of the directors (name of Robin Banks). He submitted his Business Terms and Conditions which quoted the increased price of three pence per copy. By rights he should have quoted the same price that each customer had been paying, but by demanding an increased maintenance price he was outside the law and we were freeeeeeeeee.
Aberdeen: Findlay-Shirras,McCarthy: MidLothian: Mason,Telford,Darling,Cruikshanks,Bennett,Sime, Bell: Lanarks:Crum, Brown, MacKenzie,Cameron, Glen, Millar; Ross: Urray:Mackenzie: Moray: Findlay; Marshall/Marischell: Perthshire: Brown Ferguson: Wales: McCarthy, Thomas: England: Almond, Askin, Dodson, Well(es). Harrison, Maw, McCarthy, Munford, Pye, Shearing, Smith, Smythe, Speight, Strike, Wallis/Wallace, Ward, Wells;Germany: Flamme,Ehlers, Bielstein, Germer, Mohlm, Reupke
