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Upgrade immediately without prorating?

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alex

28 Dec, 2010 10:43 PM

We're preparing to roll out CheddarGetter support in our applications. We have multiple payment tiers that increase in price as the number of allowed tracked items increases. Lower payment tiers have higher overages, because our lower volume customers derive higher value per tracked item than do our higher volume customers. We allow customers to change their plan mid-cycle in the event that they are using too many tracked items and need more. This is required because of the discrepancy in overage costs between our low and high tiers.

One concern that has been raised is that customers could easily take advantage of that upgrade capability by starting on our lowest priced tier at the beginning of the month, moving to the next higher tier after the first week, then the next higher tier the following week and so-on. At the end of the month, they will be allowed the same number of tracked items as if they had started the month on the highest tier, but will have paid substantially less.

The ideal way, at least for us, to avoid being taken advantage of in this way would be to withhold proration when a plan is changed mid-cycle. If a customer wants to upgrade mid-cycle, they'll have to pay the price of the higher plan for the entire month. Naturally, we could write the code necessary to handle this scenario ourselves, but it we'd be much happier to simply check a box to disable proration for our plans.

Presumably you have thought more about this than we have. Is there a reason, other than priority, that you didn't include this feature? If not, are you amenable to adding it in the future?

Thanks.
Alex

1. Support Staff 1 Posted by Marc Guyer on 29 Dec, 2010 03:50 PM

   

   I might be missing something here but it sounds to me like you would like to simply disable prorating on your plans. This is possible in the plan config. I've attached a screenshot of the current settings on a plan on one of your product accounts (I'm not sure which one you're inquiring about specifically). Switching to "bill new amount on next billing date" disables prorating.
   

   Have you seen this article? http://support.cheddargetter.com/kb/pricing-plans/pricing-plan-chan....
   

   If I'm missing something, please describe in more detail the behavior you'd like to see. Thanks!

   • Screen_shot_2010-12-29_at_10.46.00_AM.png 50.7 KB
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2. 2 Posted by alex on 29 Dec, 2010 04:28 PM

   

   We're looking for the ability to change to a different plan, without prorating and without waiting for the next billing date. The same as the "simple" upgrade/downgrade with the added step of charging or crediting the customer the difference between plans.

   For upgrades:

   1. May 8 — Jill is on Plan A and is billed $45
   2. May 20 — Jill changes to Plan B and is immediately charged the difference between Plan A and Plan B: $35.
   3. June 8 — Jill is on Plan B and is billed $80

   For downgrades:

   1. May 8 — Jill is on Plan B and is billed $80
   2. May 20 — Jill changes to Plan A and is immediately credited the difference between Plan B and Plan A: $35
   3. June 8 — Jill is on Plan A and is billed $45
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3. Dean closed this discussion on 16 Jan, 2013 04:02 PM.