ISailor charts now charging annual subscription

[Travis63]

Originally Posted by Moody Mike

Well we have had a bit if a win i recieved this email & theres more coming
We have received a lot of comments about our recent iSailor update. As always, community feedback is tremendously important to us, thank you for voicing your opinion. We do appreciate that.

We want to provide some context around these changes.
Why the change

While our existing model has worked well for thousands of customers, and us, it has certain drawbacks in terms of our obligations to Hydrographic Offices and the whole charts production infrastructure, that we have been addressing for quite some time, based on the various feedback we received.

To continue providing you with reliable service, worldwide chart collection, and chart updates, we decided to change our model. We believe that such a model is more sustainable in the long run and will allow us to continue making iSailor great for you.

Our terms have always stated that charges are subject to change. In hindsight, we should have provided notice of these changes much further in advance, so we apologize for that.

All your purchased chart folios remain available, and you can continue using them for as long as you wish to. You can find information on how to restore previously purchased charts here =>

Our customers expect professional support from our team. That is why we have a dedicated support team at isailor.support@wartsila.com that will be happy to assist with all your queries.

As we continue to evolve the iSailor application, we plan to release lots of new features, for instance, the Autorouting feature is planned to be released in the first half of 2019.

One of the top goals at iSailor has always been to provide our users with the best possible experience, both regarding the product and the services surrounding it.
If you have any further questions, please send an email to isailor.support@wartsila.com, and we’ll be happy to answer!

iSailor team

This is a complete load of hooey. If covering the cost of updates was the issue, they could have charged a much smaller fee. But what they’re charging is almost equivalent to the original - very high - cost when buying the charts in the first place. And there’s the rub. Those of us who used iSailor paid prices that were much higher than a Navionics subscription, in the belief that we would never have to pay subscription fees. I personally spent hundreds of dollars on charts with iSailor, only to now be told that if I want to update them, I will have to buy them all over again.

To add insult to injury, when Wartsila announced their new subscription model, the Chart Store in the app revealed that my current charts had already “expired,” back in March 2018.

And the line about a “dedicated support team” is utter crap. I and many other users have written to that email address and have received zero response.

[duncanmckenzie]

Today I wrote to Wartsila as follows:

Dear iSailor Legal Department,

I have written to you previously about your company's revised terms on chart updates.

These terms are illegal and effectively break the binding terms of the contract that is established by clients who have purchased charts on the prior terms : 'free updates'.

Having new owners does not in any way dispense with the binding nature of the contract that is established by a consumer's purchase on the original terms, and it is fantasy to think otherwise, and an unfortunate step with what is otherwise a good and competitive product.

I note your recent email offering an attempt at a 'Christmas bonus'. This is a cynical ploy. You are skirting around the real issue, which is that you have reneged on your binding contract that the law has designed to protect consumers, in this case current owners of isailor charts.

This is illegal, and would be overturned in any jurisdiction's consumer court.

I suggest you offer your clients who already own charts continued updates in perpetuity, or you will never hear the end of it, on principle, since you are breaking the law.

I ask you again, kindly supply the postal address of your head office so that I may begin proceedings against this wrongdoing.

Yours sincerely

[duncanmckenzie]

I also wrote to iTunes today at this link: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=..._AlnHcWr9Ss7C8


This electronic navigational chart (and about 15 others that I have purchased over the last 5 years through iTunes to the value of several hundred GBP) was purchased on the terms of free updates to those charts in perpetuity.
Recently, late November 2018, the company Transas iSailor, became Wartsila iSailor, has suddenly decided to take away the free updates that were given with every purchase. In effect they are breaking their contract, and there is uproar on the sailing forum, their Facebook page etc.
Customers have rightly pointed out that they paid more for these charts than the competitor's charts, for the specific reason that updates to these charts were free for the future. I wrote to iSailor about this and have had no reply. I wrote to them again today but thought that you ought to know, since the ball may lie in your court.
My letter of today to iSailor sent by email to isailor.support@wartsila.com:

Dear iSailor Legal Department,

I have written to you previously about your company's revised terms on chart updates.

These terms are illegal and effectively break the binding terms of the contract that is established by clients who have purchased charts on the prior terms : 'free updates'.

Having new owners does not in any way dispense with the binding nature of the contract that is established by a consumer's purchase on the original terms, and it is fantasy to think otherwise, and an unfortunate step with what is otherwise a good and competitive product.

I note your recent email offering an attempt at a 'Christmas bonus'. This is a cynical ploy. You are skirting around the real issue, which is that you have reneged on your binding contract that the law has designed to protect consumers, in this case current owners of isailor charts.

This is illegal, and would be overturned in any jurisdiction's consumer court.

I suggest you offer your clients who already own charts continued updates in perpetuity, or you will never hear the end of it, on principle, since you are breaking the law.

I ask you again, kindly supply the postal address of your head office so that I may begin proceedings against this wrongdoing.

Yours sincerely


So iTunes: kindly advise me of my legal position. I want to continue using the product that I have paid for, on the terms I have paid for. I have invested in this product having weighed up the market, and do not expect to have a binding contract broken by the supplier.

[Moody Mike]

Hi Duncan
I look forward to your reply from both Wartsila & Apple. others have told me if you take the free update offer you get stuck with the thr new subs & charts run out so I wont be taking it. None of my charts have an update star at the moment. I have most charts to circumnavigate the world. So it would cost me thousands to update each year.
Mike

[Emouchet]

Originally Posted by Moody Mike

Hi Duncan
if you take the free update offer you get stuck with the thr new subs & charts run out

What do you mean by run out ? This is worrying me now. Does it means that in August 2019, updated charts because unavailable ?

[steehl]

We won! Wärtsilä has announced, that all previously bought charts will be updated for free in the future.

https://www.facebook.com/Wartsila.iSailor/


I updated my charts and at least currently there is nothing indicating that my update subscription is limited.



Thanks to everybody fighting for it!

[Moody Mike]

Well we have won thanks to all of you who helped keep up the pressure on Wartsila . This has made my Christmas . When I started this thread I did not expect to recieve this level of support. Thank you all so much. I suppose the motto of this story is you dont piss off a sailor 😀

[duncanmckenzie]

That is great! We will keep an eye on the situation, but so far so good!

[Tofoa.Felix]

This is indeed a satisfactory, and fair, outcome. But one has to be surprised that Wartsila could not foresee the unhappiness retrospectively imposing annual, and very high, subscription charges on those who had previously purchased charts in the belief that they would not have to pay anything else in the future. If the charge had only been a couple of dollars maybe no one would’ve complained.

[Tofoa.Felix]

And all my charts have just updated without charge.

[Moody Mike]

Yes im very happy with the outcome why they didnt forsee the outrage is anyone’s guess . The decision would have been made in a board room by members used to dealing with commercial shipping . They missjudged their market as most of their customers are pleasure craft. They were trying to sell at Work boat trade fairs & work boats dont use Ipads to navigate they have plotters even on my boat Isailor is a backup.
Im sure a few butts were kicked & bonuses lost but thats what happens when you take your customers for granted.They learnt quick & fixed the problem which is great.
I went to the App store & edited my review.
They are back in my good books
😉👍

[Dsanduril]

Wasn't quite sure how I missed this thread, but then I realized we were crossing the Atlantic! Left Cape Town a week before all of this started, didn't have much data in St. Helena and Ascension, and by the time we got to the Caribbean it was all over. Want to offer thanks to all of you here and on Facebook and the iTunes store who fought the good fight. I really like iSailor and the free updates were one of the selling features. If only I'd known in advance there are a couple more folios I'd have purchased before the deadline

I'd always thought that we recreational users got free updates as a byproduct of Transas' ECDIS market (they have ~35% market share). They have to update for ECDIS and we came along for the ride. In return for the free nature we got the 'not for navigation' warning that doesn't come with a real ECDIS. We'll see how that plays with Wartsila. Seems like it might be cheaper to skip subscriptions and buy the charts/folios new every two, three, or four years (especially if they continue to have folio sales from time to time), guess we'll see if Wartsila figures that out in pricing.

[deathcruzer]

You can download the chart and it comes with a year of updates, then cancel the subscription. As I understand it you can still access the chart but with no further updates until you subscribe to the particular chart again. So its a buy with 1 year of updates. That doesn't sound so unreasonable....A bit like buying a paper chart. I will only subscribe if i feel i need to update my sailing area. Busy shipping lanes etc. But free updates is something they shouldn’t have removed. Look after your customers and they will look after you. Its a policy they should remember.

[Adamaris]

Like others I purchased several chart folios from Transas/isailor, paying a higher price for the charts on the basis that updates would be free from then on.

Along came Wartsila. After an initial effort to extort update fees from existing customers they backed off after the outcry of criticism, apparently they were honouring the agreement made when we purchased the charts. Unfortunately they are now back rattling their begging bowl, from Jan 2020 they are going to charge everyone for updates, no matter what the agreement when you purchased the charts.

Quite disgusted by their screw the old customers business model, there is no way I'm going to pay up. Ive initiated a complaint with Apple but dont expect much support from them.

I refuse to reward Wartsila and as there is a new app which seems as good as if not better I dont have to pay.The new app is TZiboat, the interface seems more intuitive, at least for me and the purchase price of the charts is similar to the prices I paid for isailor. It may be a subscription service but at least they are upfront about it.

[bensolomon]

I really like isailor, and use it on my iPad as my sole chart plotter, and have for years, sailing all over. I certainly understand the disdain for paying constantly. That said, it gives me great confidence that the charts are updated. For the record, I have paper charts for every area I sail.