melody carlson bundle - disillusioned

Christmas at Harringtons was free a while back, Christmas Dog is free today. If you have both these, and want the other books, it's cheaper to buy them separately, 11.99 and 4.49, (=16.48) than as part of the bundle at 26.83, which claims to be a $22 saving! Again, I feel this is below the high ethical standard I normally expect from Logos. If you didn't get Christmas at Harringtons and want it, you do save about $2 (not, according to my calculation, $22) by buying the bundle.

I do appreciate the free books, but not the sales claims

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Simon’s Brother

Christmas at Harringtons was free a while back, Christmas Dog is free today. If you have both these, and want the other books, it's cheaper to buy them separately, 11.99 and 4.49, (=16.48) than as part of the bundle at 26.83, which claims to be a $22 saving! Again, I feel this is below the high ethical standard I normally expect from Logos. If you didn't get Christmas at Harringtons and want it, you do save about $2 (not, according to my calculation, $22) by buying the bundle.

I do appreciate the free books, but not the sales claims

I was speaking with a fellow Logos user a Church on Sunday, we are both becoming disillusioned with Logos whole marketing approach over the last year or so -its too much in your face, too much hidden truth - as I mentioned in another post else where sadly I never believe their percentage off claims any more because they are no real, but percentage off list price. Before buying from a Logos sale always use Google to check a cached copy of the product page to find out the real saving sometimes it can be as little as $10 off Logos normal retail price, and rather than the 50% off the list price..... your example is what I would expect from the New Logos Marketing Machine - just because it is permissible doesn't make it a good thing or a good look ...

JT (alabama24)

Nicky - What is deceptive about it? If you don't own those books, and want to buy them, then you get the discount mentioned? Seems pretty straight forward to me! If you already own some of the titles, then the bundle might not be the best option for you. It is not a matter of being deceptive at all. Your comments are quite unfair.

DMB

Well, I'm not in the business of defending Logos, but to give them credit, the more recent ads (that I've seen) do now have 'retail', 'regular' and 'sale' which is fair enough (seems).

The problem with bundles (I think anyway) is a database problem. I could be badly wrong. But I used to be involved with managing large pricing databases and quite frankly the errors quite often were in favor of the customer. I don't know in Logos' case, but it's easy to imagine how they can get out of line. I've made my complaints previously, some bundles being cheaper than individual resources and visa versa.

That said, the tenor of Logos does bother me and I guess I'll be taking a hit here on the forum. I'd planned to take advantage of the Christmas credits, but I've held off. I don't begrudge Logos' practices any more than any other business. But for whatever reason it doesn't seem right and I'll likely forego purchases for a while. Probably cost me but I view integrity as a luxury not to waste.

Brian Williams

Christmas at Harringtons was free a while back, Christmas Dog is free today. If you have both these, and want the other books, it's cheaper to buy them separately, 11.99 and 4.49, (=16.48) than as part of the bundle at 26.83, which claims to be a $22 saving! Again, I feel this is below the high ethical standard I normally expect from Logos. If you didn't get Christmas at Harringtons and want it, you do save about $2 (not, according to my calculation, $22) by buying the bundle.

I do appreciate the free books, but not the sales claims

Nicky,

I apologize if you feel that the sales claims are below Logos' standard. The savings that we are referencing on Vyrso total the normal retail price of the four ebooks (The Christmas Dog $5.99, An Irish Christmas $5.99, Christmas at Harrington's $15.99, and The Treasure of Christmas $19.99) and subtract the current Vyrso price (The Christmas Dog Free, An Irish Christmas $4.49, Christmas at Harrington's $9.59, and The Treasure of Christmas $11.99) which totals to a savings of $21.89 (not the previously listed $22). We made a mistake on the price that was listed for An Irish Christmas which caused for a miscalculation in the total cost and savings. I apologize for this mistake, and appreciate you making us aware of the problem

Again I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused, please let me know if there is anything I can do to help alleviate your concerns.

Brian Williams

Vyrso Product Manager

nicky crane

Nicky - What is deceptive about it? If you don't own those books, and want to buy them, then you get the discount mentioned? Seems pretty straight forward to me! If you already own some of the titles, then the bundle might not be the best option for you. It is not a matter of being deceptive at all. Your comments are quite unfair.

Alabama,firstly, I much appreciate the trouble you took helping me get my keyboard back, which was an iPad problem, not even a Logos problem. Less positively, where did I say vyrso's bundle pricing was deceptive? I feel you are being unfair here, not I!

Brian, thank you for taking the trouble to respond and explain. If vyrso could do as logos has done in some cases, giving retail, regular and sale prices, this might clear up misunderstandings and win further goodwill.

JT (alabama24)

where did I say vyrso's bundle pricing was deceptive?

Nicky - You did not use the term "deceptive." Sorry. Perhaps I misunderstood you:

I feel this is below the high ethical standard I normally expect from Logos.

nicky crane

Maybe you read my thoughts. Apology accepted! I was trying to be fair. I now understand that the saving is on someone else's retail price, not on the vyrso price. I hope they'll make this clear for others who are no more perceptive than I. Incidentally I have noticed vyrso is sometimes cheaper than amazon kindle.

Mike Childs

I was speaking with a fellow Logos user a Church on Sunday, we are both becoming disillusioned with Logos whole marketing approach over the last year or so -its too much in your face, too much hidden truth -

I have complained about this, too. However, I really think that Logos is listening to us. Recent advertising gives the real price and the sale price so everything is out in the open. That is all anyone can fairly ask of them.

I love Logos software, but I am not a "fan boy" of any company. It doesn't help Logos to pretend there hasn't hasn't been a problem in their advertising. That is counter-productive. But I give them kudos for listening and correcting the problem. I do think Logos tries to listen to the customers and do the right thing. It is certainly to their advantage to do so. After all, to try and convince a customer that his complaint is not valid is a big step towards going out of business. Logos is too smart for that.

Steve Robinson

For me the issue is as much a "math/marketing" thing as it is a "theoretical savings" issue.

Today's "Inspirational Bundle," for example. If you factor in that one of the four books is available for free, the total normal purchase price of the other three on Vyrso is $17.22 ($6.74 + $7.49 + $2.99), the exact same amount as the one-day "bundle" price. That's been a pretty consistent pattern, so regardless of how you feel about the savings being advertised, in reality Logos/Vyrso is providing absolutely no value / advantage / urgency in purchasing the bundles. (If my logic/math is wrong, please correct me.) While I've been looking forward to maybe seeing a bundle of Swindoll books and ones from some other "Christian Living" authors, if I can get one of the books free and pick up the rest later with the same bottom line impact on my wallet, that, unfortunately, is what I will keep doing.

Steve R.

Added: Lest I seem in any way ungrateful for the free books, I am not. Thank you Logos/Vyrso team for offering these gifts. I TRULY acknowledge and appreciate them! I was simply providing feedback on how the bundle aspect of the Christmas promotion met (or in this case, didn't) my personal expectations.

nicky crane

Steve, exactly! With Logos 12 days of Christmas you can see at once what you'd be saving. With Vyrso I need to research. I do appreciate the free books, but the bundles don't inspire me to buy.

Ann Hudson

For me the issue is as much a "math/marketing" thing as it is a "theoretical savings" issue.

Today's "Inspirational Bundle," for example. If you factor in that one of the four books is available for free, the total normal purchase price of the other three on Vyrso is $17.22 ($6.74 + $7.49 + $2.99), the exact same amount as the one-day "bundle" price. That's been a pretty consistent pattern, so regardless of how you feel about the savings being advertised, in reality Logos/Vyrso is providing absolutely no value / advantage / urgency in purchasing the bundles. (If my logic/math is wrong, please correct me.) While I've been looking forward to maybe seeing a bundle of Swindoll books and ones from some other "Christian Living" authors, if I can get one of the books free and pick up the rest later with the same bottom line impact on my wallet, that, unfortunately, is what I will keep doing.

Steve R.

Added: Lest I seem in any way ungrateful for the free books, I am not. Thank you Logos/Vyrso team for offering these gifts. I TRULY acknowledge and appreciate them! I was simply providing feedback on how the bundle aspect of the Christmas promotion met (or in this case, didn't) my personal expectations.

[Y][Y] Spot on, mate!! I too am not inspired in the packages, and would also pick up the titles singularly later on.

Simon’s Brother

I was speaking with a fellow Logos user a Church on Sunday, we are both becoming disillusioned with Logos whole marketing approach over the last year or so -its too much in your face, too much hidden truth -

I have complained about this, too. However, I really think that Logos is listening to us. Recent advertising gives the real price and the sale price so everything is out in the open. That is all anyone can fairly ask of them.

I love Logos software, but I am not a "fan boy" of any company. It doesn't help Logos to pretend there hasn't hasn't been a problem in their advertising. That is counter-productive. But I give them kudos for listening and correcting the problem. I do think Logos tries to listen to the customers and do the right thing. It is certainly to their advantage to do so. After all, to try and convince a customer that his complaint is not valid is a big step towards going out of business. Logos is too smart for that.

Michael very recently they have changed this, because it did not happen in the October sales, and its not just this point, but their whole approach to marketing has gone in over drive - yes they are a business and need sales - I get that having worked in retail all my working life - but there is a line where you can just take it a bit to far - saturation point - and Logos is over that line at the moment for my liking

...- other's may think otherwise - each to their own as long as we are all allowed to express our opinion - Logos are big enough to take what customer feedback they want to act on - its not a question of loyalty to Logos its a question of consumer response to a retailer's marketing strategies - and that will vary.

(Michael I have no issue with your reponse to my comments)

Brian Williams

Thank you for your feedback on the December Deal bundles. We have done our best to implement your feedback in our http://vyrso.com/12days bundles (displaying the retail and sale prices of each bundle).

We currently do not have the ability to discount the price on many of the ebooks beyond our current sale prices. Unless there is an agreement made with the publisher, which we have done for sales like 12 days, we do not have the ability to discount the prices any more. For the time being, the bundles are simply a number of ebooks that we think pair well with one of our free ebooks.