For the past week I’ve been testing help desk software. As such, I signed up for GrooveHQ’s “Free forever for 2 Users and 1 Mailbox” plan and after testing decided that the free forever offering would be useful, if only not to miss certain emails. There are a few companies out there confident enough about their services to offer a “Free forever” plan as a loss leader/freebie marketing. When I visited groovehq.net’s pricing page (screenshot at the end of article) they claimed to offer a free forever plan.

However, when I asked about falling back to the free forever plan the response was:

“Thanks for your note! Right now we have those details on the pricing page with a Free Plan and Paid Plan but we actually haven’t implemented the backend :) Testing to see if it’s gonna help with conversions first. Meantime, I just gave you another 60 days free until we have the limits coded in. Hope this helps!”

To which I responded:

“That sounds a bit misleading, no? What happens when it expires? So there’s no “Groove Free” as advertised? Just free as long as you extend the trial? Mailchimp has a similar setup but it’s actually free without hassle. Although it took me months to eventually subscribe I would have never tried Mailchimp or GrooveHQ for that matter if I’m not able to use the service as advertised for as long as I care to. That’s the bases for most free-to-use offers, it reflects great confidence in the value of your paid service.“

Next I was pointed to move on:

“Really sorry about being misleading here Hayden. We’re actually leaning towards not providing a free account, to be completely honest with you. Knowing that, I’d say it’s probably best you look else where. I’d suggest HelpScout.net, as they have a free plan.Thanks for checking us out though. Best, Alex”

Hit the max of 2000 characters. Full post continued here: https://haydenjames.io/groovehq-not-free-forever/