Upcoming Changes to Chess.com Memberships

also, FYI, prices are NOT final, but this is the current plan:

gold
$2.49 a month paid in 1 yearly payment (12x$2.49 = $29.88)
$4.99 a month paid monthly

platinum
$3.99 a month paid in 1 yearly payment (12x$2.49 = $47.88)
$5.99 a month paid monthly

diamond
$7.99 a month paid in 1 yearly payment (12x$7.99 = $95.88)
$12.99 a month paid monthly

at these prices if you were a platinum member who was paying for chess mentor monthly, you will be saving $140 a year if you switch to yearly diamond!

we really are cutting prices a lot. maybe too much... are we crazy??

Hey, It's CRAZY ERIK'S CHESS SITE! OUR PRICES ARE LOW LOW LOW!! Even the founder of the site himself says "we really are cutting prices a lot. maybe too much... are we crazy??".

I am terribly sorry for that burst of cheesy humor. Just couldn't resist. But on a serious note, this is by far the nicest/most developed/best community chess site out there -- people, please don't complain (note: legitimate questions about upcoming changes do not apply to my tiny rant here, just unjustified whiners)...Erik at al. are doing their absolute most to keep this the best site there is. Just be quiet and be thankful.

So if I go diamond now I will have a lifetime membership and with the new changes I will get chess mentor for free as well?????

yep, but that chance goes away soon.

So If I pay 500U$S today I will get a lifetime membership now and free chess mentor for life later???

Buying a Diamond membership now will pay itself off after 5 years, until then buying it yearly with the new changes will still allow the same features without the same capital investment.

I am going to wait until the features are in place before deciding what to upgrade to as I want to see just how much regularly I would use the Chess Mentor and how many Tactics Trainer problems I do.  I can see it likely that I will get a diamond membership though as $95.88 per year isn't a great deal when you're talking about something that you spend most of your woken, non-working time doing.  I also like to support the staff who have worked very hard to make all this possible and continue to add new features!

Thanks Erik and Staff!

PS:  Before asking a question please read ALL the posts in this thread.  Some people are asking the same questions as already asked and it's making it unnecesarily annoying to read through.

Thanks,

A

I hate to say it, but any time you change/restrict terms on a subcription plan within the term of the subscription, you are begging for a class action lawsuit.   Spring Street Networks did that with Nerve.com and got hit with a class action immediately and was forced to settle.

('m not saying anyone should do this, though.  I really love the site.)

Orejano, that's what he's saying... but on Monday, the deal may vanish.

One more question.  I have a gold membership right now but also purchased a year of chess mentor.  Will my account roll over to diamond for the remainder of time on my chess mentor subscription? 

Dear Erik & Staff:

I urge you NOT to unilaterally change the terms of existing annual gold subscriptions.  When I signed up, I paid for unlimited access to the trainer for a year.  That was how you marketed the annual gold membership at the time.  This is a wonderful website with a growing number of features.  Your staff is amazing.  But unilaterally changing my membership is wrong.  It is fine if you want to change the terms when my membership expires in a few months.  But to do so before my membership ends sends a terrible signal to paying members that we cannot rely on your representations.  For example, why would I sign up for “lifetime” membership, with the attractive promise of unlimited access to Mentor, if you retain the right to restrict access in the future? 

I’m not leaving chess.com over this change.  But I strongly urge you to reconsider.  Unilaterally changing the terms of annual subscriptions is not consistent with the high level of professionalism you have demonstrated to date.  If you feel the need to restrict access to the trainer for new gold members, and it is too complicated to have new and old gold members, you should upgrade current gold members to platinum.

In short, a promise is a promise.  You should keep yours.

exactly. and, your remaining unused credit on your GOLD membership will go to extend that membership by the prorated amount.

i hear you and understand your concern. but then should i also restrict you from using the new features we are giving to gold members, or any of the other features that were not available when you signed up for gold? out of this entire membership change we are on the whole giving a HUGE amount of value for less money overall. there is only one small negative to the whole thing, and it will only affect a very small percentage of users. feel free to message me privately to discuss further.

erik, I am was planning on getting a silver/gold membership for christmas, solely for the TT. I was hoping that you could inform us with the exact number of TT i would be able to do with gold, so that I can plan on either getting the membership, asking for a platinum, or not asking for one at all.

Also, if only a very small percentage of users actually use more than the amount you plan to include with the gold, why bother limiting it at all? Is it 5%, 10%? What percentage of users actually go over on a daily basis.

I understand if you dont know the actual numbers, but could you give us some ballpark estimates?

Yes, allow us to be informed consumers, I doubt many of the self described heavy users meet your heavy use threshold, if you give us an idea at where the line is, you'll sell the platinum.

Also, I see adds, generally in blue squares that tout premium membership as having unlimited TT, these should probably be removed or reworded in order to be a little more forthcoming of the changes.

yep. we know this is delicate, which is why we are being up-front with people before the change.

i obviously feel some sympathy in this situation because i am a normal person as well and i shop and buy things and subscribe to things, etc. but at the same time i think we're bending over backwards to make this fair. most places raise their prices every 1-2 years, and here we are lowering them. the local YMCA where we have a membership for our family just raised their rates 5% again this year and at the same time cut some classes. go figure :(

also, reading over this again i realized that i did not mention one thing:

there is no more minutes given for chess mentor usage for gold/platinum users. because we have brought the price of chess mentor WAY down, we are not offering more minutes as part of membership. those minutes you already have you WILL get to keep.

hmm..and I bought myself a Platinum subscription yesterday when I could've been a bit more patient and gone for the upcoming Diamond yearly.. Ah well, no use crying over spilt milk I guess. I'll wait for abt 9months or so and then upgrade. I cant wait to see the new changes you have promised.

I'm with Erik all the way whatever prices he cuts/raises.  I'm darn sure there's not another Chess site I will like more than chess.com here.

infinitum - Do you want the t-shirt and free gold membership? If yes, the remains of the $$$ can be applied towards a yearly diamond membership--you don't have to wait at all. If no, chess.com has a 30-day money back guarantee.