There was no official communication apart from the invoice we received.
I am not referring to the usual annual adjustments of license fees, which I fully understand are sometimes necessary. We also develop license-based software and know that pricing needs to evolve. However, a sudden 20% increase in one step is uncommon and gives the impression that customer loyalty is not being valued.
At the same time, Autodesk is actively sending out surveys to gather customer feedback – which makes this pricing decision appear even more disconnected, as if one hand does not know what the other is doing.
What is perhaps most concerning is that there seems to be no channel to reach someone with the authority to discuss or negotiate pricing. Regardless of how many licenses a company holds, or how long it has been a customer, the pricing appears to be the same as for a completely new user. In our experience, that is unusual.
We are currently using AutoCAD Architectural Suite but in practice rely mainly on ACA and Revit. These could be replaced relatively easily with alternatives such as BricsCAD BIM. This makes the change less critical for us from a technical standpoint. Still, after many years of using Autodesk products – and even teaching and recommending them to our clients – the situation is disappointing on a more personal level.
That said, it is time to accept the change and move forward.
