Why are non-US subscribers forced to pay the unbundling fee?

jbaxter

I notice with the new unbundling fee that the price per user will result in a 100% price increase for users in Australia.

From looking at your pricing page it looks like bundling is only available in the US and I assume that's because the Expensify card is not a realistic option outside of the US, since a requirement is that you need to have a US business account linked to your policy.

I am pretty surprised that you are increasing the price so drastically for something that Australian subscribers have little to no control over.

I'll be looking at other solutions as I don't want to have to tell my clients that their costs are increasing 100% when I'm supposed to be saving them money. It's sure convenient for you to just send out an email and not have to have any difficult discussions about this unfortunate scenario.

If anyone else in the community has recommendations for alternatives please let me know.

jbaxter

And Concierge just confirmed that the Expensify card is not even available in AU😔

Greg Schroeder

Hi @jbaxter - it's true that the Expensify Card isn't yet available to all of our international customers. It's something we're painfully aware of, as we want every one of our customers to have access to the card because we believe it's the best option for employees around the world. While it's not a reality at this stage, it's a key goal of ours going forward.

As for the discount related to card usage, that does mean that we had to make the difficult choice to proceed while knowing that folks outside the US wouldn't have the opportunity to take advantage of it. There's more context behind this choice and our reasoning behind it in our CEO's post here.

To be clear, remember that we're slowly rolling out this unbundling fee over 12 months to help folks adjust to and absorb the increased cost. Hopefully that gives you time to make the best choice for your organization and your clients until the card becomes an international reality.

jbaxter

@Greg Schroeder I do appreciate the response and I know you have no control over it but increasing the cost gradually really doesn't make it any better. I either have to have a conversation now about the monthly increases over the next 12 months or I have to talk to them about it every month when they question it. Some of them may even refuse to pay or delay paying their bills for valid services that we have provided to them as an accounting firm.

It all just adds up to more work for us responding to unhappy clients and less time on other value added work. Which was the reason for implementing Expensify to begin with.

There's also no guarantee that in 12 months your CEO won't announce another 100% price increase.

Greg Schroeder

@jbaxter Shoot - that's 100% a tough conversation to have. I'm sorry to say I don't have a great solution given the current regional restrictions with the Expensify Card, as much I'd like to offer something that replicates the card-based discount.

Ultimately, as our CEO stated in the link I posted above, we generally feel that the cost is fair in comparison with other back-office spend data that we've gathered over time, and the choice was carefully considered with that in mind. I know that doesn't make this an easier task or choice for you, but I just wanted to be clear that it wasn't a choice made lightly. Our goal is to make the card internationally available as soon as possible to help make this problem a thing of the past.