Expensify cost DOUBLING if not using Expensify Card June 1 or on renewal???

nliso
nliso Expensify Customer Posts: 19 Expensify Admirer
edited May 2020 in Day to Day

It seems that most are completely unaware that Expensify plans to increase fees from $9 per report to $18 per report if you do not sign up for the Expensify card. First, what a horrible way to force your customers to use something they do not want to and two there is been little to no communication around this. I had to find out through a peer and understand our increase through concierge. We are an Enterprise company who is not a fit for the Expensify card, we have a credit card program that is robust for our use case. Expensify, I strongly suggest before rolling this out you 1. contact your customers and help them understand the magnitude of the cost increase that you are rolling out, especially your large customers that are likely to not be using the Expensify card. 2. You are going to loose a lot of customers, already the few I have connected with after learning about cost increases are looking to re-evaluate Expensify ASAP.


You yet again are not considering your Enterprise Customers and doing us disservice. This is not the time, especially during the COVID climate of cost savings to be implementing such a harsh increase.

Best Answer

  • Katie Oswalt
    Katie Oswalt Expensify Success Coach - Admin Posts: 170 Expensify Team
    Answer ✓

    Hi there, @nliso, and thank you for reaching out. We truly appreciate your concern and understand that this is a very trying time for everyone, so a price change might not be the news you want to see!

    Firstly, a few clarifications here:

    1. This card is called the Expensify Card (not the Karma card) so I have changed this in your post just to prevent any confusion from other readers here. :)
    2. It's important to note that we do not charge per report as mentioned in your post; we charge per user "seat" when using an Annual Subscription, and the new Unbundling fee will not occur straight away on June 1. There will be a slow increase of this fee over the course of 12 months, and only when the Expensify Card is not being used.

    Also, rest assured that we notified all customers of this change; we sent a newsletter on April 20 via email to all Expensify account holders to make sure that everyone is aware of this happening. This email was called Fast Concierge is here! (With a catch) and came straight from our CEO, David Barrett.

    This was also announced in detail here in the Community; the announcement has the same title: Fast Concierge is here! (With a catch)

    This article will help you to understand your bill moving forward:

    What’s happening to my Expensify bill?

    If you have any specific questions about this change, please reach out to us at concierge@expensify.com. It sounds like be happy to help!

Answers

  • Brian_ISC2
    Brian_ISC2 Expensify Customer Posts: 10 Expensify Newcomer

    I did not know of the price change. I luckily just decided to look at product updates between meetings this morning. Also a email with the title : Fast Concierge is here! (With a catch)" does not infer important changes in pricing. Very deceptive!!! Time to move to Concur!! unbelievable how your company keeps driving away loyal customers who like the product but constantly have to deal with the supposed upgrades that make our jobs harder and not easier.

  • ExpenseMaster
    ExpenseMaster Expensify Customer Posts: 13 Expensify Admirer

    I did not know about the price change until yesterday when Expensify's competitor sent us an email about it. It is unbelievable that they are doing this right now. It is not good business practice to strong arm companies into doing things they don't want to do. I have even explained to them that it is against our company policy to have corporate cards and that the card wasn't even an option when we initially signed up. Then to roll this out during this difficult time for companies! Also, don't forget to check out how they just changed the cancellation fees to where you are locked in for the ENTIRE 12 months! Which really benefits them with their fee doubling... We will be re-evaluating Expensify for sure, unfortunately for us, we didn't know about it in time to avoid the increase for the next 12 months.

  • Darrell_Barnett
    Darrell_Barnett Expensify Customer Posts: 1 Expensify Newcomer

    I've read through the "Fast Concierge is here! (With a catch)" "newsletter" a couple times after learning about the new fee today. I still cannot find where it outlines what the price per user seat increase will be. I have read in the posts here that it will double from $9 to $18 per month for those of us who are "crazy" enough to use the service with out the credit card "as the service was intended". The card didn't even exist when we began using the service. I agree with the other posts on this subject, the price increase notice was hidden in the "newsletter". If anyone is like me, "newsletters" go straight to junk mail because that is what they are, junk. To hide a price increase in a newsletter is ridiculous. It wasn't even the main "news". The price increase notice was buried way down toward the bottom under the speedy service ramble and charts. So, I'm going to figure on the price of Expensify doubling when our contract is up for renewal and we will need to make a decision based on that.

  • nliso
    nliso Expensify Customer Posts: 19 Expensify Admirer

    @Darrell_Barnett The new cost structure is also buried but now posted live on their site. It will only go into effect once your renewal comes up.

    We definitely aren't going to be using the card.. For a company of our size the cash back is too great with our corp card

  • ericbelisle
    ericbelisle Expensify Customer Posts: 4 Expensify Newcomer

    Our corporation is currently reviewing our options to leave Expensify as a result of this change. We can't use the card as a matter of corporate policy and doubling your costs removes a competitive edge you had when we signed up years ago.

    I'm quite disappointed with this change.

  • Nicole Mendonca
    Nicole Mendonca Expensify Customer, Expensify Team Posts: 131 Expensify Team

    Hi @ericbelisle - please reach out to Concierge via concierge@expensify.com, or via in-app message so we can sort you out. Thanks!

  • ericbelisle
    ericbelisle Expensify Customer Posts: 4 Expensify Newcomer

    I already talked to Concierge. We won't use the Expensify Card option and you're going to double the cost of your software.

    I love the platform for our business, but I resonate with what was said on this post - you're going to lose corporate customers as a result of this change.

    I get constant questions about the Expensify Card, Charitable Contributions, and whatever else the new feature of the day is. This should be communicated to the admins, not the users, for corporate accounts.

  • RE1992
    RE1992 Expensify Customer Posts: 1 Expensify Newcomer

    I agree with @ericbelisle, I am in the same situation where the company can't use the Expensify card and our cost is doubling. I have been looking at other options as Expensify customer service are not willing to help their loyal customers. The increase came at bad time when everyone is dealing with a pandemic. The platform is great but the cost is too high.

  • Michael Haxhiu
    Michael Haxhiu Expensify Customer, Expensify Team Posts: 88 Expensify Team

    Hey @RE1992 & @ericbelisle thanks for taking the time to share your concerns, I really appreciate it.

    The change to our pricing model was introduced and explained in our April 2020 Newsletter to inform all customers of the change and why we made it.

    The gist is that Expensify is facing similar difficulties as business travel has dropped significantly due to the global pandemic - which is a core use case for our business.

    As a result, we've adjusted our pricing to give customers the opportunity to preserve the lowest price point possible if they adopt the Expensify Card and/or an Annual Subscription.

    This isn't a hard requirement for any customers, it's a choice. Corporate cards generate revenue for the card issuer in the form of "interchange".  Accordingly, it sounds like you are choosing to give that interchange revenue to your card program instead of Expensify. That's totally your right and we're happy to support that card program in Expensify (as we do today). However, it means that we earn far less from you than we do from others who have adopted our card, even though our cost to support you is the same.  Can you help me understand why you prefer your card program to the Expensify Card?

  • ericbelisle
    ericbelisle Expensify Customer Posts: 4 Expensify Newcomer

    @Michael Haxhiu -

    My only feedback - If you want to push people to use the Expensify Card, offer a discount for using, don't charge a "Fee" for not using it, and then clearly communicate any pricing increases a your business sees fit. For our business, this would've been much better received as a % increase (100% in 12 months is excessive) and not a new "fee" that requires we use a card that doesn't align with our policies.

    We've already decided to leave Expensify at the end of the month. We don't find your policies very friendly to corporate customers and seem to focus purely on end-users, whom have very little decision-making power in the expense software they use. The "Ask Your Admin for your Card!" campaign comes to mind.

    Thanks -

  • Michael Haxhiu
    Michael Haxhiu Expensify Customer, Expensify Team Posts: 88 Expensify Team

    Thanks for your feedback @ericbelisle. We are sorry to see you leave, but understand if your company is pursuing other Expense Reporting needs.

    We take your feedback to heart and hope to see you again in the future.

  • Colvan
    Colvan Expensify Customer Posts: 3 Expensify Newcomer

    Wow, 1-Oct and I just realised what's going on having experienced the first price increment. And further more just now realised I'm stuck with my annual subscription until August 2021....

    As a happy enough user for the past 3 years, as a freelancer in a single person business whom uses this app for the neat collation of expenses on a quarterly basis, I can't justify the fees going forward.

    Mainly peeved having spent a huge chunk of time back at the start, learning and customising the data and export features to fit my existing spreadsheet flow.

    It's a neat app but I don't depend on it, and thus can't justify the new prices. I'll be leaving as soon as I can get out..

  • Mark Louis
    Mark Louis Expensify Team Posts: 167 Expensify Team

    Hi @Colvan - I'm sorry to hear that the new pricing structure won't work out for you. I see that you've been in touch with us via Concierge about this. Please keep an eye out there for an update regarding this. Thanks!

  • john_sts
    john_sts Expensify Customer Posts: 5 Expensify Newcomer

    Yeah same thing just happened to us. Even with the April announcement and reading through the pricing gradual adjustments it's still a super confusing pricing model until you reach your new monthly rate which appears to virtually double. Hoping they are able to find a way to reduce costs or increase revenue that isn't dependent on companies (both large and small) having to discontinue their longstanding credit card relationships with rewards in order to just reduce cost on their expense tracking software.

    I feel bad for customer service right now as they are probably getting the brunt of the customer frustration. It's tough knowing I've referred and implemented the product to at least two organizations and to switch to Concur (or other) would be a total headache. They have a great product that implements well with the software we use but their roll out plan for this and the subsequent impact on their customer base and retention may cause more issues than if they hadn't made pricing benefits contingent on a new credit card.

  • Nicole Mendonca
    Nicole Mendonca Expensify Customer, Expensify Team Posts: 131 Expensify Team

    @john_sts, thank you for that feedback. I see that you are already chatting with Concierge directly, so we'll be able to give you some more specific information as is pertains to your bill via that support method.

  • DavidDS
    DavidDS Expensify Customer Posts: 9 Expensify Newcomer

    I think they're just realizing the true cost of providing this service. Considering the time it saves us, and the reward dollars we realize, the increased cost is not a huge problem. We're also probably charging $4000-$15000 per card per month. As such, and probably like many folks out there, the cash flow advantages combined with rewards dollars mean we'll happy pay expensify to keep using our own cards.

    ~not disgruntled in the slightest

  • Skip_Philip
    Skip_Philip Expensify Customer Posts: 2 Expensify Newcomer

    So let me get this straight. During a pandemic which has crippled the global economy in unprecedented levels known to our day in age, where companies have had to downsize, layoff huge percentages of their workforce just to stay in business (if they were even able to) Expensify.com takes that opportunity to send out an "announcement newsletter" informing them their billings will double over the next 12 months unless they make a change?

    This is completely disgusting. It is actually criminal to take advantage of situations like this. Strongly feeling a class action suite or the SEC should be getting involved due to these unscrupulous actions.

  • Isabela Stisser
    Isabela Stisser Expensify Team, Expensify Student Ambassador Posts: 200 Expensify Team

    Hi @Skip_Philip, thanks for your feedback. I see that you are already chatting with Concierge directly, so we'll give you some more specific information about the price increase and your bill via that support method.

  • Skip_Philip
    Skip_Philip Expensify Customer Posts: 2 Expensify Newcomer
  • Isabela Stisser
    Isabela Stisser Expensify Team, Expensify Student Ambassador Posts: 200 Expensify Team

    @Skip_Philip No at all; feel free to continue to share your feedback here! We've shared articles about the price increase here in the Community and specifics about the monthly bill. If you have questions about your own account and bill, please reach out to Concierge so that we don't share your company's information here.

  • Niceractory
    Niceractory Expensify Customer Posts: 1 Expensify Newcomer

    Very sneaky and very unprofessional. I have already switched to Zoho and am done with Expensify.

  • Michael Haxhiu
    Michael Haxhiu Expensify Customer, Expensify Team Posts: 88 Expensify Team

    @Niceractory We appreciate you taking the time to share your feedback.

    Feel free to ask us questions about your switch to another expense tool. We are still happy to help out. Otherwise, we hope to see you again in the future.

  • PALOMAPALOMA
    PALOMAPALOMA Expensify Customer Posts: 1

    If anyone is reading this wondering if Expensify is a good company- BEWARE. They raised our rates by 80%, didn't communicate it, and refused to help us modify our plan (stating that we were in an annual contract).

    When trying to work with the "CONCIERGE" (which is a joke because I've never seen worse customer service) they informed me that this was communicated. I'm sorry- but sending a price hike email that is disguised as a feature update is not communication. Also- expecting a business owner to read your community boards is tone deaf and unrealistic.

    I've been a customer for years, and will never recommend Expensify to anyone ever again.