Pingwell Grocery Gadgets Unilaterally and without prior consultation or warning imposed a subscription obligation on a software app that I had already licensed with a once-in-a-lifetime payment that promised a no-ad version. When Pingwell bought the app from the company that created it they decided to spring this surprise on all users without warning via an app upgrade. Palo Alto California
An app in iOS called Grocery Gadgets was sold to Pingwell by the original owners and creators of the app. I had previously subscribed for $0.99 per year to pay for the app and also had, when offered the opportunity by the founding company, paid for a PRO version of the app which was promised to be ad-free. Pingwell after purchasing the app decided unilaterally with no attempt at informing or consulting the apps users to created an new upgrade version of the which carries advertising and at the same time pulled a rabbi out of the hat with a new subscription "option" costing $19.99 per year to eliminate the ads, which I had previously eliminated by purchasing the PRO license from the previous owners of the app. As far as I know, Pingwell does not have the legal right to impose new conditions on a lifetime licensee of the app without their permission. At the very least Pingwell was obligated to offer for those users refusing the new subscription "option" to maintain the last ad-free version for our exclusive use for lifetime. Instead, with a figurative gun to our heads Pingwell decided to act unilaterally and change retroactively the terms of my software license for Grocery Gadgets. I would be willing to pay up to $8 per year for such a subscription to support the app and its continuing development, but not $20 per year.