iFollow refund | Page 2 | Vital Football

iFollow refund

Just got an email notification of the renewal for the coming season. Price has gone up from 130€ last year to £140 (note the change in currency) next year. At the current exchange rate that means I'll be paying 155€ next year, an increase of 25€ (or around 19%).

Which (and I'm sure this is entirely coincidental) just so happens to be (give or take and allowing for the rounding up to nice round figures) the amount they refunded us for last season. What looked at the time like a nice gesture was really nothing of the sort, was it?

I'll no doubt end up renewing regardless, I guess, but I still think I'm going to fire off an email and ask them what exactly they're planning on offering next season to justify a 19% price hike on last year's prices.
 
Just got an email notification of the renewal for the coming season. Price has gone up from 130€ last year to £140 (note the change in currency) next year. At the current exchange rate that means I'll be paying 155€ next year, an increase of 25€ (or around 19%).

Which (and I'm sure this is entirely coincidental) just so happens to be (give or take and allowing for the rounding up to nice round figures) the amount they refunded us for last season. What looked at the time like a nice gesture was really nothing of the sort, was it?

I'll no doubt end up renewing regardless, I guess, but I still think I'm going to fire off an email and ask them what exactly they're planning on offering next season to justify a 19% price hike on last year's prices.
Just had the same email , and look forward to hearing of any response you receive.
 
Yep, that's the right address. They got straight back to me and assured me that my Gillingham account was OK. Today I got the e-mail about the automatic renewal, so everything's fine, but not without first letting me know that my Chesterfield and Wimbledon accounts have gone down the Swannee.
 
Just got an email notification of the renewal for the coming season. Price has gone up from 130€ last year to £140 (note the change in currency) next year. At the current exchange rate that means I'll be paying 155€ next year, an increase of 25€ (or around 19%).

Which (and I'm sure this is entirely coincidental) just so happens to be (give or take and allowing for the rounding up to nice round figures) the amount they refunded us for last season. What looked at the time like a nice gesture was really nothing of the sort, was it?

I'll no doubt end up renewing regardless, I guess, but I still think I'm going to fire off an email and ask them what exactly they're planning on offering next season to justify a 19% price hike on last year's prices.
Still a bargain. I’d pay double that, personally.
 
Still a bargain. I’d pay double that, personally.

Renewal price works out at around €3.35 per match, which isn't bad really, especially for us exiles who wouldn't get to see anything otherwise.

It's just the way they've gone about this that grates a bit, offering the rebate one minute, and then just sticking the amount they refunded onto next year's subscription the next.

Can't imagine there are many businesses putting their prices up 19% right at the moment. Just imagine the fuss if Scally announced a 19% increase on the price of season tickets.
 
Renewal price works out at around €3.35 per match, which isn't bad really, especially for us exiles who wouldn't get to see anything otherwise.

It's just the way they've gone about this that grates a bit, offering the rebate one minute, and then just sticking the amount they refunded onto next year's subscription the next.

Can't imagine there are many businesses putting their prices up 19% right at the moment. Just imagine the fuss if Scally announced a 19% increase on the price of season tickets.

I understand your point. I think that this is the most transparent way it could be done. At least this way, you [edit] can get your refunds for last season and have the option of not renewing.

The comparison with season tickets isn’t really a fair one. iFollow is a really immature product offering and I think it has been massively underpriced.

They need to do a better job at monetising their offering. I can’t believe that they make anything by selling matches at a couple of quid per game on average. Surely they should be selling advertising before, during and after the game?
 
Last edited:
Presumably they're going to be offering a service to domestic customers for all matches until people can attend in person en mass, whenever that may be. Will be interesting to see (a) if the service copes, (b) what the uptake is like and (c) how season ticket holders are treated. It'll probably be clubs main source of income for a while.
 
The comparison with season tickets isn’t really a fair one. iFollow is a really immature product offering and I think it has been massively underpriced.

I don't know about massively underpriced. I don't think they'd get away with raising their prices much more, certainly not at our level. They're not allowed to show matches in the UK (apart from midweek away fixtures, I think - although whether that changes now with the limits on attendances due to Covid, I don't know) to avoid the risk of people deciding to just stay at home and watch on iFollow rather than actually go to the ground and watch matches live, so their audience is basically restricted to expats. I suspect there's a limit to how many expat fans teams have who are prepared to pay, say, 200€ per year to be able to watch their team. The likes of Leeds or WBA probably have quite a lot, a team like Accrington Stanley quite possibly doesn't.

I'm not sure exactly how iFollow is run - I don't know whether each club's iFollow is run as an individual service (in which case I'd have thought there must be some clubs where they're losing money), or whether it's more centralised, with losses made on lower-supported clubs offset by profits made on better-supported clubs.

Personally, I'd put the limit of what I'm prepared to pay probably somewhere around 180-200€ maximum, don't think I'd be prepared to go any higher than that.
 
Got my renewal email today.

I think it's a good deal. However, if they started marketing the mic left on at half time as an add on for which you have to pay a little more, I'd have to give that some careful thought.
 
Interestingly I also got my renewal email today. Now as I live in the uk I only pay for the audio subscription and then buy the live stream games as and when they show them if I’m not attending. The audio price for renewal is £45, the same as the last two seasons.
 
Interestingly I also got my renewal email today. Now as I live in the uk I only pay for the audio subscription and then buy the live stream games as and when they show them if I’m not attending. The audio price for renewal is £45, the same as the last two seasons.

Just out of interest, with that subscription, did you get a refund last season for the unplayed matches?
 
I don't know about massively underpriced. I don't think they'd get away with raising their prices much more, certainly not at our level. They're not allowed to show matches in the UK (apart from midweek away fixtures, I think - although whether that changes now with the limits on attendances due to Covid, I don't know) to avoid the risk of people deciding to just stay at home and watch on iFollow rather than actually go to the ground and watch matches live, so their audience is basically restricted to expats. I suspect there's a limit to how many expat fans teams have who are prepared to pay, say, 200€ per year to be able to watch their team. The likes of Leeds or WBA probably have quite a lot, a team like Accrington Stanley quite possibly doesn't.

I'm not sure exactly how iFollow is run - I don't know whether each club's iFollow is run as an individual service (in which case I'd have thought there must be some clubs where they're losing money), or whether it's more centralised, with losses made on lower-supported clubs offset by profits made on better-supported clubs.

Personally, I'd put the limit of what I'm prepared to pay probably somewhere around 180-200€ maximum, don't think I'd be prepared to go any higher than that.

I'd agree with that. For what it is now, it's very good value for money and all I could have asked for. But that's because previously I subscribed for about ten years to something which wasn't even remotely fit for purpose. That's why I had all these "accounts" with other clubs, because our own commentary wouldn't bloody work and I had to log into theirs.

They pissed us around for years and there was no option to complain. It's completely different now and I'm more than happy with it, so the last thing we want is for them to start chiselling us now because they're not "monetizing" us enough.
 
I have never used iplayer but wonder if some of us overestimate the cost of providing this service. It's a model better developed in other sports and countries and subscriptions are not generally high. It can directly challenge TV too platforms so they have got involved. I do wonder if there is the potential for covid to push streaming seervices to the forefront, especially away from the pinnacle of elite sport. The big draw for providers is that the streaming market tends to be younger.

It's at least a possibility that more of us will be watching online this season and there can be no guarantee that fans might be taken out of stadia again after first being admitted. Scally may have done some sums, or may be testing the water but he's certainly after every penny of revenue he can find. I think we may have a chance to steal a march on bigger teams because we could offer more genuine and personal content. I wouldn't be surprised to see Scally talking about added content fairly soon. I'm a ST and have been wondering about ifollow since crowds were banned from live events. It's bound to restart without crowds and it's a fair bet that any return of crowds will be slow and gradual.

We must expect news about STs soon and it would make sense for the club to provide information about ifollow at the same time. They won't want to lose fans unable, or unwilling to enter Priestfield.
 
Renewal price works out at around €3.35 per match, which isn't bad really, especially for us exiles who wouldn't get to see anything otherwise.

It's just the way they've gone about this that grates a bit, offering the rebate one minute, and then just sticking the amount they refunded onto next year's subscription the next.

Can't imagine there are many businesses putting their prices up 19% right at the moment. Just imagine the fuss if Scally announced a 19% increase on the price of season tickets.


A few weeks back, when the Championship re-started, there was substantial demand on the iFollow platform and I believe it`s fair to say that the "new" service initially struggled, leading to disgruntled customers. On the basis that the upcoming season will see a huge increase in iFollow customers it may be that they have had to take on extra staff and costs to facilitate the wider and improved service. It operates from Preston, btw.
 
I got an email about my iFollow renewal last week. I am tempted to automatically renew as I found it a good service last season. However, I have also shelled out for a season ticket and am wondering whether anything will be done - i.e. free iFollow subscription until we are able to get in to the stadium. I really can't see how the EFL and the clubs can justify not doing that if we aren't going to be able to use our season ticket.