Scam: Bait and Switch?

[Qurp]

After many months of seeing the "Upgrade Now!" annoying pop-up, I decided to buy it at the price on the pop-up: $34. "A 65% savings from $99!" Wee, such a good deal.

So I called the phone number. The lady takes my information, and tells me the price will be $79. What? I tell her about the pop-up price.

She says I can have the offered price of $34 IF I SEND HER a screenshot of it.

Suddenly, a different pop-up leaps onto my screen for $79. Huh?

She says the $34 offer is given to long-time customers. She acknowledges that I am a long-time customer, but insists that I must PROVE I got the offer by sending her a screen shot of it.
But, of course, it will never pop up again, because she put my name into the system to change my offer.

I think Corel has deliberately baited me with a $34 offer, but she entered my name into her database, and now my laptop will no longer send me the cheaper offer. THAT'S ILLEGAL.

BAIT AND SWITCH IS ILLEGAL. Corel is scamming me.

Has anyone else had this happen? Is there a fix? Will Corel honor the $34 offer? Is this a common scam?
OR, perhaps I need to find different software. I would gladly pay hundreds more in order to avoid being scammed.

--Qurp.

[patara]

Yes, that happened to me when I tried to purchase PSP 2018.
I couldn't get the webpage to open correctly so I contacted Corel. Support wanted proof, so I sent him a screenshot of the offer, which I had saved away. Something I always do before making purchases, but he wouldn't accept the screenshot.
But my name was never placed in a database.
I was patient and after a couple of weeks I saw the offer again, and this time the webpage opened up and I was able to purchase at the cheap price.
I keep an old version on one of my computers, just to get these better offers, and had never had a problem previously.
I click on the link and the purchase page opens up.

[hartpaul]

As Patara says it is good to keep an older version on your computer as bait to encourage Corel to offer you a better deal.
Just did a test with previous versions and the deals on the websites. The results:

As you can see the lowest offer for standard PSP 2019 so far (and I purchased this on line with no troubles) was AU$24 . While purchasing there was also the offer to upgrade to the Ultimate version. I tested that and the price went up to AU$103 so went back and bought the version at AU$24.

For OP why didn't you purchase on line rather then phoning to make purchase and getting all that what you call "bait and switch"

My suggestion is that the people taking orders over phone do not alway have the latest information of the message offers. They just have the site info there which lists two prices $79 for standard and $103 for Ultimate.
Bit like the help line characters who only have the standard clear cache , history reboot , reinstall scenario . To get pertinent information you need to get past the front line and get a real techie on the phone.

[patara]

I just opened my PSP 2018 version as a test and got the 65% discount for PSP 2019 - $34.65 AU - on closing the program.

[Qurp]

You guys are great. Thanks for the perfect responses.

Hartpaul, I used the phone because I'm old. I like the human touch.

Today when I turned on my laptop, the $34 option came on-screen. I panicked when I realized this Bluetooth keyboard doesn't have (as far as I can tell) a full suite of keys, but eventually I found the screenshot button.

It clicked through to a $79 offer, which I consider a bait-and-switch...they offered $34 to get me to click!

So, again I'll make the phone call.

OH NOOOooooo.!!! I just realized I'm on the Aussie site!

[patara]

I just tested again in my PSP 2018 Ultimate.
The offer showed $34.65 AU upgrade.
I clicked on the link.
A payment page opened ready for me to select PayPal or Visa etc.. The price still showed $34.65 AU.
I think you will have a hard time getting it if you don't pay direct like that. When buying through their website it is dearer, and as I said, I sent a screenshot of my deal previously and they still would not give it to me at the advertised discount price.
I had to buy direct from link within PSP.

[hartpaul]

Just had a new offer for the Ultimate version for AU32. The others at AU24 were for the standard version .
Seems Corel is now promoting the confusion by naming in the program the Ultimate version even though there is no difference in the base programs and it is only the added extras that make up the ultimate version.

[Tonyob]

I have had varying prices quoted for the last few versions of PSP I have bought. For PSP 2019 Ultimate I had offers to upgrade varying from £23 to £79. I would get an offer saying this was the lowest price & then days later get an offer that was even lower.