this post was submitted on 14 May 2025
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[–] PancakesCantKillMe@lemmy.world 371 points 1 day ago (2 children)
[–] victorz@lemmy.world 115 points 1 day ago (4 children)

Odd how they didn't just put that in the title.

[–] LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.dbzer0.com 49 points 1 day ago (6 children)

Guessing it was a force copy title for the sub and the article wanted you to click. They put it in the body of the post at least.

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[–] asbestos@lemmy.world 28 points 1 day ago

!savedyouaclick@lemmy.world

[–] barneypiccolo@lemm.ee 143 points 1 day ago (2 children)

This is also why if you hit the lottery, you should take the discounted upfront cash payout, and not get it paid in an annual annuity for 20 years. You never know if the government is suddenly going become moral about gambling, and cancel all lottery payments.

Take the money and run.

[–] Droggelbecher@lemmy.world 77 points 1 day ago (1 children)

To be fair, it's best to not participate in the lottery.

[–] taladar@sh.itjust.works 30 points 1 day ago (1 children)

True but that is a situation that doesn't really apply very often in the "if you hit the lottery" situation mentioned in the post you replied to.

[–] Droggelbecher@lemmy.world 11 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I guess what I'm trying to say is, don't delude yourself into thinking you're being smart about the lottery by thinking about which is the smarter course of action in case of a win. The only way to be smart about the lottery is to not play.

[–] spooky2092@lemmy.blahaj.zone 13 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The only way to be smart about the lottery is to not play.

I don't disagree, but I also thing playing the lottery once in a while is fine if you're just doing it as a daydream or something. Back when I worked in an office, if the jackpot got high enough we'd do an office pool and everyone that wanted to would throw in 10 bucks or something. And I've also done the same myself for the above reason but I play at most once or so a year.

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[–] chilicheeselies@lemmy.world 19 points 1 day ago (6 children)

Absolutely. However, if you are not the best with money, or on the irresponsible side; it might be best to take the annuity. Mathematically it makes no sense to do so, but if it stops you from blowing it all on hookers and coke in two years then its for the best. In other words, if you having it all is riskier than the state keeping track of it.

[–] spooky2092@lemmy.blahaj.zone 17 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Even if you're bad with money, take the lump sum and go get a fiduciary advisor to handle it and give you a regular payout. Being a fiduciary advisor is important since it means they are legally obligated to work to the benefit of your money, not lining their pockets. Using something like a trust is another good way to protect you from yourself.

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[–] dryfter@lemm.ee 109 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I learned my lesson about “lifetime” thanks to SiriusXM.

When Howard Stern got lured to SiriusXM they offered a deal where you buy the receiver and pay $500 for a lifetime subscription with unlimited transfers to different receivers. Fat forward to 2017ish when I bought my last car that had the receiver built into the radio and tried to transfer to the new one. I was told that was the last time I would be able to do that and in the future I’d be paying a $75 transfer fee and be forced into a monthly subscription.

Lifetime is a hoax.

[–] grue@lemmy.world 118 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Lifetime is a hoax.

No, it's fraud.

The difference is that one is a funny joke and the other is a criminal act that ought to land corporate executives in prison, if the US weren't an oligarchy too corrupt to prosecute.

[–] partial_accumen@lemmy.world 20 points 1 day ago

This may be your lucky day then! You can likely use that lifetime sub now!

I did the Sirius lifetime deal a few years offered before the one you did (in 2003 I think?). At the time they called it the "Friends and Family" promotion. It was only $300 at the time for lifetime sub, and they gave you the hardware for free. I'm still using that same lifetime sub today.

I was told that was the last time I would be able to do that and in the future I’d be paying a $75 transfer fee and be forced into a monthly subscription.

This was absolutely true this was the rules at one point. However there was a rule change (via lawsuit maybe?) that allows UNLIMITED TRANSFERS and the fee is only $35/transfer. Its even on the SiriusXM website FAQ:

"Please note: You may transfer an active Lifetime Subscription to another radio an unlimited number of times. For each permitted transfer of a Lifetime Subscription, you will be charged a $35 transfer fee, and the transfer must be effectuated through your Online Account." source

Your account is likely still alive with your name on it! Contact them and get back into it!

Further, back when you and I bought our lifetime subs the SiriusXM streaming service didn't exist. It is actually pretty robust now. With your lifetime sub (even without it being on a vehicle), you have full access to unlimited commercial free streaming in their best quality bitrate (there was a time that they offered reduced bitrates for lifetime users but that's gone now too).

For me, because of a further discount I only paid $230 for my lifetime sub because I got a credit for my previous monthly service and I've now had it for over 22 years. So if you do the math, I'm paying 87 cents per month for full in-car and streaming SiriusXM. Lifetime deal was SO worth it!

[–] SammyJK@programming.dev 100 points 1 day ago (2 children)

This is absolutely disgusting behavior. "Cannot honor the purchases," my ass.

[–] rottingleaf@lemmy.world 17 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I feel like "the new middle ages" really was a correct description of our time. Well, we're at the dawn of it. All our universal rights and universal truths are going to be subject to who's holding the dagger at your throat, and we'll have theocracies, family republics and feudal lords again. The blooming diversity of hell.

OK, this is a bit offtopic, just one can see such behavior in all areas today where they wouldn't be normal 30 years ago.

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[–] Skipcast@lemmy.world 15 points 1 day ago (4 children)

To be fair to the new owners the previous ones never mentioned the lifetime subscriptions existed and they were sinking the company. Probably the reason the original owners sold in the first place.

[–] imecth@fedia.io 53 points 1 day ago (2 children)

It was obviously a cash grab from the company before fucking off, you can't reasonably expect a lifetime vpn for 30 bucks. Either it eventually gets repriced, or they start mining all your information like every other "free" vpns.

[–] JohnnyCanuck@lemmy.ca 32 points 1 day ago

Yeah this looks to me like everyone got scammed, including the new owners.

[–] Akasazh@lemmy.world 9 points 1 day ago

Yet that was exactly what they sold, this is not too blame in the customer. They built a subscriber base on those purchases which is capital to them.

They need to uphold the contract that they entered in to.

[–] mindlesscrollyparrot@discuss.tchncs.de 24 points 1 day ago (1 children)

They also said that they were cancelling lifetime contracts that hadn't been used in 6 months. Hard to see how those could be sinking the company.

[–] gradual@lemmings.world 16 points 1 day ago

Correct.

This is just bullshit being said so the owners can make more money.

Every single person you see who believes it and perpetuates it is a useful idiot.

[–] ik5pvx@lemmy.world 18 points 1 day ago

Due diligence what...?

[–] obvs@lemmy.world 10 points 1 day ago (2 children)

That's not being fair to the new owners.

It's the company buyer's responsibility to make sure they know about and honor existing contracts with the existing company, and it's the company's responsibility to provide that information to the buyer.

It is not ANYONE else's responsibility to make them follow that. If something like this happens, the company(whether before or after the purchase) was in the wrong.

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[–] J52@lemmy.nz 82 points 1 day ago

Yes, name and shame the suckers already in the headline so they get what they deserve! VPN SECURE , yeah, right.

[–] tabular@lemmy.world 50 points 1 day ago (7 children)

I assume most companies write somewhere in their terms that "lifetime" means effectively "whenever the fuck we want".

If there is a company that uses the word lifetime properly they may be worth a mention.

[–] CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 40 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I remember when AT&T had "unlimited" data when the original iPhone came out and severely underestimated how much data people used.

Today, every cell phone provider has an "unlimited" plan and in the fine print says "up to x GB, after which you will be throttled."

That shit should be illegal.

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[–] ragebutt@lemmy.dbzer0.com 33 points 1 day ago (3 children)

That shouldn’t matter

If we had the most basic of regulatory practices over businesses in this country, especially the tech industry, this practice simply wouldn’t be allowed. Even the bullshit doublespeak “life of the product” version

Lifetime means lifetime. If you can’t honor that don’t offer it. If you go back on it you should be harshly penalized.

Looking at you t mobile, rolling stone magazine, filmora, Dropbox, salesforce, mcafee, etc

This should also include if you remove features from lifetime subscriptions and make them contingent on paid monthly subscriptions (looking at you adobe, Evernote, and probably plex in 3-5 years)

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[–] theterrasque@infosec.pub 12 points 1 day ago

I've seen some saying that "lifetime" refers to product lifetime, which is not expected to be more than X years. So yeah, slimes gonna slime

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[–] nostalgicgamerz@lemmy.world 45 points 1 day ago (1 children)

This is going to be Plex Pass in a few years if Plex sells out even more

[–] Zink@programming.dev 13 points 1 day ago

I’ve had a lifetime Plex pass for many years. I have converted completely over to Jellyfin after trying it.

It’s more involved to set up for secure remote access, but once in place it is so much smoother to use.

[–] por_que_pine@lemm.ee 42 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

nope, nope, nope! buy a business, own it's debt and contracts. CLASS ACTION SUIT!

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[–] Bamboodpanda@lemmy.world 35 points 1 day ago (7 children)

Why would anyone be stupid enough to not honor them? Now, even if they backtrack, their name is mud. It's so stupid.

[–] Phoenicianpirate@lemm.ee 20 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Damn straight. I never heard of this company before but you can bet your life I will never do business with them.

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Especially when we are talking about VPNs. The reason so many companies are sprouting out of the ground to offer VPNs is because the margin they have is huge.

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[–] K1nsey6@lemmy.world 21 points 1 day ago (4 children)

I'm still salty about Cerberus' 'lifetime' subscription

[–] xta@lemmy.world 12 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago)

Me TOO!! i sent emails to support, posted on a google forums thread, this was like what, 13 years ago already?, eventually the thread got deleted, reach out to google support, they told me to take it with them, they never ever replied. so since then i never purchased a "lifetime" of anything

fuck them.

the app was very good though, and while typing this i got myself worked out and realized im still livid

edit: bought cerberus un 2015, got the

Hi xta, Your Cerberus license will expire soon. If you want to continue to use our services please consider buying a license. Click here to buy a license through secure payment! Thank You The Cerberus Team

email on late dec 2019.

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[–] w3dd1e@lemm.ee 19 points 1 day ago

It’s BS they didn’t know about it. They got the financials before the deal. Even if it wasn’t directly listed as a line item it would have been a part of the expenses.

They still thought the deal was worth doing as it was based on incoming revenue and outgoing expenses.

[–] Cocopanda@futurology.today 16 points 16 hours ago

My ex cyber security firm did this recently. They gave out forever licenses. But slowly changed things that if you didn’t set up an email with your license. You couldn’t renew it. So once you replaced a device your lifetime membership was gone. They recently completely removed the code input for licensing. So I am no longer able to use my lifetime license I got from working there. Pretty scummy stuff. But the CEO is a drunk. So what do you expect? He fucked up the attempted IPO and did a share replacement strategy instead. Which is probably killing the company.

[–] aceshigh@lemmy.world 15 points 1 day ago (1 children)

This is also why I stopped prepaying for things. Sure I’m spending $50 more a year but at least I have flexibility.

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[–] ModernRisk@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 1 day ago (6 children)

Is this even legal? I mean people paid for the lifetime version.

[–] deltapi@lemmy.world 12 points 1 day ago (6 children)

If the new owners purchased the assets, name, and technology and not the company itself, then it's beholden on the remains of the old company to honour the deal... Good luck with that.

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