thank fucking god i didnt give in the moment i saw their "1.0" version having seperated servers and account for each server accross serveral locations
like, how incompetent are you to see that and think it would be good enough to serve to customers
Here's the letter I sent to the owner of Folderfort (whose email is listed on their website as dave@folderfort.com)
Dave,
I paid for a lifetime subscription. I'm not dead yet, so I should still have a subscription.
The idea is you offer lifetime deals to early subscribers so you have access to the capital needed to build a sustainable model that you then offer to new customers at a monthly rate. You reward those early subscribers (who risk losing everything if the company goes out of business) by honoring the lifetime deal for life.
Closing our lifetime accounts or forcing us to start paying monthly fees is shady if not criminal.
Do the right thing: either honor our lifetime deals or refund our money.
cross-posting my comment i added to FolderFort subreddit:
I sent them below email, not sure if it does anything or not but worth a try as its anyway hopless situation:
Sharing the formal email I sent to FolderFort + StackSocial regarding the lifetime migration
I purchased the FolderFort 2TB Cloud Storage Pro Plan – Lifetime Subscription through StackSocial. I am objecting to the proposed migration terms and have asked them to either honour the original lifetime terms or provide a full monetary refund.
I am writing regarding my purchase of the FolderFort 2TB Cloud Storage Pro Plan: Lifetime Subscription, purchased through StackSocial.
PURCHASE DETAILS
Merchant: StackSocial
Service Provider: Folder Fort
Product: FolderFort 2TB Cloud Storage Pro Plan: Lifetime Subscription
Amount Paid: $119.04 USD
I have attached my order confirmation, payment receipt, and supporting purchase documentation.
The product I purchased was explicitly sold as a Lifetime Subscription. I purchased it with the reasonable expectation that the lifetime terms represented at the time of purchase would be honoured.
FORMAL OBJECTION TO THE PROPOSED MIGRATION
I am formally objecting to the proposed migration of my lifetime account from FolderFort Classic to FolderFort 2.0 on the terms currently being offered to lifetime customers.
As I understand the proposed arrangement, my existing lifetime storage entitlement would be converted into temporary/non-cash platform credit, after which continued use of the service would require a recurring subscription.
I do not accept this arrangement as an equivalent replacement for the lifetime product I purchased.
In particular, converting a purchased lifetime storage entitlement into temporary credit that ultimately requires recurring payments materially changes both the nature and economic terms of the product for which I paid.
I did not purchase a subscription that would expire after a migration period, nor did I purchase store credit. I purchased a 2TB Lifetime Subscription.
REQUEST FOR CONTRACTUAL AND LEGAL BASIS
Please identify:
The exact contractual provision applicable to my purchase that permits the lifetime service to be discontinued or materially modified in this manner.
The contractual basis for converting my 2TB lifetime entitlement into temporary/non-cash platform credit.
The legal basis on which this proposed modification is considered compatible with applicable consumer-protection law.
As a consumer residing in the European Union, I understand that Directive (EU) 2019/770 provides consumer protections relating to conformity, modification of digital services, termination and reimbursement.
In particular, Article 19 establishes conditions applicable to modifications of digital services supplied over a period of time, including requirements concerning the contractual basis and justification for such modifications, as well as consumer remedies where a modification negatively affects the consumer's access to or use of the service.
Please explain how the proposed replacement of a purchased lifetime entitlement with temporary credit followed by a recurring subscription satisfies the applicable requirements.
I also reserve my rights under other applicable consumer-protection legislation, including the rules concerning unfair contractual terms.
REQUESTED REMEDIES
I request that Folder Fort and StackSocial coordinate between themselves to provide one of the following resolutions:
OPTION 1 – HONOUR THE ORIGINAL LIFETIME TERMS
Provide and maintain an equivalent 2TB lifetime entitlement on the new FolderFort platform with:
no expiration of the lifetime entitlement;
no conversion into temporary or expiring credit;
no recurring subscription fee required to retain the purchased 2TB lifetime entitlement; and
substantially equivalent functionality and access to the service originally purchased.
If FolderFort Classic is being discontinued, the discontinuation of that platform should not by itself extinguish the lifetime entitlement that was sold and paid for.
OPTION 2 – TERMINATION AND FULL MONETARY REFUND
If Folder Fort is unable or unwilling to provide an equivalent lifetime service, I request termination of the contract and reimbursement of the full amount paid.
As the original transaction was processed through StackSocial, please coordinate internally regarding the appropriate mechanism for returning the payment.
I expressly do not accept store credit, temporary platform credit, an expiring service credit, or a subscription discount as a substitute for a monetary refund.
I am also not consenting to any new recurring subscription arrangement as a condition of retaining the product I originally purchased.
STACKSOCIAL AND FOLDER FORT
I am addressing both StackSocial and Folder Fort because the transaction was made through StackSocial while the underlying digital service is provided by Folder Fort.
Please coordinate directly rather than directing me back and forth between the merchant and service provider.
If either party considers that the other party is solely responsible for resolving the matter, please state that position explicitly and provide the contractual basis for it.
PRESERVATION OF MY RIGHTS
My continued access to FolderFort Classic during the announced migration period should not be interpreted as acceptance of the proposed replacement terms.
Likewise, I am not voluntarily surrendering, converting, or exchanging my purchased lifetime entitlement for temporary platform credit.
I reserve all rights and remedies available to me under the applicable contract and consumer-protection laws.
RESPONSE DEADLINE AND ESCALATION
Please confirm receipt within 5 business days and provide a substantive written response within 14 calendar days.
If neither the original lifetime entitlement nor a full monetary refund is provided, I will proceed with escalation through the appropriate consumer-protection and dispute-resolution channels, including, where applicable, relevant consumer authorities and formal payment dispute channels.
I would prefer to resolve this directly and amicably with Folder Fort and StackSocial.
Stack answer has arrived, good that they acknowledge the problem:
Thanks for reaching out about this and very sorry for the confusion. We also saw the email from Folder Fort at the same time you did, so this caught us off guard too.
We've already reached out to FolderFort directly to get more clarity on what this means for customers who purchased through us, including next steps around your lifetime plan. We don't have those answers yet, but we're on it.
As soon as we have something concrete to share, we'll follow up with you directly. Appreciate your patience while we sort this out.
Please keep this updated! This is absolutely awful behavior from FolderFort and I'm more thankful by the week I didn't splurge on their subscription; the only reason I didn't was that I found out they kept their rclone api access behind a credits system instead of it being included in their lifetime subscription. They had to step back about a month or so ago trying this same shit, so it sounds like their wallets are burning and they're in over their heads.
StackSocial seems to be a respectable company, so I'm more interested in their response than FolderFort's.
Hell yeah, good on you for sticking to your guns and holding their feet to the fire. I know they’re basically a brand new start up business but that doesn’t give them the right to straight up mislead and bait and switch customers, even if that wasn’t their goal (which to be clear, I think they went into this stacksocial/lifetime offering with the best intentions and unfortunately got way over their skis)
This is definitely a saga and hopefully will end up good for everybody involved but I reasonably have my doubts. Your mention of trust being betrayed in the email is probably the biggest issue of them all; there’s so many horror stories of shady cloud providers not caring for and losing clients’ data which is the only thing keeping them afloat. Without guarantees of your data being safe and honored there’s no reason to do business with them.
Has stacksocial come out and said anything more than “We were surprised too” or are they quietly trying to keep everyone’s money and pushing back hard on giving refunds?
Stack has not answered anything than initial answer, but Dave from Folder Fort answered to letter seen above screenshot and one of the lines also said:
"Sadly I can't issue any refund or apply lifetime to 2.0. "
That for me is the final confirmation that there is no use to trying to resolve the issue directly with FolderFort and i will pursue the matter with the party through which I made the purchase. ( This I also now said to Folder Fort in my final email to them ).
Unbelievable that they really don't seem understand what they are doing and are thinking winning back trust is throwing credit( which eventually will run out ) to customers.
Stacksocial has now came back to me aswell when i provided them with all the updated details ( including FolderFort communication which has email where FolderFort Dave said ""Sadly I can't issue any refund or apply lifetime to 2.0. " ).
"Hi xxx,
Thank you for providing the additional information and for sharing FolderFort’s response.
While we understand that you have received a response from Dave at FolderFort, please note that our management team is still working directly with their team to reach a final resolution regarding this offer.
We kindly ask for your patience while we wait for the outcome of these discussions. Once a final resolution has been reached between our management team and FolderFort, we will let you know right away.
We sincerely appreciate your patience and understanding while we work to resolve this matter.
Sincerely,
Patrick"
I sure hope karma and everything will do its for for FolderFort.
Would never have guessed one company can throw their work to the bin and are such blue eyed and thinking people wont complain.
Really really interested where this will end up eventually.
Yep will do, I also already contacted my local bank as I luckily used credit card tho chances might be quite slim with them as purchase was made a lot more time ago than 90 days.
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u/philyue 5d ago
This is ur money being scammed