Deezer: A warning

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MrTomato

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#296204 29-May-2022 21:32

Just a heads-up if you're looking to subscribe to music streaming service Deezer, or change your subscription level.

At some point recently - probably when they shuffled their subscription tiers and dropped the free / advertising-supported option - they've started silently advertising and billing in USD. Previously, if you were accessing from New Zealand, everything would be in NZD.

At the moment, for example, Deezer Family is advertised as $17.99/month, Premium at $10.99/month and Premium Annual at (the equivalent of) $8.24/month. No mention that the prices are USD, even in the small print - it's just specified as '$'. The first you'll know is when you get a nasty surprise in your credit card bill. Again, this has been a quiet change. Everything used to be in NZD and billed accordingly.

Extremely dodgy and dishonest behaviour as far as I'm concerned.

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richms

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#2920188 29-May-2022 22:41

When I tried them it was a pretty shoddy service anyway. Not as bad as qobuz but the software was horrid.

I was really looking for an alternative to spotify and there isn't one. All the others just suck in comparison. At the moment using a combo of youtube music for the personal mixes, and amazon music to choose things I want to hear and on the echos since its giving me better quality.

If this really surprised you then I would be doing a chargeback on it for billing an unexpected amount. Perhaps its an error, perhaps they are being scammy - either way its not on to not specify currency on a global website if its being targeted to other countries.

Richard rich.ms

michaelmurfy

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#2920237 29-May-2022 23:05

For those who are interested there is a previous thread to Spotify alternatives: https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=151&topicid=293582

But I've been using Tidal and actually think this is the best alternative to Spotify. It works well, has everything I want and the mixes are actually rather good once it gets to know you. Also, has an official Tesla client.

Anyway, Deezer is discontinued in NZ according to this post:

Kookoo:

Just got a notification from Deezer that it will no longer be offered for free in New Zealand. :(

I've discontinued Deezer anyway, but it's still a shame.

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MrTomato

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#2920239 29-May-2022 23:15

richms:

If this really surprised you then I would be doing a chargeback on it for billing an unexpected amount. Perhaps its an error, perhaps they are being scammy - either way its not on to not specify currency on a global website if its being targeted to other countries.

I think it's an 'error' insofar as they've recently had to redo their website and subscription model, and someone's been incompetent. But isn't it strange how these 'errors' only ever seem to be to the benefit the company in question? Whoops!

I made a complaint after my first post in this thread, and to be fair to them they responded almost immediately, offering me a full refund and to terminate my subscription. Normally I'd take the refund and tell the service to get stuffed as a matter of principle, but I happen to be a long-standing heavy user and - until now, at least - a satisfied customer, so this will have to be one of the very rare occasions when I just suck it up even though it sticks in my craw.

MrTomato

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#2920240 29-May-2022 23:20

michaelmurfy:

Anyway, Deezer is discontinued in NZ according to this post

Just to be clear, only the 'free' (advertising-supported in reality) subscription tier has been discontinued in New Zealand, and it's the same in most other countries around the world. Deezer are still selling and providing their service to New Zealand customers, but only at the Premium tier and higher.

eracode

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#2920249 30-May-2022 05:03

I was using the ad-supported free version of Pandora from about 2010 - then in 2017 they announced that they were withdrawing from NZ and Australia. We were using it with Sonos - Pandora is fully-supported in the Sonos app. Was totally in love with it and was devastated at the prospect of losing it.

However, I soon realised that with the settings from the smart DNS service that we use for TV, Pandora continues to work as if nothing has changed.

We continued to use Pandora right up until earlier this year - then our son asked if we wanted to be included in his family version of Spotify. The low-key ads on Pandora didn’t concern me too much - about 30-60 seconds every half-hour or so - but the change to Spotify meant totally ad-free, so we changed.

For people with smart DNS and who don’t mind occasional ads, the free version of Pandora may be another option.

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

MaxineN

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#2920251 30-May-2022 06:00

That's really odd because I only paid $12.99 the entire time I was actually using Deezer(went back to Apple Music but thinking of switching again) and that was $12.99 NZD! Even got the PayPal receipts to boot too!

Ramblings from a mysterious lady who's into tech. Warning I may often create zingers.

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gzt

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#2920270 30-May-2022 07:49

eracode: The low-key ads on Pandora didn’t concern me too much - about 30-60 seconds every half-hour or so - but the change to Spotify meant totally ad-free, so we changed.

I take it you were on Pandora free not plus or premium.

eracode

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#2920274 30-May-2022 08:02

gzt:
eracode: The low-key ads on Pandora didn’t concern me too much - about 30-60 seconds every half-hour or so - but the change to Spotify meant totally ad-free, so we changed.

I take it you were on Pandora free not plus or premium.

Yes - I said I used the free version. If I had a paid version I wouldn't have had the ads I referred to.

I would have happily paid to get an ad-free version and tried hard to achieve that - but after 2017 it wasn't possible from NZ. I asked a couple times here on GZ about how to pay USD subscriptions from NZ but couldn't make it work.

Now that I have got used to Spotify, I like it just as much as (if not more than) Pandora and we get Spotify 'free' because our son pays the family subscription.

Like Pandora, Spotify plays nicely with the Sonos app. Also, although I'm not 100% sure about this, I think Spotify runs on Sonos with a higher bitrate than Pandora does.

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

dclegg

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#2920348 30-May-2022 12:49

michaelmurfy:

But I've been using Tidal and actually think this is the best alternative to Spotify. It works well, has everything I want and the mixes are actually rather good once it gets to know you. Also, has an official Tesla client.

I've just finished a 3 month "trial" of Tidal. I really loved it. I have pretty non-mainstream tastes, and it catered to them very well. Unfortunately I couldn't convince the rest of the whanau to make the shift from Spotify, otherwise I'd have jumped ship to them.