Juniper Education - Ts and Cs warning - Auto purchase of products

[Synkrox]

For the second time now Juniper have tried to add on a module and invoice us for the priviledge of not asking for it.

 

The first time I kicked off a stink and got it refunded. The second time I only found out about it through this forum so kicked off again. 

 

It looks like they have updated their Ts and Cs - so if you do business with Juniper they are allowed to invoice you for whatever products they decide to create, and it's up to you to opt out at the time - if in fact you do get their messaging. I don't have a record of the actual Ts and Cs that were live when I signed up but I would put money on this being added after the last time they did it.

 

(If anyone knows of a product similar to Sonar tracker please PM me so I can get rid of them.)

 

Full reply from helpdesk:

 

Hi Chris,
 
Thanks for your reply, and I'm sorry to hear you feel this way. This was not our intention, and we value the relationship with your school. I have escalated your feedback to my line manager and marketing team to ensure this is taken into account for future initiatives.
 
Parental Engagement Campaign
We have received feedback that many schools are looking to improve parental engagement this year, and with the Schools White Paper "Every Child Achieving and Thriving" placing clear expectations on schools to evidence pupil belonging and stronger parental engagement, we truly believe there is value within our new bundle. This is why we wanted to provide this at a discounted rate across all of our existing customers. Our aim was to provide the opportunity for schools to save money in paying for additional tools (e.g. Tapestry, Class Dojo) and streamline communication tools together with Sonar.
 
We have aimed to be transparent with our communications throughout this trial via messages in Sonar itself for users, plus email communications. These were sent during January and February informing schools of the trial, allowing them to explore the features if they wished, or informing us if they didn't want to go ahead with this. Following the trial deadline of 27th February, we pulled data from the system to ensure only schools that had used the features were invoiced for this. As we identified that your school did not engage with this trial, you were removed from the campaign and were not invoiced. 
 
Mailing List
As requested, I have updated our system to ensure these two emails are included in our mailing lists, and techsupport is listed as the main contact for Sonar. 
 
Future Campaigns
We completely understand your request and appreciate you taking the time to let us know your preferences. At the moment, unfortunately, I'm not able to opt your school out of all future trials. Communications relating to your products and services, including things like offers, updates, billing information and service notifications, form part of your agreement with us.
 
Because these are required to deliver and manage your services, they aren't something we're able to switch off or unsubscribe you from individually. This is referenced in our Terms & Conditions, in clause 6.6 copied below:
 
6.6 Should Juniper offer the Client a free trial period in respect of the Services, unless the Client does terminate the same by serving notice on Juniper in accordance with these Conditions prior to the expiry of that free-trial period, such period shall automatically convert to a subscription and shall be deemed to run for an Initial Term in accordance with Clause 5 of these Conditions and shall only be terminable by the Client in accordance with this Clause 6. The Client shall be liable for and shall pay all Charges due in accordance with Clause 9 of these Conditions.
 
We're sorry for any frustration this may cause, but I can confirm there are no additional trials planned for your Sonar subscription currently, but this is subject to change as determined by the business going forwards. We're always happy to answer any questions or talk through the communications you receive if that would be helpful.
 
I hope this helps and if you have any further questions, feel free to get back in touch.
 
Best wishes,

 

[Theblacksheep]

I think its time for us to find a new website provider, I'm not willing to support these underhanded practices by Juniper.

[sigma]

Perhaps Trading Standards would be interested?

[Dos_Box]

I think it should just be made clear that this thread does not refer to Juniper Networks!

[FragglePete]

Quote

Parental Engagement Campaign
We have received feedback that many schools are looking to improve parental engagement this year.....

 

Ask for a copy of this so called 'feedback', with actual schools that gave it - bet it doesn't exist except the in the mind of the marketing guy.

 

Pete

 

[DrCheese]

Yarp, they're taking the absolute urine. We managed to opt out before the deadline, but we only recieved the email TWO DAYS before the deadline.

 

Stuff like this is illegal in consumer space, but when it comes to business to business, it's the wild west.

[andy_b]

Similar reponse to our formal complant:

 

Quote

While I am unable to guarantee that your account will never be included in future opt‑out processes, I can confirm that there are currently no additional trials planned in relation to your website subscription. Any future changes would align with our business procedures and the terms and conditions:

 

6.6 blah blah blah

 

also took a number of emails for this clarification

 

Quote

I can confirm that no Wonde sync will be required for continued use of your Juniper website.

 

and they never really took reponsibility for the huge amount of un-necessary data they tried to aquire via Wonde.

[jthompson]

For me, about 30% of the offensiveness is the decision to make it an opt-out procedure, with the remaining 70% of the offensiveness being the decision to not ****ing notify my about it.

[Synkrox]

0808 223 1133
This is the number for citizens advice (who act as the go-between for trading standards)

 

Had a chat to a lovely bloke and have opened a case with them that has been escalated to trading standards.

 

There's no point me sharing you my case number on here as each person has to report individually, but if you do have half an hour then please give them a buzz and get some more cases logged against them.