What is the difference between a Free and a Paid Plan?

There is a summary of what each plan offers on our Plans page, but below is a more detailed explanation about each feature. You may find it useful to look at the ‘What does THAT mean?’ section of this guide as well.

• Alerts
  The number of times you are allowed to use the Big Blue Button; for Free plans this is ten times per week, which includes responding to any checks requested by your Friends. All Paid Plans have no limit.
• Groups
  Free members cannot create any Groups; Monthly subscribers can create one Group, Annual subscribers can create up to five groups, and Lifetime members have no limit. All members can join as many Groups as they want.
• Ad Hoc Check
  This is simply another way of describing when you decide to hit the Big Blue Button, to differentiate it from Scheduled Checks and Request A Check events.
• Request A Check
  The ability to send a Check to a Friend, either one off or on a regular schedule, or immediately; this facility is not available to Free members. Unlimited for all Paid plans.
• Scheduled Checks
  The ability to set a Check on yourself, either one off or on a regular schedule; this facility is not available to Free members. Unlimited for all Paid plans.
• Friends
  All plans allow you to have an unlimited number of Friends.

Why can Free members only send ten Alerts a week?

There is a cost involved in providing our service (web hosting, server resources, payment processor, notification service, accounting etc) so this is to encourage people to become a Paid member so that we can cover those costs. We hope that everyone will agree that our pricing is very affordable for most, but we also understand that not everyone can afford it, so we offer the Free plan to both allow those who can’t at least some service, and for those who want to “try before they buy” a chance to do so. If not enough people pay to subscribe to the service, this limit may be lowered in the future to encourage more subscriptions, but we hope that this will never be needed.

How do I change or cancel a subscription?

If you have purchased a Monthly or Annual Plan, on your Profile page, and on the right of some pages, you will see the details of your account with us; there are links to either upgrade your plan, or cancel your current subscription. Click the Upgrade button and then select the plan you wish to change to, or if you cancel your subscription it will continue to run until the next renewal date, when your membership will revert to the Free Plan. To completely delete your account, please contact us to do so. Please see this page of the guide for more details. Please note that no refunds are given.

What payment methods do you accept?

This is largely controlled by our payment processor, Stripe, and because we offer recurring subscriptions; at present you can pay with most credit and debit cards, and most Wallets (e.g. Apple, Google). The card types accepted by Stripe are Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover and Diners, China UnionPay, JCB, Cartes Bancaires, and Interac. We are looking to add direct bank transactions as an automatic option, but if you want to arrange a bank transfer for the Lifetime plan, please contact us. We cannot offer the bank transfer for recurring subscriptions at present.

Can I upgrade (or downgrade) my plan?

Yes you can. Please click here for more details.