Ann The Gran Community

beamishboy:

As promised, we've made some changes today to our Free Designs section. Users of our site can now search for free designs by keyword and browse by category and contributor. Also, we will be adding 10 new designs per week to the New Designs category. If you are an Ann's Club member, you will notice that, in addition to these great new features, download speeds of free designs will have also increased.

If you are not an Ann's Club member, there are still 500 randomly chosen designs that can be downloaded at any one time. This group of 500 designs will change periodically, so if you see a design you like and it doesn't have this download icon beside it, that means it is not available for free download for non-members at that time. If you return to the site at a later date, it is possible that the same design may be available for download to non-Club members.

We understand that this change may cause some inconvenience for some of our users, and we are committed to helping everyone adjust to the new system. It is important to remember that, for more than 11 years, AnnTheGran.com has incurred the full cost of providing the enormous amount of internet bandwidth that is necessary for our users to download what is now approximately 5 million embroidery design files per month. It is thanks in large part to our paid membership base that we have been able to offer the service free for everyone. We recently decided that it would be a much fairer system to ask those who have enjoyed the free service for many years to bear some of the cost.

It was important to us as we made this change that the designs remain free - what is no longer free is full access to all the designs all the time. Even though costs of our bandwidth are getting higher all the time as our userbase grows, we made sure that, for those among our users on fixed incomes, there was as wide a selection of designs as possible for which we would continue to offer completely free access. It is our sincere hope that, for those among you in this situation, you can continue to find what you need on our site.

BB

 

I am a club member but it wont let me download any of the freebies and says I need to be a club member. Before the change I never had any problem downloading them. arumba05[:'(]

 THIS IS REDICULOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  YOU SHOULD HAVE LEFT IT THE WAY IT WAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am very disappointed with the new free downloads system. To me, free means free. I am a registered member and have been for quite a long time and have used a few of the free designs. Because I am not a paid up member I now can only download a very few designs, and some of the ones I've looked at are not that great. If I contributed a design to a free site, I would expect people to get it free, not to have to pay quite a large sum per quarter/year to access them. That is NOT FREE. Most of my work is making vestments and digitising my own designs, therefore the few little designs I might need for a childs dress, for instance, would cost me a large amount if I subscribed to Ann the Gran.

The site is also messy and difficult to navigate and I can't find anywhere that will allow me to 'unsubscribe', because that is what I now want to do because of these new changes.

I , m very unhappy with the new set up.. I feel you are after only the dollar  and no longer care about the home embroider who trully ues your site ,, most people  have a hard time with the computor anyway and this site is not friendly,,, very un happy  glenna

There is a difference between free designs and designs you need to be a member of a club for and pay a subscription.  If you have to pay a subscription, it is not a free design,  sounds like false advertising to me. 

I suggest changing the layout so the designs that really are free are listed as such under a seperate section.  If not, it becomes more difficult to find free versus for a fee.  I may check back in a couple months to see if the site has changed, until then, I'll find designs someplace else.

I thin we have beaten up BB enough.  I can understand posting problems with getting around the new site but whining about having to pay for the designs makes us sound greedy and ungrateful.  BB explained the costs of bandwidth etc and after all that Ann has provided for us it is time for us to pick up some of the financial burden.  Yes economic times are tough but they are just as tough for Ann and BB.  We have had the proverbial free lunch for a long time and for that I am very appreciative now I am willing to pay a little bit for the information, conversation and designs I get from the ATG site.  BB, Ann and the gang know how we feel and our problems so let's give them time to work out the bugs and be thankful for a great site and the great people at ATG.

I have been a registered member for quite a long time now and I am very disappointed with the new system.To me free means free, not to have to pay a subscription in order to download things that are free. If I contributed a design for people to download free then I expect them not to have to pay anything. Most of the work I do is making vestments and I do my own digitising, but on the odd occasion when I have used a free design for a childs dress  it has been helpful, but to have to pay quite a large amount for subscription on the offchance that I may want to use a free design is untennable.

The designs I've looked at that are now 'free' are not very exciting and I certainly wouldn't use them. They are too selective.

I also find the site very difficult to navigate, and I can't find the 'unsubscribe' button.  That is what I now want to do.

Hi Ann,[:'(]

I have enjoyed your free designs for years and today I tried to download a free design and couldn't.  I am a member and I don't like the updates, it makes it harder to get on.

CynthiaElkins

Thank you for your feeback, everyone. I would like to note first that this is a moderated forum and that we have chosen to allow each of these posts (except a few very rude and inappropriate ones, which we deleted) onto our forums. One might wonder why a company would not only allow but encourage this type of response in a public forum - it is because we remain committed to building the best resource possible for our users, and we know that the only way to do that is by not only listening to the community when we like what they are saying but also when we don't.

I would like to thank sincerely those of you who know us best and who have offered your support during this recent transition. You'd never know it from this forum, but we've actually heard from many of you that you like the direction in which we're headed. Judging by our membership sign-ups and renewals since the change, the majority of our users seem to agree.

To the still-small minority of our users who have voiced displeasure on the forums with the new system, I can only reiterate that we have done our best, and gone to signifcant expense, to ensure that those on a fixed income can still get some designs free in our new system - we are still allowing the designs to be shared, and each of them will be freely available at some time over the next few months. Someone mentioned 'false advertising', but the fact that the section has changed does not mean that we are making a misrepresentation. The top menu doesn't say "All Designs Free", it says "Free Designs". My sense is that someone coming to the site for the first time would click on 'Free Designs', and have a reaction something like "Oh, great, some of the designs are free, but if I want unlimited access, I need to pay a bit. That seems reasonable."

Some of you have spoken about taking your business elsewhere. This reminds me of the common story about the case of the losing politician who can't figure out why she didn't win because everyone she talked to said they voted for her. The fact of the matter is that people who have actually spent money on our site over the years have always been among a surprisingly small minority. My guess is that we've managed to keep the boat afloat because the great customer service and support that we've always given has kept that small minority coming back.

We're very proud of the fact that we've been able to avoid this step until now, in the spirit of sharing rather than commerce, but I think it's either naive or perhaps even a bit presumptuous to expect that we would continue pouring resources into something that, especially in these times, doesn't really make a lot of economic sense. How would you feel if you owned a gift shop and crowds of people kept coming in to use your washroom but then left without ever buying anything?

BB

I totally agree. 

I do not collect Free Designs, but the bit of browsing I have done did not produce any Free Designs that I would have to pay for. 

Where are they?

A few sour grapes appear to be trying to change "Getting Around Our New Site" to "G-RRRR-ing Around Our New Site".

That's cuz you're a Club member, Pattiann!

Greg,

Here is a suggestion that might help with the problem some are having. In the header with "Home, Shop, Ann's Club, Whats New.....Free Designs,"  change the wording to read Downloads, Downloadable Designs, or something similar but do away with the word "Free." When a person clicks on the catagory, they will read how some are free and some can be downloaded only if they are an Ann's Club member.

Barbara

Well, duh! 

Very well said, as usual.

[:@ ]

Ann, please, please rethink your strategy.  What used to be enjoyable to brouse the free disigns is now hell on wheels or at least my lap top. Progress is great but this is not progress. 

If you are lucky enough to find the design you are looking for, you are out of time since it has taken you, and again I say, if you were lucky enough to find the designs you were looking for, three hours on trial and error and error and I do mean error.

I love your site and have purchased Ann's club again this year and also many designs and package> But now I find myself going to other sites due to the inconvienence and time factor. The download speed is great but not worth the hassle of spending countless hours trying to find designs.Its a case of love you but hate the system.  Please correct soon.

Jaquie Wheeler

Sorry, I don't agree with you. If something is advertised as free then free it should be. Members post 'free' designs with good will. Others sell their designs. That's fair. But don't advertise free and then charge, regardless of the economic climate.

well i  have tryed  to join ann gran  club but wont take my credit card... can.t even contract a person by  phone   ...what,s  going on

Hi:

Please send an email to support@annthegran.com with your contact information and we will get back to you to take the order over the phone.

Annthegran Support 

All the free designs are free.  You just need to be a member to have access to all of them.

I see this happening at other sites, so you need to decide if you are going to fish or cut bait.