To Premium or Not to Premium

[marywoah]

I'm sorry if this should go in help or somewhere else, not really sure.

 

I'm thinking about buying premium again. I think I last had it about a year ago, definitely at some point after Jumpstart bought Neopets. I'm just wondering if anyone has any opinions about it? Is Premium any less worth it now? Are there any known issues with it? If they mess up my billing somehow (which I'm extremely paranoid about) will they respond promptly?

 

Thanks in advance.

[kayahtik]

Hi! So I've upgraded three times during my Neopets career, and right now I'm on my second month of premium-ness since returning from my hiatus. Two months isn't a lot, of course, but so far my billing's been 100% fine. My premium status was activated within 5 minutes of entering my payment info, and I've been charged the correct amount at the correct times and awarded all of the promised features. 

 

I'm assuming you already know all of the premium benefits, since you've had a premium account before. Nothing has changed since the last time I upgraded two years ago, so no updates there as far as I know. 

 

I find that it really adds to my Neopets experience, mainly because of the SSW and the premium navigation bar at the bottom of the screen, which makes it super easy to track my stocks and to navigate to the pages I visit most frequently in the fewest clicks possible (thanks to the customizable "dailies" buttons). These things make it a lot easier to keep track of my nps and to stock my shop (both through sniping on the SSW and making sure my items are competitively priced)--and that's one of the most important parts of my Neopets activity. The Space Faerie scratchcards and (a lot!) of extra REs also help those nps add up a bit faster.

 

I don't really care too much about the second 2x bonus game, the Space Faerie site theme, the premium neoboards, etc. IMO, they don't really provide anything that unique to what you can get as a normal player. The only other thing that may really interest some people is the exclusive NC collectables. I'm not that into customization, but I know a lot of people are, so there's that. 

 

Overall, the things I use it for are definitely worth the $7/month to me (I'm paying month-to-month rather than making a longer commitment...), especially since I spend so much time on Neopets, and it's a lot cheaper than most other hobbies. I would definitely recommend it. After all, you can always cancel it if you find it's not worth it to you (I've had no problems whatsoever with payment after the last two times I've cancelled). 

 

Sorry to ramble on so much, but I hope you may find some of this useful! If you have any questions about the features or anything, I'm happy to answer!

[marywoah]

Don't be sorry!! I appreciate it. I definitely enjoyed it back when I had it! My main issue is just lack of faith in Jumpstart and being a pessimist in general  :whistle: Your post helped :)

[Aquamentis12]

Well, no ads is definitely the biggest thing for me. The perks are ok, nothing new that I'm aware of. Billing, it's been awhile since I had an issue with billing. But as I recall things were handled rather promptly and explained well. Though that was before Jumpstart, I don't know how issues are dealt with now. But I would HOPE the staff is still polite at least. I've sent in tickets for non-premium things, and the replies were decent. So, no complaints there.

 

I'd think you'd be safe if you chose to go with Premium again. :)

[mtsparky]

I love it because of the extra pet spot, the SSW, nerkmids from the cosmic dome and the Charter boards (think you have to be a member for a few months or buy the year to gain access but dont quote me on that). That said if you just want to avoid ads you could use a free ad blocker, and the charter board is a small group so no big deal without. So really its that 5th pet, SSW  and nerkmids that keep me paying. 

 

I wish TNT would bring back aliases for premium members! 

[marywoah]

Thanks all. I went ahead and did it. It saved my dailies from last time!!! lol Honestly, if I could just buy access to the SSW, I would. I love it, probably going to search for things now just for fun.

[ikids]

Something else to keep in mind if you're worried about billing is you could always pay through paypal, then if there's an issue you can cancel it on paypal's side.  Just another added layer of security.

[just4dailies]

I think it's interesting learning people's reasons for having Premium. I've never felt I could pay for something I can have for free. The perks just aren't worth it to me.

[Winter]

I've never had premium before and I'm considering getting it as well, so keeping a close eye on this thread ^_^

[marywoah]

I think it's interesting learning people's reasons for having Premium. I've never felt I could pay for something I can have for free. The perks just aren't worth it to me.

 

I remember probably 5 years ago my friend said to me (after I told her about Neopets and premium and all that) "I'm not willing to pay for pixels" bahahahaha

I use adblock when I don't have premium so I mean, it's only fair xD

[Dahaka]

Do it. Its only like 7 dollars a month and you get like 50 random events a day. Like every 15 pages I click it seems like the space faerie has given me something or I get a "Bank error"

[just4dailies]

I'd have to say I probably agree with your friend :p $7/month isn't much but it would add up & wouldn't be worth it to me. I use ad blocker as well though since my son was born I do more on my phone than on my computer. I'm a saver so I'd rather enjoy the game without the perks & have more money to save for some bigger purchases.

[marywoah]

I pay in four month increments. Can't afford to pay a whole year up front every time, and the $7.95 is just a crazy increase. It's only 40 cents more per month if you pay 4 months rather than 1 year. It jumps up a whole $1.75 per month from every 4 months to 1 month.

 

Like I said, I would be willing to pay for just the SSW. After I cancelled my premium the last time, I made a customized dailies page for myself, so I don't find as much use out of the dailies section on the premium bar anymore - which was my second most used feature. Also, I've only had 1 premium-specific random event so far! I've had increased REs throughout the site, but of the four, 3 took away neopoints  :sad02: cmon premium!!!!

[jingfah]

So this thread convinced me to try out a month of premium (I've always been curious about it, ever since it was first implemented) and... how long does it usually take premium to kick in?
Because the payment has gone through, but nothing has changed. 

 

I mean, I don't expect balloons or anything, but why are there still ads? And where is the toolbar and ssw option?

[marywoah]

Mine was instant when I signed up on May second. I've been seeing a bunch of people on the Help board posting about premium taking a while though. Maybe a premium hiccup?

[jingfah]

Mine was instant when I signed up on May second. I've been seeing a bunch of people on the Help board posting about premium taking a while though. Maybe a premium hiccup?

I checked out the boards because of this, and you're right. A lot of people are having the same problem. I decided to wait two days (as some people recommended) to see if it would kick in, but it hasn't.

So now I've sent in a ticket and we get to play the waiting game.

[kayahtik]

Wow, that really sucks! Mine was almost instant, like Mary's. I could see it taking longer if you were outside the US or something, but if you've already waited two days...there's really no excuse. I hope you get it resolved soon!

[jingfah]

Wow, that really sucks! Mine was almost instant, like Mary's. I could see it taking longer if you were outside the US or something, but if you've already waited two days...there's really no excuse. I hope you get it resolved soon!

It's pretty sad. I seem to have terrible luck when it comes to anything cash related with NP. I had two separate instances where NC wasn't credited to my account (which took over two months to get my refund). I just wish that for once it would work the way it is supposed. Also, I definitely live in the U.S. haha.

 

Side note: this has been bothering me forever. Is that Benedict in your icon? Because it looks like Benedict. More specifically, it looks like Frankenstein Benedict.

I hope it's Benny because this will be pretty awkward if it's not

[kayahtik]

It's pretty sad. I seem to have terrible luck when it comes to anything cash related with NP. I had two separate instances where NC wasn't credited to my account (which took over two months to get my refund). I just wish that for once it would work the way it is supposed. Also, I definitely live in the U.S. haha.

 

Side note: this has been bothering me forever. Is that Benedict in your icon? Because it looks like Benedict. More specifically, it looks like Frankenstein Benedict.

I hope it's Benny because this will be pretty awkward if it's not

 

Wow, that's awful! I've never bought NC, so I've never experienced anything like that, but it's really disappointing that so many people are having these issues when they're paying real money to use the site /: 

 

(Also: IT IS!!! omg, I can't believe you recognized it  :laughingsmiley: I'm struggling to find the original image, but I think it's from around 2013/Star Trek: Into Darkness promotional era :P)

[jingfah]

Wow, that's awful! I've never bought NC, so I've never experienced anything like that, but it's really disappointing that so many people are having these issues when they're paying real money to use the site /: 

 

(Also: IT IS!!! omg, I can't believe you recognized it  :laughingsmiley: I'm struggling to find the original image, but I think it's from around 2013/Star Trek: Into Darkness promotional era :P)

Finally got it today! Definitely the first time I've had a ticket resolved in two days, but still kinda sad that it took four days for the premium I paid for to kick in.

Really excited to try out the SSW though.