Unpredictable. Unfocused. Just like life.

I went to download Parallels for my Mac so I could run Windows applications on it. In addition to the $79.99 price tag they tacked on a mandatory $6.99 Extended Download Service, which they describe as follows:

Think of this as your digital safety net for those unexpected occurrences - like your hard drive frying or a virus infection. EDS means that with the purchase of your digital product, we'll keep a copy of your file for ONE FULL YEAR. You'll gain peace of mind knowing that we have your program stored and ready for you to download again [for FREE] at your convenience once your computer is up and running again.

A little extra insurance on your order to keep your products safe? Why not!

NowI've seen a lot of cheap tricks to separate customers from their money, but charging almost 10% of the purchase price to "store a file" for them, so that they can download again "for FREE", might just top them all. And of course it is an mandatory fee, so you can't avoid it even if you aren't quite as stupid as the folks at Parallels assume you are.

Of course, if they don't feel like providing the service you've paid for, then they won't (from the terms of service):

RegNow shall have no obligation to provide the Service, and shall have no liability to the End User in the event RegNow is unable, as may be determined in the sole discretion of RegNow: to make multiple downloads of the Product as a result of modifications or changes to the End User's computer system which make it incompatible with the downloading process, changes or modifications to the Product that render the Product unsuitable for downloading, changes in methods of Internet access or operation that make the Product unsuitable for downloading, any other change or modification to technology and/or the Internet that makes the Product unsuitable for downloading, or the unavailability of the Product as a result of the actions of the vendor, publisher, or other supplier of the Product.

At least have the honesty to just increase the price of the product if you intend to screw the customer out of the money anyway.

And today a friend forwarded an email from Parallels offering the Mac copy at the special price of $59.99 to registered customers. The email just neglected to mention that special price does not include upgrades, unlike the regular price. That is some special deal.

Parallels wins my Dishonest Marketing of the Month award for December 2006.