Questionable price increases/business practices at TeamViewer
Today I was a bit surprised because I received another email with price increases.
This time from the company TeamViewer because of my business license.
Note: The following content has been translated from German to English, so there may be slight differences.
Good day,
thank you for using TeamViewer – the remote access and remote support software the world trusts. With us, your connections are fully protected at all times by industry-leading security measures.
We work tirelessly to provide you with a reliable and secure product. Because that’s the only way we can always provide you and your users with the best possible experience and the most value.
Given the current challenging macroeconomic situation, your license(s) and any existing add-ons will automatically renew from […] EUR/year.
If you do not wish to continue your subscription, please open a support ticket within the next 14 calendar days. No reply will be considered as agreement.
If your payment details have changed, please update them in the customer portal. This is the only way to avoid interrupting your access to our products.
Always securely connected
TeamViewer
Source: Email from TeamViewer Germany GmbH dated 02/22/2023
In TeamViewer’s EULA, a new section was probably added especially for this price increase:
Unless otherwise expressly stated in the Agreement, TeamViewer may notify Customer of any increase in fees at least twenty-eight (28) days prior to the expiration of the applicable Subscription Term (Section B.5.1). If the customer does not object within fourteen (14) days after the notification, the price increase will become effective at the beginning of the renewal term. If the customer objects to the increase, the contract will end at the end of the respective subscription term. TeamViewer will point out this effect of non-objection to the customer in its notification.
Source: TeamViewer Germany GmbH (without author): EULA, URL: https://www.teamviewer.com/de/eula/ (as of 22/02/2023)
To make a long story short: An EULA is not a GTC. Surprising clauses in GTC are invalid and an amendment of the GTC also requires consent. Inactivity is also basically no consent. The only thing TeamViewer can do is to cancel my contract or to extend the contract at the old conditions.
The procedure and the display of this concentrated competence makes me doubt whether other legal principles are also observed so closely at TeamViewer.
Update from 06.03.2023
On February 22, 2023 I wrote TeamViewer the following message:
The announced price increase remains ineffective in the absence of a contractual basis.
Further, a lack of consent cannot be interpreted as consent. […]
Further legal explanations are not necessary at this time. […]
On February 24, 2023, I then received a confirmation of termination from TeamViewer:
Dear Sir or Madam,
thank you for contacting us.
We hereby confirm that we have received your termination notice and are processing your request.
A retention manager from our team will contact you regarding your request within 5 business days,
In the meantime, if you have any questions, you can contact us at […] or reply to this ticket.
If you do not see an email from us, please check your SPAM folder
Thank you for your patience.
Email from TeamViewer dated 02/24/2023
To which I replied:
[…] my last email is (are) not a cancellation.
TeamViewer replied again that a “retention manager” will contact me within the next 5 business days. As expected, I have heard nothing from TeamViewer since 24.02.2023 up to and including today 06.03.2023.
The notice period for my contract is 28 days. The cancellation must be made in writing. Since my contract starts on April 1, TeamViewer has legally “missed” the cancellation period for me. The confirmation of cancellation for a cancellation not made by me leaves no possibility to interpret the confirmation of cancellation as a cancellation by TeamViewer.
All customers who received an offer to migrate from TeamViewer to the subscription version a long time ago may be able to refer to an individually negotiated contract. According to the offer I accepted, the GTC/Eula were not part of the contract. It was also stated in the offer that the migration discount is permanently valid and that I can continue to use the last purchased version if I cancel. The latter can of course also be interpreted as meaning that I can continue to use the last version provided in the subscription. In any case, however, the version before the migration.
Update from 16.03.2023
The legendary retention manager has now contacted me and maintains the effectiveness of the clause. Attached is some more correspondence:
Good day,
this is not correct, as you have a 14-day special right of termination due to the price increase from receipt of the letter announcing the price increase.
You have explicitly written to us in the ticket […] on 24.02.2023 that it was not a termination in your last e-mail.
In addition, the statement that we must continue the contract at the old conditions in any case is also incorrect.
[…]
Unless otherwise expressly stated in the Agreement, TeamViewer may notify Customer of any increase in fees at least twenty-eight (28) days prior to the expiration of the applicable Subscription Term (Section B.5.1). If the customer does not object within fourteen (14) days after the notification, the price increase will become effective at the beginning of the renewal term. If the customer objects to the increase, the contract will terminate at the end of the respective subscription term.
I am happy to offer you the renewal from 01.04.2023 for only € […] net.
This discount is valid for 2 years.
I would be pleased about a short feedback.
E-mail from TeamViewer dated 16.03.2023
Dear Sir or Madam,
the contract was negotiated individually and came into effect by accepting the offer dated 01.04.202 with the No. Q-2615898-K4H3C0.
EULA (End User License Agreement) are not necessarily GTC in the strict sense. I can only expect agreements about the license and possible usage rights, but not clauses about price increases.
Also, the alleged GTC in the form of the EULA have been changed by you several times. No consent was given to these changes. Therefore, there is no effective agreement that includes the disputed clause on price increases, because this was not part of the “EULA” at the time the contract was concluded in any case.
In principle, there is no commercial custom that would imply an effect of consent to the silence on requests to amend existing or notified contractual relationships (cf. BGH NJW 1996, 919 (921); Heymann/Horn para. 40; Schlegelberger/Hefermehl para. 105; Canaris HandelsR § 23 para. 52 f.; Flume BGB AT II).
This is a surprising clause within the meaning of 305c (1) BGB, as such a clause was not to be expected in the context of a license agreement.
Its comments on the applicability of individual provisions from the law governing general terms and conditions are incorrect, as Section 305c (1) BGB is not covered by Section 310 (1) BGB.
The scope of application of Section 305c (1) BGB is comprehensive. Personally, the provision also applies if the contractual partner of the user is an entrepreneur and the contract is part of the operation of his commercial business (see BGHZ 109, 197 (200) = NJW 1990, 576 (577); OLG Hamburg NJW-RR 1999, 1506).
Finally, a clause can also be surprising because it has an unusual design or appears in an unusual place (cf. MüKoBGB/Fornasier, 9th ed. 2022, BGB § 305c Rn. 27, 28).
My answer from 16.03.2023
Good day,
thank you very much for your feedback.
After internal consultation, I hereby confirm the termination of your license as of 01.04.2023.
If you are interested in an extension I can offer you as already mentioned in my last email the extension from 01.04.2023 for only […] € net.
This discount is valid for 2 years.
I would be pleased about a short feedback.
Email from Teamviewer dated 16.03.2023
I have once again informed TeamViewer that the remarks are incorrect and that my contract still exists. TeamViewer is of the opinion my contract is history as of April 1, 2023.
I have now asked TeamViewer to “provide the last purchased license” according to the contract and I am curious which version will be provided to me or if any version will be provided at all.
Update from 19.03.2023
TeamViewer simply ignored my last request regarding the “provision of the last purchased license”. As a result, I have replaced TeamViewer with Anydesk.
Eine Antwort zu “Questionable price increases/business practices at TeamViewer”
Thank you for sharing!
I today just received the email notification from Teamviewer with an astounding 21% price increase. Their “macro economics” claim is BS! I also read on their investor page that earnings per share has risen 46% in the last year!!! and they are targeting Revenue as key KPI over previous Subscriber Retention Ratio. Clearly this company has questionable business tactics.