Resellers vent anger at Pegasus price hike

Financial software vendor Pegasus has come under fire from resellers because of increased charges in its pricing structure.

Financial software vendor Pegasus has come under fire from resellers because of increased charges in its pricing structure.

The Northamptonshire-based company, which produces the Opera I and Opera II financial software suites, has sent a new business plan to all its resellers, claiming it will simplify administration for them and make the company easier to deal with.

But one section of the plan has annoyed some Pegasus resellers because it has increased the Opera accreditation fee from £1000 a year to £2400, payable in monthly £200 instalments.

Resellers will discuss their concerns at the next meeting of Admit, a group of about 50 Pegasus resellers, in May.

John Dixon, chairman of Admit, and managing director of systems integrator Computime, said: "Basically, any type of change is disruptive." He added that for smaller resellers it is "certainly an issue".

Pegasus has angered resellers in the past year by temporarily freezing contact with its channel partners following its takeover by Freecom.net. It also admitted to sending letters to its senior accounts and payroll software users urging them to change channel partners.

One reseller said: "The new pricing structure represents a 140 per cent increase in charges, which is quite a jump for small resellers."

However, Paul White, managing director of Pegasus, said the new pricing structure was aimed at saving resellers money by consolidating charges.

"There's opportunity for growth for Pegasus channel partners," he said. "This pricing structure benefits our resellers because they have been paying £1000 a year for accreditation and £1200 for product training. On top of that was the cost of product literature. The new charges will include those costs, so it will save money for our resellers."

First published in Computer Reseller News