Engine outfit asks customers to pay 350 euros in VAT fees after pre-order bug
Unity has apologised after asking developers who paid for its new Unity 4 engine to pay extra VAT charges it mistakenly failed to add to the original pricing.
In a message to Develop, a developer said they had not been charged VAT for their pre-order, but three weeks later received an e-mail from Unity asking for an extra €341.
Other users have suggested they wouldn’t have paid for the engine, with an original upgrade cost of €1,365, had they been charged an extra 25 per cent on top. The total price eventually comes to €1,700.
Developers who refuse will likely be able to cancel their transactions, but will not be able to keep the engine at the original cost without paying the VAT.
Unity, however, has told Develop that the bug has only affected five per cent of UK customers, and has apologised for any inconvenience caused.
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“When we launched the Unity 4 pre-order program, our online store had a small bug which affected around five per cent of customers – not adding European VAT to their pre-order purchases,” said Unity CEO David Helgason.
“We contacted the affected customers so that they can complete their purchases, and apologised for any inconvenience that this may have caused them.
"We've been stunned by the level of pre-orders from developers who are as excited as we are about the upcoming launch of the next generation of the engine since our announcement last month, and we look forward to unveiling more at Unite our annual developer conference next month in Amsterdam.”
This has happened to me and a number of other devs on the forums. Legally it seems things are on the side of the developers not Unity. But btw there is an error in your article, it's 25% vat not 20% vat that Unity charge UK developers. Check the maths on 25% of 1365.00. ;)
Oops sorry! Made the amendment! Clearly that's why I'm a journalist and not a mathematician or developer! ;)
The developer backlash isn't worth the miniscule profit loss for Unity.
Hi, I just wanted to clarify the article because there is a factual error. Developers were presented with invoices which did include the VAT charges. However, due to an error with the credit card system, the VAT charge wasn't exacted as it should have been. We aren't asking for any extra money from what was first presented, just to complete the transaction. The bug was brought to our attention by a customer who noticed the difference between what was taken from his credit card and what the invoice said. I hope that clears things up.
I see that the article was changed. Thanks.
Is this the same invoice that also says "paid in full" in a large red font Graham? ;)
You can't present the invoice as being correct if it also includes such an obvious mistake.
As Mystakill says, the backlash isnt worth the miniscule profit loss... small change for Unity, big issue for small teams or 1-man opereations.
This itself coming after the initial backlash over the original upgrade pricing.
Great product - rubbish accountants and respect of the userbase.
