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registration benefits

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justice:
Let me get to the point: do you have any experiences of useful product registration benefits? With many products including software and computer peripherals asking you to 'register now' even though you've purchased it - 'for added benefits, free information and news', I have almost never actually benefited from a registration scheme. The lack of worthwhile benefits actually has changed my opinion of these schemes: when i see one i see them just as a benefit for marketing departments sending out their crap leaflets or mail spam. Surely customers should be treated better with this!

The one benefit I actually had registering a product was with a zanussi washing machine, they keep your purchase records on file in case of a warranty claim. That's actually useful to me. But any software package i now default to 'never register' because I don't trust any benefits come from doing so.

What are your experiences? Should "register now" functionality be removed from all future software in an ideal world or did you get discounts / consumer benefits from registering it? I'd like to see if I am wrong on this.

TucknDar:
I haven't really considered it, but now that you mention it I suppose you're right. There's little apparent benefit in registering. The only time when I've had a use for this, is with registering on the Genie-Soft website, where I've got a few questions answered concerning my purchased licenses. I might actually have got this answered through mail, but I think registering and using their "ticket-scheme" is their preferred way of communicating with customers.

Apart from this experience, I can't think of other instances of any benefit from the "Register Now!" option :tellme:

Edit: Although I suppose DonationCoder.com could fall into this category somehow, and with great benefit, obviously ;)

f0dder:
I don't think I've ever seen something where registering made sense... for the couple of shareware applications I've purchased where I've need support in one way or another, registration (in the typical nag-screen sense) wasn't necessary.

app103:
I used to have a Storm Imagewave scanner. The company that made it went out of business.

The prob I had with the scanner was that it forced registration on you when you installed the drivers for the scanner...every single time...and you had to have a dialup modem to do it because it would want to dial out to some 800 number....and there was no way to opt out. (and the phone number didn't exist any more) 

The only other time I have bothered to register something was some software of my daughter's for doing makeovers. Even though you bought and paid for the software on CD (at a price of almost $100 to cover cost of software + crappy digital camera), they made you register it to get a code to unlock all the features. They were also kind enough to install some spyware on your pc along with the software.

Thankfully, neither of these products are available any more.

cranioscopical:
I've seen almost no benefits here but some hassles, as others have found.

Oddly enough, though, my favourite text editor recently had an update for registered users.

Since I first registered it (in 1993) I've changed both my home and office addresses and phone numbers.

I couldn't recall whether I registered it from home or from the office, or when, or if I used my own or my company name, or...  Then I remembered an old file from the days when things were registered by mail or fax.  I always kept a paper copy of these.  In that file I found a copy of my original registration and submitted it, which did the trick.

So, in terms of a registration-benefit success rate that's about .1% thus far :)

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