Hey guys.
I used to have Spad.nexT installed on my PC and this morning I decided to get the so called “lifetime subscription” just to find out that it was supposed to expired in 2026.
I created a ticket as well as sent an email to support to find out the reason for that and I got a reply from some guy named Ulrich thanking me for, and I quote “constructive repeated way to address this” and then he said they would issue a refund. Not only I haven’t receive a refund, but somehow the guy blocked the app installed on my PC and the icon ended up on my recycle bin. I paid US$60.00 for the upgrade plus the $24.00 I paid for the year subscription before the upgrade. Now, I can’t even open the app even after reinstalling. It just goes to show how vindictive this people can be if there is any complain. I will wait until tonight to see if I will get my money back. It really seems like I’m dealing with a 10 yo who doesn’t even speak English properly!
I’m not sure what problem you’re running into, but this is on every product page: All licenses are life-time licenses with one year of free product updates.
The right to product updates expires, but your rights to use your (original) licensed version does not expire. Chances are, you’re trying to run the latest version which you did not pay for.
Yes, I paid for the lifetime license $60.00. Is there another one? I upgraded for the app from my previous subscription for one year. I’m just waiting for reimbursement. I don’t need it anyway. As the guy said. Use another product, and guess what? I downloaded the plug in from Logitek and the panels are working just the same way without having to pay a dime. Who knew!
Yes, Spad is totally optional and mainly for customizing complex interactions between your hardware and software. For instance I use it to have my radio panels support things it was not built to display, such as altimeter setting. It’s not necessary at all to run any hardware.
I’m honestly not sure how the license you bought works. If it was supposed to work until 2026 (including updates) it definitely sounds like they messed up. Good luck!
In all honesty the only issue I had was with the panels being blank, but that problem was solved by changing the power management on my system. Now they are working fine.
Your mileage may vary from plane to plane. The Logitech drivers don’t give you any scope for tweaking things.
I had Spad too for FSX but don’t use it anymore as the MSFS interface is so much better anyway. For the few occurances I need profile specific tweaking I just use FSUIPC which I needed anyway to run some 3rd party apps.
But thanks for the warning.
Same happened to me my lifetime got revoked and i have to pay the yearly now to run spad…crooks!
Wishing to avoid cases of libel, and playing a bit of devils advocate:
https://www.spadnext.com/discover/discover/complete-edition.html
All licenses are life-time licenses with one year of free product updates.
Emphasis is mine. You can use the product for life at the version you are on when that year of support expires. In other words, you can use the product as long as you like, but you are not entitled to newer
versions if you let that support agreement lapse at the end of year. This type of arrangement is quite common in IT, for example.
I’m just trying to see if this page has been archived by the Wayback Machine, to see if they have changed the text on this page in recent years, but the page isn’t loading properly for me at this time.
Just out of interest, for those that did buy this, could you let me know the name of the product you bought?
Originally I bought the version that only support X-Plane. The product title was:
SPAD.neXt FSX/PREPAR3D Edition
When MSFS was released I upgraded to the complete edition. It’s product title was this:
SPAD.neXt Complete Edition Lifetime Update Subscription
In the email I received for that last purchase I see this:
Licensed features:
FSX/P3D/MSFS
Complete EditionUpdate/Support: perpetual / no expiration
Wayback Machine eventually responded. That page has been trawled since 2017:
The earliest snapshot I could actually load was from September 30th 2020, and it showed this back then:
All licenses are life-time licenses with one year of free product updates.
So it’s been the same as now to back then. All the older snapshots I tried could not be read sadly, but to call this a scam may come down to reading comprehension instead.
EDIT: Actually June 6th 2017 just loaded:
So their policy has been the same for at least the last five years.
Note the absence of MSFS support as it currently reads:
(Edit: Oops, @hobanagerik posted pretty much the same thing - well, actually better than mine - while I was typing. I’ll leave this here though.)
I think maybe people are getting confused here. Spad.neXt has always had separate license and subscriptions.
The license you buy is available at multiple levels up to the Complete Edition which has all the optional extras included. That license is perpetual - that is, you can continue to use the software forever and it will not expire. There is, as far as I’m aware, no time-limited license option. At no point should the software you bought simply stop working.
The subscription is for major version updates to Spad.neXt. A 1-year subscription is included with your original purchase. During this time you can get any and all major updates to Spad.neXt. Once it expires, you cannot get further version updates without renewing your subscription for an additional cost.
This model is very common with software that is under constant development, because it allows the developer to fund the ongoing development even without new license sales. Spad.neXt is a niche product with only a small potential market, so license sales on their own won’t fund that.
This is all based on my experience as a customer and user of Spad.neXt since 2017. I’ve had to renew my subscription several times in order to keep getting new versions, but my original license has never expired. You do need to make sure you de-activate it properly when you move / upgrade machines, though, or else you can get to a point where you can’t re-activate it without asking c0nnex for support.
Agree that it would be great to just have a simple drop-in replacement for the Saitek drivers that just works for those that just need that. Spad.neXt is not really about the Saitek panels any more, it’s a multi-purpose tool for sim enthusiasts and cockpit builders with lots of hardware to interface. I could never be without it, it’s the core of my sim and an annual subscription is a fair deal for me.
That’s a good point but here is my major problem with these guys. The person on the support email is either illiterate or a ten yo. He got aggravated because I sent him an email asking to clarify the “lifetime subscription” and here what’s scary. Soon after I replied to him, Spad.neXT stopped working and it was removed from my desktop without me doing absolutely nothing! That has to be illegal, because I never grave them permission to do that. Even when I tried to install the app again, I ended up with the same problem. They did reimbursed the $60.00 I paid for the so called lifetime subscription, but I paid last year for a 3 year extended subscription and I can’t use it! They sent me an email yesterday asking me for proof of purchase, which they should already have, but I did sent it. We’ll see what comes out of this mess. When I was trying to find out on their Discord page at the beginning the reason for the expiration for the lifetime sub, I was told that it was because I was using an older version or something like that, and that MSFS was not covered as a lifetime anymore, which was the thing that triggered all this. I’m sorry but I used to have my own business, and that is not the right way, in my opinion to conduct business and attract, or maintain, customers. They can’t even respond to an email correctly. It was all in broken English and insulting.
A “Beware of” to other users is allowed, and expected in these threads.
However, this is now a Voice of the Customer feedback - and should go directly to any escalation channels of the vendor.
Been using Spad.Next for many years with FSX and P3D interfacing 3 Saitek panels without any problems.
Just keeps getting better with ready made profiles for all my MSFS aircraft including PMDG.
Excellent tool allowing configuration of each panel control to any aircraft function.
Same here. In fact using Spad works better than just using the default game controller hardware interface because Spad is smart enough to only process controller events once when something changes, while the game interface processes them (between all the different switches and knobs on my gear) 10’s of thousands of times a second. Spad removes that unnecessary processor load.
Don’t forget that you can also use profiles that change automatically when switching planes.
A feature that the sim should have natively, if possible.
You have left out much of the context 
I always find it funny that people think others who were a witness to the postings would not also be on other sites in such a niche market…
I am a regular on many discords and Sim Servers… I even make videos about the software as a means to try and reduce the amount of “support” that I would be doing on forums just like this… and now discord servers… So I read all the messages…
The Real Facts…
1 - you were on the Standard Edition (25 euro … all numbers will be in Euro taken from the website) FSX/P3D/MSFS Product. That product has options for update subs of : 1 Year = 9.99, 2y = 16.99, 3y - 22.99 or Lifetime for this edition – 31.99
2 - You upgraded at some point after your update subscription to the Complete Edition… This Upgrade is the difference between the Standard and the Complete (90euro - 25 = 65)… However the License Updates on it are : 1y=14.99, 2y=24.99, 3y=31.99 and Lifetime = 49.99.
3 - You came into the General Discord Channel and started your Accusations (this thread is proof that you will act out before examining facts)… You were explained very early on (even though you were being a little over the top) by another user - again a user that was just trying to help calm you down and logically explain what you were not able to understand…
4 - You went off and probably in the entire chain of emails and non public information proceeded to say things like you have posted here but worse that had him revoke your license (and before you go off I have no idea what any of that is since you only share what you would like to share of that conversation,) There is a EULA and if you read it there are terms you have agreed to that can see your license revoked… Just like here MSFS can remove your access if you breach their EULA.
So What really Happened??
As the other USER explained on that thread trying to ease the OP… After performing the upgrade to the Complete edition the “VALUE” of the Lifetime Standard Sub (31.99) was converted to the Rate of Value on the Complete Edition update sub…
Which at 31.99 when we read all the info tells us that will be a 3 year term … which is exactly what OP was screaming about to this other user… That his Lifetime had been turned into 3 years after upgrading to Complete.
The user broke it down for this OP but the OP did not care and threw out a few more “allegations” which I am sure was taken much further in the Private Correspondence.
There is nothing to “BEWARE” of except your own actions and how you interact with people. Read all the fine Print before you buy things. Better yet… actually READ/LISTEN to what another user is helping you out with to understand HOW or WHY you would be moving from one to the other…
Basically you can’t pay 18 Euro Less for the Complete Update Sub because you bought a subscription for the Standard edition … I think everyone who reads this post will agree that the prices are posted and have been since Dec 2018… Found here…
https://www.spadnext.com/discover/discover/updatesubscription.html
My Final statement is going to be this – you more than once have use “bad/broken English” as a means to insult and denigrate a person. I actually am not sure how a person could even take your side or even believe your story at this point… But I felt the need to set the record straight as the pedestrian that watch from the side walk…
Either I am confused or you are confused. If you are replying to the previous post from Les O’Reilly, you should be aware that he is not a developer and did not develop Spad.Next. He is a community member with lots of expertise about using Spad.Next effectively.
Regardless of whoever is right or wrong, perhaps both parties could agree this would be better discussed on the Spad Discord?
Can this be true? Does Spad auto uninstall itself if the license get’s deactivated? I’m a bit skeptical of this, whats the point to code something like this in if they could just refused to launch.