Customer Reviews

2005 Zagat to Go for Palm OS & Pocket PC (Zagatsurvey)

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I enjoyed using Zagat to Go for a year. Then the program refused to run. When I contacted Zagat, I was told that the program was actually a subscription. The program will not run unless you renew the subscription every year. This policy is not mentioned anywhere in the online descriptions. I can understand not being able to upgrade without paying the subscription, but to cripple the program with a drop-dead date is unforgivable.

I purchased the 2004 copy and nowhere does it say that it is a subscription model. After my copy stopped working after a year, I contacted Zagat customer support and this is what they said:

"An annual subscription to ZAGAT TO GO for Palm OS entitles subscribers to use of the ZAGAT TO GO software license and access to the software for a period of 365-days. The subscription model is designed to cease operation and access to the software and content after the annual term has expired. To continue access, including regular updates require an active subscription. Therefore you may be interested in renewing your subscription.

To renew your subscription to ZAGAT TO GO please visit us online at http://www.zagat.com and click "Renew Palm OS". The current annual renewal price is $24.95 plus applicable sales tax.

Thank you for your continued interest in Zagat Survey."

I think this is outrageous and tantamount to paying double what the hardcopy costs (albeit you get access to more than one city) and then having to return it at the end of the year.

The Zagat reviews are great, and the software gives you the power of a small, user-friendly database. My only complaint is that you can't see the restaurant location on a map. The reviews from Vindigo's software (check out Vindigo's web site for more information about this product) aren't nearly as good, but the mapping feature is outstanding. I couldn't live without Vindigo, but I think the quality of the reviews from Zagat still offer enough value to justify owning both.

As the previous reviewer mentioned, what you're "buying" is a one year subscription to the Zagat To Go software. After one year, the software drops dead. It's still a great deal if you need more than one Zagat city guide. One irritating thing is that Zagat charges $25 to renew your subscription, so you're better off just "buying" another copy from Amazon after your old copy expires.