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If you’re like me and have a tendency to lose track of your warranty information, Niggle It is a service with a singular purpose: to help you keep track of the details of all of your agreements, including warranties, business contracts — even those conversations that you have with your mobile carrier’s customer service agents. Niggle It will track anything you feel important enough to be reminded about, be it personal or business related.
You can add electronic copies of your documents to Niggle It by emailing in a scan or a photograph taken with a digital camera. You can also use any mobile phone capable of taking pictures and sending email — or use the iPhone app to create the entire Niggle on the go.
The value of Niggle It is the ability to create reminders based on contract dates, and to add additional information and documents to the file (Niggle) that is dedicated to that one item/contract. You have a dedicated, always on hand back up of the documents you need if something goes wrong, and a tool that is able to remind you to, say, get that last full service in on your car before the warranty runs out — just in case.
Niggle It guarantees that your information is always available from anywhere you can access the internet, and that everything is private and secure, with no personal information ever shared with a third party.
Niggle It is free up to five Niggles, and also includes the following pricing plans:
- Basic: 70 Niggles, 300 MB, 5 MB filesize limit –> $24.95/year
- Household: 200 Niggles, 800 MB, 10 MB filesize limit, and a Tax Deduction report –> $29.95/year
What do you use to track your warranties and contracts? [Niggle It]
UPDATE: The pricing page for Niggle It is somewhat unclear. I assumed it was per month, but it could, in fact, be $25 and $30 per year — much more reasonably priced.
UPDATE 2: The price is yearly — not monthly — and has been corrected.
Anthony Russo says:
Hmmm. Not really seeing much of a benefit to using this over Evernote. Especially with what seems a pretty high price point.
Anthony
November 12, 2010 — 9:17 am
Bobby Travis says:
I think it’s a matter of how you prefer (or need) to organize yourself. As much as I love Evernote — and I’m pretty organized with it — I can see the benefit of a single-purpose application. Makes things easier to track. Niggle It has a reminder function as well, which Evernote still lacks.
Also… And this is hard for me to say: Evernote isn’t for everyone. *ducks* This could be a good option for people that have no desire to be Evernote users.
November 12, 2010 — 10:37 am
Anthony Russo says:
“Evernote isn’t for everyone.”
Who are you and what have you done to the real Bobby? :)
November 12, 2010 — 10:55 am
Bobby Travis says:
Lol! Like I said, it hurt me. I have had to come to terms with it, however. Some people just don’t see the benefit, or find Evernote to be overwhelming.
November 12, 2010 — 11:51 am
Jon says:
Just curious – do you really pay them $24.95/month for this service? I have not looked at this service beyond what you have written about it, but that seems like a waste of money to me, especially when there are great services out there that offer so much more for free.
If you do not like to use Evernote consider Springpad, which you guys have written about before. You can easily set a reminder/alarm for warranty information, or a task, or a note, and attach your receipt to it. Or shoot you can even create a calendar even in whatever calendar you use and attach something to it.
Sure you can tell I am having a hard time finding a place for such a single purpose, and expensive, web app.
November 12, 2010 — 4:04 pm
Bobby Travis says:
Hi Jon,
Bear in mind that I am just reporting on the app as an interesting tool, not reviewing it. I can see the use in the service for people who need such things, but you are right — I think it’s pricey too. I’m cheap though, so my opinion isn’t necessarily unbiased. I mean, I don’t even do Evernote Premium — and that’s only $5 bucks a month!
That said, I think there are many people who would find the service valuable and even worth the payment. I’m sure the company must have done a bit of customer research before setting the business up — though you never do know.
Also… I just put in an update on the post. Their pricing page is a bit unclear — it may actually be per year pricing, which isn’t all that bad.
November 12, 2010 — 4:19 pm
Bobby Travis says:
The pricing is per year — that makes much more sense all around. Post is updated! :D
November 12, 2010 — 4:29 pm
Jon says:
That makes much more sense with yearly pricing. I can see how some people might see value in this for $25/year.
November 12, 2010 — 4:31 pm
Chris - Founder of Niggle says:
Hello guys, I am Chris from Niggle It, and I appreciate your feedback and points of discussion. I hope I can reveal to you the underlying value of Niggle It. 1. Dedication to time sensitive documents, including receipts that are used for warranty, passports, domains leases, and important agreement deadlines. 2. Easy visual representation of that data makes it very different to anything else you have seen. 3. Reminders associated to registered items keeps you right in the loop in regard to life cycle. 4. Integrating the image of those receipts and documents into an easy to find format means that you have more quality information at hand, when it’s needed. 5. If you flag specific receipts as potentially subject to your tax assessment, they’re reported to you at the end of the financial year.
Let me know what you think?
November 12, 2010 — 9:20 pm
Bobby Travis says:
Thanks for weighing in, Chris! Always nice when a product owner drops by our humble blog. Do you have any integrations planned for Niggle It, in future, or will that take away from your security model?
November 13, 2010 — 12:17 am
Chris - From Niggle says:
My co-founder, and good friend, Stumpy (Craig Stump) has developed some very clever code behind the Niggle It API. We are focusing on making it very easy to get items into the system conveniently. For example, ten seconds with the iPhone app while you are out shopping, and it’s captured – receipt image, date and duration, etc. A few seconds will ensure you get year(s) of good service with your new purchase.
Also, the website can accept new Niggles via that API and automatically posts new items into individual subscriber accounts.
The Smartphone function (or email) can create new Niggles that are emailed to niggle@niggleit.com. Complete with attachments such as images of receipts, gift cards, credit notes, etc.
It’s very cool when you receive receipts and invoices by email as you can simply forward them straight into your account. Edit the details later if needed. Since we recognize your email address, we collect the attachments, and we know exactly where the Niggle belongs.
On the topic of security, we went to some extra lengths to protect the subscriber information. The annual fee enables us to take those extra steps with security, and it also means our business model is NOT funded by selling peoples data to 3rd parties. From what we know free services must fund their service somehow and that’s not how we want to operate.
Let me know if you have any questions. Especially on our blog where there are some great hints and tips on getting the most for your money.
November 13, 2010 — 2:11 am
Bobby Travis says:
Thanks for that, Chris! Much appreciated!
November 14, 2010 — 2:42 pm
Chris from Niggle It says:
I would be interested to know what you think of website name. A few poeple believe it is a negative word and many dont really know what it means. Either way I would appreciate your first impressions. Cheers and thanks.
November 14, 2010 — 5:27 pm
Bobby Travis says:
I think it’s fine, for myself. I know you guys hail from Down Under, and the slang makes sense to me. I can, however, see how some North Americans could derive a negative connotation from it, on first glance. Most likely some dirty-minded reference — or that could just be me… That said, it still is a name that fits within the “web 2.0” conventions of the web app world.
I’m curious myself what other readers here might think.
November 14, 2010 — 5:44 pm
Chris from Niggle It says:
Excellent feedback, thanks. I am also curious to know if the word ‘Niggle’ creates positive, negative or neutral thoughts. The Brits use the word niggle to describe sporting aches and pains that impair performance – and we kind of like that thought as take away the pain.
I hope you don’t mind me seeking feedback on your 40Tech blog. I qualify, age wise. I’m also a newbie to blog media, but learning fast. Let me know if I’m pushing my luck :-)
November 14, 2010 — 10:02 pm
Bobby Travis says:
Not a problem, Chris. Blogs are for conversation, in my book — and this could be a good one. Come back any time! :)
So, folks — any thoughts on the appropriateness of the word Niggle?
November 14, 2010 — 10:24 pm
Evan Kline says:
I personally didn’t have any issues with the name, but I do remember thinking that someone might not like it, when I first saw it. I also just googled it, and there are some less-than-flattering definitions of it on Urban Dictionary.
I guess that is the tough part about a global Internet – different words can have different connotations depending on where you are.
November 15, 2010 — 3:39 pm
Bobby Travis says:
Now that you mention it, the most common use of the word Niggle in Canada is the phrase “a niggling doubt.”
November 15, 2010 — 4:19 pm