For the 1% of dissatisfied customers, why not just refund their money with a cheerful note “We’re sorry our system [program] wasn’t right for you. Best wishes.”? And yes, 1% of that 1% will still whine about something – but hey, that’s life!
But let me say “Anti-aging Health Guru” hit the proverbial nail on the head. The problem is that there are scam artists proliferating the field of Internet Marketing.
Sadly, my first experience was a negative one. I signed up for a “free course” – just pay the $14.95 shipping for a workbook. After giving my credit card information, I found myself locked into what seemed to be never ending AUTOMATIC “upsell” pages where the game was to find the “no thanks” link hidden in the sales page – otherwise my credit card would be billed as much as $1,997. I wanted to just close the browser and go hide under the covers in my bed – but hey, these people have my credit card!!!
And sorry, this is NOT a valid application of “would you like fries with your burger?”. McDonald’s doesnt’ hold your credit card hostage while taking you through 45 minutes of upsells from a $3 burger to a $10,000 time share – geesh….get real! Anyone that can’t see the difference shouldn’t be allowed to market on the internet – or sell used cars for that matter!
At the end of the process of EIGHT upsells that took me over 45 minutes to OPT-OUT of, a guy comes on a video to inform me that if I call the credit card company to cancel my subscription (what subscription???) he would charge my card a $250 penalty! And, if I wanted to cancel I had to call such-and-such number or alternately go to such-and-such URL.
My heart stopped, what the hell did I get suckered into? I called the phone number – REPEATEDLY! And guess what? Got the ole “mailbox full” message…this guy gets this many cancellations??? I logged onto the URL he gave and filled in the form and guess what? Got the ole “an error has occurred on this page”….but that’s what you get for hiring cheap programmers in Romania!
I called Chase who connected me with the credit card fraud department. They shut down the credit card – thank god! Over the next couple of days I searched the web and stumbled on a blog that gave a “secret” email that actually went through to the guy’s staff. I followed up with his staff who assured me that there would be no further charges to my credit card – just the initial $14.95 which I allowed to clear the account (I honor my deals!). However, Chase informed me that there were 2 subsequent attempts to charge my credit card (ha ha, Chase had already shut the card down!) Did I get the workbook in the mail? Yes. Did I get access to the website for the “free course”? No. After repeated emails complaing that I could not log into the site, I gave up.
Can you guess who this guy was? Hint, you see his name all the time! Is he just another scam artist? You tell me.
Am I whining? NO! I’m making a point. That one initial experience soured me to the point that I’m afraid to buy most products. If I see someone is connected with this guy – I run the other way! Period! I wait months watching and observing before even considering coughing up money for a product – and I will NEVER give my credit card…only PayPal that requires me to login and authorize the charge. But hey wait! How safe are those pay using PayPal links? The fact is they aren’t! Hackers can phish any site – it’s not even programming 101.
Recently, I started learning WordPress. After downloading “free themes” I stumbled on to a website themelab.com where I watched a video and learned that the “free themes” often have embedded encrypted code; I shudder to think what that code is doing! Some cases have been found that the code installs adware/spyware on the computers of visitors coming to YOUR website! Oh lovely…what next?
I’ve been watching Keyword Elite for months now – do I buy this? Will this guy be in business in a week? Worst….what is his software doing behind the sceens? Adware? Spyware? Who knows! How long will this web based application be available? Will he hack my PayPal account? We he submit ongoing charges to a credit card that takes an order from the Supreme Court to get stopped?
Sorry Brad, nothing personal…..but this is what happens when the bad apples get to good people….we become leary of everyone.
So don’t blame the guy that thinks he got taken….he probably did at some point!
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