A Guarantee Is Only As Good As The Person (Company) Behind it.

I seriously dislike bad customer service.  More than that, I really dislike people who do not stand behind products that they sell – especially when they say in their ads that they do stand behind them.

Here’s a recent experience.  Recently, I received an e-mail from one of those so-called Internet marketing gurus advertising a product called WordPress Crusher.  The e-mail looked pretty good and I decided to check out the website.  The sales copy on the site was very persuasive and I found myself deciding to give the product a try on one of my WP sites.  So, I purchased the product and downloaded it.   After all, how could I go wrong.  It came with a “100% money back, no-questions-asked guarantee. ”  (See the image below).

Once I downloaded the product and reviewed it, I discovered that it probably wasn’t something we wanted to use in our business.  So, I contacted the seller (at the e-mail address provided on the sales page) and asked for a refund under the guarantee.  I had deleted the files form my server.  Several days went by and I didn’t hear a word so I contacted him again.  After not hearing anything again, I decided that my only recourse was to open a dispute via PayPal since I had used their service to pay for this product.

After opening the dispute, I figured that the seller would respond and we could get this resolved, but he didn’t.  It is now becoming apparent that he really doesn’t have any intention of living up to the guarantee that he offers on his website.

Ten days, or so, after opening the dispute, I escalate the dispute to a “claim status” with PayPal.  Unfortunately, this is only for physical goods which are not delivered and not to dispute the quality or suitability of a product so I wasn’t getting anywhere this way. 

The bottom is that I am out $47 and the seller has shown that honoring his guarantee is not a priority.  Believe me, I’ll remember this the next time I see an offer from him.    I don’t go around asking for refunds to products that I’ve purchased.  In fact, I believe that this is only the second time I’ve asked for a refund such as this in the last seven or eight years.  I don’t ask often, but, when I do, I expect the request to be handled quickly and professionally.

Now, you may be wondering why I don’t tell you the name of this seller.  Well, quite simply, I don’t desire to give him any more publicity.  Plus, there may be legitimate reasons why there has been no contact and I don’t want to run the (very slim) chance of damaging someone’s reputation in this way.  Of course, I can’t know that there are problems, if he never replies to my e-mail.

Am I saying that this product is bad?  No, in fact I didn’t even test it out.  I simply reviewed the code and decided that it wasn’t something that I wanted to use.  This could be the greatest product since sliced bread, but I’ll never know because all trust that I had for the seller and his products has now gone down the tubes.

With all of this venting in mind, here are my two suggestions for you:

1. Stay away from a product called WordPress Crusher.  You’ll never know when you may end up dealing with the same person I’m dealing with.   And
2. Honor any guarantees that you make.  If you are not willing to stand behind your product, don’t say that you are.  It’s just not fair.  Besides, the customer asking for a refund today may also be buying your big ticket item tomorrow.  You can’t burn customers like this.

Now, for an important question.  Do you think I should reveal the seller’s name in this post?  Let me know what you think.

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