Stupid, stupid customers.

[Curtis2011]

I recently got an email from a customer stating "I have not received the acupuncture book I ordered on May 7th..."

I looked into my records and he did indeed purchase my acupuncture ebook on May 7th.

The problem is that he thought he was purchasing a real book, which is strange because the top of my sales page says:



If you look closely you can see that the third freaking sentence of my sales page says "you are not purchasing a physical book."

I responded to his email saying that what he purchased was actually an ebook, and sent him another copy of it.

And he sends me this:



Half of me wants to strangle him, and the other half wants to say "no refunds" because frankly, my sales page has never offered a refund. When writing it, I thought to myself "this sales page is 100% factual and not lying, not being manipulative, not hyping anything, and it tells you exactly what is in the product. In fact, you already know the exact contents of the product because they are all free on the website itself."

Perhaps I was foolish to think that nobody could possibly mistake my ebook for anything other than exactly what it is.


Currently I am under no obligation to give this guy a refund. I delivered exactly what he ordered, and nowhere in my sales page is there a guarantee or a refund policy at all. His only "leverage" is that Paypal is very buyer-protective and they often will give buyers a refund if they ask for it, despite the fact that the product was delivered.

Of course, there is the ethical argument that I should give him a refund solely because he wants it. But wouldn't it also be in some way praiseworthy for me to stand up for myself and say "no" to someone who received my product and wants his money back because of his own mistake? Isn't there a life lesson to be learned for him, such as "tough nuts, buddy" or "you make a mistake, you pay for it" ?

What do you think I should do in this situation? I am very interested in outside opinions right now because frankly, I have never had to deal with this exact issue before, and I am wondering if I should just say no to this guy.

[CoolBee]

(a) You have been completely upfront about the product
(b) The guy obviously didn't read it carefully enough and anyone selling online products could find themselves in this situation - maybe the guy specialises in scamming people this way - getting products for free.
(c) He can't 'send it back' to you for a refund.
(d) If he complains to paypal, and you provide the evidence that he has what he ordered, what experience does anyone have about paypal's behaviour in that case?

(e) What will make you happier - give him the refund 'without prejudice' meaning that you don't accept any liability and maybe make the bit about the physical product stand out more on your site or use it as a 'test case' with paypal if he goes that route? Maybe call him and talk him through the book instead - takes a lot of your time but maybe he will feel you are a real person not a faceless entity?

PS also tell him you respect his opinion and what could you have done to make it more clear that you are only selling an ebook not a real book?

OR ask him how much he would be prepared to pay for the real book and set it up with one of those print on demand companies?

[ellie]

Originally Posted by Curtis2011

I recently got an email from a customer stating "I have not received the acupuncture book I ordered on May 7th..."

I looked into my records and he did indeed purchase my acupuncture ebook on May 7th.

The problem is that he thought he was purchasing a real book, which is strange because the top of my sales page says:



If you look closely you can see that the third freaking sentence of my sales page says "you are not purchasing a physical book."

I responded to his email saying that what he purchased was actually an ebook, and sent him another copy of it.

And he sends me this:



Half of me wants to strangle him, and the other half wants to say "no refunds" because frankly, my sales page has never offered a refund. When writing it, I thought to myself "this sales page is 100% factual and not lying, not being manipulative, not hyping anything, and it tells you exactly what is in the product. In fact, you already know the exact contents of the product because they are all free on the website itself."

Perhaps I was foolish to think that nobody could possibly mistake my ebook for anything other than exactly what it is.


Currently I am under no obligation to give this guy a refund. I delivered exactly what he ordered, and nowhere in my sales page is there a guarantee or a refund policy at all. His only "leverage" is that Paypal is very buyer-protective and they often will give buyers a refund if they ask for it, despite the fact that the product was delivered.

Of course, there is the ethical argument that I should give him a refund solely because he wants it. But wouldn't it also be in some way praiseworthy for me to stand up for myself and say "no" to someone who received my product and wants his money back because of his own mistake? Isn't there a life lesson to be learned for him, such as "tough nuts, buddy" or "you make a mistake, you pay for it" ?

What do you think I should do in this situation? I am very interested in outside opinions right now because frankly, I have never had to deal with this exact issue before, and I am wondering if I should just say no to this guy.

I've started selling online too, and am part of a forum which documents sellers journey.

What I have taken away from it all, it's not worth the hassle of fighting it. I would just give him his refund, with no chit-chat and re-send him the screengrab above, explaining that it was outlined on the site and email.

I have seen situations were people have retaliated horribly, by stalking online, creating google backlinks bagging the seller etc just not worth the hassle in my opinion.

Concentrate on new customers

Could you for the future have a little pop-up box that says, "please tick this box, so as to understand this is digital download blah, blah, blah"?

[CoolBee]

@Ellie - that sounds like a useful forum - can you give a link to it please as I'm about 90% ready to embark on selling something online.

[Anna Conlan]

Of course you don't have to refund him at all. And his email is kind of annoying because your sales page is very clear.

If it were me, I think I'd refund him because I want people to be happy with what they buy off me and recommend me to others. Giving hassle free refunds (even when the customer is the one who screws up) is something that helps you to build a good reputation I think.

People definitely do dumb things. In the past, I have had people order things on my website and then they think they are getting something very or totally different from what they ordered. Occasionally people don't read the descriptions of products thoroughly and think they're entitled to something different than what they ordered because they read it wrong!

[ssandra]

You have no moral, legal or other type of obligation to actually give him his money back.

I would however, because a guy like this doesn't deserve to be my customer.

Give him his money back and fire him as a customer to get him out of your life! That's what I would do

[SarahJaynee]

Hi Curtis,

Lets say for just one second (I don't really believe this I'm just turning the perspective) this buyer is genuinely confused and really thought it was a real book. Lets say its Mr Compers age 72 who heard about the "book" and wanted to give it a go. You'd have no problem then right? You would think he is genuine being so old an'all.
So (as always) its not the circumstance, only how you have judged the situation.
For me personally I would give more than expected. I would refund immediately and also offer a discount on any further e book and humerously point out that they are in fact E books! Tell the buyer you are sorry and also thankful as you can now add in FURTHER so that people know it is an E Book.
Maybe ask him for permission to add "as Mr Compers from Ohio graciously pointed out, what you are getting is an e-book not a physical one"!
Then Let it go and get back to your core genius :-)

This client DID visit your site and spend dollars so that in itself is what you attracted which is great. The resulting snag is just a minor issue and you are more than capable of turning it around.

Also by posting your grievance an asking for advice I myself took the time to click on your sites and take a look and I WILL purchase an e book from you. So you just made a sale from ole Mr Compers idiocy!

[Andrew Brunelle]

You'd better watch what you say about your customers, they could be browsing these forums. You never know.

[CoolBee]

Actually what SarahJaynee says is a **very** good point.

I can imagine my dad (in his 70s) doing something like that, without really realising he isn't going to get an actual book (and it's in an area he would actually be interested in!) He would probably think ebook was either a misspelling or a modern trendy way of writing book.

And I'm just recalling the huge muddle my mum - also in her 70s - got into recently trying to book her graduation ceremony on-line with her Uni (for her recent masters).

[lucybrown]

All things considered (which they rarely are......if you ask me) I would, without hesitation offer a refund

[SatvikBeri]

It's not really a matter of morals or ethics.

Give him a refund, get him out of your life. You don't want to tie up your energy on something like this. You did what you could, some people just don't get it-time to move on.

[Gene]

Originally Posted by Curtis2011

I recently got an email from a customer stating "I have not received the acupuncture book I ordered on May 7th..."

I looked into my records and he did indeed purchase my acupuncture ebook on May 7th.


Half of me wants to strangle him, and the other half wants to say "no refunds" because frankly, my sales page has never offered a refund. When writing it, I thought to myself "this sales page is 100% factual and not lying, not being manipulative, not hyping anything, and it tells you exactly what is in the product. In fact, you already know the exact contents of the product because they are all free on the website itself."

Perhaps I was foolish to think that nobody could possibly mistake my ebook for anything other than exactly what it is.


Currently I am under no obligation to give this guy a refund. I delivered exactly what he ordered, and nowhere in my sales page is there a guarantee or a refund policy at all. His only "leverage" is that Paypal is very buyer-protective and they often will give buyers a refund if they ask for it, despite the fact that the product was delivered.

Of course, there is the ethical argument that I should give him a refund solely because he wants it. But wouldn't it also be in some way praiseworthy for me to stand up for myself and say "no" to someone who received my product and wants his money back because of his own mistake? Isn't there a life lesson to be learned for him, such as "tough nuts, buddy" or "you make a mistake, you pay for it" ?

What do you think I should do in this situation? I am very interested in outside opinions right now because frankly, I have never had to deal with this exact issue before, and I am wondering if I should just say no to this guy.

My advice would be to refund the money. Refunding the money gives you the opportunity to turn this unhappy customer into a neutral or pleased client rather than a permanently disgruntled one.

I have refunded customers the purchase price of audio downloads just because they indicated some dissatisfaction with the product including those similar to your exasperated purchaser.

Making the refund takes the internal and external drama out of the equation. Making this gesture to a confused individual is a kind and loving thing to do for the buyer. I believe it is a kind and loving gesture towards yourself as well, after all who likes to live in a state of turmoil such as you may experience while defending your position.

In the grand scheme of things how important is it for you to be right in this misunderstanding? Which would you rather be, right or happy? I ask these questions as someone who eventually decided that happiness was more important to me and that accepting imperfection was more rewarding than blame whether of self or others.

[lifetimelearner]

I can understand the reason you are upset -but calling them stupid is..well not good for business .

I would give him the refund

[Curtis2011]

Hey guys. I have read all of your responses and decided to give him his refund.

Now I am fiddling with Paypal trying to figure out how to actually give the damn refund. I think it is not giving it as an option because the payment transaction was more than 30 days ago.

Still trying to figure it out...

Update: Figured it out, issued the refund, emailed the customer, all is well.

Thanks for your input everybody.

Originally Posted by SarahJaynee

I would refund immediately and also offer a discount on any further e book and humerously point out that they are in fact E books!

I would do this, except I only sell one product!

However, I am going to look into finding a print-on-demand service that can print my ebook as a real book and ship to customers.

If one customer wanted it, perhaps many others do as well.

Opportunity!!

[CoolBee]

Originally Posted by Curtis2011

H

However, I am going to look into finding a print-on-demand service that can print my ebook as a real book and ship to customers.

If one customer wanted it, perhaps many others do as well.

Opportunity!!

Actually I think amazon do it this way - but I think your cut would be very small or the book quite expensive doing it via them, but could be worth checking out.

[fzit0]

hey, Curtis.
I have a question !
What shopping cart do you use? Cause I'v been struggling to find one to sell eGoods(you sell pdfs) like music..
Thanks !

[gene2009]

Originally Posted by Curtis2011

I recently got an email from a customer stating "I have not received the acupuncture book I ordered on May 7th..."

I looked into my records and he did indeed purchase my acupuncture ebook on May 7th.

The problem is that he thought he was purchasing a real book, which is strange because the top of my sales page says:



If you look closely you can see that the third freaking sentence of my sales page says "you are not purchasing a physical book."

I responded to his email saying that what he purchased was actually an ebook, and sent him another copy of it.

And he sends me this:



Half of me wants to strangle him, and the other half wants to say "no refunds" because frankly, my sales page has never offered a refund. When writing it, I thought to myself "this sales page is 100% factual and not lying, not being manipulative, not hyping anything, and it tells you exactly what is in the product. In fact, you already know the exact contents of the product because they are all free on the website itself."

Perhaps I was foolish to think that nobody could possibly mistake my ebook for anything other than exactly what it is.


Currently I am under no obligation to give this guy a refund. I delivered exactly what he ordered, and nowhere in my sales page is there a guarantee or a refund policy at all. His only "leverage" is that Paypal is very buyer-protective and they often will give buyers a refund if they ask for it, despite the fact that the product was delivered.

Of course, there is the ethical argument that I should give him a refund solely because he wants it. But wouldn't it also be in some way praiseworthy for me to stand up for myself and say "no" to someone who received my product and wants his money back because of his own mistake? Isn't there a life lesson to be learned for him, such as "tough nuts, buddy" or "you make a mistake, you pay for it" ?

What do you think I should do in this situation? I am very interested in outside opinions right now because frankly, I have never had to deal with this exact issue before, and I am wondering if I should just say no to this guy.

I return money back if my customer isn't happy with my item at all. What's a reason to pick up a storm in the glass for the sake of a few bucks.
Customer is always right - old rule.

[ursixx]

"The customer is always right" or at least thats what they should think

[Curtis2011]

Originally Posted by fzit0

hey, Curtis.
I have a question !
What shopping cart do you use? Cause I'v been struggling to find one to sell eGoods(you sell pdfs) like music..
Thanks !

I use e-junkie. I don't know if they can sell music or not.

[The Unconquered]

Originally Posted by ursixx

"The customer is always right" or at least thats what they should think *

*my emphasis added because I agree

EDIT: Oh, yeah, and I would also send him a code for a free copy of the first book I can print-on-demand, just for the customer being patient with me

[Gene]

Originally Posted by Curtis2011

I use e-junkie. I don't know if they can sell music or not.

Yes, they can sell music.

[Hern]

I used to do remote tech support. Clients would register and subscribe and then when we fixed their computer they would report us as fraud to their CC and get their money back. Their CC would report the fraud complaint and then give us a negative mark. They were never interested in our side of the story or hearing the recorded conversation on how gratefull they were with saveing their computer and data.

[Curtis2011]

Originally Posted by Hern

I used to do remote tech support. Clients would register and subscribe and then when we fixed their computer they would report us as fraud to their CC and get their money back. Their CC would report the fraud complaint and then give us a negative mark. They were never interested in our side of the story or hearing the recorded conversation on how gratefull they were with saveing their computer and data.

Yep.

This is about how Paypal operates, so I've heard. Any time a buyer reports a fraudulent charge, they will issue a refund, even if it's based on a lie.

I suppose from a business perspective, they have to either protect buyers or sellers. And buyers are the ones providing the cash in the first place, so I guess it makes sense (from Paypal's perspective at least).

[The Unconquered]

Originally Posted by Curtis2011

Yep.

This is about how Paypal operates, so I've heard. Any time a buyer reports a fraudulent charge, they will issue a refund, even if it's based on a lie.

I suppose from a business perspective, they have to either protect buyers or sellers. And buyers are the ones providing the cash in the first place, so I guess it makes sense (from Paypal's perspective at least).

Perhaps resolving the complaint AND cheerfully issuing a refund immediately would avoid the negative marks from PayPal.

[Lucidism]

I'm glad you issued the refund. I thought SarahJaynee's advice was excellent. It's funny how people don't always read what they're buying. Happens to most of us, at times.