How not to run a business

[Antiventurecapital]

Around noon today west coast time I purchased an ebook and made the payment via PayPal because that's what the site uses. After the transaction I am not taken to a d/l page. Nothing happens. About thirty minutes later I get one of those emails that read "Hi, I'm trying to protect myself from spam so prove to me that you are not a spammer by clicking this link." So I click the link.

Nothing.

An hour later I sent them an email asking how I can get my ebook. That was at 1:02 PM today. Right now it's 8:29 PM.

Still no reply.

It's only $10 so I won't lose any sleep over it...but good gravy what a way to run a business.

[Antiventurecapital]

Just got an email finally with the link for the download.
8:50 PM.

[Lucas]

I dont know about you, but if spammers included 10 dollars each time they spammed me, I might be inclined to invest in that buisness.

[Dani]

I was thinking the same thing.

[modern_monk]

Originally Posted by Lucas

I dont know about you, but if spammers included 10 dollars each time they spammed me, I might be inclined to invest in that buisness.

hehehe, hihihi -- ouf makes good laughing a bit

[da1prophet]

Originally Posted by Antiventurecapital

Around noon today west coast time I purchased an ebook and made the payment via PayPal because that's what the site uses. After the transaction I am not taken to a d/l page. Nothing happens. About thirty minutes later I get one of those emails that read "Hi, I'm trying to protect myself from spam so prove to me that you are not a spammer by clicking this link." So I click the link.

Nothing.

An hour later I sent them an email asking how I can get my ebook. That was at 1:02 PM today. Right now it's 8:29 PM.

Still no reply.

It's only $10 so I won't lose any sleep over it...but good gravy what a way to run a business.

I have a good deal of disdain for the "prove your not a spammer" type things--I have had my email address on the Internet for almost as long as there *was* an Internet. The spam I receive plateaued several years ago and has become less of a problem ever since. Most of the major email clients have decent anti-spam filters, as does Gmail which I use for most of my personal correspondence. I may have ten or so spam type messages slip through the cracks during an average day, but it takes seconds to delete them.

If you're running a business online, or even if you use email to communicate with clients/associates of an offline business having the "prove you're not a spammer" thing is absurd. I'd be willing to wager that the sales and/or opportunities lost with this system far outweigh the time savings of reduced spam. Its not much different than having customers who call your phone number "prove" they're not a telemarketer or a obscene phone caller before you'll talk to them. It implies an arrogance and, more significantly, an indifference to serving your customers that would make me not want to do business with this sort of outfit.