Royal Messenger to the Kingdom

Good grief! If I pay for something, even if it’s just a dollar, I am jolly well gonna know what it is that I bought! Do you know how frustrating it is to receive support requests from people who seemingly throw around money out there, and then don’t even know what it is that they paid for?

Or how about folks who sign up and PAY for the same thing twice by mistake? Then they want to get angry at those of us behind the scenes ’cause “WE” charged their payment processor, credit/debit card or bank account for the same product twice!

Gimme a break! People cannot possibly think that any honest online business person is going to charge their payment source for things that the buyer did not purchase, do they? What makes anyone think that any of us working on the backend would have access to the private data required to do this? Let’s not automatically ASSUME that everyone who runs a business online is out to rip us off, folks. There ARE a lot of good, honest and ethical people who make a living online. We’re not all bad.

If you’re paying for upgrades or products online, and have no clue what you bought, that shows me a serious flaw. You got money to throw away? Then let me give you my PayPal account email and you can throw it MY way. lol.

KNOW WHAT YOU ARE PURCHASING!

Most especially if it is a large sum of money that you are spending. Realize that if you purchase a “big ticket” item, chances are that whoever showed you that item will get paid a percentage of the sale. Once any commissions due are paid, you cannot easily get a refund for the product because the seller cannot recoup the commissions already paid to the person who presented the product or service to you! And crying to the credit/debit card company, PayPal or your bank is not necessarily going to solve the problem.

In case you are not familiar with it, there is a term in the U.S. business world called “Buyer’s Regret”. Its purpose is to give the purchaser 24 - 72 hours (usually the 72, which is three days) to change his or her mind about the purchase and request a refund.

If you purchased digital product(s), there is not one solid online merchant who is going to be willing to refund after the product(s) has/have been delivered!

TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR ACTIONS!

If you purchase a product pay attention to what it is, how much it is and how much time you have to “test drive” it before the guarantee runs out. Some online business people will give longer guarantees than others. Keep track of when you purchased and when that guarantee expires, folks. You will save yourself, and the seller, a lot of grief by being aware.

LEARN HOW TO MANAGE YOUR PAYMENT METHODS!

If you need to cancel a recurring payment, be aware of how to do that through the online payment processors. Any good online payment processor will give you instructions on how to cancel a subscription. Find the information and LEARN IT! To me, this is mandatory in any business.

If you use a debit/credit card or your bank account, chances are that the payment is processed by 2Checkout.com. You will need to go to their website and put in a support ticket requesting cancellation of what they call a “recurring payment”.

If you need to learn, and cannot find the information - after making an HONEST attempt to do so, then contact the support person for the program or service you need to cancel the payment. He or she should be able to give you concise instructions, but it should not be necessary for him or her to handle the cancellation for you. After all, it’s YOUR money and you darn well need to know how to handle it - whether it be in the online world, or offline.

Do you call your bank and tell them that you don’t want your automatic bill pay to pay your bills for the month? I seriously doubt it. I would imagine that the bank would tell you to go to your account online where, chances are, you set up the auto-pay feature to begin with. So why should it be any different in the online business world?

One final note, then I’ll climb back down off my soapbox. If you DO have Buyer’s Regret, be honest enough to admit that you simply want your money back. Don’t submit some trumped-up blah-blah excuse about how the product or service did not work, unless the product or service truly did not work.

If you don’t understand how to use the product or service, admit it. You will find that more support/admin people will be understanding enough to take the time and help you, if they are truly committed to what they do, when you are honest with them. They hear or read BS all the time from people who simply will not tell the truth. And to me, that’s a rotten business practice. If you do business online that way, what makes you think that I will want to help you - especially if the obvious lie you tell me is so thin that I can read a newspaper through it?

Before you do contact the support personnel, though, take the time to read everything provided to help you learn about it. Try to practice using the service or product before you complain. Then if you legitimately cannot understand how to use the product or service, contact the support personnel. Any of them worth their salt will know how to give you the guidance that you need, or they will know where to send you for assistance.

That’s it. I’m through for now. Feel free to post your comments.

Catherine “Sorceress Cat” Heiter, Admin