My buying experience...

I have many many years of experience in working with customers directly through my variety of sales roles. Along the way, I heard the well worn axiom: “People love to buy, but hate to be sold”. Equally true is that no one likes to feel like they have been “had” or “taken”.

I am fortunate to have a group of friends who I have known through Boy Scouts for 40+ years. We regularly get together for a “backpacking” trip each summer in the southern Sierras. I put the?word backpacking in quotes, because we are all getting up in age and we utilize pack horses for the heavy items (stoves, chairs, etc.). We still haul our own personal items and some of the food, but its not super strenuous at all. Its a super important trip to allow me to reconnect with these guys.

One person spends a significant amount of his time and energy organizing everything. He gets the forest service permits, takes care of the meal planning, the arrangements with the pack teams, and the campground reservations. None of it would happen without all of his tremendous effort and planning for sure. He is a saint.

We were all talking amongst the group and trying to think of a way to thank him and show our appreciation for all his efforts over the years. I had stumbled onto the “curated box” idea through my daughters when they were ordering a product called “Fab Fit Fun”. If you aren’t familiar with this concept - the customer receives each month a curated box (in our case) with camping, hiking and backpacking products. Some are “beta” meaning they haven’t appeared on the market in development and testing along with others who are small boutique companies looking for more brand awareness. It’s a brilliant idea.

I had researched for our situation and discovered a version for camping and backpacking enthusiasts. I won’t mention their name here, but you could easily figure it out if you wanted. But that’s not the important part.

I had gathered up the group’s money – spent close to $500 for a whole year of curated boxes for my friend. I had agreed to their terms through the purchase (Mistake #1) and thought nothing of it.

He loved it. He would send us pictures of the items and was very happy overall (as were we). Didn’t think anything else about it until I received a text (came to my phone at 12:04 am) while I was on vacation. It thanked me for renewing a whole entire year and summarily already charged me for it. And the real gut buster – it had significantly raised their shipping fees (over 100%).

So, I quickly shot back a text saying I wasn’t interested in renewing. Honestly, I was peeved that they just assumed I wanted to renew and never really asked or tried to remind me.

Also, in full disclosure – I might have possibly renewed, since he enjoyed it so much and continues to organize the trips. But it would take me having to going back to all of my friends, checking to see if they wanted to and then gathering all of the money again. I wasn’t really against that, but by automatically forcing me to renew, my enthusiasm waned.

I tried contacting their support. I didn’t hear back for a few days. The texts weren’t being answered. So I started to do some research. On their customer support page, they explicitly state (that’s your first hint) that they do NO refunds and that specifically relates to the automatic renew. Wow. Really? Who does that?

I started really digging around and discovered on a variety of sites with some disturbing news. Their multiple BBB ratings were at 1 star. I then discovered they won’t accept negative reviews on their own site (duh). So, a former customer took the time to create a dedicated specific Facebook site for all of the negative reviews. Stunning huh?

My mistake #2 – Not checking on them before buying. I had assumed that the company and their products were good because they had lots of reviews (on their site) of people loving it. Wow was I duped.

Here is what I eventually sent them:

“COMPANY NAME has a perception problem. The perception is that you are forcing your customers to do something they don't wish to do. I never wanted more than one year (maybe that should be an option when buying?). I tried several ways to tell you what I wanted. You repeatedly sent me the subscription terms and glossed over my direct and transparent feedback.

I have several annual subscriptions with vendors (Microsoft, Adobe, Storyworth). And you know what they all do? They prompt and remind me. They ask me what I want. Not just automatically renew and then counter my complaint with the terms and conditions. And with the previously sent links I have sent you - I'm not the only customer who feels this way. Unfortunately for COMPANY NAME, the perception is reality.

Who knows what I would have done had you sent me a reminder prior to renewal, I might have continued? Or possibly offered some other type of compromise if I didn't? We will now never know, will we? A missed opportunity. Your company is trying to take advantage of me. I challenge you to ask yourself, how would you feel if this happened to you? Honestly - It feels shady and slimy. (And the huge uplift in shipping costs is icing on the cake).

?So, what you have now, is a former customer (me) who will NEVER EVER recommend to anyone and will never purchase anything again. You aren't getting a single penny from me, ever. Who knows how much that lost opportunity translates into revenue?”

Here's a suggestion? Maybe you could take my story (and the several others in the links I've sent) and sit down with the team and show them what is happening. Tell them how this is having a huge negative perception of the company and the brand. Compel them to allow you (and other customer service reps) a way to try and mitigate and solve the customers' problems (real or perceived). Create some type of "reminder" system? I imagine someone (CEO, VP Of Marketing?) must be cognizant of the damage this is causing in the marketplace? Or maybe not. Too bad if that's the case”

Long story short – I put a stop on the credit card. Filed a complaint with BBB. Wrote the CEO an InMail here on Linked in (he totally ignored). As mentioned above, the support team repeatedly sent me a link to the terms I had agreed to. We went back and forth with more demands for payment, partial payment. Finally, after multiple emails, I was able to let them know I was not backing down. ?By the way, I had considered paying for one month as a compromise, but they finally gave up on me and cancelled the subscription for good.

Morale of the story (multiples)

As a customer - Read the terms – don’t just click thru. Be persistent in telling your experience if you are not pleased.

As a seller/business owner - Listen to your customers about their buying experience. Don’t force them to do something for no apparent reason. It’s much cheaper to keep customers than to find new ones.

Stu