Hi everyone, I was hoping to get some advice and opinions about a consumers rights issue that I am facing with a company that I purchased some SEO software from. Baiscally I purchased this software and was not happy with how it performed. I'll leave the exact details out about what company this was and why I was not happy with it for now, but to keep things simple, the software just didn't live up to my expectations. Normally I would chalk this up to a loss and move on. But when I made this purchase they advertised a 30 day money back guarantee. The exact wording of this guarantee stated: "You can buy with absolute confidence, safe in the knowledge we offer a 30 day money back guarantee if you're not happy with your purchase." There was no fine print or link to any additional terms. So after using it for a while I realized this software was no good for me and I emailed to politely ask for a refund and I got an email back saying they were going to release an update in the future to fix the issues that I described. Well, I told them that was great but I need this software to work for me right now so I would like a refund so I can buy some software that actually does what I need it to do. They absolutely refused and we went back and forth via email for a number of days arguing about this issue. They attempted to help me to get the software to work better, and they were able to help me a little bit, but it still didn't perform as I needed it to so I continued to press for a refund. They refused me again and again and even made me start to think at one point that I might be in the wrong here. But it all came back to the money back guarantee statement that they posted on their 'Buy Now' page. How can they advertise this and then not honor it when a customer is not happy? They insist that the software is fine and my expectations were too high and of course I disagree. Eventually after days of arguing they offered a 50% refund, but I wasn't going to settle as I feel that they are in the wrong here. It seems incredibly shady that a company can offer a guarantee like this and then not honor it. I'm beginning to think that these guarantees that all these companies offer are completely bogus. I contacted PayPal and my CC company and both told me that while they thought what was happening was not right, there was nothing they could do to get my money back. Am I wrong to think that I should be entitled to a refund? Is this type of situation very common?
if it offers a 30 day money back guar... you are entitled to ask for a refund. i little advice, the way i look at software is most software are out of date, because of the fact that the internet is always changing. in my opinion i would focus of membership sites, if you can afford it. Membership sites tend to keep there software updated and continued to change with the internet.
It's a tricky one... I went through this a few years ago, and since it's software then the ball is really in their court because you cannot return it and expect a refund, it's done at their discretion (so be real nice). Software, like underwear, newspapers, and music cannot be returned if the packaging has been opened. I once bought a software product from PC World that I wasn't happy with and tried to return it but was told I couldn't get a refund because I'd opened it, so I guess it's the same with software purchased online. Did the software have a license agreement because that's the important thing - does it say anything about refunds? If they've said they'll release an update then I think that's promising anyway. It might not be ideal but at least it will be resolved eventually. Do you have to pay for the upgrade? If not then I wouldn't be too upset. Annoying sure, but it's better than my situation where I was left with a product is was unhappy with forever, at least yours will work eventually. In future be careful when buying software and try a demo first. Did this company provide a demo or trial? Anyway, hope you get something sorted.
Yeah from what Ive read it seems like a pretty grey area. There is really not too much the consumer can do if a company goes back on their guarantee and wont issue a refund. I did finally just get this resolved. In my case I raised a big stink about it and told this company I would make it my mission to spread the word about their shady dealings. They finally offered to allow me to keep the software and refund me 50%. The software is useless to me now, buy maybe I can use it if they update it in the future. The best part though was that they said they would look into changing the wording of their guarantee so that this type of thing doesn't happen again. I'm sure arguing with angry customers for days isn't very enjoyable for them so hopefully I was able to get them to realize what they were doing wasn't right and that they should stop advertising a guarantee that they have no intention of honoring. I guess the lesson learned here is not to trust these types of guarantees and do your research on software before you buy it.
almost everyone is offering 100% money back guarantee nowadays.. they are hoping people are too lazy to get their money back or whatever.. you better use free tools first, like this backlink checker. very usefull for seo and other things
Isn't that false advertising? It's crazy how people can get away with this kind of stuff, yet if a huge corporation(such as Microsoft for example)was to do something like this they would get flamed or even sued. I don't think it's right and the internet needs to be better regulated to keep stuff like this from happening.
Sounds like you got a good resolution, given the circumstances I think you probably got the best out of a bad situation. You're right though, it's naughty of them to offer a money back guarantee and then not honor it, they should either change the wording so it's clearer under what conditions they'd give a refund, or remove it altogether.
does not matter, if you have 30 days then make a claim via paypal. If paypal does not do a charge back then make a claim via your CC and if its over £50 then your covered
That's not true, from a legal position you can't get refunds for opened software packages, it's exempt from distance selling regulations, as is music, lottery tickets, and newspapers. Trust me, I looked into it pretty thoroughly when I couldn't get my money back. I assume that's why PayPal and his CC company said there was nothing they could do when he asked them to intervene - legally there's nothing they can do. The ball really is in the software company's court. Looking back at my predicament if I'd been offered a 50% refund, could keep the software and got and update for free to resolve the problem then I'd have been more than happy - thinking about it, that's actually quite a good deal!
Unfortunately, this isn't the case. I made a claim online via PayPal and was denied. I then called them to try again explain myself a bit better and was denied again. I called my CC company and they told me the exact same thing PayPal did.