Customer service has proven to be a very difficult part of business for me. Selling online digital products has proven to have it's own challenges. One of the most stressful examples I have is as follows.
I was working with a Business Plus client for about three months. I wrote featured spotlights, hosted mini contests and syndicated their content into a few blog sites for backlinks and some social media marketing on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
The customer always has the right in the eyes of PayPal and this is a huge issue in my opinion.
I've worked for this client for three months and did everything I said I was going to do.
The Customer Gets An Automatic PayPal Refund?
They filed an unauthorized transaction and without any word from me PayPal took the money that I worked hard for, and placed it into a temporary hold.
The worst part about this is I have no chance whatsoever to get my money back and the buyer is now ignoring me and my e-mails.
Ironically the buyer shuts down their blog site and social media accounts, like many bloggers they quickly realized blogging was hard and earning from their site was merely impossible. They canceled their hosting and domain, got a refund from GoDaddy for the payments sent and they were trying to get back the money for three months of blog marketing with Blog Engage.
Thankfully these circumstances don't happen often, in fact this was only the second time since 2007 I've experienced such a scam customer when online marketing.
The reality is no matter what marketing services you use, it will not make your blog a success. Your written content and blog quality is what will be making you success. You have to have good content and you have to have a great blog overall. I guess what I'm saying is if you are in a small niche that is not desirable by many bloggers than your results from a marketing service will vary and possibly be little to nothing.
On the other hand if you have a smashing blog with great content, then your value and results from a marketing service will be better than the other blogger. You will drive traffic, receive new blog comments and more.
This is how it works, if you write about popular topics the traffic will come, if you pick a non popular niche, well sadly no one cares to read or visit your blog.
I Did My Part To Keep A Happy Customer
This is the hard part about customer satisfaction, but is the customer always right? Because my service didn't help this blogger does it mean I have to refund them? I don't think the answer is yes, but with that said I always refund my customers for the services they aren't happy with. It's a hard one to swallow knowing I had to feature them on our blog, I syndicated and shared all the posts on all the social media sites as promised.
This is a huge issue with online marketing, I cannot make a poor quality blog a good one no matter what I do; I can however market it like I market my popular clients, this is what I'm getting paid to do. I don't think their lack of success should be my responsibility, I'm not a magic worker, I'm an online marketer. Blog Engage is not magic people, if your blog sucks prior to joining, chances are it will suck when using the community as well. The same can be said when you have great content and quality posts Blog Engage will help bring your blog to the next level.
As an online entrepreneur it's frustrating when something like this happens, but things like this do happen. We just have to remember customer service is important and even when we don't like it, the customer is always right as PayPal proves this by refunding the money without questioning me. The only way to dispute such an item is to provide shipping details, how the heck am I supposed to do that with online digital goods?
Why Is the customer always right?
What's your opinion on the matter? When the work is done should I have the right to get paid no matter the bloggers success? Should I refund the money without having the ability to argue the fact that I actually worked for this client and now it's all for free? What's your opinion on the “Customer is always right” statement?
Yes, Ileane…
The customer is always right because at the end of the day he or she pays, and has the right to request for a refund… however, when we deal with a customer, we should be using agreements and contracts where you state all the refund and money-back guarantee clauses
This is how to protect yourself from phoney customers
Real relationships are based and built on trust, regardless the written agreements; that’s what matters in the first place… even with contracts, some clients may feel like you cheated them out of their money, or didn’t provide as you promised… that’s when learning how to spot fake clients and those you want to do business with long-term or multiple times kicks in.
It’s all a learning game, it’s not if or when the client is right/king, you know…
Does it help?
Hey at the end of the day there’s not much you can do, right or wrong! My point in the article is how I actually worked for this client, write spotlights, marketed their content yet without question they can have their money back. it’s not fair right but the reality is business is not fair and the customer needs to be protected. In this case I think I was the one who needed protecting.
OMG Brian, this happens more with retail site for me. It’s amazing what some will do too. You do your best to send products on time or inform customers of backorders and still issues come up. Once we had a scam operation ordering from us. We still lost the money via Paypal even after showing delivery confirmation, etc. We now use their high end fraud protection service and check out addresses before sending. It’s sad to realize how many scammers are out there.
Then there are the great people too that offset that and write to us about how much they love a product or happy with the service we provided. That’s what makes it worthwhile to continue on.
I was always taught the customer is always right but that does not apply to those scammers out there 🙁
Hi Lisa, I agree, I have had over 500 customers on Blog Engage now and maybe seen 4 or 5 I wish would had never found the site. This rarely happens but when it does, it always stings.
I glad to see brian’s article in basic blog tips site. In this post I can say, customers not always right. It’s good to add refund option to products, because people will like to purchase products if it’s have refund option. And also problem is, some people refund product without any problems. But we need to refund all cash when they need money back.. if we have some reviews of products, then don’t need to allow refund option. 😀
Actually I’m not a marketer. 😛 But , Thanks for your post brian.
Hi Reaz, thanks for posting on the blog. I’m a big fan of Ileane so I try and come over here when I have a chance to guest post. At the end of the day it doesn’t matter who’s right or wrong, we know for a fact the customer always has the power.
Customer is right and should be refunded when asked. The main reason is simply risk elimination. Customers don’t want to take risks. It is better to offer refund to acquire customers which otherwise won’t make a purchase.
If you buy a service and I do the service you don’t deserve a refund it’s ridiculous! But the reality is it doesn’t matter what I think, PayPal always refunds the money no matter what. We are in an age and era of SCAM customers and there’s nothing we can do about it.
Brian is actually a good person and my first connection with Blog Engage just spoke Scam to me. But it’s not a scam surprisingly. It’s only because of the pay wall did I not trust it. Brian is extremely helpful and will take time out of his busy to help you along. You can tell he cares for his bloggers that have joined up and he does his part in helping you succeed out there in the blog-o-sphere. – Scott Craighead
Hi Scott, thanks for the kinds words, how did you ever think Blog Engage was a scam? I don’t imagine how anyone could visit and think that it’s a great community and obvious the customers are happy. I guess it’s just this online service thing, so many people are afraid, I don’t know why you can always get your money back. Thanks for the comment and share!
Because I couldn’t see beyond the pay wall. So I had no idea what it truly offered or if it was false or exaggerated advertising. I blame Empower network for this. – Scott Craighead
wow Scott I’m sorry to hear you has such a bad exp with EN, you are not the only one I have heard a lot of terrible things about that network.
Hi Brian, sorry to hear about your ordeal with this customer. My first introduction to this concept was when I had my first paying job at a fast food restaurant while I was in high school. There was a plaque in the back of the store that read “Rule #1: The customer is always right. Rule #2: If the customer is ever wrong, refer to rule #1.”
It’s a hard pill to swallow sometimes, and, does it mean the customer really is right? I don’t think so. It’s more of a business practice than an actual perception of right or wrong. It’s good for your long-term business strategy as far as gaining and keeping your customers.
Thanks for sharing your story.
Hi Tom, what can we do? To save face we refund the money or work hard at creating some alternative marketing offer. I loved your example, it’s a great way to think. Thanks for visiting and commenting on the site!
The customer is always right mate ! The product is being used by the customer , he has the best experiences of using it and he’s the best guy to judge it ..even if he’s not right you don’t wanna loose him ..anyways , thanks for sharing your experiences with us mate .
-Pramod
Hi Pramod, I agree, ti’s not worth the time and effort to fight the payment, also it’s only 1 customer, maybe two but it’s a small amount of users that abuse the system. Thanks for commenting.
Well I don’t agree on customer is always right! cause your client is responsible to pay back on your work has been done, it doesn’t mean that he gets low traffic on your blog then you are the one to blame on.
Thanks for sharing your experience… Agreed with the comment of Pramod…
Hi Farham, I agree as well, the customer deserves the refund. We have to keep the people happy so the good word spreads faster than the bad word.
nice article one time that boss is always right and now customers are always right because in current time customers are boss of market that purchase and used your product and also review of your product. i learn many things from your article thanks for sharing.
Hi hiren if you learned from the post that would mean a lot! I’m glad my personal experience can help you understand that the customer is always right.
Hi Brian,
It sucks that something that you put so much time in go so underappreciated by your client. It’s sad to see how entitled people think they are just because they paid (probably underpaid!) for a service.
I actually don’t agree with “the customer is always right,” especially for something service-based and not one-time purchases.
Chargebacks and such are always hard to deal with, but please don’t let a couple of people change your policies for everyone else!
Have a nice day,
-Luke Yoshida
Hi Luke, as a consumer I think ti’s my right to have a refund if I’m not happy with the product or service. It’s the way we have been raised every store follows this policy to at least 30 or 45 day return policy. The customer may not be right, you are correct, but making them upset or angry surely is not good for business.
Hy Brian your experience is a lesson we all bloggers must learn from. I mean we all know that CUSTOMER IS GOD and we have to anyhow swallow this very fact as it is scripted because once you loose a single customer, you don’t loose one but hundreds of them linked with him. Being into an online business its very important to analyse and take steps towards the money matter.
Thanks a lot for sharing this lesson and experience with us.
Regards
Charmie
HI Charmie it was my pleasure, I enjoy posting here on the site and if I could I would do it more often. Thanks for visiting and adding value to the topic!
Well… honestly I don’t think that the customer is always right but being customers it is what they are made to believe. Regarding paypal, I think this is wrong and a one way street. We offer services and products and this doesn’t mean that just because a client is not happy about a service he can refund the payment he made. This is unfair. Paypal should set guidelines that are favorable both to the customer and the provider.
Customers are king and they are always right no matter what you do there will always be happy and sad customers but we gotta bring them as many best services as we can to satisfy customers.
Hi,
From the day one enters to the job what they hear is ” Customer is King” or “Customer is always Right”. To an extent this is right in business point of view as our business depends on them.
Here is my two cents.. You can offer them a free trial of your service or product with limited features for them to access the quality. When the customer is satisfied he/she can buy the service or products with full features.
nice article in current situation customers are king of the market. customers are used your product and services and give review of your product. there are always some good and some bed reviews but when we get more good reviews about product at that time we done the job. thanks for sharing.
Great article, I have been on both sides with Paypal.
I had a payment for a monthly service that I didn’t sign up for deducted and although it took a few days to resolve Paypal reversed it. I had no contact from the company when I complained directly to them (Customer Service Nil)
After selling a product online the buyer claimed the purchase didn’t arrive, although I couldn’t prove delivery I was aware my actions could create a negative review which to me was worse than refunding the cost of the sale (Customer Service assumed).
Whether online or bricks & mortar business online reviews are the bane of us all.
I think this could be somehow solved by making a contract of work. There you can state and make clear your terms and conditions in providing those services. But yes, customers may be considered always right, and it’s one of the hardest challenges every business owner must face. We just need to continue quality service to retain our loyal customers, and get rid of the bad customers.