Refunds are cheaper than bad press

Tue, 16 Jan 2007 08:07:11 -0800

3 months and 17 days ago, I signed up for a service called Open BC (soon to be named Xing) as it was recommended as a great resource for business networking. I foolishly signed up for the pay version of their service to access some additional user groups, and like EBSQ, they have a subscription service that automatically renews. BUT unlike EBSQ, when I got my renewal notice and I asked to close my account and to be refunded as soon as I was notified of the charge, I was told time and again that I had to cancel 14 days prior to my renewal date and that they could not give me a refund. Well yes, I was the dummy for missing this in their TOS. Our TOS informs people about recurrent charges, etc, as well. But when an unhappy customer requests a refund, you'd better believe I give them what they're due! It would be incredibly stupid not to!

I find it both ironic and sad that a company that supposed to be all about business and networking and learning from each other's business practices doesn't know this simple addage: the customer is always right. Along with the corollary: bad press costs you more than a refund.

The company stopped corresponding with me until another blogger (Stowe Boyd, and thank you for your intervention, btw!) wrote to them with my complaint. Someone else at their "customer service" replied that since it was past their deadline, they simply could not refund my dues which covers me for another three months. Could not? What utter BS. Call it what it is: they WOULD not. And of course, they are back to not answering my messages again.

Among other things, I also could not remove my credit information from their site. That alone is a reason to avoid this company.

If you feel the need to do business networking, go with LinkedIn. Open BC/ Xing wasn't even remotely useful. I was spammed out the wazzu by people wanting me to be a third party for their Chinese products. The women in the "Global Business Women" group I paid the fee to join in the first place were MEAN to me! And when you get customer service like this to boot? Well, I would have been better off putting my cash through the shredder. It would have been more fun, too!

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Refunds are cheaper than bad press