How to pistol whip an e customer

[myst woman]

rubberchickencards.com-the trial offer- no harm no fowl?

read the email i got below. How would YOU react?

Please keep in mind this is from the HEAD of customer service.


NB: the company ignored my first email to cancel this service.

***
"customer",

How bout some personal accountability? You emailed us on 5/9/09 and your trial ended on 5/7/09 and then we give another free day of grace before a charge is made. so, you had 11 days to email us and you did not. The provided terms clearly state that we will charge you if not canceled .

I also, showed you the first page of the HELP section and how do you miss a topic heading of "HOW TO CANCEL A FREE TRIAL" it clearly, states to call or email and you did do it but, you waited too long.

PLUS. I refunded you $10 since we were currently, running a special for $9.95. I did that as a courtesy and my email was very respectful. This is a courtesy, that can be reversed.

What sort of ass blames a company for their own neglect?

You are threatening to spread lies about us and links when we did exactly, what we told you we would do and you accepted the responsibility and failed to live up to your end of the agreement.

That's sort of like me threatening to use your personal information, credit card info, and the emails of your friends located in your trial area such as [cardrecipients email] and threaten to use these in harmful ways because, you didnt renew.

Its just not right to level threats when this is entirely, your fault.

I urge you to reconsider and realize that such actions can harm you, too.

David at RCC
Head of Customer Service.

** *
in my view, sharing experiences about this company is a right I have as an Internet consumer. I Gogled this company first and found no fraud reports.

1. No refund was EVER processed.
2. The company only resonded when I sent a second email titled "2nd send"
3. I cannot believe any head of customer service talks like this.
4. I believe the veiled threat to contact my card recipient and share credit card information is in violation of any security agreement the company may have with banking institutions.
5. I believe the self-serving parts of this email are a "letter of record" caliber boilerplate that confounds me as it in enfolded with words like "a**" to describe a CUSTOMER.
6. reviews and linsk are always the right of any web user. Why does this company feel they have the right to personally insitgate use of my credit card information and registration data to retaliate for reporting what actually happened?
If I am disapointed with their service I have a right to share that with as many people as I want.

7. Should I inform Paypal about this? This guy sounds like he is ready to go off the reservation and hand my credit card data to his roommates for pizza and p*rn.

[meganerd]

Did you cancel before grace period?

[Cartoonz]

If you used PayPal to process this, the guy does not have your card info....

[myst woman]

the site would not LET me cancel it. They have these directions about how to cancel it that precludes having a "cancel it" button in the interface for the account after logging in. i did not find it and when I realized it wasn't there I emailed them. My email was ignored until the second send AFTER the grace period ended. They were not open on Sunday. This guy waited until Wednesday after the Sunday cancellation to "respond" by eamiling me the same Help page text i emailed HIM about.

I know a scam when i see one. Even the emails were confusing, they processed the registration transaction as a subscription to a newsletter. i should have canceled then.

[draggar]

Protest any charges with PayPal and let them know he threatened you.

I don't think he can pull more money unless he protests your protest.

I'd take that as a threat - you may also want to contact your police and maybe the police in their jurisdiction.

[2gajgops]

having a "right" to do something, doesn't equate to that something being the proper, civil, or moral thing to do. It certainly doesn't prevent people from getting angry (maybe justifiably) at you excersizing your "rights".

The person didn't threaten to do anything. He equated your actual threats to a hypothetical threat, that had he made, you would be angry about.

I respect people being aggressive about getting refunds, and price breaks, etc. - even when they are technically or contractually wrong, but IMHO you were the one that crossed the bad behaviour line first.

It sounds like they made some effort to meet you in the middle - sometimes you just have to know when to quit and accept the rest as your responsibility and move on.

"Customer Service" doesn't mean "punching bag". You need to remain civil and give people an opportunity to help, while allowing them to save some face and feel like a human being.

By the way, you remind me of my wife, who is the queen of getting what she wants. I have this same conversation with her sometimes when she gets a little to mean-spirited with people. I do appreciate the money she is able to squeeze back into my checking account by being aggressive, persistent, and diligent though

Just my .02

[myst woman]

2 gajgops
I would agree with you if

(1) i had received a timely response to my cancellation email,
(2) if the site had included the cancellation option on th day this man claims was a "grace period" (it didn't).
93) if i had heard of a refund or seen one before the 'for the record" antagonistic reponse, and
(4) seen how far this "head of customer service" was willing to go afowl of professional courtesy. if he was in the right right he would have no reason to do that, professionally speaking?

i think people need to be headed off about rubberchickencards.com
i don't see ANYTHING in this response that indicates a professionall accountable company is at the helm. People need to know that, so that like me they can Google and find red flags about companies with legitimateyl underserved customers.

Not only did this guy lie about a refund (which i never heard of or saw any record of in my online account), but he used stall tactis which tells me the site is rigged NOT to allow people to be able to cancel. By the time you've read the instructions how to find the cancel button, you realize it isn't there. Then you realize it's time to send an email. That doesn't get a response. Wanna bet how many times the phone rings with no answer?

This is classic aol/hosting company we want to rig a phone call with an upsell to change your mind we won't take no for an answer tactics. people need to know.

[jberryhill]

the site is rigged NOT to allow people to be able to cancel

Regardless of whatever was promised in this situation, let me take my lawyer hat off for a moment, and put on my Dutch uncle hat...

Don't:

1. Enroll in any "free trial" thing that automatically becomes a billed service.

or

2. Subscribe to any "negative option" subscription program (e.g. Book of the Month, CD clubs, Girls Gone Wild, etc.)

Again, regardless of the terms, these things are designed to make money simply because people forget to cancel stuff on time, or don't follow the crazy instructions required for it.

My favorite example is a "male enhancement pill" program that the FTC shut down a while back. Sold as a "cancel if it doesn't work" program, what the subscriber had to do in order to cancel was to get a letter from a doctor stating that the subscriber has a small penis and it didn't get any bigger.

Now, can you imagine scheduling an appointment with a doctor for that?

Before the US annual credit report system was mandatory on the reporting companies, as a lark I enrolled in one of those "free" credit report things a few years back, knowing full well I'd probably get charged even if I followed the rules to the letter.

Sure enough, when I diligently followed the cancellation procedure, I received a telephone call saying, "We need a reason for you to cancel" and telling me how for a low, low price, I'd get wonderful things for a full two years, so I needed a "valid reason" to cancel.

"My reason is very personal. Please just let me cancel," I said.

"I'm sorry, but I need to have something to put on the form."

"Okay, but I didn't want to tell you this. I've been diagnosed with liver cancer, and my doctor doesn't expect me to live more than three months, so I really don't think I'm going to need the service for two years."

Oh man, the change in tone in that snotty woman's voice was PRICELESS!

But, again, I did it pretty much as an experiment.

"Free trials" aren't, and "cancel at any time" isn't. Take it to the bank.

These people are scum. Always feel free to play the "terminal illness" card.

I used to get calls from a legal publisher every month trying to get me to buy their latest books.

Finally, I said, "Do you publish in Braille?"

"Ummm.... no. Why?"

"Because I'm blind. So if you don't have a book I can read, stop calling me."

[BidNo]

...

rotflmao

Haven't laughed so hard since the days of the Nigerian scammer. Thanks John and, as always, good advice.

[Pink Misfit]

is this another hosting company? Aside from the godaddy and hostgator issues or one of the same?

Think I missed something.

[gingeman]

I love your posts John, very funny and good advice as always

[Namefox]

I get a kick out of the "Customer Service" at the end of his email. WOW...

[thedomainster]

pretty hostile reply. Definitely not a company I would want to do business with...

[DotComGod]

Maybe they will put your comments in the 'what others say about us' box on their homepage

-=DCG=-

[PRED]

Again, regardless of the terms, these things are designed to make money simply because people forget to cancel stuff on time, or don't follow the crazy instructions required for it.

My favorite example is a "male enhancement pill" program that the FTC shut down a while back. Sold as a "cancel if it doesn't work" program, what the subscriber had to do in order to cancel was to get a letter from a doctor stating that the subscriber has a small penis and it didn't get any bigger.

Now, can you imagine scheduling an appointment with a doctor for that?

ROFLMFAO


Thanks John, made my day