4 ms·

I had personal, but short encounter with 23andMe. I proceed with my charge and got the spit kit. Then a friend told me "it's pretty much a Google-owned company

I had personal, but short encounter with 23andMe. I proceed with my charge and got the spit kit. Then a friend told me "it's pretty much a Google-owned company", so that was enough for me to change my mind. I was still intrigued what they might find about me, so I asked 23, before sending the kit back, if I could actually cancel the order and re-order, but use my friend's credit card, with their permission of course. 23 responded that I can cancel, of course, but they do not allow to use someone else's CC, whether with or without their consent. I asked "why", and was told that "we need to identify the spit with the owner". God knows for what, but latest news that 23 is okay to share your DNA with insurance companies (I can bet bottom dollar they won't share it for free!) makes much more sense now, after all. I cancelled my order and send the kit back, but I wasn't done quite yet. From $99 order, I only got $45 back. I was told that "the kit cannot be reused, so it has to be thrown away". So I said: fine, give me the kit I paid for back, and keep the remaining $. They refused, and continued to refuse to refund the remaining portion of my charge. Eventually, a credit card chargeback dispute that they lost took care of it and after recovering all the costs, I emailed all my friends never to do a mistake and give your business to 23andMe.

Camillo 11y ago
Why would you expect all of your money back? On top of the wasted kit, there's shipping, handling etc. You are of course allowed to withdraw from your decision, but it's unreasonable to expect the other party to fully cover the cost of you changing your mind.
- joering2 11y ago
  Thanks for the question. Most businesses using credit cards in USA are "in retail business", which means that "client is always right" (even if they're not). Google or 23andMe is not different when it comes to work with Merchant Service Provider. And not many know that in the USA, most MSPs require company they provide CC services to, to respect a refund request despite what their TOS says. Most companies will tell you they don't accept refunds but that's not true according to their MSP statement. Frankly, I couldn't care less what is unreasonable or not, given that 23andMe already accounted % of refunds/chargebacks they encounter into their services' price. ps. The kit wasn't wasted. It came in hard to forge metalic-type bag with some sort of hologram on it. The kit wasn't even unsealed.
  - Camillo 11y ago
    Basically you're like the people who litter because they pay tax for the government to clean up, only applied to the private sector.
    - joering2 11y ago
      On the positive side, it's better to be a janitor than be unemployed. It's never a good feeling to lose a job, even if you're "just" swiping the streets.
      - Confusion 11y ago
        That's the broken window fallacy.
- eveningcoffee 11y ago
  Because the company did not disclose all decision affecting information to the client before entering into the deal.

Camillo 11y ago

Why would you expect all of your money back? On top of the wasted kit, there's shipping, handling etc. You are of course allowed to withdraw from your decision, but it's unreasonable to expect the other party to fully cover the cost of you changing your mind.

joering2 11y ago
Thanks for the question. Most businesses using credit cards in USA are "in retail business", which means that "client is always right" (even if they're not). Google or 23andMe is not different when it comes to work with Merchant Service Provider. And not many know that in the USA, most MSPs require company they provide CC services to, to respect a refund request despite what their TOS says. Most companies will tell you they don't accept refunds but that's not true according to their MSP statement. Frankly, I couldn't care less what is unreasonable or not, given that 23andMe already accounted % of refunds/chargebacks they encounter into their services' price. ps. The kit wasn't wasted. It came in hard to forge metalic-type bag with some sort of hologram on it. The kit wasn't even unsealed.
- Camillo 11y ago
  Basically you're like the people who litter because they pay tax for the government to clean up, only applied to the private sector.
  - joering2 11y ago
    On the positive side, it's better to be a janitor than be unemployed. It's never a good feeling to lose a job, even if you're "just" swiping the streets.
    - Confusion 11y ago
      That's the broken window fallacy.
eveningcoffee 11y ago
Because the company did not disclose all decision affecting information to the client before entering into the deal.