7 ms·

Dear customer, We are a small team who don't have the resources to test every single OS version on every device. Problems will happen. As such we're happy to

by qume 10y ago

Dear customer, We are a small team who don't have the resources to test every single OS version on every device. Problems will happen. As such we're happy to issue you a refund, and you can keep the device. All we ask is that you let us update the app to make sure it's working on your device, and hopefully others. Thank you for helping us find the issue. We will work tirelessly until it is fixed. If at some stage you are satisfied we would be delighted to turn your one star review into a five star one. Kind regards Company which needs a little bit of help in how to deal with customers

dqv 10y ago
Yep. It usually turns out better that way. (except I'm not sure how I feel about asking them to change their review at this stage)
- protomyth 10y ago
  I would probably be a lot more indirect about it. Thank you for helping us find the issue. We will work tirelessly until it is fixed. If at some stage you are satisfied we would be delighted to turn your one star review into a five star one. to Thank you for helping us find the issue. We will work tirelessly until we turn your one star disappointment into a five star experience.
- vatotemking 10y ago
  I have a business selling software. And most of the the time, rude customers are just frustrated with the product. Once you start to address their concerns, they are actually very friendly and would not hesitate to change their review or give a 5 star rating.
libeclipse 10y ago
I'm fine with a request to change the review, but not sure that they should tell them exactly how many stars to give.
- bigbugbag 10y ago
  Try it and notice how it actually works vs just asking to give a better grade.
  - libeclipse 10y ago
    I can see it working, but I just feel that it's putting pressure on the consumer to rate the company how they want them to.
- Ensorceled 10y ago
  Wierd, I read it as "We will work to change your mind about the product so you'll want to change that 1 star to a 5 star." There was no "we won't help unless you promise to change the review to a 5 star" implied.
throw_this_away 10y ago
I get the sentiment, but why should a hardware company let the user keep the device and their money? Issuing a refund and finding a way to retrieve the device so it can be resold makes much more sense to me. Especially for a small company.... Giving away your product for free to every customer that complains seems like a quick way to go out of business. If you buy a faulty ipad from apple, they'll certainly give you your money back, but they'll make you return the ipad.
- JumpCrisscross 10y ago
  > If you buy a faulty ipad from apple, you can certainly get your money back, but you need to return the faulty device too Sure, but Apple won't remotely disable your device until you turn it in for a refund. If you want to preëmptively cut off services, you should initiate the refund. That leaves the customer with a free (albeit broken) product. This is partly why few companies remotely disable devices after purchase, particularly as a retaliatory measure.
  - throw_this_away 10y ago
    Yeah, definitely not advocating for remote disabling of anything. Only responding to the sample support response and suggesting that it's worthwhile to retrieve the device and issue the refund. Not just issue the refund.
- jo909 10y ago
  Not a 99 dollar retail price device. I'd guess the hardware earned the developer maybe 10, 20 bucks? Loosing one or two less future sale probably makes up for the loss. Understanding that one customers frustration and improving the experience for other new future customers could literally be priceless.
  - problems 10y ago
    They're probably making way more than $10-20 on that thing - you can buy wifi capable dev boards for $10 out of China. If you're producing in bulk, you can probably build that even cheaper. The marginal cost to make more units is dirt cheap, I'd be surprised if it's >$20 - the cost to develop the whole system in the first place is the hard part on the technical side of things. Then there's the business side which they just blew pretty bad. Giving the customer the hardware costs them almost nothing - write it off to make the customer happy. As long as you don't have to do that too much, it's perfectly sustainable.
arjie 10y ago
Which companies do the refund + keep-device if unsatisfied?
- struppi 10y ago
  Amazon, occasionally, but not always. Also happened to me at least twice with Spreadshirt (but they don't really sell devices). Once the product clearly had a defect (part of the print was coming off), once I ordered it just too small.
- qume 10y ago
  Big difference between company policy (which will be abused) and good decision making by the company in individual cases.
- jakobegger 10y ago
  I got an offer for a refund + keep the device on a $7 electronic part that I posted a 3 star review on from a fulfillment-by-amazon seller. I guess handling the return would cost more than the value of the item, and presumably they really don't want a 3 star review. (I did not accept the offer, that would feel a bit dishonest)
- jbverschoor 10y ago
  Every company selling products via the internet in the EU.
  - jo909 10y ago
    Definitive NO. I think you mean they have to offer free _return shipping_. I only know the situation in Germany for that, and the law here is not even as straightforward as most customers expect, just the big online retailers are pretty relaxed with their return policies (because that is what the customers are expecting). There is no situation where you could insist on keeping a defective product, and its also not commonly offered voluntarily.
    - problems 10y ago
yunolisten 10y ago
> As such we're happy to issue you a refund They didn't offer this, the bricked the device and suggested returning it to Amazon, who have no power over any of this.

by qume 10y ago

dqv 10y ago

Yep. It usually turns out better that way. (except I'm not sure how I feel about asking them to change their review at this stage)

protomyth 10y ago
I would probably be a lot more indirect about it. Thank you for helping us find the issue. We will work tirelessly until it is fixed. If at some stage you are satisfied we would be delighted to turn your one star review into a five star one. to Thank you for helping us find the issue. We will work tirelessly until we turn your one star disappointment into a five star experience.
vatotemking 10y ago
I have a business selling software. And most of the the time, rude customers are just frustrated with the product. Once you start to address their concerns, they are actually very friendly and would not hesitate to change their review or give a 5 star rating.

libeclipse 10y ago

I'm fine with a request to change the review, but not sure that they should tell them exactly how many stars to give.

bigbugbag 10y ago
Try it and notice how it actually works vs just asking to give a better grade.
- libeclipse 10y ago
  I can see it working, but I just feel that it's putting pressure on the consumer to rate the company how they want them to.
Ensorceled 10y ago
Wierd, I read it as "We will work to change your mind about the product so you'll want to change that 1 star to a 5 star." There was no "we won't help unless you promise to change the review to a 5 star" implied.

throw_this_away 10y ago

I get the sentiment, but why should a hardware company let the user keep the device and their money? Issuing a refund and finding a way to retrieve the device so it can be resold makes much more sense to me. Especially for a small company.... Giving away your product for free to every customer that complains seems like a quick way to go out of business. If you buy a faulty ipad from apple, they'll certainly give you your money back, but they'll make you return the ipad.

JumpCrisscross 10y ago
> If you buy a faulty ipad from apple, you can certainly get your money back, but you need to return the faulty device too Sure, but Apple won't remotely disable your device until you turn it in for a refund. If you want to preëmptively cut off services, you should initiate the refund. That leaves the customer with a free (albeit broken) product. This is partly why few companies remotely disable devices after purchase, particularly as a retaliatory measure.
- throw_this_away 10y ago
  Yeah, definitely not advocating for remote disabling of anything. Only responding to the sample support response and suggesting that it's worthwhile to retrieve the device and issue the refund. Not just issue the refund.
jo909 10y ago
Not a 99 dollar retail price device. I'd guess the hardware earned the developer maybe 10, 20 bucks? Loosing one or two less future sale probably makes up for the loss. Understanding that one customers frustration and improving the experience for other new future customers could literally be priceless.
- problems 10y ago
  They're probably making way more than $10-20 on that thing - you can buy wifi capable dev boards for $10 out of China. If you're producing in bulk, you can probably build that even cheaper. The marginal cost to make more units is dirt cheap, I'd be surprised if it's >$20 - the cost to develop the whole system in the first place is the hard part on the technical side of things. Then there's the business side which they just blew pretty bad. Giving the customer the hardware costs them almost nothing - write it off to make the customer happy. As long as you don't have to do that too much, it's perfectly sustainable.

arjie 10y ago

Which companies do the refund + keep-device if unsatisfied?

struppi 10y ago
Amazon, occasionally, but not always. Also happened to me at least twice with Spreadshirt (but they don't really sell devices). Once the product clearly had a defect (part of the print was coming off), once I ordered it just too small.
qume 10y ago
Big difference between company policy (which will be abused) and good decision making by the company in individual cases.
jakobegger 10y ago
I got an offer for a refund + keep the device on a $7 electronic part that I posted a 3 star review on from a fulfillment-by-amazon seller. I guess handling the return would cost more than the value of the item, and presumably they really don't want a 3 star review. (I did not accept the offer, that would feel a bit dishonest)
jbverschoor 10y ago
Every company selling products via the internet in the EU.
- jo909 10y ago
  Definitive NO. I think you mean they have to offer free _return shipping_. I only know the situation in Germany for that, and the law here is not even as straightforward as most customers expect, just the big online retailers are pretty relaxed with their return policies (because that is what the customers are expecting). There is no situation where you could insist on keeping a defective product, and its also not commonly offered voluntarily.
  - problems 10y ago

yunolisten 10y ago

> As such we're happy to issue you a refund They didn't offer this, the bricked the device and suggested returning it to Amazon, who have no power over any of this.