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The problem is that "1 month free trial" != "30 day money back guarantee" and many companies conflate the two. If there is a 1 month free trial, then you shoul
by dotBen 16y ago
The problem is that "1 month free trial" != "30 day money back guarantee" and many companies conflate the two.
If there is a 1 month free trial, then you shouldn't be billing a credit card upon sign up (whether you take it up front or not is a separate issue). Billing the customer and then offering to refund within the month if they don't like the service is not a free trial.
Offering a 30 day money back guarantee seems the most sensible for most SaaS plays IMHO. If someone likes your service, they should be happy to pay even for the first month. If they didn't like it, then they get their money back. Seems reasonable enough.
- jyan 16y agoI agree completely. I think one reason companies charge you the money immediately (for the "1 month trial") is to test out the credit card. I know some companies that charge a cent (or something) then refunds that to verify that the credit card is valid.
- dotBen 16y agoWell, that is a crap way of doing things because in credit-card world you can 'hold a charge' for $x rather than actually execute the charge transaction. Holding a charge checks the credit card can pay the dollar amount and I believe also reduces that against your spending limit - but it doesn't actually put the charge on your bill. It only lasts a short period of time and so if you don't complete the transaction the charge is dropped altogether. It comes down to whether your credit card processor exposes to you such functionality and whether you are smart enough to know to use it.