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Why do people think they have to LIE to get a refund?

by Raydal
18 replies
It doesn't matter how great your product is you will get refund
requests in this online business. And if you offer a guarantee
then you should stick by it. Normally the guarantees are of
the "no questions asked" type. So why do customers think
they have to make something up to get a refund?

If you offer a guarantee, all I need to say is that I want to
take advantage of your guarantee and get a refund. No
"dog ate my homework" excuses necessary.

-Ray Edwards
#lie #people #refund
  • Profile picture of the author dsilvestre
    I guess people are not used to ask for refunds and simply not offering an explanation. I mean, there aren't many offline markets where that is possible.

    They might be offering an excuse for their own sake?
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    • Profile picture of the author Raydal
      Originally Posted by dsilvestre View Post

      I guess people are not used to ask for refunds and simply not offering an explanation. I mean, there aren't many offline markets where that is possible.

      They might be offering an excuse for their own sake?
      Never thought about that, but you make a great point. In the offline
      world if you returned an item to the store for a refund the CSR usually
      asks you why you are returning the item. But usually they ask just
      to find out if the item is defective.

      -Ray Edwards
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      • Profile picture of the author camnettcontent
        Ray,

        Why do you think the individual is/was lying?

        I've bought many products online and have made a refund request a few times because the product didn't live up to expectations. However, I always made it a point of duty to explain to the vendor exactly why I wanted a refund.

        In my mind I was trying to be helpful by pointing out my issues with the product. My hope was that they would take that information and improve the offering for future buyers.

        In the fast paced IM world, taking the time to do this could be viewed as "overstating" the refund request, but if I were on the other side of the equation I'd really want to know.

        Maybe it's just me?
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        • Profile picture of the author Raydal
          Originally Posted by camnettcontent View Post

          Ray,

          Why do you think the individual is/was lying?
          Simple. If you claim ignorance about something that was made very plain
          in the sales copy. For example if a customer says, "I don't like videos, I prefer
          an ebook" and the copy plainly states it's a video course.

          -Ray Edwards
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        • Profile picture of the author Kay King
          People lie about why they want a refund because

          -they don't want to admit they spend money they couldn't afford
          -didn't realize the method took so much work
          -have no idea how to use what they purchased
          -see something else they'd rather buy instead (quite common in IM)
          -bought out of curiosity and with every intention of refunding

          None of the above 'reasons' make the person 'look good' so that is someone more like to say "I already knew all that" or "it doesn't fit what I'm doing", etc.

          Unless a seller asks my reason for refunding - I don't critique his product. The only time I comment is if the product advises methods that are unethical/illegal .

          The all time best refund request I've ever seen is a fellow who wanted a refund on 8-10 months of membership payments - "because I have kids and need money for Christmas". He said he had "to refund a lot of stuff I've bought"....and I wondered if he returned food and clothing purchased during the year, too.
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          • Profile picture of the author webmarketer
            Not all people but some lie because it's just their nature.
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            • Profile picture of the author charlesburke
              A few years ago I was selling a couple of self-help e books. My refund rate ran a consistent 2%, about half of which were the "instant turnaround" type -- order the book, wait a whole 15 minutes. then complain that they were expecting something different.

              Actually, it wasn't too hard to tell the difference between the two types. Real refunders were almost always polite, while the get-something-for-nothing guys were usually not.

              Over the years I got a real selection of reasons and excuses, but my all-time favourite remains the email saying simply, "Gimme a refund, then eat s**t and die."

              Cheers
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          • Profile picture of the author Meharis
            Originally Posted by Kay King View Post


            -they don't want to admit they spend money they couldn't afford
            -didn't realize the method took so much work
            -have no idea how to use what they purchased
            -see something else they'd rather buy instead (quite common in IM)
            -bought out of curiosity and with every intention of refunding
            I personally, would like to add an other reason to all of the above:

            They want the product -digital in this case- without cost.

            I give the refund and keep the name in my "Refund" file.
            I look refunds as "Operating Cost"

            That way, helps me to keep my blood pressure at 120 over 80...

            Meharis
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  • Profile picture of the author Gambino
    Physical products must be a different animal. I offer a 90 day money back guarantee and have only received on refund request in over 2 years. I honestly expected more people to rip us off.

    I've only asked for a refund for one product. A woodworking product from clickbank, which was junk and immoral and probably illegal as it was clearly scraped from around the Internet.

    Looked over it for about 15 minutes, deleted it, and asked for a refund. Simply said "this product isn't what I expected." It wasn't, because it was junk. But, credit to the seller who refunded me the next day.
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  • Profile picture of the author Highway55
    People make excuses because they feel bad about asking for a refund. Or... they've had to jump through hoops from a previous experience and feel they need one (even if you say they don't)... Or, they feel so the quality is so horrible they have to disguise why they want their money back.
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  • Profile picture of the author Makabongwe Maseko
    My latest refund was a fellow who bought my product and opened a dispute with Paypal saying my raising "pets" product was specific for the US/UK and not Asia. Saying I should have made that clear on the sales page.

    Made me wonder if Asian cats are fed different food and sleep in unique shelter than US/UK cats. No matter where you are in the world cats like milk.
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    • Profile picture of the author discrat
      Originally Posted by Makabongwe Maseko View Post

      My latest refund was a fellow who bought my product and opened a dispute with Paypal saying my raising "pets" product was specific for the US/UK and not Asia. Saying I should have made that clear on the sales page.

      Made me wonder if Asian cats are fed different food and sleep in unique shelter than US/UK cats. No matter where you are in the world cats like milk.
      Some claim they are fed to different types of people

      Seriously, Ray I think a lot of people lie because they planned to lie from the very git go.

      They couldn't afford it to begin with or didn't want to pay for it so figured they would buy it and then get a Refund...and in many cases keep it since it was a digital download.

      Basically, bottom dwellers, Pure and simple as that.


      Robert Andrew
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  • Profile picture of the author Steve B
    Originally Posted by Raydal View Post

    So why do customers think
    they have to make something up to get a refund?

    Raydal,

    Having "buyer's remorse" and being able to reverse the process is so easy and anonymous online when the seller offers a "no questions asked 100% refund."

    Here's a hint to curb refunds: make the product so high in quality, utility, and relevance, such an over-the-top sweet deal, to what the customer wants that he knows he is wrong in asking for the refund. No, this won't stop everyone from refunding, but often folks are sitting on the fence about it and the better the product is, the fewer fence sitters you'll have.

    Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author nmwf
    Well, to fight fraud, I implemented two strategies, which might not be applicable to your situation. The first was to offer an interactive demo of my "product." I realize that's almost impossible to do with an e-book, but you can get a little creative there and think of a way to "demo" almost anything.

    The second was to put "NON-REFUNDABLE" in a different product's Item Name (via PayPal's check-out page). This way, should anyone dispute a sale at PayPal, and claim they didn't know the item wasn't refundable from the product's description page, me, the customer AND PayPal can clearly see otherwise.
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    • Profile picture of the author Raydal
      Originally Posted by nmwf View Post

      Well, to fight fraud, I implemented two strategies, which might not be applicable to your situation. The first was to offer an interactive demo of my "product." I realize that's almost impossible to do with an e-book, but you can get a little creative there and think of a way to "demo" almost anything.
      I like this idea and that's what I do so the buyer knows before hand just
      what he is getting so there are really no surprises. But if people are going
      to be dishonest there is little you can do to stop them.
      I'm not so worried about refunds, just maybe the human side of me wonder
      why LIE when you DON'T HAVE TO?

      -Ray Edwards
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  • Profile picture of the author BIG Mike
    Banned
    [DELETED]
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    • Profile picture of the author marciayudkin
      Simple. If you claim ignorance about something that was made very plain
      in the sales copy. For example if a customer says, "I don't like videos, I prefer
      an ebook" and the copy plainly states it's a video course.
      Ray, what is plain to you may not have been obvious to someone who reads quickly or reads with a wrong assumption in their mind.

      Not long ago I requested a refund within two minutes of purchasing because I honestly misunderstood the nature of the product. I didn't realize I would need to download something to my computer to make the product work, and that is not the kind of service I thought I'd bought. I am sure the seller thought it was plain as day what he was selling, but I was out of my depth technologically with this item and just didn't understand.

      What may have seemed like a stupid, bogus or lying excuse was actually the truth.

      Don't be so quick to judge your customers.

      Marcia Yudkin
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