Customer Misunderstandings

[CountryBoy]

We put up terms of service and do our best not to be too ambiguous in our advertising but as the saying goes: Nothing can be made foolproof because fools are ingenious.

I was a care rep for Cingular and was frankly impressed with the efforts the company made to make sure new customers knew what they were getting into. Sales people were required to explain what the customers first bill was going to look like so they would know what to expect. With advanced billing that was extremely important because with a pro rated portion, initial admin fees and a full months service that first bill was usually high.

The problem with new customers on contract is that they usually don't figure out if it is the right plan for them or the right service for them until they are past any buyers remorse period. How do you handle new customer misunderstandings and confusion?

 

[digit]

I try to be fair and at times, especially if it was only a couple or few days after the remorse period by giving a refund. But if it is like a week or two after that period then I do my best to explain to them that they should have read the terms of service and made note of the refund period.

Sadly, a lot of people do not bother reading the TOS which results in them getting confused

 

[brianf]

Be fair. In some cases when the TOS is ambiguous even though the buyer is past the cancellation period, it may be best to refund the money if the buyer hasn't used the account.

 

[bobchrist]

I think a well written knowledge base focused on such new customer can handle the situation well and also it's going to save your time.

 

[Oscar]

I try to be fair and at times, especially if it was only a couple or few days after the remorse period by giving a refund. But if it is like a week or two after that period then I do my best to explain to them that they should have read the terms of service and made note of the refund period.

Sadly, a lot of people do not bother reading the TOS which results in them getting confused

It is quite surprising just how often people don't read those Terms of Service. It's always just kind of boggled my mind how people can agree to things without even knowing what they are agreeing too.

I think if people started reading the TOS more, there would be a lot less confusion, but unfortunately I don't see that happening any time soon. I've been trying to think of a way to get people to read them.

 

[brianf]

I'm guilty of not reading the license information for software on occasion simply because they're so long and often very similar. If I'm not selling the software or a derivative of it and I'm using it on a single computer and I've paid the fee, then I figure that I must be using it within the scope of the license.

TOS for services, on the other hand, I read beginning to end. They're usually much shorter, more to the point and very important if you rely on the service at all.

It doesn't really surprise me that many don't read the TOS, I'm sure many look at a TOS for services the way that I do some of the software licenses. Basically you've paid for it so you should be able to use it!

Realistically, it's impossible to list every Apache mod, all the PHP functions available to the user, those not available to the user and so on. If we did the TOS would be too long and even fewer people would read them.

That's really the biggest reason to have a 30 day money back guarantee in my opinion.

 

[logicsupport]

well..I know of one company who went to the extent of asking its new customers questions regarding the plan and service which they have purchased so that both the company and client are sure that the customer is aware of what he/she has got and the company is aware that the customer has got what he/she wanted....lol