Some Lessons For Entrepreneurs On How Not To Treat Your Customers

Update: I would just like say that GetResponse did do the right thing and issued a full refund for the remaining amount of money. I am glad that they have resolved this, in what I consider a mutually beneficial manner.

I have been a full time web entrepreneur for just over 4 years now. In that time I have I had to deal with dozens of separate companies. Some good and some not so good. However, the really frustrating thing is dealing with companies that have previously provided exceptional service and then fall far short. So, today I am going to talk about a bad experience I had with GetResponse (They provide e-mail newsletter and autoresponder services) and what fellow entrepreneurs can learn from it.

When I first got into internet marketing, I was told e-mail marketing was a good way to make money. So, I signed-up with GetResponse (over 5 years ago) both because they were cheap and all the reviews I read had good things to say about them. Lesson #1 Reputation and price matter for attracting new customers.

Over the next year or so, I found that e-mail marketing just wasn’t for me. I couldn’t make it work in a way I enjoyed. I had built a few somewhat profitable lists but wasn’t really sure what to do with them. I hated sending regular updates, which is what is required to get the most out of a list. Lesson #2 Make your business work around your strengths (at least at the start). You can always outsource/hire people to do the things you don’t like later.

Yet, since GetResponse was pretty cheap I decided to keep paying my annual subscription fees. I thought I may want to use them later and it wasn’t costing me a whole bunch. The lists I had built made just enough money to cover the cost anyway. This was good for GetResponse because I kept paying my annual subscription fees each year. Lesson #3 Recurring subscription based businesses can be a goldmine if you are the one selling them.

What follows next really impressed me. At some point (I am not sure when exactly) GetResponse significantly raised their prices, but kept all existing customers on the old pricing plan. What was even better was that my subscription lapsed for 4 months around this time. This was due to me not paying attention to a credit card’s expiration date. When I contacted them and told them I wanted to renew, they not only allowed me to do so at the old rate, they still had all my data. I was very impressed by this and recommended them to people looking for a newsletter and/or auto responder service. Lesson #4 Treat existing customers well and not only are they more likely to stay loyal, they will tell others about you as well.

Now we come to my recent problems with them. My account was renewed at the start of December. Like most years I didn’t really think too much about it and probably would have let it slide. However, a the end of December I got charged for my renewal again, plus the cost of the more expensive package. They did quickly send and e-mail to apologize for the mistake, but instead of refunding the money they said it would be used for future purchases (about 2.5 years worth of renewals in my case). There was no offer of a refund. Lesson #5 When you make a mistake it is not always good enough to admit it. You should make sure you do what you can to make it right. For example, if you bill someone accidentally, make sure to offer a refund.

At this point I realized that dealing with GetResponse was not worth the trouble anymore. I was irked that they did not immediately offer a refund when they changed my card for 2.5 years worth of service. So, I decided I was going to cancel my account. I sent them an e-mail asking to do just that and for a refund for the extra money they charged. I did immediately get a refund for the accidental charge and they did apologize. However, I wanted them to cancel my account and refund the unused balance (the 11 months worth of service I still have left). Lesson #6 Pay attention to angry or dissatisfied customers. If happy customers will tell a few people about a good experience, angry ones will tell everyone about a bad one.

Now, if they had refunded the last bit of money you would not be reading this. When GetResponse refunded the extra charge they forgot that I had already paid for another full year of service at the start of December. So my account went into suspension mode. I didn’t really care too much at the time, just as long as I got the rest of my money back. So I e-mailed them yet again and asked for the last of my money back and told them my account was not working. They fixed my account and then told me they were not going to refund my money because the terms of service state you can only cancel an account no less than 2 days before the renewal date. This is different from most online services which will give you a refund up to 30 days after renewal (which I was still just within when I started the whole refund/cancellation process) Lesson #7 Have an easy and clear refund/cancellation process. It sucks giving refunds, but you are never going to please all your customers all the time. How you deal with the unhappy ones will determine the impact they have.

Thus, GetResponse is technically in the right for not canceling my account. I did agree to the terms of service when I signed up 5 years ago. Therefore, I will not attempt a chargeback with my credit card company. However, by not simply canceling my account and refunding the 11 remaining months of service they have encouraged me to tell as many people I know not to use them. If I convince even one person not to use them, then it will cost the company money. And keep in mind with subscription based businesses you can easily keep customers for years. For example, I have been a customer at one webhostng company for 6 years and just renewed for my 7th. Lesson #8 If you are going to lose a customer anyway, don’t make it worse for them and drag it or by hiding behind terms of service agreements. It will just make the soon to be ex-customer frustrated. Any additional money your business gains is likely to be offset against the potential loss of future business.

TL;DR – Had a previously good relationship with GetResponse, but because of their recent actions I would advise other people to stay away from them. There are better and cheaper alternatives out there. The good news is that the way they conducted themselves provides some good lessons in what one should and should not do in business.

I would love to heard what other entrepreneurs think about this.