So… I call the 1-800 number to request a refund.
If you’re not up to speed, please read my previous entry for the whole story.
Short story: I ordered a free book and received an entire CD course costing close to a hundred bucks. If I didn’t get it back to them within 30 days, I’d have a new charge on my credit card.
So… I call the company. A very nice man with a thick accent answers.
I explain the situation and request my refund along with instructions to send the CD set back to them.
“If I were to offer you the set for $79.95 would you keep it?”
“Nope,” I answer, “I don’t need this set.”
He goes through a litany of questions and taps at his computer a while. “Have you listened to the CDs?”
“Nope.”
“Do you plan on listening to them?”
“Nope.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t need them.”
“I suggest you open them and listen. If you don’t like them you can send them back.”
“No thanks,” I answer.
Then he says, “I just got authorized to sell you the set for $49.00.”
I answer, “Thanks, but I really don’t need the set. Just tell me how to get it back to you.”
He taps some more and says, “Have you opened the CD set?”
I just answered this but reply again, “Nope.”
“That’s good,” he says, “otherwise you couldn’t return them.”
“But you just told me to open them,” I say.
“Have you?”
“No.”
“Then you’re fine,” he says. Then he goes into detailed instructions on what I need to do to replace these CDs. Quite complicated, if you ask me, especially considering I didn’t order them. (Plus he implied on more than one occasion that if I didn’t wrap these CDs correctly, they could refuse the shipment AND the refund. Ack!”
Finally, just as I’m about to hang up he says, “If you decide to keep these CDs, I’m authorized to sell them to you right now for a one time charge of $24.95.”
Imagine. In the matter of ten minutes, that multiple CD set plummeted from nearly a hundred bucks to around 25.
Considering I really didn’t feel like wrapping up the set to their specifications, heading to the post office, purchasing big-time postage and tracking information… I said, “You’ve got a deal.”
Now I’m the proud owner of a CD set.
Bad marketing?
Dunno. From what I hear, the guy’s really selling product.
Definitely sneaky, though. It’s certainly not a technique I’ll use.
After all, if you want repeat customers, this is hardly the way to treat them.
Final thoughts on this next time.
Enjoy your week!
Beth
