In a recent poor experience with an online music company, I emailed them to cancel my service and found they had still billed me for a month of service I had never used. I emailed the to request a refund and they told me that they had a no-refund policy and that I would not receive a refund even though the service was never used. This is the email I sent them:
That is fine...if you don't want to refund my money. I will forward this email to all my friends on facebook and Twitter and make sure that they forward it along, making sure that NONE of the them ever make the mistake of signing up with you.Surprisingly, this is what I got back:
You can see clearly by my account that I have not accrued any charges or made any downloads since the day I signed up. Your music selection choices are horrible.
That being said, word or mouth travels fast. I am disappointed that your desire to service your customers is so impaired and your business model is so poor that you have to keep money you haven't earned. I am sure there are others who would appreciate knowing that.
Cheers.
I also escalated your issue to see what I could do for you. My manager has authorized an exception to our no-refund policy on your behalf. We have issued you a refund in the amount of $24.99.
Please note that your bank can take up 5-7 business days to process your refund once we issue it. If you do not see an adjustment to your account after this time, please contact us so we can research your issue for you.
Apparently, social networking is considered a clear and present danger to the reputation of some online companies. I have omitted the name of the company because they did in fact resolve my issue but I thought I would share the experience.
That's great you got your refund! Sad that you had to demand it. Customer service is dead...unless of course you threaten them!