SUMMARY FOR READERS: The buyer purchased our basic annual plan but expected Enterprise-grade engineering resources and support. The buyer also required us to change the service terms several times and process multiple refunds, becoming increasingly challenging to accommodate. Ultimately, we refunded the entire amount to the buyer, disregarding around a month of free usage. After threats of negative reviews, we decided to absorb the payment processing fees, which had accumulated due to the buyer's numerous payments and refund requests. The buyer ended up creating new accounts on review platforms and leaving the review on several platforms regardless.
RESPONSE TO CUSTOMER:
Dear Chai,
We appreciate your feedback and regret to hear about your dissatisfaction. It is our ongoing aim to improve our product and services and we value your opinion. That said, we feel that it’s important to clarify some points in order to provide a complete picture of the circumstances.
You had initially signed up for our Basic tier, which clearly states it includes only Email and Chat support, without the provision for live call and onboarding support. Despite being fully aware of this, you insisted on being supported for live onboarding assistance, continually bringing up queries that had already been addressed during the trial.
To ensure transparency, let’s revisit the sequence of events:
1. We processed two refunds on your account. The first was after three weeks of complimentary usage when you indicated your plan to upgrade and required more evaluation time.
2. We then offered a custom pricing plan that included lead scoring.
3. Despite our entire conversation taking place with pricing clearly communicated in USD, a sudden and unexpected assertion from you was made in AUD. This was both surprising and perplexing given the clarity of our previous communications.
4. Nevertheless, to accommodate your needs, we adjusted the price to AUD, essentially providing a discount.
5. There was a delay in the payment for the adjusted price, and you requested a revision in the service term and the invoice. In response, we extended the term by an additional 10 days.
6. After the payment was processed, you repeatedly requested live onboarding assistance, which was not included in your subscription.
7. Regardless, we provided you with two free sessions without any additional charges.
8. Following the first call, the subsequent work undertaken by our engineers led to further dissatisfaction on your end, leading to doubts about continuing with the service.
9. We processed a full refund, excluding transaction charges and payment for two weeks of usage.
10. When you expressed further dissatisfaction, we refunded even the transaction charges and the usage fees, effectively bearing those costs ourselves.
It is disheartening to note that refunds were extorted through threats of negative reviews. We appreciate criticism as it helps us improve, but manipulating the feedback process is disconcerting. We’ve noticed a sustained effort on your part to post negative reviews on multiple platforms, a behavior we find unusually vindictive, typically reserved for personal grievances rather than professional dissatisfaction.
We are proud to be recommended by Pipedrive, as we have a longstanding history of fruitful collaborations and satisfied customers. Our product is a result of customer feedback and iterative improvements, which is made possible by constructive communication and cooperation with our users.
While we aim to provide excellent services and support, the professionalism and fairness we maintain in our relationships extend both ways. A more constructive approach to expressing dissatisfaction would have been much appreciated.
We hope this response helps clear any misunderstandings and puts into context our unwavering commitment to customer satisfaction.
Best Regards,
Salespanel
