Unscrupulous Marketers who give no customer service when products don't work

[creditwrench]

What steps should I take to get an internet marketer to give customer support after I bought and paid for his product?

I paid $97 to Ken Reno for his textmyreaders software last week. The software don't work and I have tried to get him to help fix it but it seems that he has no real intention of doing so.

I just about had to turn the internet upside down trying to even find any contact information to let him know that product didn't work.

I checked all the phone numbers I could find and none of them were valid. I posted about it many times on twitter. I complained about it on the warrior forums. I even put up a blog to complain about his lack of contact information and customer support.

He finally contacted me by email Friday morning and claimed I was slandering him by putting his picture on that blog. I told him I would be glad to take the blog down if he would agree to fix the product and make it work. I supplied him with all the information I have about what is wrong and he said he would fix it. I even told him that if he would get busy and fix it I would be only too happy to take the blog down and post a positive message on warriors forum stating that he gave me good service and support. 

He agreed and I deleted the blog. I'm still waiting with no results and no communication from him. He has my phone numbers and could call me with no problem at any time but it seems that he don't even care enough to let me know what the holdup is.

I have several remedies in mind but I do want to give him every reasonable chance to to do what is right and fix the product or at least let me know what he is doing to achieve a positive result.  So far nothing but total silence after the small flurry of emails between us on Friday morning.

I have the ability to defame him all over the internet and really make life miserable for him plus filing complaints with the proper authorities. I really don't want to get into any flame wars with him and I don't want to have to file a federal lawsuit against him but I can do all of the above and more.

Does anybody have any suggestions for me to try before having to go to all that trouble?

[Ken Reno]

I have replied to your email, giving you the transaction code you need to install a LICENCED version of the product - that works PERFECTLY.

You only mentioned half the story - in that you posted a blog full of libel and slander, with the INTENT purpose to cause me and my brand monetary damage. Defamation - and you admitted it here:

"I have the ability to defame him all over the internet and really make life miserable for him plus filing complaints with the proper authorities"

When you wrote me you claimed to have won 140 FEDERAL lawsuits - with all that experience, you should know it is illegal to post outright lies with the intent to cause damage as you have done.

When you post outright lies, you are committing a crime. When you post a picture of a run down shack, and say that is my house - that is a lie, with the intent to cause me damage.

When you post outright lies, and accuse me of committing a felony crime of fraud, (you posting that my name isn't even Ken Reno) - that IS defamation.

The other part you left out is that I offered - no DEMANDED to give you a full refund,
and you DECLINED, yet here we are again on another forum...

So once again. I'm sorry I took off Christmas Eve, and Christmas day, and DID NOT answer when you
called on both of those days. I did call you back which is more than many do...

I actually got the weekend off too, but have answered your email, and you should be good to go.

If you have any further issues, please use the on site support links, our LIVE help, or my personal mail.

Thank you,
Ken Reno

[justme]

You go, Ken! Woot woot!

I'm not sure why some people (ahem, we won't mention any names here) think it's OK to slander people and defame them. And I can guarantee that they wouldn't like it if they ended up on a board such as this.

[creditwrench]

Ken did send me the proper coding to get the program working. It appears that there are still some coding issues to be worked out to make it work properly but I am certain that it is due to some coding mistake on my part and not Ken's fault. I'll figure it out in the next few hours and correct my mistakes if, as I suspect, it is some coding error on my part.

He finally did his part and that is all I asked for. In fact, that is all anybody could ask for, just good customer service. If a marketer provides good customer service and a working product then that is indeed praiseworthy.

Ken now has my respect and I wish him well and I will be happy to give him a good recommendation at any time.

Thanks Ken
Have a Happy New Year and enjoy it in the best of health and prosperity.

[Ken Reno]

Thank you Bill, and Happy New Year to you as well.
Ken

[justme]

I'm glad to see this got worked out, but I can't believe that you expected a reply on Christmas, of all days.

Unfortunately, I've seen the same thing happen in my own business. People send an email and expect a reply within minutes, and if they don't get it they start shouting 'scammer' and file a PayPal dispute sometimes.

While you should expect a reply within a reasonable amount of time, a few minutes or even a few hours, is NOT reasonable, especially on a weekend or holiday.

[creditwrench]

I did not attempt to contact Ken on Christmas eve or Christmas Day or any time on the 25th. 
I did indicate that I do provide customer support even on such holidays and weekends and evenings to my customers. It is very simple to do. My phones are call forwarded to my cell phone so that in the event someone needed support on off days or off hours I can provide it but I can't ever remember anybody having actually called me on a holiday.  Makes for good advertising and if it happened I'd give them the time.

But no, I did not attempt to bother Ken at any time during the holiday.

[JJ]

Creditwrench I have a question for you. 

Let's say Person A sells website templates with pirated images in them to Person B. 

Assuming that Person B was honest about everything he published, would it be OK if Person B went to youtube and posted videos telling of his experiences with person A? 

That wouldn't be slanderous would it?   

[creditwrench]

No, it would not. You couldn't win a slander suit against them and no lawyer would ever file a slander case for such a thing.

It would be a case of libel, not slander. Slander deals with the spoken word and not the written word.  But in either case, before one can complain and win he himself must be able to prove that he is before the court with clean hands or he will lose because of his unclean hands.

A better cause of action would be defamation but again the plaintiff must have a spotless or near spotless reputation. Another problem is that the defendant must have sufficient wealth to make it worth the time and trouble to go after.

In the case under consideration, we might think that stolen intellectual property might be applicable but that wouldn't be true either. The complainer didn't own those graphics. They weren't his property.

The question isn't one of who did wrong because in reality neither party reacted in the best possible way.  There are valuable lessons to be learned by all marketers here. The first is that if you are a marketer then be absolutely certain that you are easy to contact by phone, email or however. Make sure your phone number is all over the web, on every web page, blog, wiki and forum that you have or visit.
The next is to react quickly and positively to any possible complaint that arises and do all that you can to make the complainer happy.

It boils down to this. If you have a brick and mortar store on some street would you hide your phone number and your address? Not hardly. So if you wouldn't do that in real life why would you hide your name, address and phone number on the net unless you are doing something shady?

Hiding any thing or even giving the appearance that you are hiding something will always give rise to suspicion, doubt and sooner or later complaints that will turn nasty on you.

I'm a marketer and I want people to know who I am and how to contact me at any time. I want to give fast and reliable service and I want to stand behind what I am doing. I'm not afraid of my mistakes. I've made a lot of them over the years and I'm not ashamed of that because each mistake that I make that somebody complains about is a new learning opportunity. Those who complain against me are my very best friends because they give me the opportunity to learn what my mistake(s) are and the chance to fix them so they never happen again.

The history of mankind has been a constant stream of mistakes and blunders and those who are successful fix those mistakes so they aren't likely to happen again. Those who fail are those who never learn.

[rrd257r]

So basically he solved all your problems within a week, and you took the time out of your life to attempt to discredit this man?  What's wrong with you.  You, being in the business should understand that for most people a response within 24 hrs just isn't feasible, ESPECIALLY during the holiday season.  It seems to me that YOU fall into the libel/defamation category, and that Ken could just as easily go around explaining the situation, while discrediting you, and staying within the bounds of the law, as you've acted in a childlike retaliatory manner over something that appears to be a delayed misunderstanding.