Hate review

[admin]

This fellow bought a lifetime license, then two days later wrote me an email:

Can I get at least a partial refund. I just purchased it two days ago.

Your program is fine. But it does not play well with others I use. So I
basically spent $70 on something I cannot use.

I replied as follows:

Sorry, but you had a 30-day free trial period to make a decision. A license
key cannot be returned, of course, so a refund is not possible I'm afraid.

What kind of problems are you having anyway?

He never answered the question, but launched a hate review.
http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/XY ... 11575143/1

Edit: Hey, he did it again.
http://download.cnet.com/XYplorer/9241- ... ?tag=uo;uo

How cool is that?

[admin]

I posted this find out a couple of things. Maybe there's is something about the US culture (the guy is from the US) I did not know:

1. What is the meaning of "to stand by one's product"?

2. How can someone assume that he gets a refund on the sole reason that he found out that he rather does not like the software (although it is perfectly functioning as advertised)? Do you know of any software with a 30-day free trial period where you buy a license key, and where you can later without a good reason get your money back? Sounds crazy to me.

[j_c_hallgren]

I posted this find out a couple of things. Maybe there's is something about the US culture (the guy is from the US) I did not know:

1. What is the meaning of "to stand by one's product"?

2. How can someone assume that he gets a refund on the sole reason that he found out that he rather does not like the software (although it is perfectly functioning as advertised)? Do you know of any software with a 30-day free trial period where you buy a license key, and where you can later without a good reason get your money back? Sounds crazy to me.

Ok, so some of us from USA aren't that great...hopefully people like me offset that!

And AFAIC, you "stand by your product" MORE than anyone that I know of!
Here's what I just submitted as reply to the CNET review...and it's now available on their site:

You said "Stay away until they stand by their product". That & some other comments are SO wrong on many aspects!
1) It's Donald Lessau, not a "they", and he's a sole developer who responds personally & VERY promptly to user issues. I've seen a bug fixed in less than 20 minutes! That's GREAT customer support! As a matter of fact, I've never seen such a high level of user support from ANY other software! And I've used hundreds of app's over my years. Yes, I'm a extremely dedicated user of XY because he DOES 'stand by product' and many others agree!
2) Why would you buy the product w/o first fully using the 30-day free trial? And then expect a refund? Seems rather suspicious to me...and there is NO developer responsibility for user errors.
3) There isn't any evidence of you posting any issues on the extremely active user forum before you asked for refund.. All we see is your negative reviews. See http://www.xyplorer.com/xyfc/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4940
Read that for author's reply.

And did you notice that his profile on BetaNews shows he joined only today and that may likely be his only posting? I'd not give much respect to a user review with a profile like that.

[j_c_hallgren]

Addendum: I just joined BetaNews and posted the same basic reply as I did on CNET but with some added text as no 1K size limit on text.

This is not as much a review of XYplorer as it is a response to prior post by UProf regarding the developer's handling of user issues which is thus a review of the product from a support aspect.

He wrote "Stay away until they stand by their product". That & some other comments are SO wrong on many aspects and here's my viewpoint:

1) It's Donald Lessau, not a "they", and he's a sole developer who responds personally & VERY promptly to user issues. I've seen a bug fixed in less than 20 minutes! That's GREAT customer support! Even better than some anti-virus app's! As a matter of fact, I've never seen such a high level of user support from ANY other software! And I've used hundreds of app's over my years. Ok, ..Yes, so I'm a extremely dedicated user of XY because he DOES 'stand by product' and many others agree!

2) Why would you buy the product w/o first fully using the 30-day free trial? And then expect a refund? Seems somewhat suspicious to me...and there is NO developer responsibility for user errors such as this. You don't determine if the product is suitable for you after you buy it!

3) There isn't any evidence of you posting any issues on the extremely active user forum before you asked for refund.. All we see is your negative reviews. See http://www.xyplorer.com/...opic.php?f=6&t=4940
Read that for author's reply.

In summary, while this is my first posting here and thus might not have as much weight as veteran members here, user UProf is also new so this may offset his negative comments, plus I do have an extensive posting history on the XY user forum so I'm very well aquainted with how Don handles user issues and I've always seen a very helpful attitude when the customer deserves it, but in this case, I don't see that UProf has a valid complaint.

I realized after I posted it that he'd not used that exact phrase on that site but it still applies in general...

[admin]

Thanks j_c! That was very kind of you! Hard to say what effect on potential users such obvious hate reviews have, but it's certainly good to have them countered by a "love review".

BTW, I did not want to diss US folks, but I know there a cultural differences that are sometimes surprising for Europeans. I was trying to find out whether there was a way to understand the behavior of that user (other than thinking he's a jerk). But I understand you that also in a US context this behavior seems a bit off mainstream to put it mildly.

[j_c_hallgren]

Thanks j_c! That was very kind of you! Hard to say what effect on potential users such obvious hate reviews have, but it's certainly good to have them countered by a "love review".

You're more than welcome! You deserve the support for all you do for us! And I think it was better for a user (even one like myself) to reply there than you...

BTW, I did not want to diss US folks, but I know there a cultural differences that are sometimes surprising for Europeans. I was trying to find out whether there was a way to understand the behavior of that user (other than thinking he's a jerk). But I understand you that also in a US context this behavior seems a bit off mainstream to put it mildly.

I don't think the location of user makes a diff in this case...maybe next time, he'll not be so quick to make a purchase that is regretted after...

[j_c_hallgren]

but it's certainly good to have them countered by a "love review".

Update: I see where there has been a couple more of our forum members who have contributed to the positive side on both of these sites after I did with some rebuttals as well...

[admin]

but it's certainly good to have them countered by a "love review".

Update: I see where there has been a couple more of our forum members who have contributed to the positive side on both of these sites after I did with some rebuttals as well...

Great stuff! Thanks to everybody!

[TheQwerty]

Just to note, qwerty12345 is not me.
Sorry, but I didn't come to your defense here.

(Now I understand your PM Don, and you should retract it! )

[serendipity]

Just to note, qwerty12345 is not me.
Sorry, but I didn't come to your defense here.

(Now I understand your PM Don, and you should retract it! )

oops thats me. I had this account even before TheQwerty arrived here, so no intentions of posing as him. I tried several other names including serendipity but none available.

[admin]

Just to note, qwerty12345 is not me.
Sorry, but I didn't come to your defense here.

(Now I understand your PM Don, and you should retract it! )

Ah, what a disappointment, TheQwerty! But OTOH, that means there is another, better!, (The)Qwerty.

[j_c_hallgren]

Just to note, qwerty12345 is not me.

oops thats me. I had this account even before TheQwerty arrived here, so no intentions of posing as him. I tried several other names including serendipity but none available.

Ok, wait a sec...

If qwerty12345 = serendipity, then who is serendipitee?

I was simply going on the ID similarity and guessed these were ppl I knew from here...OOPS!

[serendipity]

Just to note, qwerty12345 is not me.

oops thats me. I had this account even before TheQwerty arrived here, so no intentions of posing as him. I tried several other names including serendipity but none available.

Ok, wait a sec...

If qwerty12345 = serendipity, then who is serendipitee?

I was simply going on the ID similarity and guessed these were ppl I knew from here...OOPS!

Well they two are different, so I am qwerty12345 in fileforum.betanews.com and serendipitee in download.cnet.com.

[mwb1100]

To specifically answer your questions:

1. What is the meaning of "to stand by one's product"?

This means that as the vendor/producer of something sold that you're willing to fix problems and/or provide refunds. As demonstrated on the forums here, clearly you stand by your product. And there's no cause for him to say otherwise since you asked about his specific problem with no opportunity to address it.

2. How can someone assume that he gets a refund on the sole reason that he found out that he rather does not like the software (although it is perfectly functioning as advertised)? Do you know of any software with a 30-day free trial period where you buy a license key, and where you can later without a good reason get your money back? Sounds crazy to me.

I know that there are some software companies that provide 'no questions asked' refunds (Sunbelt Software, Blumentals, JGSoft for example). However, there are many more that have a no refunds policy on the basis that you gave (there's a trial and there's no way to 'return' a license key). Since the existence of a trial is pretty clear on your site, and there's no mention of a money back policy, this guy is being unreasonable. But, there are a lot of unreasonable people in the world, and they want what they want. You might want to post some text somewhere that makes you return policy explicit. The return policy posted by Scooter Software (Beyond Compare) seems clear and fair - you might want to consider having a similar page tailored to your specific policy: http://www.scootersoftware.com/shop.php ... turnpolicy

[admin]

To specifically answer your questions:

1. What is the meaning of "to stand by one's product"?

This means that as the vendor/producer of something sold that you're willing to fix problems and/or provide refunds. As demonstrated on the forums here, clearly you stand by your product. And there's no cause for him to say otherwise since you asked about his specific problem with no opportunity to address it.

2. How can someone assume that he gets a refund on the sole reason that he found out that he rather does not like the software (although it is perfectly functioning as advertised)? Do you know of any software with a 30-day free trial period where you buy a license key, and where you can later without a good reason get your money back? Sounds crazy to me.

I know that there are some software companies that provide 'no questions asked' refunds (Sunbelt Software, Blumentals, JGSoft for example). However, there are many more that have a no refunds policy on the basis that you gave (there's a trial and there's no way to 'return' a license key). Since the existence of a trial is pretty clear on your site, and there's no mention of a money back policy, this guy is being unreasonable. But, there are a lot of unreasonable people in the world, and they want what they want. You might want to post some text somewhere that makes you return policy explicit. The return policy posted by Scooter Software (Beyond Compare) seems clear and fair - you might want to consider having a similar page tailored to your specific policy: http://www.scootersoftware.com/shop.php ... turnpolicy

Good idea!