What To Do If A Customer Challenges Your Guarantee On Products
When you created your product, you had great confidence in its ability to improve people’s lives and change the world. In fact, you were so confident that you added in a warranty. Such a guarantee about your product is a sign of your confidence in it.
It also makes good business sense to have a guarantee on your products. You see it all the time. Watch a television commercial or check out an Internet offer and there is invariably a money-back guarantee. If the product does not work, your company refunds the customer’s money.
If you have paying customers who buy a physical item, such as electronic widget phones, when something invariably goes wrong, you have built in recourse. They win either way. The guarantee is partially one sales method too.
Here’s how. Let’s say you want to try out a product, but it is a little steep at $200 a-pop. The guarantee moves you as a customer through your resistance. It removes the all or nothing element from the transaction.
It saves you from the fear of the unknown. Did you know that the fear of unknown is so great that even abused women will continue returning to an abusive relationship because they fear the unknown more than the known actions of their abuser? Same goes for every human. Everyone fears what they do not know. It is human nature.
Now, what to do if a customer challenges your guarantee. That is the big question. Well, refund the customer their money, regardless of whether the customer is lying, telling the truth, or just trying to get something for nothing, in your opinion.
It is an old retail trick. Basically, it has been proven time and again that retail stores that refund customers’ money end up making more money in the long run. The reason is that the customer relationship is left intact.
Then, the customer is likely to spend the money you just refunded them plus more money. That means if you refund their $200, they will turn around and spend it plus additional money on the spot. Bring them back into the store and they will continue to spend money because they regard their experience as a positive one.
Now, the hardest part is when you have a product that is more of a service offering. Or, if it is a technology product that stores information, then a product problem is bad for business. That may lead a customer to challenge the quality or workmanship of your product.
Then you may be sued for causing further harm to the customer. For instance, if you make backup hard drives and a failure of your drive erases the customer’s priceless secret product formula, you are in deep trouble.
However, the way around this is to have an attorney write up a contract that gets inserted in with every product. Limit the liability. In addition, make sure you buy plenty of insurance to pay out on major product malfunctions. Beyond that, make sure that your product genuinely works as stated.
Make no false or egregious claims when you are selling your products. Be truthful and speak to any limits that may exist. Customers are happiest when they are aware of both what your product can do and cannot do for them.
There is no harm in having a product guarantee for customers. It demonstrates your company has integrity and confidence in your products. Make sure that you anticipate customer reactions, such as their challenges to your product guarantees by having insurance in place. However do hire a guarantee lawyer before you commit your business to a guarantee. They will be able to word your offer so that you are protected as well as your customers.
If you do not consult a lawyer first it is all too easy to get caught up in an expensive legal battle with a disgruntled consumer. So to avoid the need to hire any Auckland dispute lawyers to fix the problem, talk to McVeagh Fleming and Partners before you offer any guarantees.