A new category : the accidental customer

[ggambett]

Subject: refund issue.
I did not intend to buy the software. I only intended to download the demo. I will not download the version attached to the email you sent me.

Sincerely,

xxxx xxxxxxx
I verified that this person didn't download the game, in effect. I'm speechless. I'm sure Jack Norton will be able to provide much more colorful comments than mine :)

[Chris00]

how can somebody accidentaly buy something?

[Reactor]

"Hmm, that's odd. I've never needed my Visa card to download a demo before. Huh, oh well..."

[Air]

This must be the only possible negative side effect of making your game easy to buy (ie not littering user with a half dozen purchace and confirmation links before running the sale) ... On a slightly related topic, I wonder how many people have ended up with books they didn't really want as a result of Amazon.com's one-click conveinience... :)

[Jack Norton]

WHAT A SON OF A ....!!! :eek:

ok I must remain calm...
well it happens! did you never walk into a shop, fill the shopping cart and then at the exit you said "ha no, I don't want to buy this stuff"?? :D

Bah...!!!

[MattInglot]

That's pretty amusing. He probably had a change of heart right after the purchase. That would explain why he hasn't downloaded it yet, and is probably too embarrased to admit he wants to go back on the purchase ;)

I refuse to believe that he actually made the purchase accidentally. Internet shopping just isn't that easy yet :D

[Andy]

... probably just was planning to buy some more beer?.. :D

[Gilzu]

well it happens! did you never walk into a shop, fill the shopping cart and then at the exit you said "ha no, I don't want to buy this stuff"?? :D

actually, its like leaving 20$ note to the shopkeeper and go out. then return and say: "hey, i didn't buy anything, may I have my 20$ back"?

[Redclaw]

I've had something similar happen.

A customer bought Goobs... then after downloading and installing it asked for a refund because he was actually looking for a game called BLOOBS.

Who the hell would call their game "bloobs"?!?! :D

[tonyedgecombe]

I haven't had many refund requests but at least 50% of the requests I have had the customer has lied in some way to justify the refund. It used to irritate me but I'm getting better at dealing with it now.

[princec]

I just refund them and surreptitiously deactivate their software without so much as a care in the world.

Cas :)

[Jack Norton]

I just refund them and surreptitiously deactivate their software without so much as a care in the world
If I ever met you in person, I'll ask you an autograph only for that :D

[Morphecy]

@Air: heh, I actually accidently order some damn music CD from amazon.com with that 1-click system :) It happened because my friend asked whether there would be need to give your phone number when ordering from amazon.com and I wanted to check if the phone number field was there and clicked 1-click buy... rest if history. :D

I'm not proud of this but shit happens :)

[BongPig]

Its funny how some devs offer full 30-60 day money back, no questions asked guarantee and others get hung up over a single customer changing his/her mind.

I dont see what this customer did wrong exactly. They didnt download the game. They simply changed thier mind and made some silly excuse about a mistake.

I would follow Cas' advice to the letter and get on with being more productive.

[ggambett]

@BongPig : Of course! I refunded this guy even before posting here. I just wanted to share this really strange thing :)

@Everyone : The guy didn't even download the game. As for the difficulty of buying, this person entered all his billing info, failed, entered it again, and this time could complete the purchase!

[EpicBoy]

BongPig

My thoughts exactly.

[Greg Squire]

Yep, Drinking and Internet purchasing don't mix. :D

[BongPig]

ahhh ggambett.
Very sorry. I guess I should be more general next time. My comments are aimed at anyone who would ever be bothered by an incident like that.

... mind you, I got bothered by somebody who seemed bothered. Oh.
What kind of sad idiot does that make me?

hehe ;)

[moonpxi]

Oh my!!! Why on earth would a person enter his credit card to download a demo?

Perhaps you should send him an "internet safety guide"!!

PS: a funny thing would be if this guy downloaded the demo and, later on, decided tu buy, again, your game.

[ggambett]

PS: a funny thing would be if this guy downloaded the demo and, later on, decided tu buy, again, your game.
"Sorry, I want a refund. This time I wanted to uninstall the demo!"

[Fish-Guy]

I've had people 'accidentally' buy PilesOTiles before, then ask for a refund. Sometimes I have to be careful, as I have found the keys that were 'accidentally' purchased have appeared on Warez sites before. I can fix it easily enough when it happens, but can be a pain. I have also experienced people buying the game several times in one day (going through multiple vendors). Also had people re-purchasing when they re-install the game thinking they need to pay for the key again.

Then you get those people that you really help with their refund and they still want more out of you. Those are the people I can't stand.

Generally, it's easy to find the genuine people as opposed to the idiots :p

[Norbyte]

We once had a customer that didn't even have a real computer.
All he had was one of those WebTV gadgets, so he couldn't play the game.
Needless to say, we refunded him.

(Back then we didn't have a 30-day money back guarantee, which we do now.)