Yesterday I received an email from a reader who had hired a copywriter based on my recommendation in late 2009.
Unfortunately, he was not happy with the sales letter he received from the copywriter, and the copywriter allegedly did not complete the work he had been paid to do.
About seven weeks ago, the reader wrote to me about his negative experience with this copywriter. It was the second complaint I had received from readers regarding this copywriter, and I had also received an additional warning from a fellow marketer.
At that point, I pulled my endorsement of the copywriter, and made it clear on my website that I am no longer recommending him.
Now yesterday I received another email from the reader…
Hi Eric,
I hope you are well.
Just to let you know I contacted BBB.org, PayPal and my credit card company.
The business of [redacted] is not registered with BBB.org.
The complaint with PayPal can only be filed within 45 days from the date of payment and that period is exceeded due to [redacted] procrastination and the story telling.
My credit card company is not able to provide the refund of $1344 I paid to [redacted] for the letters he never wrote as there is an involvement from PayPal between them and the vendor.
I acted on your recommendation to choose services of [redacted] as you described him trustworthy and reliable.
From all people and businesses who gave testimonials on his web site only one responded on my enquiry.
The others simply ignored my enquiry and some of the have URL error.
I do not want to lose $1344 USD for nothing as I acted in full honesty and transparency and am asking you to provide me with the full refund.
Hope to hear from you soon.
Kind regards
Dragutin
As you’ve seen, the reader is asking me to compensate him for the payment he made to the copywriter.
I should mention that I do appreciate his polite tone. If he had sent a “flame” I wouldn’t be featuring it here.
I asked him for some additional information, and here is a copy of his communications with the copywriter:
PDF of email correspondence [redacted]
So there are really two questions at stake here…
1) Am I legally liable for the products I endorse or promote as an affiliate?
2) What is the right and ethical thing to do?
The ramifications are very significant, because the answers to these questions affect not only this situation but also…
– Everything I endorse/promote.
– Everyone who endorses anything or promotes something as an affiliate.
This is why the Internet marketing world was in a tizzy last December when the FTC rolled out their new guidelines for endorsements and testimonials.
So let’s answer the first question, as it applies to this situation:
Am I legally liable?
According to the FTC, endorsers may be liable for false or unsubstantiated claims made in an endorsement, or for failure to disclose material connections between the advertiser and endorsers.
Let’s talk about false or unsubstantiated claims.
If I had blindly promoted the product/service without checking it out first (as many affiliates do in this industry, and as I have done in the past on occasion), then I believe I might bear liability if my claims did not match up to the product. Let that be a word of warning to all affiliate marketers: You ARE responsible for what you say/write.
However, in this case I was speaking from first-hand experience. I had actually paid this copywriter $197 to write a sales letter for me, and I felt that the product I received was a good value for the amount that I had paid.
Therefore, my claim was substantiated, and I made the recommendation in good faith that the copywriter would provide similar value for other customers.
Now let’s talk about disclosing material connections.
I initially wrote my recommendation in October of 2009, which was prior to the new FTC guidelines going into effect.
When the new guidelines went into effect on December 1st, I added an “Affiliate & Material Connection Statement” to my website, which I believe satisfies this requirement. If I am shown otherwise, then I might need to get more aggressive about disclosing material/affiliate relationships.
In this particular case, I never did get paid an affiliate commission for the sale in question. So I’m not sure how that affects the material connection from a legal standpoint. Am I still an affiliate if I’m getting scammed too?
OK, so in my opinion I am NOT legally liable for the copywriter’s failure in this situation.
But that brings us to the next question…
What is the right and ethical thing to do?
Although I am someone who believes in absolute truth, and a clear distinction between right and wrong… the realm of ethics can still be grey at times.
I’ve tried to put myself in the customer’s shoes.
If I were him, I probably would have written the same email to me.
I’ve been a victim of scams in the past, so I’m familiar with what he is feeling. It’s one of the worst feelings that the pallet of human emotions can paint. Anger, frustration, regret, self-loathing… all rolled into one. The only way out of it is to go through the grief cycle, and reach a point of acceptance.
From the look of my dear reader’s emails, he’s gone through the denial and anger stages, and has now come around to the bargaining stage. Like I said, I’d be bargaining too.
I see this from two perspectives… justice, and compassion.
From the justice standpoint, I believe it would not be right for me to give him the refund out of my own pocket. Would justice be served by this? No.
Now… IF I had been paid a commission, I do think partial justice could be served if I refunded that commission to the customer. But in this case, there is no commission to speak of.
From a compassion standpoint, I’d love to help out my reader.
If we were talking about a much smaller dollar amount, I probably would have just offered to pay for it (or more likely… I wouldn’t have gotten an email about it in the first place). But $1344 is a decent chunk of change.
We all know the golden rule: do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
If it were the other way around, would I want him to pay for my refund out of his pocket? Yes I would, at this moment in time. But after more time has passed, I would most likely come to the conclusion that justice would not be served by an otherwise innocent affiliate paying me out of his own pocket.
In other words, my sense of justice would eventually trump my desire for recompense. (The two are not mutually exclusive. The victim should be paid back in order for justice to be served, but taking the money from the wrong person is not the solution)
So I do not think it is my moral obligation to pay for the customer’s loss…
But I want to know what YOU think!
I told the customer I would post this on my blog, and take my reader’s opinions into consideration.
I want to know:
What would you do in my situation, and why?
I am absolutely willing to pay a full refund to the customer if the arguments in his favor outweigh the arguments against.
I wish I could just err on the side of compassion, but obviously such a precedent could open me up to a lot of headaches and abuse due to other customers taking advantage of my leniency. If that is the outcome, then I will probably change some things about how I run my business.
Post your comments below. Please do not “trash” me OR the customer or even the copywriter. That’s not the point of this. At the same time I am not necessarily looking for support. I want your honest opinion, even if you are not on my side.
Obviously this is not something that needed to be made public, but I am doing so because I think we can have a good constructive conversation. This is an important topic that affects all Internet marketers. So let us know what you think.
Thanks for your input!
UPDATE: I’ve now posted the conclusion to this saga here:
hey Eric,
You are not in the wrong, its not your fault, you are not liable, as you there is no contract between you, the writer and Dragutin. so far from what i have seen you have acted in a good way
To Dragutin – go after the writer, take further action against the writer, loads of methods have been mentioned in posts above
regards
ur are just not liable eric.
ur not liable!!!.
Hi Eric,
For me that person has acted based on your recommendation and that was due to the time when the copywriter was at “awesome” level. But copywriter is just another person who make mistakes and changes due to it’s nature and environment. Due to the fact that the copywriter has “changed” and affected the person who you recommended to, i believe you’d not to be blame.
If you can predict the future, i’m sure you will point us to the right direction, and i shall call you god! But you too are human.
Hi Eric, I feel you are not responsible because you made the recommendation in good faith and cannot be held responsible for another persons actions. The complainant must take the matter up with the copywriter. bad things happen to good people all the time. That is how life is. It is a lot of money and I feel sorry for the complainant, but I am sure he have some rights legally to either get his money back or the products that he paid for. I am sure that you will no longer recommed this copywriters work as he damaged the trust that you had in him. Keep up the good work, Regards Ciska
It seems that there was clearly a lack of communication between [redacted] and Dragutin. [redacted] may have done a cut and paste job, but he did deliver a sales letter based on the questionnaire Dragutin filled out. It was not targeted for Dragutin’s product, but I feel that’s his fault, not yours. Additionally, Dragutin should not have paid upfront for the finished product. Finally, where’s Dragutin’s responsibility in all this? He’s the one that made the bad decisions and now wants to blame you for his mistakes. I say you don’t owe anything, either legally or morally!
To be honest I think that both buyer and supplier haven’t done their jobs right here, they should have agreed in writing exactly what was required before payment was made, and how did you get it done for $197 Eric and he handed over $1344, madness or what!? I don’t see exactly what information was supplied by the buyer here on his exact requirements in order to judge how well [redacted] did his job, but I could have written that sales letter myself!, surely that’s not worth $1344!!!!?
Eric
I don’t think you are responsible, but to keep your reputation intact. Why don’t you help this guy out, with the sales letter he has paid for.
This will keep everybody happy and it will only cost you some time.
If I tell the guy down the street that I like lasagna, and he goes and gets some lasagna and doesnt like it should I pay for his meal? NO
There are other ways to solve this problem, mostly acceptance. We have all been “burned”, if you haven’t, wait your time is coming.
I agree that you are not responsible but obviously you feel some sort of moral obligation otherwise you would not even have bothered to post this for comment. Since he was willing to pay $1344 for some copywriting why not consider just writing his copy for him yourself. He gets what he originally wanted, you do not have to shell out any coin, and you will probably feel better about the whole situation. I typically do not endorse anything unless it offers some sort of refund if not satisified or uses some 3rd party arbitrator in cases where the customer is not completely satisfied. Like I said earlier, you are not responsible for what happened so really you have to do not have to pay/do anything for this individual but writing the copy for him may be something to consider.
One has to take responsibility for their own actions. I just went throught PayPal to receive a refund from someone. Why did he wait so long? How could that be your fault?
It has gotten so bad that people will be asking for refunds for the value of FREE items soon if it doesn’t work out for them.
Well, if the work was not done in atimely manner then he should have taken that matter up then. He let it go and now want you to make good. That is not fair. We have to take responsibility for our actions.
If you saw an advert on television for a product and bought that product only to find that it was rubbish, would you claim a refund from the television company? Of course you wouldn`t. The same applies here.
Hi Eric,
I think in this instance you are somewhat obligated to try and help this guy out in some fashion. I haven’t had the time to read all the other comments before mine, but I will as I get time. But I wanted to get my views posted here first and let you know how I look at this situation.
I believe, legally, you are not really obligated, or required, to do anything at all. As you said, you did not receive any type of compensation from the transaction, and if we are all going to be held liable for every single thing we say, things will get a bit crazy I think.
But, I think you need to look at this from something other than a “legal” standpoint. You have put yourself out here as a “mentor”, so to speak, to all of us who are looking to learn the ins and outs of internet marketing.
You are offering this information basically free of charge, but you are also, I’m pretty sure, making money from us via recommendations of products and services at the same time.
I have to think that this guy went out and gave the copywriter that amount of money strictly based on the review that you gave him. By making this recommendation, from the position that you have placed yourself in the IM community, he felt he could safely trust what you said and without your recommendation he probably would not have sent that amount of money to an unknown entity.
I’m sure people will say, oh he should have done more research, due diligence, and blah blah blah, but I think it comes down to the fact that he sent the money because he felt he could trust you and your opinion of this copywriter.
I feel you need to show some good will here and somehow try to help this guy out. I’m not saying you need to just blindly send $1344 into his Paypal account, but I think something needs to be done.
You want people to trust and believe in you and continue to be subscribers and customers. Up to this point you have given them no reason to doubt you and the things you say.
In my opinion, by the huge amount of free information you provide us with on a regular basis, you have certainly proved to everyone that we can trust and believe in the things you say.
I think now you need to show your subscribers and customers and, this guy, that they have placed their trust in the right person.
If you went out to a new restaurant had a really nice meal and then you told your friend about it and said give it a try.
So he then goes but has a bad experience.
Is that your fault.
Simple answer NO.
Its life.
Anne,
To follow your view to another application, let’s consider that you recommend a doctor to a friend and that friend goes to the doctor. The doctor prescribes a medication which takes the life of your friend. Are you responsible for the death of your friend?
Or say you recommend a mechanic to a friend and the mechanic does damages to your friends car. Does that make you liable for the damages and you should pay to have your friends car fixed?
I think not.
Eric, the thing I think, is that if you did pay compensation to this customer,you will, well not to put it bluntly but you’ll open yourself up to every chancer on the internet. At the time you gave this recomendation i’m sure you knew that it would come back and bite you financialy and hurt your standing on and of line if you were not 100% honest about the subject. In my opinion you are vindicated and the copywriter needs to be exposed as the “not to go to guy” and that is where the unfortunate customer should be going for recompence. I hope you can help me when I start as i’m really green about all of this and don’t want to be falling into the same trap as I don’t have the back up cash to pay out anything like that kjnd of money. You’ve really scared me now.****Ron in the UK.
I am the business manager, so this is not legal advice. I think that if you have or had a compensation agreement with your recommended copywriter, notwithstanding the fact that you did not get paid for this transaction, you are bound to repay a portion of payout from the complainant, who has also subscribed and paid for your services. And, I think that you should proceed against copywriter to recover your money and punitive damages to your reputation, if possible. I know, It stinks.
Hi Eric.
I feel that both sides of the discussion are about “in good faith” and, I too have sympathy for this guy.
If you had known that your referral going to do a runner, then you should not have endorsed him – and I presume that was not the case anyway!
You had no reason to suspect anything, and so endorsed the guy based upon some work he had done for you (as any of us would do).
I personally feel that this refund request is out of order because:
1. You made the recommendation in good faith – regardless of any potential Affiliate Commission you may have made.
2. If there was only one response to his research that should have been a red flag.
3. Why pay so much up front?
I think you probably need to be hard-assed about this. We all can feel sorry for anyone who loses money a a result of a scam & it could happen to us!!! The correct way for this guy to get any compensation is through the courts – not from you. It was NOT your fault!
Just my few cents!
Your contract with Dragutin did not specify you were responsible for any of his losses, in the same way it did not specify you were entitled to any of his profits.
Hi Eric
For all that i have seen, you don’t owe this person, because it was due to the work he did for you that you recommend him, And he can also report him to PayPal, and FTC,but the credit card company should pay him back his money.
This is also a lesson for all of us.
Eric,
I have read the material as requested, and it’s apparent that mistakes in judgment were made.
I am aware that RECOMMENDATIONS can come back to bite you, and this is a classic case. I am confident that you will make the appropriate adjustments for future business dealings.
Buyer’s remorse is not justified if one has not performed his “Due Diligence.” The old parental warning “Get it in writing” comes to mind. It is evident that communications and the reference material supplied could also stand some improvement.
Disputes like this are a part of life on the internet, and sometimes these are hard pills to swallow.
When one exceeds a 50% good faith payment up front, it removes the incentive for some contractors to perform. This appears to be one of those times.
Mr. Dragutin,
I understand why you feel justified in requesting compensation from Eric because of his recommendation, but I have had enough dealings with Eric to believe that the recommendation was given to you in good faith. I also believe Eric to be an honest and fair person with strong moral and business ethics.
I would attach more credence to your claim if I thought this was a case of the internet GURU passing you on to a “Buddy,” with financial implications, but I doubt seriously that this is the case.
I think that if you would step back and analyze the big picture from both perspectives, you would come to the conclusion that Eric is not the problem here. A person should accept responsibility for his own decisions and not play games with his conscious
Eric,
I suggest you not rush to assume responsibility for something that is not your fault. Precedents could be at risk here and much more. I don’t think that throwing money at this problem is a good idea.
Sincerely,
Mick
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Paix et la miséricorde de Alah
Eric for me you are not responsibale
every bady is responsible on his dicision
bay
Eric, You need legal advice from a qualified solicitor, not advice from us. All we can do is give opinions and sometimes those opinions can confuse the situation. Do you have a moral obligation to pay the client any money? I don’t believe that you do. If you recommend McDonalds to someone and they go ahead and buy a burger which subsequently made them ill, it isn’t your fault if Maccas used tainted meat!
Thank you for drawing our attention to such an issue. From now on, a very visible disclaimer about the veracity of the products, or services that I promote, will be on all of my sites.
No Eric you don’t owe him a penny but this sort of thing is bound to arise now and again in the IM world because there are so many murky folk around. If I tell you I ate at a good restaurant and you might care to try it, is it my fault if in meantime the chef leaves and it is now rotten? Answer no, unless maybe if the restaurant are paying me to recommend them. If you want to see this chap right in some way why not give him one of your products from which he can earn back the money he has lost to the copywriter?
Hello, Eric When you recommended the copy writer, he was doing a great job,but people change, it is not your fault that he or she turns a scammer, besides you were not involved in the transction, you are not responsible for someone good turning bad. Thank you, Chabiraj
Hi Eric
You are a true gentleman. I surmise you feel some guilt because you recommended the copywriter. OK But you did it in good faith. It was your honest opinion. It’s like me buying a car from a car dealer and getting a good deal, everything with the car spot on.
So i recommend a friend to go to the same dealer, that is also what the dealer wants. BUSINESS. Unfortunatkly the dealer does not keep up his standard and sells my friend a car, a wrack. I cannot be held responsoble for the dealer’s actions. Although i would feel lousy within myself for recommending him.
We have to be careful who we recommend.
Your heart will lead you.
Pastor Laurence
Your liability will depend on whether or not your business benefits when you make a recommendation. Your business may include making recommendations irrespective of any payment or fee to you. You do this to create goodwill in the hope of attracting others to come and do business with you. Now if a customer should rely on your recommendation, it is like you have done a good job in promoting your own business. The circumstances, however, would indicate that both you and the customer suffered because of the unreliability of the copywriter. Perhaps the best way would be to compromise and agree to a mutually acceptable amount of payment from you.
Eric, you are not responsible for refunding his money. However, an affiliate marketer must be very careful about who and what he or she promotes. As an example, I used to be on the list of someone who sent out an email to his list about such-and-such product. First, the product was not NEW, it had been out for awhile. Second, I had purchased (and been refunded) the product several months before and it was a load of male bovine excrement. But I UNSUBSCRIBED from this guy’s list in a heartbeat because he clearly did not look carefully into what he was promoting as an affiliate, and I have no time for that.
Bottom line: you are not responsible for providing a refund for someone else’s product you are promoting, but imho you *ARE* responsible for checking out the validity and quality of that product if you elect to promote it. I am not on ANY list for long where trash is promoted and that degrades YOUR reputation if you do so. (Not saying you did in this case, just generally speaking).
Here is my opinion for what it is worth. Not saying you should pay this Gentleman/Lady back but I would really investigate people you recommend before recommending them in your program because people are trusting you if they have to spend the extra money to make extra money. I lost money on blueprints/programs I have followed in the past just by following recommendations that were supposely needed in the process of making money with that blueprint or program I purchased and I followed them to a T This has happened so many times to me so now I’m gun shy. Now if it requires any additional money from a third party after I purchase a program that wasn’t made aware to me when purchasing it I will not do it and then I ask for a refund from the person I bought the blueprint from or program. This just happened to me a few weeks ago. No where did it say I needed to come up with $200 in addition for this program to work before I purchased it. This really upset me because I didn’t have the extra funds to make this work. I was led to believe I didn’t need anything else. This was a hidden cost so I requested a refund. In the past I would have come up with the money but after being burned so many times I do not take any chances. So instead of requesting a refund from you for the other third party transaction I would just suffer my lost like I did so many times before but now I would ask for a refund from you for the program I purchased from you. Just to play it safe because I have been burned so many times I do not buy anything that requires money from a third party in order to make more money. Hope this makes sense.
Hey Eric,
I didn’t have time to read all of the above, but I did read some.
As I see it, you have NO ‘legal’ obligation to this person … unless YOU made a guarantee.
As to the right and moral thing to do … since there were three people involved, at most 1/3 or $448. But that is still wrong.
You had a good experience with this copywriter, [redacted], and as is our human nature you wanted to help a fellow human being.
Dragutin should have done his own research, therefore eating his share of the pie. And get the rest from Mr [redacted].
But $448 is still high for just being the messenger. I would cut that in half to $224.
Just be thankful that it wasn’t a doctor or surgeon that you recommended to him.
I wonder … Is Mr D related to the lady that sued McDonalds for selling her unlabeled ‘hot’ coffee that spilled in her lap while she was adding cream or sugar to it while she was driving? and won!
Eric
I do not think you are liable for any of his losses. However, as a goodwill gesture – do you know of another copywriter who could help him who may do this as a favour to you – or do any other gurus have in-house copywriters who could help you out and salvage your reputation?
Of course those of us who follow you know how decent you are and I know you will make the right decision. Good Luck.
Maybe I need to start asking my friends for money back when they have recommended I buy a dress – and my bum really does look big in it!!
Referrals are one of the most important means by which goods and services are traded. However, a business (or individual) should still do it’s own due diligence on recommendations, before handing over any money. So no, you are not liable, and unfortunately your reader has learned one of those hard lessons that we have all had to chalk up to experience in our business lives. If they continue in businesses they can be assured of more hard knocks like this in the future. It’s just a case of what you learn, how you deal with it and mitigate the impact, and hopefully how you turn it to your own advantage.
I have a similar problem with another of your recommended suppliers – ForexHitter. The software does not work, and they do not reply on their supposed helpline.I would say that as an affiliate you should regularly check the products. I do not feel that you are liable, but if there is a complaint you should be prepared to talk to the suppier about it.
Hi Eric,
I don’t think you are liable for that since you are not even an affiliate that get paid commission.
As you mentioned, if it is a small amount, out of your leniency, you might just pay to the complainer. This is really out of your leniency…
However, I really don’t think you should be doing this even for a small amount. The person who buy stuff in the internet is responsible to that. If he thinks the products/service is not satisfied, he should get the refund back within the stated period (30 days, 45 days or 60 days).
Cheers,
Ming Jong
I am not a lawyer, but common sense I do have. My opinion is that you did not do one thing wrong. The bottom line here is Buyer Beware. It appears to me that this buyer did not research before he bought the product. You are not responsible and your are nuts if you give a refund.
Eric, you are an honest and morally a good businessman…A good lesson for all of us to know who we are dealing with an affiliate…The bottom line is…The affiliate is responsible…When he/she accepted the monies they also accepted the responsibility to deliver the promise…The customer and his credit card company should go after the copywriter not you to complete the unsatisfied promise…Best to You…
Eric, Don’t even think about paying back for some one else’s act of omission or failure to fulfill a promise. I feel the new FTC code is a bit harsh towards endorsers as an endorser may not be privy to all information about a product which could become common knowledge after the product is used. How is an endorser to know this in advance?
As regards the case in point, it looks like the copywriter just didn’t live to his client’s expectations, besides of course, not delivering on time. He should be the one to pay back, not you the endorser.
Hi Eric,
You are not resposible for this guy not doing his own due diligence and not checking paypal or his credit card terms and conditions in case there was a problem.
You do not owe him anything except your sympathy. How are you to know that a person who did something good for you will do something bad towards another? Based on that scenario, advertising should be disallowed all together because advertising is basically a recommendation. A recommendation is just that, a recommendation based on your experience. It is not a contract saying you going to deliver something. It is simply you stating that your experience with that person was good.
I wish nothing but the best for your customer, but it appears that he is just trying to get something out of someone since he himself thinks he should not have to pay for him getting the bad end of a deal.
Hi , I can see that this guy is really miffed and so he should be, but it looks to me that you have acted in good faith and thats ALL one can do! You said it as you saw it at the time, so it was indeed in good faith. In all cases the supplier should be chased for a refund and this guy forgot the cardinal rule and paid up front, instead of either paying a small deposit and the rest on satisfactory conclusion. Or ONLY on a satisfactory letter being supplied. Like someone said, it would be kind and a nice gesture to maybe give him some help of some kind, but with the proviso of without prejudice, as this is not your fault.
Dear Eric,
I feel very sorry for Dragutin and would like to see justice in his case. The ramifications of a refund run much deeper. Can we now sue every celebrity endorsing a soda, vitamin water, or travel website if services are not delivered as promised? I’d hope not. That would be the end of the advertising business. I’d suggest not refunding Dragutin, but helping him bring an end to deceptive businesses that make us all look bad. Blessings, Jean
Certainly not your fault, Eric, and you are under no obligation to provide a refund.Your recommendation was made in good faith and upon your knowledge at the time. On the other hand he made a bad decision in paying in full prior to getting and reviewing the product and then failed to follow PayPal rules within the allotted time.The mistakes were made by him and you should not pay.
I think I should try to add a little more to what I wrote in the above post. I would think that all remedies had been exhausted in the attempt to have the unreliable copywriter to make the customer whole. And that all attempts, including a small court claim, proved unsuccessful. That being said, you seem to have some type of liability independent of the failure of the unreliable copywriter because your recommendation is part of your doing business. But I would suggest that the customer should do his part in trying to obtain restitution first from the unreliable copywriter. So far I would say his attempt to recover has been incomplete. Only after he had completed his part of attempting recovery would I say a compromise with you will be appropriate.
the buyer should claim refund from the copywriter. you are 100% not responsible.
Shallon from uganda.
Hi Eric, Firstly I agree with the majority of people who have responded. You are not responsible for Dragutins loss. Unfortunately it is an expensive lesson to learn, but it was a lot of money to pay upfront. The simple fact that you have asked for outside opinion and you are willing to assist if your subscribers feel that you are at fault, shows that you are a man of good character. I can see that you feel some obligation as you made a recommendation, but your recommentation was made in good faith and based on a positive experience. The good thing that I think we can all learn from this is, yes we can use recommendations as a guide, but we should take responsibility to also do your own research. Best regards
Jim
I dont think you are responsible. I wouldn’t have paid the copywriter in full until I got something for my money. To many scams out there
Eric,
I do not think that you are at fault, this person made a hasty and bad business
decision. Your recommendation yes, their do diligence no. Everything is not always someone else’s fault, but neither do I think that it is a guns fault when someone is shot,or the bartenders fault when someone drinks to much.
Let me say I would like to be the first to purchase a copy of your new (Recommendations Disclaimer) which I’m sure is coming.
Yes Eric I’m afraid I fully agree with Dragutin and you should refund him the full amount of $1344 USD. He acted on your recommendation to choose services of [redacted] as you described him trustworthy and reliable. You were obviously making money out of promoting this low life [redacted]. It is your duty to investigate people like [redacted] before promoting their services. Eric I have written to you many times in desperation but not once have you answered any of my emails. All I get from you is auto responses and of course more of your mail shots. Being successful in internet marketing is a closely guarded secret and although you make some nice suggestions you don’t actually give away any secrets. As already stated in my emails to you, I suffer with chronic back pain and find it difficult to sit for many hours. As a result of my back pain I’m currently out of work and finding it difficult to make ends meet. Thanks to people like you I have been a scam victim many times and I haven’t made one sale. I just wanted to sell a few ebooks, I’m not a greedy pig who wants to be the god of the internet. I can’t believe that you didn’t even reply to any of my emails, even if it was only to say that I’m way out of my depth and to forget it. Make sure that you pay this gentleman every penny, it is your duty.
Hi Eric,
You are not liable. Your recommendation was honest and you received no compensation for the recommendation. It is up to the buyer to get further background on the business.
Personally your are not responsible for another persons actions but as a standing point I think if this person acted because you recommended the other then that is a grey area. The guy you recommended you said you used once. I would not recommend anyone with just using their service once. I would have to use them 3 to 4 times to actually get a feel for them before I would recommend them.
One way to look at this is does this reader follow you. Follow your tips or anything like this. If he does then the question you would ask is,”would I lose this person as a reader?”. Would I potentially lose revenue from this?, or from this person?
If I were that person my radar would be up on anyone you recommended because one bad experience can mess it all up.
Your not liable for his actions and what he purchases so I wouldn’t give him a refund. But if you think this guy has been a faithful subscriber to you and you want to keep him then refund him the money or partial.