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:
I personally can’t see how you are responsible for reimbursing the client. You did what you thought was a good move, helping someone get some business by endorsing that person in good faith, and usually it is a good thing to promote someone or something you believe in or feel good about. However, you are not responsible for what a scam artist does (of course, if you were in cahoots with the scammer, that is a whole different thing.).
In my opinion is that all of those that thinks that Internet making money scheme is safe. You all stupid like me. In today society you have to learn to trust no one even your most trustful sources that you think are safe. In my opinion these individuals are all bunch of crooks and scammers, hope this has thought a good lesson to you, your $1344 USD kissing them goodbye, you will never see them again don’t matter what you do, I am speaking from experience I had Myself. Eric might be legit, but I will never trust Him either anyway.
Hi Eric,
I feel for both you and the customer here. However recommending a product is a little different than recommending a service. A service should not be paid for 100% up front. It is human nature to loose interest in a job once you have all the money for it. Progress payments or the Escrow would be good.
It is always our responsibility to check out whom we hire for a job.
I do think recommending a service is risky though! and I would look at the guidelines you use for this. A service unlike a product is not complete on recommendation, I would not sell it as an affiliate.
Robbie [I have yet to make my first dollar but that would be my responsibility wouldn’t it.]
I agree with Nancy go after the writer do ask
for a sample before hand
Hi Eric,
I know that I’m going to sound like my Myna bird, but I agree with the masses Eric…You have no obligation to repay this gentleman anything as I believe that in the final analysis it’s up to YOU to make any final decisions where money is concerned and YOU ALONE. Anyway, there are no guarantees that anything is going to work as expected, especially if your receiving it off of the internet. He should have done all of his checking through whatever means before he made any type of decision…that’s only common sense. So Eric, I think that your in the clear as far as this little problem is concerned. Just keep up the excellent work you do and I think that we can all go on from there. Good luck to us all!
2 points
1.) I would be reluctant to set a public precedent. If you do pay I would settle, privately, in writing with a confidentiality agreement and not for more than 1/2 since all your published material points to a disclaimer. All persons seeking income on the internet are aware of disclaimers and I believe the fact that they exist en masse, they apply whether specific to each situation or not. I think they are implied by the very nature of arms length transactions.
2.)
The higher the profile, you as a marketer enjoy, the more reluctant you should be to recommend anyone, because you and your reputation are inextricably linked in most every ones mind for all time. On this point you bear some responsibility, possible for helping him in some way.
Comment: It is probably time for forming some type of professional organization with public license or sanction ability. A multiple point rating scale could be developed which would indicate the strength or reliability of any endorsement based on a feedback system similar to ebay. Ie 4 points of judgment, on a 1-5 scale.
Interesting topic for discussion
In my opinion since your recommendation was an honest one you should be free from liability. In the future though if you plan to continue doing endorsements I would post a disclaimer to prevent future incidents of this nature.
G’day Eric,
If you made the reccomendation in good faith as you mentioned and there were no kickbacks
whatsoever. I can’t see that the person who lost his money can blame you. I’ve made decisions and lost money also but I hold resposibility for that as this person must.
Let’s not forget (Caveat Emptor) let the buyer beware. We should all keep this in mind when making a purchase of any kind, even if someone reccommends the product. Personally I like to get honest reccommendations so I would like to hear that from you in the future but you may need to declare that anyone will need to do their own due diligence on it and take resposibility for their own actions with regard to any purchase they might make.
David from Oz.
Hi Eric,
I am new to internet marketing,but have been in the building business for several years.In that time I have referred many customers to different trades people that I was happy with.
Not all referrals went as smooth as my experience with these trades.
In all counts of disputes non of my customers ask for compensation from me.
As in your case you are not responsible for the business dealings of these people.
Cheers Brian Mac
Eric,
Though I feel this incident was born not of any of your faults, the law might put forward a question – “Was there an INTENT of making a Profit out of this Recommendation?”
Given that this recommendation was made on an affiliate link, the law might decide that such an intent really was there. I think you should really talk this out with your lawyer, especially if you foresee a possibility of being sued. However, I feel there are a lot of strong points in your favour, with you having –
– tried the product before having recommended it
– removed the copywriter from your list of recommended professionals once you became aware of his scammy ways
Refund or not? Well, I have an alternate thought. (It might sound silly, but still let me suggest it). You too have written copy in the past, and as you have often said, you still do sometimes. Well, in that case, why don’t you find out from the customer if you writing his copy will help in alleviating his problem ? (However, that might not be a refund in money, but will surely look like a refund by service. And not to mention of the crafty ones out there who might be looking out to take advantage of the situation. Whatever you do – please be careful.)
Those were my two cents. Hope they were of some help!
Thanks,
Reed.
Hi Eric
I think you acted in good faith based on your own experience of the service provider. You are not responsible for refunding the customer, no matter how little or how large his investment was. We all make mistakes but we do learn from them and this incident will help all of us to tighten up our disclaimer pages.
Thank you for letting us know about this and for asking for our views.
Take care,
Audrey
If I were in your shoes, after having a good relationship with the copywriter, would get in contact with him, call him on his conduct, remind him of the right thing to do. Maybe there was a reason he failed, how do you know unless you talk. some people fail at something and just have to much pride to face up..just a thought.
Hello Eric! Based upon the info provided, In my most humble opinion YOU ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE. A lot of people would love to receive a refund from a third party, especially when they realize the party they are dealing with is not handling the issue according to there needs. Those of us who are sincerely seeking higher knowledge understand that we have to allow people to live with what they attract. Unfortunately the client was not satisfied with the service received from the affiliate, but you were. For what ever reason, that client attracted that situation to go the way it did. You also attracted your situation to go the way it did. Yours just obviously went better. We never know how, why, or what others attract, but we should all understand we have to allow others to deals with whatever that may be. I hope this helps! Keep up the good work. Malik aka Souljah1
whoo, being a Christian has little to do with this, as a Christian there comes responsibility,& by giving this man a refund, it will open doors that I am sure Eric does not want opened…too many people 🙁 are greedy. Example some tenants think that because I’m a Christian, if they have an issue arise, I should waive their rent till they are back on their feet, sorry can’t do it…It is annoying with people throw Christianity in our face, but we deal with it… In an ideal world it would work just great…I am sure Eric will do the right thing. After all he walks the talk…
Very interesting read. I am an old guy, trying to get my niche up and running. Unfortunately, I have no young children or grandchildren around to help me with the computer/website stuff, so I have been trying to find out where to obtain the services of a reliable outsource person.
This makes me doubly cautious about who to deal with. I have had enough experience with Eric to know he is totally honest and would only make recommendations if he felt that this person would provide quality results. I have laid out several thousands over the past several years for advice and schemes, which were either beyond my scope of understanding at the time, or were totally useless. I never got a guarantee or a refund at any time.
I am amazed at the content Eric provides to us at very little cost, but which is easy to understand and follow. Eric, stay with your good ethical and moral values, and we will stand with you. Keep up your good work.
Thanks. Joe
Troy,
There is an interesting (and slightly bewildering) difference however!
What if you had made that recommendation for McDonald’s under an affiliate relationship?
In other words, what if you had accepted money from McDonald’s to recommend them to your friends? Then, that just doesn’t simply stay an ordinary recommendation. That becomes “Paid Advertisement”.
Also, irrespective of whether McDonald’s finally pays you the commission or not, there is this “Intent” of receiving payment (“consideration”, as they call it in law) that the courts might consider. And that is the concern!
I find no one here advising Eric to first talk to his attorney on this matter. Just simply saying “No Eric, you are not responsible” might make him oblivious to the dangers ahead. Yes, we understand that Eric has no fault here, but will the law understand that? Let me tell you, the law has a more discerning way of looking at things, and it will not just simply take the route of emotions. And hence it is important to employ our head rather than just our heart. I think taking this matter too lightly in the way that most here are advising Eric to do could have repurcussions later on.
What may provide us some relief is that I feel Eric has two very strong points in his favour –
– he has tried the product himself before recommending it.
– he has removed the copywiter from his list of recommended people the moment he has come to learn of his unscrupulous ways.
However, I would still advise Eric to seek the opinion, advice and assistance of a competent attorney on this matter before reaching any decision.
Thanks,
Reed.
Hi Eric, First off I don’t have that kind of money to pay a copywriter. However, I am online a LOT and I trust few internet marketers. YOU happen to be one of them. I have and am considering buying your stuff and have come close many time. I think its a question of PR – If you have the cash I say pay him.
Hi Eric, I felt sorry that you are being embarrased for trying to promote someone, trying to make him rich through his profession. Although, before endorsing this copywriter, you are expected to know his quality, long relationship, despite the fact that human being character changes for good and bad. You are a public figure and not new in this trade, in view of your articles i read. I therefore candidly suggest you mount presure on the writer, to deliver the good, no matter what because this world is a small place.If all effort fails, see how you could pacify the reader.Peace is by wisdom.
When I first started on the internet, I started doing surveys. These companies would tell you you take surveys ranging in price from $25.00-$75.00. The most offered from any of my sites, I did surveys for over 30 companies-percentage rate of finishing them to get paid was 80%-20%. I would usually see $2.00 surveys. I did not go back to thse companies even though I had needed money desperately, that’s why I joined them.
Then, I had about an online job that was endorsed by a regular on Good Morning America,. She highly recommended this online job called Project Payday. It cost me only around $5.00 to join. I had to accept offer that usually comes across your screen as a pop-up for a product to buy. I had to finish the buying procedure to join. That should have given me a huge red light. Anyway, I read all info & directed to first page of offers. I did exactly what I was suppossed to do and if my offers did 100% I would get paid. One company, that was worth 50 pts. stalled and stalled. I contacted them, asking why, they said they did to Project Payday. To make the story short, I never got paid, plus had the hassle of canceling them & the products-(which I would have never bought) I had to send them back through UPS. I was out the money, Project Payday never took care of it. I never dd anything else for them, lost my first job online and was extremely angry. Why would this highly intelligent woman-(I’ll not name names,) endorse this piece of crap company?
\But, I thought about it. I took that job. She didn’t hold my hand and take me through the door. This is life. Shit hapens. Sometimes, you may come across something or someone that you have good luck with, some person won’t. My son has terrible luck, I on the other hand, usually have great luck. But, what happened that day? If you are any part of the internet world, and halfway have listened to just about everything, you-the customer-may not seee the same results as someone else. Therefore, they are not accountable for this if you do not see those results. I just think, there’s too many times when we don”t stand up to the plate and acknowledge our own responsibility for what we do. Everyone is out for that fast buck, if it hasn’t been reached by what we purchased, then maybe we can claim it another way. I’m sorry, but Eric, you bear no responsibility for this person”s demise. I think they should take it like a person & fight that cause with the copywriter himself. Grow Up!
Eric:
Over and above the fact that you are one of the Good Guys in a sometimes pool of internet filth, you bear no responsibility, be it legal or ethical, in this matter.
1) You took no money from this individual.
2) Your endorsement was based solely on a quality personal business experience with this individual, and therefore was given in good faith.
3) It occurs to me that the person attempting to get repayment from you is counting on the obvious fact that you are a good guy and you do care.
The person obviously responsible for any repayment is the copywriter. Period. End of story.
Sincerely,
Lawrence E. Stahl
Rather than monetary compensation, ( I agree with your thinking that you owe him nothing) perhaps you could offer him some kind of “deal” or service that you are highy skilled in which would benefit him him but be of little cost to you…..You seem to want to make a situation right and that is admirable but there may be a way to do this without money and as a way of softening the blow for him.
It is a really galling situation when you pay up for work which is either not forthcoming or not up to expectation but I don’t think that you can be held responsible for this as you recommended the copywriter in good faith.
Hi Eric, you are not liable for this amount. The payment for this work was not received by you. You made a recommendation based on certain knowledge of the company, but you never entered into a legal contract for any default in performance of work.
Hi Eric I try to get to know a person before I
recomand him or her. I being in the legal field
people recomand me for my service. Even though a
person recomand a person it is that person responsibility to find out what kind of person
that person is about. You. I don’t think you
should be responsible on less you contract to
do the work yourself.I would seek legal advice
on this matter before I do anything.
John Thierry
Hi Eric,
In a nutshell, I believe that the contract was between the buyer and the seller and nothing to do with you.
The problem is the ease with which we give over our common sense to guys like you, placing you in a position of “god” which I’m sure you do not intend or welcome.
The real issue here is “What lessons have you learnt from this that you’ll want to share with those with whom you have influence”
Regards
The transaction was between the buyer and seller. You only made the recommendation based on the satisfaction you received. You didn’t twist anyone’s arm or force anyone did you? Dragutin should have done his own research first and not after-the-fact. I would be upset as well, but he shouldn’t look to put the blame on whoever will bite. Sometimes you just gotta let it go. Remember, so folks in Texas tried to suit Oprah over the mad cow disease, blaming her because people stop eating beef, she fought the case and won. If you had just settled to make it go away, she would have all sorts of folks coming at her for all kinds of issues. You seen honest and fair and its not your fault for someones else’s error. No Eric it’s not your responsibility, you just got caught in the middle. This too shall pass.
Of course you’re not responsible! But we are all responsible for our own mistakes.
Hi Eric,
this is Rajendra Dhakal. I’ve already getting you tricks and tips on optimizations. These are really very nice and worthy
Eric,
I’m going to take the road that most people do not take. I do believe that you owe him a refund or a exchange of products on your part. Even though you did not receive a affiliate payment from the copy writer you did receive a good will standing from within the marketing community. By posting any type of endorsement you are executing your status of a expert marketer, and making a profit from that status, whether directly or indirectly from that endorsement. By using your status of an expert marketer, and profiting from it you are in effect putting your reputation on the line to every newbie on the block. Newbies look to you for guidance in every step they make in marketing. Your a decent guy, or you wouldn’t provide all of the excellent guidance that you provide. Unfortunately, if you cant stand behind a endorsement, that a fledgling marketer see’s as the extension of your good name, and valuable knowledge, than don’t make any more endorsements.
The legal issue is one aspect (human law). under that you are not liable, for a genuine recommendation based on honest opinion. I think this is right that it should be so (unless you were paid for your recommendation which is whole can of worms).
In terms of ethics, (or god’s law as manifests in the voice of conscience inside) you would not be asking the question if you did not feel uneasy about just getting off scot free.
This does not mean you are to blame in any way, but you feel (as all Chrsitians should) for the suffering of an innocent fellow human.
What i would do (without ever accepting any actual liability at law) would be to offer to either split the cost – or – a better idea since you probably can do this cheaper) offer etraining/materials for a value equivalent fo what the victim has lost, or part way there.
Doing this will ensure that you build what may in time become a beauiful friendship.
God bless you for even asking about this!
mark
Hey Eric, difficult and murky situation but I believe it is the responsibility of each and everyone to personally check out and verify that it is OK to do business with someone. YOU CANNOT DUMP THE RESPONSIBILITY ON SOMEBODY ELSE. He has apparently now made checks on testimonials which he should have made at an earlier stage before his transaction. All sympathy to him but it is unfair to ask you for recompense when it is apparent that you recommended in good faith. He might look at it that the great information that you pay for research for and learn yourself and provide to others from your website and thru your newsletters leaves him well ahead in dollars compared to what he would have to pay if he had to do it all by himself. One of the main reasons I always read your emails is because of the high standard and the integrity of the information that you provide. Thank you for all of it. Although I have not mentioned this to you personally before it is very much appreciated by myself and I am sure many others. Like you said, the wrong person is being asked to redress the wrong. Please keep providing your recommendations they save us all heaps of time and dithering between going with A or going with B and I will keep remembering that old caution BUYER BEWARE.
If you have to ask I think you already knew the answer. That’s why the phrase “Buyer Beware” became so popular.
Despite the advice given to consider paying this guy as an act of goodwill I beleive it sends the wrong meesage….1. It sets you up for further claims of this type b) It encourages people to not take responsibility for there own purchasing decisions c) You can sometimes kiil people with kindness…people rescued too often never learn from their mistakes. I think your doing him a favour NOT paying
If you weigh what you give away & the benefits is of your “give aways” to everybody, how can you be held responsible if in one instance someone did not get the same service as you. Nail the guy that let you down!!
I suggest that you have your answer now. No mistaking how people feel. The bottom line is:It is not how big or small the amount of money is but what is RIGHT & what is WRONG. You may consider assisting this person in another way – NOT REFUND him – as a gesture of good will.
I don’t think you are personally liable. The customer did not have to act on your advice and everyone has different experiences with different people.
If you give the refund, you will losing credibility, and do you really want that? In your words, you did this in good faith, so shouldn’t it remain at that and be chalked up as a learning experience? The customer would have to find alternate ways so that no one involved would lose face. I sympathize with all the parties involved.
Bear one thing in mind though — it’s easier to catch bees with honey than anything else!
If I WAS IN YOUR SITUATION I WOULD TRY TO TALK TO THE PERSON YOU RECOMMENDED.IF THAT DOESN’T DO ANYTHING, I WOULD HELP THE PERSON OUT,BY DOING THE LETTERS OR COPYRIGHT MYSELF OR SETTING HIM UP WITH SOMEONE WHO WOULD HELP HIM.I DON’T THINK YOU SHOULD GIVE HIM $$$$$ THOUGH!!!
P.S I’M TAKING YOUR FREE VIDEO COURSE,IT’S GREAT & SIMPLE TO UNDERSTAND.THANK’S AL LOT BILL.
As a brief addendum: One of your other responders nailed it. This is a PR Goldmine for you, and you may could even name your next product PR Goldmine. Look at how many say they would not pay and you should not pay. Look at the few who say step up and pay regardless of the legal obligation. It reminds me of the disparity in numbers of those who make it in Internet Marketing, and those who don’t. Here’s your chance to separate yourself from the rest of the pack. Reputation goes a long way in this business. Could even you afford to buy the word of mouth advertising this would bring you ? My thought is that it would be priceless. To your continued success.
Steve
There are plenty of comments here regarding this particular situation, so I’m not going to add to them. What I will say, though, is that Internet Marketers need to be more careful in the products that they promote to their lists. I’ve purchased a handful of lousy IM products over the past year that have been promoted by some of the IM gurus that supposedly have had advance viewing of these products, and so should know better than to promote a bad product. Maybe they are simply trying to help out a friend, but that doesn’t make it right to promote the friend’s poorly conceived product. This is the kind of nonsense that (rightfully) gives the industry a bad name. The gurus and wannabe guru’s need to stop chasing the almighty dollar and start focusing on building a real business based on sound business principles.
Eric you are not responsible for this unfortunate fello. It would not be good business for you as this would truly open the flood gates. Also this would not be good business for us, by that i mean if you took the fall for this then most likely you would not recommend to us some of the great products that you have found in your wide network. We all know that you are one of the good guys and when you do recommend something we know its just that, a recommendation and we should do our own research into those products before we buy. If you take the fall we all will fall with you and that’s not good business.
In my opinion i say that you are not responsible for paying back the refund,But the right thing to do for me is not recomend the copywriter if he fells to fix that problem with the person who has the problem. Everybody make mistakes but this is not a mistake for you. By puting up this problem to all your readers is the right thing to do, besides,let them know what is the end of this problem. And we the readers will have the confiace and the trust on you!
I agree with Tony. First off you are not legally or ethically obligated to pay him ANY refund. You cannot control how he does business with anyone. And, like Tony said, this could open a huge flood gate….pandora’s box. 🙂 You acted ethically and professionally. But I like that you brought this out for discussion. interesting stuff…
Hey Eric,
You seem like a trustworthy marketer, and everthing I have purchased from you has been on the up & up and very good value. Its too bad their are still scammers lurking out there, and proves even the best can be scammed sometimes. I hope Dragutin can get his refund from [redacted], but are you liable, HELL NO!!! I’m sure this blog will hurt him more than one can imagine.
Eric, Ive followed you and think you are the only one giving great info out of all the ‘gurus’ (sorry) but you do have a position of authority and unless you carefully word your recommendations, I feel you are morally responsible. I didnt read your exact wording so cant judge. I would state MY OWN EXPERIENCE with the person/copmpany and that I do not have records of or contacts with his/their other customers/clients and cant be held responsible for any action of his/the company. Knd of sad that the world has come to this but people do listen to you and that has responsibility.
Marvin Von Renchler
Eric,
I don’t believe you are liable for any of it!!
The $1344 shd be refunded from the copywriter only…. [redacted] should refund immediately!!!
I think what you could do is help the customer make his money back to what he lost. So he lost $1400, what you can do is give him help to make that back from his profits. It might be a good idea and he wouldn’t feel so unhappy.
Interesting dilema. My first thought is with regard your reader asking a refund from you. I get the money is not really chump change, but I still feel he is reaching asking you personally for the refund. Understanding you have not profited from this situation, and are yourself a victim I think he is throwing a large net to see what can be pulled in. Now with regard the remark of being a victim, Eric, you are because your credibility has been affected by supporting this copywriter.
I could liken it to the often told story of a builder who has supposedly done great work for other people, and you have even gone to look at the examples themselves. When it comes to the work he does with your home it is a horror story. Does this make the home owners who had good work done liable? I would think not. Would you go to those home owners and ask for remunerations for the shoddy work done to your home? I think not. Would you as a home owner feel sorry and guilty for having had good work done by this builder, and then seen the builder do shoddy work elsewhere? Yes you would, but would you be liable? No.
In my opinion the key here is it’s making you feel bad at a number of different levels, which your heart wants you to settle. The trouble here is that there is a presidents that involves all online marketers. A policy here that we all need to follow, and understand. Firstly, we all need to be confident that the products and services we promote work as we state they do. Secondly, if we are the recipient for finacial reward for those things we promote then there has to be some form of money back/product back guarentee for dissatisfied customers. Thirdly, be careful about products and services you promote or adverties where there is no finacial gain because your credibility as a marketer will collaspe if the product does not do as it says it can. Fourthly, in the event the product does not do as it says it can be sure you do everything in your power to notify your readers of these failures.
Erics Tips is a great resource packed with countless hours of practical information ~ free of charge!
In any business transaction it is Let the Buyer Beware. Test the product or services on a small scale, have firm timelines and expectations with written contracts.
Based on the details outlined it does not sound like an Erics Tips product and the endorsement was retracted.
Perhaps one additional step for the future might be an email to all, like this one, mentioning that it recently came to your attention that a vendor was not upholding customer agreements and you had removed your endorsement. See website for additional details.
Thank you for showing us all how to handle and discuss such internet grievances.
All the best to you!
Right off, you are not responsible for refunding him. Paying that particular amount of money up front is always a BIG RISK! You better know who & what your investing in from start to finish at $1000+ out the gate! Escrow is the definite way to go thru this scenario.
Thanks,
Shawn B.
Internet Bizz Rookie
(made some $ online, but not NEAR enough yet)
Been there, done that. In my opinion it ultimately is buyer’s responsibility to do their homework. Just because you listed it doesn’t mean it will do what they may want. There should have been correspondence prior between the two of them out lining the expectation and responsibilities along with repercussions for failure to meet the obligations. If they could not agree on the expectations then you move on to another party. If they were satisfied with there expectation and a commitment given, then the responsibility lies between the two of them. Due diligence is the order on the buyer side.