Get rid of potential problem customers–before they become a problem

Avoiding Problem Customers

People seem to be willing to be rude via email as a first response these days. I got this email from a guy who’d signed up for a free email series via autoresponder. Apparently the links in his email hadn’t worked (they worked fine when I tested them and I hadn’t had any other complaints).

===============
Your H-links aren’t working.
THIS is a HUGE blow, to your creditibility, in MY book! But, if you’ll fix it, THA’ll
negate it, Ok?
===============

Note the attitude. If I fix the hyperlinks (which aren’t broken) he’ll bestow his precious gift–he’ll give me credibility. Oh thank you, great and noble gentleman!

Here was my response…

===============
Dear Name Withheld,
I just checked all the links and they are working. In fact, your unsubscribe link worked perfectly.
Me
===============

There are those that think I’m too harsh but here’s one thing I’ve learned over the years…
Some people are great customers. Some people are a “pain in the arse.” Most people fall somewhere in between. The people that are the most trouble will cause 80% of your problems, take up the majority of your time and cost you money.

My job is to weed out as many of those “problem children” as I can right off the bat. I get rid of them as soon as I can.

Here are some signs that someone is going to be a problem…

1) They seem to think you owe them something.
2) They tell you what you need to do.
3) They start out with an attitude of “You need to do this for me, or else…”
4) Any communication with them takes 4 times as long as a normal communication (numerous emails where one would do etc.)
5) They don’t address you by name, say hello or use any form of address that would be considered polite.

How to get rid of them…

1) Don’t answer their email unless they are already a customer.
2) Unsubscribe them from any email lists or autoresponders.
3) Take them off your customer list.

If they are already a customer and are requesting a refund, give it to them as quickly as possible. Take them off any lists you have to limit your contact with them. If they continue to contact you, suggest that since the refund has been processed, you have no further business with them.

If you jettison these “problem creators” early on, you’ll save yourself lots of hassles and be able to spend time adding value for your real customers–people who value what you have to offer.

8 tips for shopping on line safely

How To Know If An Internet Merchant Is Legit

Here are eight easy tips to protect yourself when shopping on line.

1. Ask your friends: Of course. A personal referral from someone you trust is your best bet. Be mindful of the source though.
2. Browse forums: Almost every subject has a forum these days. Forums are discussion-based web sites. Somebody has probably already had the same questions you have and it’s already been answered on a forum. For example, if you’re looking to buy a cell phone, you can search for “cell phone forum” and come up with lots of public forums on cell phones.
3. Once you get to a forum, use the search function to find out if anyone has posted a question similar to yours. As an experiment, I just went to one and by reading a few posts, discovered how to get the best deal on a cell phone plan for a particular carrier. Take postings with a grain of salt and look for experienced and trusted posters (many forums have a blurb that tells you about each post author and how many posts they’ve made). Look for recommendations of these experienced posters.
4. Testimonials: The other day, a business service called me up and mentioned that a local business had use their service for years and had reported a 35% increase in sales. I took notes, searched for the business on the web and called the guy up. It turns out his business had increased over the years but he could not attribute the increase to the company that had called me! Many sales pages have testimonials on them. Some include a name, or even a link. If no link, do a search for the person and contact them.
5. Google’s “Site Search”: You can sometimes find interesting information, discounts, hidden offers and more by doing a “site search.” Go to Google and type in “site:www.example.com” (replacing www.example.com with the web site you want to research).
6. Use Google’s cache to see what was on a page earlier. Sometimes earlier versions of the site can provide further information.
7. Use The Wayback Machine to find out how long a web site has been up and what it looked like earlier. It’s difficult (not impossible) for a merhcant to stay in business for long if they’re ripping people off. For one, they’ll lose their ability to process credit cards. If a merchant has been on the Internet for several years, it’s a good sign. The Wayback Machine can give you a good indication of how long a web site has been up and what that web site used to look like. Here’s the URL http://www.archive.org/.
8. When you order, use your real email address and phone number. You can order something from a legitimate merchant and still not get it! Even if the merchant makes a good effort to get it to you. A lot of people use free email accounts, such as Yahoo or Hotmail and fake phone numbers when ordering on line. Look, if you don’t trust a merchant enough to give him your “real” email address, you don’t trust them enough to give him your credit card number. Merchants use your email address and phone number to contact you if there’s a question or problem with your order (suppose you typed your address in wrong). Do you want them to be able to get ahold of you if there’s a question? Merchants sometimes check phone numbers to make sure the person ordering lives in the same area as the shipping address. If not, it’s a possible sign of fraud. The use of free email accounts is a red flag to merchants. Many fraudulent purchases use free email accounts. And in my experience, email to free email accounts gets blocked by spam filters more often. I’ve had several cases where I’ve tried to contact a customer and found that their email bounces back or doesn’t get through. If you have a more permanent, legitimate email address, use it when ordering.

Enjoy safe shopping…

“Idiot in charge”

Tips, strategies and Techniques for shopping safely on line

Protect Yourself From Internet Scams

How do you keep from getting ripped off while buying on the Internet? It’s part common sense, part know-how and part inside information on how crooks, scam artists and “Internet Idiots” operate. Here, find tips strategies and techniques for keeping your money safely where it belongs–in your pocketbook!

People Who Send Business Email From “Dirty” Email Addresses

This “Idiot of the Month” award goes out to all the folks that send me business advice from certain types of email addresses. A typical message goes something like this…

Warning: This post is a little bit racy, so if that would offend you, please don’t read any further.

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Dear Sir,
I’ve been reading your web site and I must say, I’m not impressed. You [insert a complaint here such as "you charge too much," or "you have a spelling error on page # 643," or "you need a new web site design"]. I’m sure you would get much better results if you [insert a bad business idea here such as "have a really cool flash intro," or "change the look of your site every month so people don't get bored," or "cut your prices by 2/3" etc.].

Signed,
horny_long_schlong69@free-email-accounts-for-losers.com

=========================

What, on earth are they thinking?

Yep, that’s right. People send me business advice from email addresses with sexually explicit words in them! They are always from places where you can get free email accounts such as Yahoo or Hotmail.

Can you imagine what a person must be thinking when they send an email like this, from an email address like that? They must be so clueless and think they are sooooooo special and so smart that anyone would take their advice, no matter how poorly it’s packaged. I guess, the truth is, it’s not about the advice, they’re just whiners and they get a sense of power from complaining. Well, that catapults them into “idiot” status–congratulations.

Although I never waste my time replying to these emails, in my fantasy, it goes something like this…

=========================

Dear horny_long_schlong69,
Thank you so much for your input. I can tell from your email address that you’re a true business professional and have thought your advice through thoroughly. Since I know you’re such an experienced business person, I will implement your advice just as soon as my accountant (big_1_4u@free-email-accounts-for-losers.com) and my lawyer (foxy_lady_hot_pants@free-email-accounts-for-losers.com) approve the changes.

As I value your input so much, would you please direct me to one of your many successful web sites? One, perhaps where you had sold at least one, lone, single, solitary item? I’d like to see more of your ideas.

Sincerely,
Me

=========================

Nope, never done it–but it would be fun!

“Idiot in charge”

Idiot of the month is my (sometime) monthly tirade against idiots that cross my path. “Idiot” status is not about intelligence. In fact, I don’t mind people that aren’t that smart–lots of them are nice. But stupid and rude (or even smart and rude) is a bad combination. In my book, idiocy is rudeness + action.

To be an Internet Idiot, you must do something that is rude, mean or try to rip people off. You might tell someone else how they should live their life or accuse someone of being less than human, just because they disagree with you. You see, idiocy is an attitude. Here are the latest “winners.”

Not Everybody Is A Crook!

In my earlier post Suspicious in Singapore, I pointed out how using the contact information provided in order forms can help you minimize Internet credit card fraud. Well, not everybody is a crook! If you don’t keep your communication polite, you could lose a good customer. Here’s what happened when I emailed a customer whose order was flagged because it was from Slovenia.

As usual, I’ve taken out any identifying information…

=======================

Hello Customer,
Thanks for ordering from us. We truly appreciate our customers.

Since Slovenia is a county well known for Internet fraud, we’ll require one more piece of information before processing your transaction.

I’ll need the CVV2 number from the back of your card. Just turn your card over and look for a string of printed numbers on the back. It will go something like 123456 456. I’ll just need the digits in the last group (usually 3 or 4 numbers).

You can contact me with the numbers, or let me know a good time to call you.

I’m sure, as a legitimate credit card holder, you appreciate it when merchants take steps to prevent credit card fraud. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to call or email.

Sincerely,

Me

=======================

Dear Sir!
yes I am legitimate customer, no worry.
I still don’t know why Slovenia is well known country for fraud, we have very good economy, in 2007 we will have Euros Money and Slovenia will be president of Europe Union and our economy standard is very very high.

Anyway, I hope products are very good and not wasting my money, I trust you now. If I am happy with products I’ll buy much more from your website.

Have a great day.

Regards,
Customer

=======================

To keep a customer, keep the communication flowing

The gist of the matter is that we communicated and I became convinced he was legit. He provided me with the information I requested (which I immediately destroyed as merchants are not allowed to keep records of CVV2 numbers).

It’s key to then follow up with good customer service. I sent his package immediately and included a personal note in it, expressing my gratitude for his patience and that I was glad to have “met” him. I also sent him an email as soon as his package was in the mail…

=======================

Customer,
Thanks for providing me with the additional information. I appreciate your patience.
It’s good to know you’re a legitimate customer, I’m happy to have you on board.
Your package has already left the United States (yesterday) and is on its way.
Enjoy,
Me

=======================

On the Internet, Trust=Comfort

Notice how this customer trusted me more after I’d asked for him more information. Many customers find this type of communication soothing. They may be wondering if you’re a legitimate business–even after they’ve ordered! When you contact them, they’re more certain you’re “for real.” Most scam artists will act as if you’re trying to pull something over on them.

“Idiot in charge”

Six easy tips for preventing credit card fraud…

How To Stop Suspicious Credit Card Transactions In Their Tracks

Some time ago I got two orders, in rapid succession from Singapore. It was a new customer and the orders totalled well over $400. Since Singapore is known for Internet fraud, I thought contact I’d this customer just to confirm that they were who they said they were. I called the number left on my order form and got a “This voice mailbox is full” message, so email was next. Here’s what I sent… (I’ve changed all the contact information and taken out any identifying information).

===============================

Hello (Customer),
Recently, two orders come through from you, for the (Item 1) and for (Item 2), thank you.

Could you please provide me with the credit card issuing bank name, the customer service telephone number as well as the CVV2 number–all from the back of your card?

To find the CVV2 number, please turn your card over and look in the signature strip. You will find (either the entire 16-digit string of your card number, OR just the last 4 digits), followed by a space, followed by a 3-digit number. That 3-digit number is your CVV2 number. My credit card processing company requires these pieces of information on orders from Singapore. Sorry for the inconvenience and I appreciate your cooperation. Unfortunately, I can’t ship your order without this information.

Also, I noticed, on the first item, your name was spelled “Different spelling of customer name” and your city was listed as “dingspore.”

I assume that “(Customer)” and “Singapore” are correct. Please let me know whether or not my assumption is correct.

Sincerely,

(me)

PS, I called the phone number you left on my order form but received a “This voice mailbox is full” message.

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My Interpreter Strikes Out!

I sent a couple more emails and got no response. I really wanted to find out whether or not this order was for real though. The sale came through a new affiliate of mine and he was thrilled to get his first sale. So I decided to call this guy again. Lo and behold, someone answered. When I got the customer on the line, he didn’t speak English well enough for me to communicate with him. I had someone standing by that speaks several dialects of Chinese and they were able to communicate in Mandarin. The “customer” had received my emails but had ignored them. His logic was that, since he’d already gotten an email receipt (from me) that there was no reason I should need any further information.

I explained the situation (through my interpreter) as best I could but he still refused to give me any additional information. When it was obvious we were at an impasse, I asked him for suggestions about what we should do. He suggested I send another email explaining the situation and he would take a look at it. Here’s what I sent…

===============================

Hello (Customer),
I just got off the phone with you. Unfortunately, I can not ship your order until I receive the customer service number from the back of your credit card. I will use this number to call your credit card company and make sure you are the legitimate credit card holder. Once again, I am not asking for your credit card number, I already have that. I am asking for the customer service number telephone from the back of your card. This is a standard practice when taking orders from high risk countries such as Singapore.

On this page, you can see this procedure is a standard way to prevent fraud.
http://www.wiscocomputing.com/articles/ccfraud.htm

On this page, you can see that many orders from Singapore are fraudulent.

http://www.cartserver.com/americart/faq-fr.html
Geographical Tips:

The vast majority of orders from the following countries are FRAUDULENT:
Romania
Indonesia
Singapore
Ghana
Ukraine
Uganda
Nigeria
Hungary
Belarus
Estonia
Latvia
Lithuania
Slovak Republic
Russia
Yugoslavia
Macedonia
Phillipines
Thailand
Malaysia

Once again, I will use the customer service number from your credit card to call your credit card company and make sure you are the legitimate card holder. If you are, I will ship your orders. If I don’t receive this information by Monday morning my time, I’ll cancel the orders and refund the card.

Sincerely,

(me)
===============================

OK, I’m done!

I got no response so I refunded the transaction and sent this final email…

===============================

Hello (Customer),
I’m sorry to say, I have cancelled your orders. Your credit card has been refunded. No products will be shipped to you. It is difficult for me to understand why a legitimate customer would refuse to provide the customer service number from the back of the card. It makes me think this may have been a fraudulent transaction.

In case it was not, let me explain further…

A lot of stolen credit card numbers end up in Singapore. The criminals then order large amounts of products and have them shipped. When it is discovered that the credit card numbers have been stolen, it is the merchant (me) who loses out. Even though the transactions had been approved, the credit card processing companies take the money out of my bank account. I’m also charged a charge back fee. If there are too many chargebacks, I lose my ability to process transactions.
In short, for a fraudulent transaction, I lose…

1) The products
2) The shipping
3) The charge back fee

In your case, this would amount to several hundred dollars in losses.

Keep in mind, the vast majority of thieves do not possess the actual credit card but just the credit card number and the expiration date. That is why it is standard procedure, when an order comes in from a high risk country, to ask for additional information from the card, such as the customer service telephone number from the back of the card and the CVV2 number. A legitimate card holder would have this information but a thief would not.

There were several reasons I suspected your order might be fraudulent…

1) It was from Singapore
2) It was a high dollar amount from a first time customer
3) You used a hotmail address (thieves often use free email accounts such as hotmail or yahoo)
4) On the first order, you requested the more expensive shipping option (thieves do not care how much shipping costs, someone else will be paying for it)

In case this is all just a misunderstanding, feel free to call you credit card issuing bank and explain to them that you bought something on the Internet and the merchant is requesting the customer service telephone number form the back of the card. Ask them what you should do. If I am able to verify you as the legitimate card holder, I’ll charge your card and send out your order as requested. As it stands now, your card has been refunded and no products will be shipped.

Sincerely,

(me)

===============================

The way my shopping cart/credit card processing works is that as soon as an order is place, the card is charged real time. In this case, I would have preferred the order not be charged but left in accounts receivable. That way, I could have contacted the customer and said “I haven’t charged your card yet because I need this additional information.”

Fortunately, my shopping cart (UltraCart) has the ability to do this without any intervention on my part. They use a fraud prevention scoring system which looks at where the order comes from, if the IP address of the computer matches the billing location, whether the order comes from a high-risk country, whether the card holder uses a free, “throw-away” email account and other factors. If the transaction scores too high on this fraud scale, the order is not charged real time but goes into “Accounts Receivable” where I can take a look at it, contact the customer for more information, or reject or approve the order. After this “Singapore incident,” I changed the threshold on this system so that more orders would be flagged.
I also switched my shopping cart to collect the CVV2 information during the buying process. As I said in my email to this customer, credit card thieves rarely have this number because they don’t actually steal the credit cards, they steal a database that contains CC #s and expiration dates–not the CVV2 and not the customer service number on the back of the card!

Six easy tips for preventing credit card fraud…

• If your shopping cart has this capability, ask for the CVV2 # upon checkout.
• If you can collect the IP address during the sale do so. You can check to see if the IP address matches the billing location.
• Check to see if the customer is from a high fraud country.
• Check to see if the customer uses a free, throw-away email address such as Hotmail, Yahoo etc.
• If the order is for a high dollar amount from a first-time customer, get suspicious.
• If the customer chooses the most expensive shipping option, it’s a red flag (credit card thieves don’t care how much shipping costs but they do care that the merchandise gets to them before anyone figures out that they’re thieves).

If you feel an order might be fraudulent, call the customer up and have a chat with them. Legitimate customers will be happy you’ve called and get the impression that you have wonderful customer service. Just tell them you’re checking to make sure the shipping address is accurate before you ship. Most fraudulent orders have bogus telephone numbers, so you’ll find out really quick.

Also, most thieves order several high-priced items and may not remember what they’ve ordered or what card they’ve used.

Merchants: Prevent Credit Card Fraud

Credit card fraud prevention tips, tools and techniques. Real-life stories about suspicious transactions and what to do about them. Lessons from merchants who have been ripped off. How to tell if a transaction is fraudulent.

Merchants: What To Do With Nasty Emails

If you’ve been in business on the Internet for any length of time, you’ll get the occasional nasty email. I don’t care if you’re selling bibles and donating 100% of the proceeds to feed starving children; eventually someone will take issue with what you’re doing.

Sometimes people just up and decide that because you’re on the Internet, or because you charge money for your product/service, you must be ripping people off. Often, they’re not afraid to send you an email and say things in it that they’d never have the courage to say, face-to-face.

For instance, I sell a product on how to make your own CDs. It’s called “How to Make Your Own Audio Products on a Shoestring Budget.” One day, I got an email from D***.

All it said was…”How to Make Your Own Audio Products on a Shoestring Budget and sell them on a site like this at tremendous prices to people who want to be ripped of or not?”

Here was my response…

=============================

Hello,
I don’t really understand your email. It’s phrased in the form of a question but may be more of an opinion, I’m not sure.

I sell high-quality products that teach people extremely valuable skills. Some of my products take weeks or even months to produce. There’s planning, writing, recording and post-production involved. I believe my time and knowledge are valuable and I charge commensurate. The product you mentioned, “How to Make Your Own Audio Products on a Shoestring Budget,” can save people who are interested in making their own CDs, weeks of time and lots of frustration. That’s worth something.

For those who can not afford my prices, I often offer free email courses about the same subjects, that have lots of good information in them.

There are those that do not see the value in what I’ve created. That’s OK. It might seem obvious, but my focus is those who find what I do useful and valuable.

The overwhelming majority of folks who buy my products feel that they’ve gotten good value for their money. I offer a generous return policy, my return rate is extremely low.

=============================

He replied…

=============================

$200+ dollars for a course like that is a rip of in my model of the world. But that is my opinion. Wheter that is ecological. Well that is another question

=============================

Nasty Emailers=Idiots

Idiots like D*** almost always are incredibly sloppy thinkers (as well as poor spellers). Usually, they’ve gotten the facts all wrong (for instance, the course is not even close to $200). Secondly, if you question them as to how, specifically, you are ripping people off, they’ll tell you you’re charging too much.

So, you’ve got a product, you tell people what’s in it, you tell them the price and they decide to buy it. How does that rip them off? D*** apparently believes he is in charge of what other people should think!

What do you do if you’re accused of ripping people off?

In the early years of my business, I used to reply to these people in a polite manner and ask them for more specific information. Rarely did I get any worthwhile reply. So, my number one advice is to ignore their email.

• Ignore their email
• Make sure they are deleted from any of your mailing lists
• Keep a copy of the offending email–it may come in handy later

Your Internet business is there to attract qualified customers. These people are not your customers. Get rid of them as quickly as possible. Replying to idiots will take time away from serving those people who are honestly interested in what you have to offer.

Remember, the word “customer” is in the phrase “customer service.” Part of your job, as a business person, is to cater to those customers and potential customers. What is not often said is that it is also advantageous to filter out those who are not potential customers.

Your customers don’t know what an autoresponder is–and that can hurt you.

9 Easy Tips For Getting Your Autoresponder Messages Delivered

For those of you who don’t know, autoresponder messages are messages that are pre-programmed to go out via email. When a potential customer signs up for an autoresponder, they get a message you, the merchant, may have written long ago. The message (or messages) can even be personalized with their name and other information.

=========================

“Dear George,
Thanks for signing up to the Acme House Painting School’s newsletter. We’ll send you monthly tips on how to paint your house. Blah, blah, blah…

Sincerely,

The Acme House Painting School”

=========================

Do it yourself or use an autoresponder service?

I handle all my autoresponder correspondence through Aweber

Aweber does two very important things for me…

1. They make sure no one gets email from me that doesn’t want it. All of my subscriptions are “double opt-in.” That means, if there’s a subscription request, aweber sends an email and asks them to confirm that they want to subscribe. So, if, as a joke, somebody puts someone else’s email address in, they won’t receive any email from me (because they’ll never confirm that they tried to sign up).
2. They provide an automatic unsubscribe option. The customer is in control over whether or not they continue to receive email from me. If a customer chooses to unsubscribe, I can’t stop them! There is an unsubscribe link in every email that goes out through Aweber.

I think those two functions are extremely valuable. SPAM, literally, means you got an email from someone and you didn’t ask for email from that person. With this autoresponder I can not SPAM (since all subscription requests are double opt-in). Even if someone doesn’t like what I say in the messages, they can unsubscribe at any time!

When idiots attack!

Believe it or not, every once in a while (about once for every 10,000 emails that go out), I get a nasty email in response to one of my autoresponder messages. Today, I got one from a Steven C*****. It said, “stop f*****n sending me these ******** emails” It’s worth noting that he couldn’t even spell the swear words (which I have not repeated here). I checked and he hadn’t unsubscribed!

Well, for some time I’ve been curious as to why your occasional idiot would write a nasty message but not even get off the email list.

• Did they not know there was an unsubscribe link?
• Did they think that the unsubscribe link didn’t work?
• Are they just rude?

My curiosity got the better of me today, and I wrote Steven an email…

=============================

Steven,
I am curious.
You signed up for this list on 07-29-2006 03:13 PM EST on this page–http://www.********************.com.
You then confirmed your subscription by clicking on a link in the confirmation email you were sent.
There is a working unsubscribe link in each email. Yet, instead of unsubscribing, you chose to send me a nasty email.
I have taken the trouble to unsubscribe you myself as I don’t want to send email to those who don’t want to get it.

My questions is–Why did you send me a nasty email rather than unsubscribe yourself?

=============================

Steven sent me a reply telling me why he signed up for the email series in the first place. In essence, he had not paid attention to what the email course was about when he signed up. The information he sought was already plainly and freely given to him on the sign up page. Here’s an excerpt from his reply…

“u wanna know why i signed up for it is cuz i wanted to…”

Steven C. Reaches “Idiot” Status

At this point, I’m pretty sure what the problem was. Steven is an idiot! I ask him why he didn’t unsubscribe and he tells me why he subscribed. I give him the information he wants and he misses it.
But he didn’t answer my question, so I emailed him again…

This time I kept my email shorter so as not to confuse him…

=============================

Why didn’t you unsubscribe?

=============================

“just if ur not gunna help me just leave me alon ……..plz”

It didn’t look like I was going to get a useful answer out of Steven. But I had what I needed. There are some people who are not very smart AND rude. It’s a bad combination. Here’s my advice… If you’re not smart, don’t start off by being rude!

But using a professional autoreposnder service won’t fully protect you from false spam accusations!

Some ISPs provide their clients with a way to report spam. I think that’s a great idea. After all, I get hundreds of spam messages per day. It wastes my time and resources to go through them, install software to keep them out etc. Unfortunately, some people (especially AOL users) don’t understand the difference between a “report as spam” button and a legitimate unsubscribe link or a delete button. They think that if they don’t want your newsletter any more, they should hit the spam button to report it!

If you get enough of these reports, none of your emails will get through!

How to minimize spam complaints…

1. Briefly educate your customers about email, safelists and autoresponders.
2. When people sign up, be as clear as possible as to what they can expect in your messages.
3. If you will have commercial information in your emails, let them know before they sign up.
4. Explain your unsubscribe procedure in each email.
5. Make your unsubscribe procedure simple and obvious.
6. Don’t be afraid of losing subscribers–you don’t want people that don’t want your emails.
7. Use a professional autoresponder service such as Aweber, and explain to your readers that Aweber handles the unsubscribes–and they have to honor your request or they’ll go out of business.
8. Keep your email subject lines consistent so people will recognize your emails (People sometimes forget what they signed up for and think you’re sending them email out of the blue).
9. Provide valuable free information before you push a product or service.