Dear Mohit,
First of all, I would like to apologize. For the record, you did write to me and I was unable to respond to. Your’s is a unique case, something that does not happen very frequently. Nevertheless, the lack of response is my mistake and I would like to owe the same. You have been courteous and cordial in your communications with us and I should have been more responsive.
Refund policy
Now let’s come to the issue of the refund policy. We do have a hassle free refund policy and we do stand by our word. Let me re-iterate the policy for you:
Quote:
We are a small company and we like to keep things simple. If you don’t like our course, let us know and we will refund the money to you, as long as you have attempted less than 33% of our course. We are reasonable people and don’t want your money if you don’t like our product.
The purpose of the policy is clearly underlined – We will be happy to refund your money provided you don’t like our course. The same purpose is re-iterated in the last line “We don’t want your money if you don’t like our product”. Like most product companies who put in considerable effort in their products, we stand by the quality of our products. We only want those customers who love our products.
Note, this is different from saying – if three months after purchasing the course, you decide that you don’t want to do MBA, we will refund your money. Note, the reason to refund in this case would not be the quality of the course but your decision to not pursue an MBA.
No product company can offer a refund "3 months" after the purchase because the customer decided not to use the product
Every company in the world, whether product based or service based, is governed by financial laws. By virtue of these laws, we have to recognize revenue, record profits, and pay taxes on the same. We do this thirty days after the purchase. Now we do have a category for product defects; i.e. for cases in which our customers don’t achieve the guaranteed score improvement and we account for these upfront. However, we cannot account for customers who want to return the product because they decided to not pursue the MBA. Why – because I have no way to knowing whether you are still pursuing an MBA or not.
If product companies start providing refunds because people decided that they did not want to use their products because of personal reasons then they will never be able to recognize revenue. If they do recognize revenue, they will be in a process of adjusting their books, constantly. Imagine, Canon going to IRS (Income tax department in US) and saying we want our taxes back on the 3 million of the 40 million cameras that we sold last month because 6 months after the purchase, our customers have decided they no longer want to shoot pictures. Similarly, imagine the scenario in which Canon goes to its employees and says that sorry your bonus is no longer valid because guess what – folks who purchased the product 6 months back do not want it now. You work for a company. Imagine this happening to you as an employee.
Let other companies chime inThere are many companies present on this forum. I am sure that others will agree to the same. GMAT Club itself is a company that sells
GMAT Club tests. I am certain that if you try and return
GMAT Club tests 3 months after the purchase, they would say something similar.
Does it mean we do not honor returns?
Absolutely not!! We do honor returns but for the right reasons. If you don’t like our course, let us know within a couple of weeks and we will provide a refund. If you buy the course and change your mind within a week of your purchase, we will be happy to refund your money – why because we and most of the world that sells direct to consumers takes 30 days to recognize revenue. If you are eligible for the 4 point score improvement guarantee and you don’t achieve a score improvement, we refund your money. However, your case does not apply to any of the above. The matter here is not of the INR 17K that you paid us but of subsequent potential financial implications in terms of revenue and profit recognition that it would have on us.
Just last week, one of our customers purchased Verbal online and later wrote that he only intended to purchase Sentence Correction course. Within the hour, we notified him that we will process the refund ASAP. Similarly, there were cases in which a handful of our customers (3/600 customers) put in the effort but did not achieve the guaranteed score improvement and we did issue them a refund - no questions asked.
Summing it upOverall, I hope the above helps you understand that
1. Your request does not fall under the purview of the refund policy. The refund policy is designed for and clearly states “if you don’t like the course”. This does not apply in your case.
2. 99% of product companies cannot issue refunds 3 months after the purchase if the customer decides that he/she does not want to use the product because he/she wants to do something else.
3. We do provide refunds if a) you don’t like our product b) if you don’t achieve the guaranteed score improvement.
Let me know if I can answer any other question.
Regards,
Rajat Sadana
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17 Mar 2013, 06:58
