So the plan was to post this two days ago. Unfortunately, i'm working hard to revise for an exam on AdWords that I have next week, so blogging has taken a back seat for the past few days. Sorry if this is old news now!
To briefly highlight, PayPal recently gave in to demands to change the rules for refunding eBay buyers affected by fraud. Reading through the article, it would appear that the central reason for the change of heart was consumer power. Hate sites created against PayPal managed to make the organisation reassess their position on consumer refunds.
In this instance, I would suggest that PayPal made the correct decision to listen to the views of the parody websites. Many organisations are still of the impression that hate sites represent a threat exclusively. This opinion is naive. More often than not, these sites are established by those with an interest in the organisation's offerings. As such, these sites are likely to identify important points that the organisation should consider. Simply buying the domain names is unlikely to resolve the inherent problem. Further, were the issue to cause a second individual to establish such a site, the organisation would find itself back at square one. It makes far more sense to actually listen to the consumer and resolve their problems as they arise.
To briefly highlight, PayPal recently gave in to demands to change the rules for refunding eBay buyers affected by fraud. Reading through the article, it would appear that the central reason for the change of heart was consumer power. Hate sites created against PayPal managed to make the organisation reassess their position on consumer refunds.
In this instance, I would suggest that PayPal made the correct decision to listen to the views of the parody websites. Many organisations are still of the impression that hate sites represent a threat exclusively. This opinion is naive. More often than not, these sites are established by those with an interest in the organisation's offerings. As such, these sites are likely to identify important points that the organisation should consider. Simply buying the domain names is unlikely to resolve the inherent problem. Further, were the issue to cause a second individual to establish such a site, the organisation would find itself back at square one. It makes far more sense to actually listen to the consumer and resolve their problems as they arise.
Was this a UK-centric problem, Chris?
ReplyDeleteI'm only asking, since I've used Paypal quite a bit for purchases on eBay, as well as invoicing for my clients, and they've always been excellent.
Don't get me wrong, I have no love for the way that Paypal charges extortionate currency converter fees on top of purchase fees. Yet the few times I've had to get support on either unpaid invoices or undelivered items, they've been bang on the money for me.
I only ask if this is UK-centric since I used to live in the UK until December 2006 when I moved to Canada, and I only really started using Paypal then.
Good luck with the exam, by the way!
I'm not sure about whether the protection scheme for buyers outside the UK has changed, but in the UK at least PayPal have amended their buyer protection scheme by eliminating the value at which buyers are protected. The old scheme only protected buyers to the value of £500 if the seller had positive feedback equating to 98% or above. Only sales of up to £150 were protected for sales from sellers whose positive feedback fell below 98%. The protection does not cover intangible goods though, so flights etc are still not covered.
ReplyDelete