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Power University pirated version to test the original. Do you distrust money-back guarantees?
Power University free PDFs are old versions, without quizzes and exclusive videos (which are in the private area of this forum).
So I have to wonder when I read posts like these in various online forums:
I would like to download a preview of the following course before buying it officially:
Power University - The Power Moves – Lucio Buffalmano Course
Has anyone heard of it? Any review? Any free tips would be appreciated too.
Of course it may be a "reputation cover" to say he'd want to buy the original one.
But it's certainly possible it's true -if not for him, at least for some others who take a similar approach-
After all, it's an anonymous request and people there openly trade pirated courses.
So, this person would:
- Purchase and waste time on a knock-off copy of PU
- Pay to get a skewed and poorer representation of the product since most of the ones I've seen online are (very) old versions, most likely with tons of broken links and videos, and I doubt they provide access to the extra material and private forum area (the pirated model works better for courses that are not constantly updated, of course)
- Then pay more to get the real one
Best case scenario, he likes it and spends more money and wastes more time before going for the real thing.
Worst case scenario, he wasted more time and money than if he had gone the official route (and potentially reached the wrong conclusion based on a sub-par product).
Seems like a losing approach that only someone who mistrusts the money-back guarantee an/dor who feels bad about using it would go for.
I'm very interested in this -both from a psychological and business point of view-.
From a business point of view, it's super relevant becaue I'm considering to switch the 30-days guarantee for a "one week $1 trial" model.
So I'd be curious:
Do you generally, or in TPM's case, mistrust the money-back guarantee?
Or do you feel bad using it?
Happy to read any personal take on this.
Hello, Lucio
For me it's also hard to grasp what is going on. Perhaps this is just a cover for asking for the pirated content, as you say.
But perhaps another reason is that people might be reluctant to comit a large sum of one's revenue right off the bat (which the 1$ preview - for a few lessons, or might make it easier to leak the course - might address) for a brand that is not famous. I personally don't distrust the 30-days guarantee, but I think it can make sense in certain cases. If one is buying from abroad, the brand is not well known, and it turns out being a scam, international judicial battles to have the money back become a huge problem.
The premise is that when I enrolled, I was basically totally sure the course would have been the best I had ever taken, because I had taken time to read the blog and it had already blown my mind. And when I studied it, it was even better.
So I personally didn't think I'd ever use the money back guarantee in this case.
In general, my feeling about money-back guarantees is that their "worthiness" strongly depends on the reputation of the provider.
I personally tend not to trust money-back guarantees where:
- there are "conditions" on using them - such as "prove you have done the work";
- the provider has a reputation for not honoring them;
- the provider has shown he or she discriminates between users, in the sense that some users get the money back and some don't.
Thank you so much Kavalier and Bel!
Precious feedback, and much appreciated!
Hello Lucio,
personally I tend not to trust 30 days money back guarantees for several reasons:
- There might be hidden conditions as Bel mentioned.
- There is an uncertainty of getting the money back so there’s a risk.
- The cost of recovering the money in terms of time, mental energy (another task) and emotional investment (hope, expectation, disappointment) has a high risk of being higher than the cost of the product itself
Also culturally speaking some cultures might feel bad for asking it. In Swiss culture it’s definitely the case like negotiating is generally perceived as being cheap (but has changed a lot with globalization). From your example of Neil Patel I heard it’s also the case in Japan. So for some cultures it might be shameful to ask for the money back. I know in the US it’s not the case generally speaking as people generally have a transaction-based mindset: « I paid for X you owe me X. »
People will do it in Switzerland but they often learn it later in adulthood or through experiences from my observation.
I personally prefer as a customer to pay a small sum for a limited access to part or the whole product for a limited amount of time in order to sample it. So I paid for value Y which I got and don’t have to go recover money which I’m not a fond of.
With TPM I’m biased as I trust you from repeated interactions. But here we’re talking about « cold leads » who don’t know you.
So I think it could still exist the 30 days money back guarantee but maybe only when people have bought the whole program.
I’m sure you already considered it but people could also buy the product by module.
I think this is worth a poll here and on the Internet as I think a large sample to better understand people’s expectations would be helpful.
My 2 cents.
Thank you so much, John!
Super helpful and it's been the same for me.
Making use of money-back guarantees or taking something back is a right I also had to learn to ask for and wasn't comfortable with at all -I did eventually learn, but that also means that a guarantee for those who never go through that personal development may be useless-.
Thanks for the thanks Lucio!
Something else I thought about: to trust « blindly » a 30 days money back guarantee I would need proof that people before me were reimbursed in a timely manner.
So that’s difficult to provide nowadays as proofs can be manufactured. However, it still is worth considering. If I would see a proper proof that somebody was reimbursed in 1-3 days I would believe it not knowing the person.
The issue is that if I see testimonies of people getting their money back then it’s thread expanding on customer’s dissatisfaction.
Another option would have to have a 3rd verifiable party (an official authority) certify the truth of the statement.
