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iPhone App will not stay open - just flashes when trying to launch

community.garadget.com

21–30 of 453 posts

Re: iPhone App will not stay open - just flashes when trying to launch

#21

I can't decide whether this is legal or not. I am closer to siding _with_ Garadget in that as a private business, they don't HAVE to provide a service to someone (and it looks pretty obvious that there was no particular discrimination or the like); in fact, they have the right to refuse service. That said, the person also DID purchase a physical item (in fact, Garadget probably should have refunded them first, just b…

> this COULD also backfire as bad publicity.

Assuming the review that nneonneo found is the correct one, then a journalist has already replied wanting more info, so it seems plausible that some bad publicity will come from it.

https://www.amazon.com/review/R2XHHHGM6BEUG6/ref=cm_cr_rev_d...

Re: iPhone App will not stay open - just flashes when trying to launch

#22
I think this is a bad thing to do. Customers bad-mouth companies all the time, most of the times just temporary. Best to try to please them or to ignore it. "Customer is always right" is in the end one of the best strategies, even if it isn't true.

It takes great arrogance to ban someone bad-mouthing your product. I don't think it is illegal and I don't think it should be, but I do think you should be able to get a full refund.

Besides, getting banned for services you leave a bad review on is really bad practice. Imagine a world where leaving bad reviews results in a ban from that service... It would greatly reduce customer's trust in their products

Edit: The journalist comment on the amazon review (linked below). That might burn, hehe

Re: iPhone App will not stay open - just flashes when trying to launch

#23

I can't decide whether this is legal or not. I am closer to siding _with_ Garadget in that as a private business, they don't HAVE to provide a service to someone (and it looks pretty obvious that there was no particular discrimination or the like); in fact, they have the right to refuse service. That said, the person also DID purchase a physical item (in fact, Garadget probably should have refunded them first, just b…

So he can return it for a refund. They're revoking his usage of the service. It's petty, it's going to Streisand them for a while, but it's certainly not illegal.

Perhaps a good analogy is getting banned from bnet after having bought Starcraft/Diablo CD... but in this case they're offering a refund for return.

Re: iPhone App will not stay open - just flashes when trying to launch

#24

I think this is a bad thing to do. Customers bad-mouth companies all the time, most of the times just temporary. Best to try to please them or to ignore it. "Customer is always right" is in the end one of the best strategies, even if it isn't true. It takes great arrogance to ban someone bad-mouthing your product. I don't think it is illegal and I don't think it should be, but I do think you should be able to get a f…

From garadget's post on their forum:

> At this time your only option is return Garadget to Amazon for refund. Your unit ID 2f0036... will be denied server connection.

It seems to me like garadget is perfectly willing to refund the purchaser, once the purchaser returns the item.

Re: iPhone App will not stay open - just flashes when trying to launch

#25
post #16
post #4

For context, the associated review appears to be this one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R2XHHHGM6BEUG6/re...

I'm sure any negative review is painful, but that hardly seems to cross any lines. "Abusive language" is really, really, really stretching it.

Yeah, abusive language it is not. It's more of a tantrum.

Looking at the other reviews, it does seem that the company is happy to help with issues even where there is a negative review.

Re: iPhone App will not stay open - just flashes when trying to launch

#28

Reading this, I have empathy for the developer. There is a small subset of customers that will give you a bad review at the drop of a hat because they know it hurts you. They're poison. Finally one of these people got some tiny payback.

Who here hasn't thrown a tantrum on Yelp?

Re: iPhone App will not stay open - just flashes when trying to launch

#29

I can't decide whether this is legal or not. I am closer to siding _with_ Garadget in that as a private business, they don't HAVE to provide a service to someone (and it looks pretty obvious that there was no particular discrimination or the like); in fact, they have the right to refuse service. That said, the person also DID purchase a physical item (in fact, Garadget probably should have refunded them first, just b…

I think it should be illegal. Frame it in terms of a burger. If McDonald's says "since you say our food is bad we're messing with your burger after you bought it and we'll give you your money back if you return it" that would be illegal and probably, not sure though, a form of discrimination.

Re: iPhone App will not stay open - just flashes when trying to launch

#30
Not "for negative Amazon review", but for being an asshole.

This guy forgot that there are people behind every product and the abstraction is as thin as it gets when it is in fact a smaller company or a startup. There are negative reviews and there are nasty reviews. He was nasty to them and they no longer wanted him as a client. No reason why a company should swallow shit that a person wouldn't. They certainly _can_ do that (no questions asked refunds, customer is always right, etc), but it's an option, not a requirement.

[Edit]

We had paying customers like that - sent pissy emails, no Hello, no signature, just spit and complaints about minutae with personal attacks ("only an idiot would do it that way") and a shitload of entitlement because they paid us money. In all cases they recieved an immediate refund and a goodbye. If they can't make a basic effort to keep things civil, we have no interest in working with them.

The only issue with the case at hand is that they explicitly mention bad an Amazon review, while they actually dropped him because of his general toxic attitude.

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