As a blogger, I get to do a lot of cool things and review a lot of cool products and services. I have been blogging for several years, and the companies whom I have worked with have, for the most part, been delightful. I certainly have never had one attempt to charge me to review their product. Until now.
Let’s first clarify a few things that you might need to know. When a company sends a blogger an item to review, that item is not free for us. It is payment for our honest review. In many cases, a reputable blogger will do a thorough review, which takes time and a lot of thought. We normally take photos, edit those photos, edit our blog post and then promote the review throughout our social media channels. Companies get some great publicity and exposure from bloggers and the cost to them is far less than purchasing advertising.
On with the story. Back in November of 2013, I did a review for GrooveBook. This is an app that I wanted to share with my readers, because I thought that it would be something that you guys would like to know about. It is not a service that I would personally use, only because I rarely take photos with my (old!) iPhone. Basically you download the free app, and for $2.99 a month, you can upload up to 100 photos and GrooveBook will print them and send them to you in a bound book.
When attempting to use the app (and keep in mind, this was a one-time thing for me so that I could experience it and give you all an educated opinion) the company told me that I would have to sign up for their program, but I would not be charged for the book that I was reviewing. I just had to go through the process so that they could send the book like they send to their regular customers. No problem. I am pretty accommodating (and apparently, far too trusting that companies will behave ethically).
I did the review, posted it, promoted it, etc. After that point, this was moved from my ‘to do’ pile into ‘done…file it away’.
Fast forward: last week, my husband called me and mentioned something about the recurring $2.99 charge on our credit card from GrooveBook. What??? I simply did a review for them. I wasn’t supposed to receive any charges. Particularly for a service I don’t even use. But it wasn’t a big deal – I figured someone had simply made a mistake and they would quickly correct it, right? I mean, I gave them a ton of advertising for an item that would have only cost me $2.99 had I purchased it! Trust me – paying $2.99 and not doing a review would have been far easier and cost effective for me. I usually don’t even touch reviews for items that have such a low value – it’s not worth my time. But I really wanted to share this with my readers, so I did it.
I emailed my contact at Groovebook who had handled the review and explained to her that there were some mistaken charges on my account. I received an email back stating that they would only refund 3 of the charges. I’m sorry, what? No. You need to refund 5 months of this service that a) I did not use and b) should not have been charged for in the first place. She indicated that they had emailed me to ‘remind’ me to upload photos. Perhaps they did – but after the review was done, my assumption would have been that any unsolicited email from them was simply advertising on their part. I would not have opened their emails knowing that I would not be using the service.You know how it is with junk mail.
So here are my conclusions: this is NOT about the money. Keep in mind that the amount that they are refusing to refund is only $5.98. And because of that, it really gives me pause. Why would a company hold on to a measly $5.98 knowing that there was a miscommunication and that they could preserve their reputation with this blogger for less than $6??? Particularly when they did not even provide anything for the months that they are charging for…it’s not even as though they are out any money. Had they been sending me a monthly product which I accepted, that would be different. Why would they not have been honest with me prior to my review by making it clear that I was signing up for a recurring charge? (Which I would not have done).
What does that tell me? It tells me that if you use their service, you could very well have problems down the road if you are incorrectly billed. If they won’t refund someone who shouldn’t have been charged to begin with, what do you think they’ll do if you actually do sign up and have problems? It tells me that they are more concerned with $5.98 than with their reputation with a blogger who delivered exactly what was promised…for a $2.99 book. And probably with their customers. It tells me that you should be very wary of doing business with a company which makes these kinds of bad decisions.
What do you think they are thinking? Why is $5.98 worth their self-respect and reputation? I don’t get it.
Sign up at your own risk.
Thanks for the heads-up GrooveBook just went to the top of our Not Groovy List.
Like you said, its not about the money, its about ethics of doing the right thing. If they had refunded you back all 5 charges you may just be writing a good blog about them today. Their loss.
Thank you for the information. These things are always so frustrating!!!!
What a rotten thing for them to do to you! I would definitely not use their services!
What the heck? That is ridiculous! They are really not very smart… especially if you promote this post with as much vim and vigor as you did for their original post. Don’t mess with bloggers!
Oh that’s not good! I would be upset, too!
I would be just as upset as you. I would not use them. Thanks for the info.
Being a blogger is more a responsibility than a benefit so it’s not easy being one.
What a shame. Sorry to hear that you’re in this situation.
I do not provide my credit card information to any company I review. If that means that I can’t review them, so be it.
Besos, Sarah
Blogger at Journeys of The Zoo
Ugh I just had this happen with a a $19.99 recurring charge! I will never again submit my CC info in order to do a review!
OH my goodness. I have had issues recently. I won’t go into it now, but I hear ya
I hope this gets sorted out thanks for sharing this with all of us.
Oooh, that’s not too good. I would have been bummed out if that happened to me. I hope things get fixed and everything turns out ok.
I worked in Customer Service for many, many years and that is simple unacceptable. First because of your agreement with them and especially because you never received any product. It’s only $5.98!!!!! Refund the woman!
Wow a good review turned bad for $6. Look out for a backlash from the company for a bad review after THEY took YOUR money. Craziness.
What a bummer. I appreciate the heads up. It’s too bad when a company just doesn’t do the right thing.
What the heck! im with you glad i havent encounter that advert yet. thanks for the heads up. i also don’t like reviewing apps though, it’s too much hassle for me and not worth it.
This is an app I will be checking out!!! Thanks!
Thanks for the information. I think I heard of them from shark tank and thought it was a cool concept. Now I wouldn’t trust giving my information out to them. That really is stupid to not refund your money.
Wow! What a rotten company to take advantage of you like that. They won’t be getting any of my business.
That is so not cool! Thanks for letting us know to stay away from this rotten company!
Oh that is so sad but thank you for the heads up. I would be disappointed if that happens to me, glad to learn about it ahead of time.
I”ve never heard of them but I’m inclined to avoid things that want you to sign up with a credit card on a trial basis and then charge you if you don’t cancel. That’s what this reminds me of. I guess I wouldn’t do a review if I had to provide any credit card info at all.
Definitely something to take a big pause and think hard on, doing business with.
Wow! Pretty sad but so educating to those who are thinking of using that service. Personally I never ever give any kind of my personal banking. It’s a shame that happened.
That is unbelievable. It says a lot about their customer service.
So did you get your money back? Report them to BBB. I did a review for FabKids and after what I thought was me canceling my “membership” in fact they told me it was canceled, but it wasn’t They charge my husband’s bank account $45 (around that) a month for like 5 months. He never said anything to me, he thought it was just random stuff I was doing. I was checking his account and I was like WTF. So I go to their facebook page, made a complaint. I wasn’t alone, apparently they been doing it to EVERYONE who “thought they canceled their accounts”. They wouldn’t reply, they deleted my comments, and all the negative comments. They BANNED me from their facebook page. They wouldn’t respond to my emails, so I was like, fine.. So I went to BBB, made a complaint, I wasn’t the only one. I got my money back that way. I warned people NOT to do business with them, no one listens.. oh well, but I suggest you do that, make a complaint, so if someone else is having the same issue, they know to report it.
OMG! This is so shocking!
How pathetic #Groovebook…. I would definitely never would want use their services!
Thanks for the warning–I remember getting that email to sign up to and I passed–very glad I did!
Will never use them now!
Awesome! Thank you for the information!
Wow, that is definitely good to know. I’ve seen several reviews lately and was considering trying it out, but not not anymore. It is completely ridiculous that they will not refund you all of the money, especially when they told you nothing would be charged when you signed up. It show they do not care about reviews and customers… I can only imagine others have had billing issues, too, but they just don’t have a platform to spread the word. Thanks so much for sharing.
I had never read your original review of GrooveBook but it does sound like a cool service, especially if you take a lot of pictures. However, I would never EVER sign up for their service after reading this. Good customer service is extremely important to me and this company doesn’t have it.