Video Professor Refund Is Coming???

Well, I am very quickly changing my view of the Video Professor (although at this point they still have not refunded my money). As I have explained previously, I had a very bad experience with an online order from the Video Professor. As I dug into it further I found hundreds of posts on the internet from people that have experienced the same thing. However, the more I speak with people at the Video Professor, the more I am convinced that it is not their intention to scam people. But I still feel they are using deceptive marketing techniques to sucker people into signing up for something that is different than what they expect.

Again, as I mentioned previously, I realize now that I did not take the time to read the fine print on the Video Professor website. If I had read it I would have understood that they send you three lessons and that only two of them are free. If you keep the third lesson they bill you the full cost of $189.95. That is what happened to me. I didn't ask them to send me a lesson to evaluate. I asked them to send me the free lesson that John promotes on his television commercials. Again, this is deceptive marketing. Yes, they will quickly point out the find print on their website that explains how it works. But that isn't good enough. They have clearly decided to promote free products without clearly communicating the catch. That is smart marketing tactics or deceptive marketing tactics, depending on which side of the fence you are on. 

Here's the fine print from their website...

IMPORTANT INFORMATION: ANY TWO of the three computer tutorial CD-ROMs are yours free without further obligation, PERIOD. Take 10 days to decide if you want to keep the complete set of CDs. After your 10-day free trial, if you decide to keep the complete set, we'll conveniently bill your credit card just $189.95. Or simply call our customer care number at 1-800-519-4110 if you decide to return any one of the lessons. You will be charged nothing more and get to keep two computer learning CD-ROMS! You can also return everything within 10 days and receive a full Shipping and Processing refund upon your request. Click here to learn more about this offer. 

I think it is pretty darn clear. Problem is, people don't read the fine print. They choose to use fine print to communicate the message instead of just simply telling you up front. John should simply say what it is. The problem with that is that if he explains clearly how it works, fewer people will order. That will cost him money. That is a business decision. 

I received a call today from Brian in the Public Relations department. Brian was very nice. He had a copy of the email that I had sent to John. I am still not clear if John actually reads the emails or if he has someone do that for him. Regardless, Brian called me directly to talk through the problem. He assured me that he would take care of the problem and that I would see a refund within a few days. He is also going to refund the shipping charges that I originally paid. It is a shame that I had to go through all of this. I am sure Brian and others at the Video Professor have better things to do than to talk with people like me who don't read the fine print. But I appreciate that they took the time to call me and to talk through it. I will appreciate it even more when they actually refund my money!!!