No "No-Risk"

Yesterday while I was listening to the radio, two commercials in a row offered their products with no-risk. Other ads offered money-back guarantees. These are almost meaningless. The implication of these is that if you aren't satisfied with the product, the company will refund your money. But think for a moment about the barriers for getting your money back.

Let's say you responded to one of these ads and purchased a product that ended up being a dud. You'd likely have to repackage the item, write a letter stating you're not happy, and then take the bus our car down to the post office, pay for postage, and mail it off to the company. Most people wouldn't do this task if they were paid outright for it. Moderate dissatisfaction wouldn't be a big enough motivator.

Sometimes these warranties are completely useless. After finishing off a bottle of shampoo last week, I noticed, in tiny writing, it had "satisfaction guaranteed" written on it. I wasn't really satisfied with the product - I have high expectations. But, there was no contact information on the bottle, and it'd probably cost me in postage what I'd get back, plus an hour of my time.

Hollow guarantees should't sway us to purchase something. We have a much better chance of being happy with our purchases if we do even a minute amount of research beforehand.

If we buy something online, mail order (does anyone still do this?) or over the phone, we need to remember that "no-risk" is no guarantee.