Today I showed up at Office Depot about 10 minutes before it opened in order to purchase a new printer. There were several people there to purchase a laptop that was supposed to be on sale for $299. Once the store opened, there were about 20 people there for the laptop. Turns out that the price is over $400, you receive a $100 instant rebate and then a $75 mail in rebate. In addition, you cannot pick up the computer in the store, you have to order it and then wait about 10 days to receive it. In addition, you need to tack on an additional $100 to cover tax and shipping. Boy were people pissed to say the least. Office Depot is going to catch some heavy backlash on this one. I picked up the ad and started to read it while my husband was picking up a few items. Most of the information was in fine print.
The problem with fine print is that most people do not read it. Even when it comes to agreeing to terms and conditions on the web, people don't take the time to read them, they just click on the "I Agree" button. I admit that I have been guilty of this before. I just want to finish what I am installing or doing and hit that button without even glancing at the words. I guess for small purchases most people don't care, but when it comes to big purchases, I hope that you do read the fine print. Even when it comes to electronics or even cell phone plans, there are many loopholes that the companies create for themselves so that they can get out of any sort of binding contract if it doesn't suit them.
Do you do this with your clients? I don't have any fine print on my contracts or other places. I try and make everything noticeable and when I go on consultations, I will go over all of the paperwork so that everything is understood. This way a client can't come to me afterwards and say that they don't want to pay something because they didn't understand or they don't want to pay because they think I am nickel and diming them. If they have to follow my rules, I need to follow them as well. I don't try to create loopholes, but people always look for one.
Make sure that whenever you are dealing with your prospective and current clients that all of the terms and conditions are laid out for all to see. Once they start dealing with you, they don't want to break out their magnifying glass to see what the real deal is and you don't want to deal with backlash like Office Depot is going to, even if on a small scale. People talk and I know because my husband went into Petco and saw a couple we had just seen at Office Depot who had been trying to purchase that laptop. Needless to say, they had nothing but negative things to say about Office Depot and stated that they will not be shopping there any time soon.
What will your customers say about your fine print?
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