Gaia GPS
  • 7-Day Free Trial Gaia GPS Premium
  • Out and Back Podcast
    • Gaia GPS

      Meet Grizzly Bear 399, the Most Famous Bears…

      May 19, 2023

      Gaia GPS

      Everything You Need to Know About Satellite Communicators

      December 1, 2022

      Adventures

      How to Avoid Another Deadly Avalanche Season

      January 21, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      The Best Advice We Received in 2021

      December 26, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      Avalanche Safety with Snow Science Expert Bruce Tremper

      November 30, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      Planning a Thru-Hike Next Year? Here’s What You…

      October 21, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      A Definitive Guide to the Best Camp Coffee

      September 30, 2021

  • Offroad Podcast
    • Gaia GPS

      Cook Marco Hernandez’s Mouthwatering Camp Meals

      January 25, 2023

      Gaia GPS

      Monique Song: How a City Girl Became the…

      April 7, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      TrailRecon Explains How to Become an Overlander Overnight

      March 9, 2022

      Adventures

      How to Stay Married on a Long-Distance Adventure

      February 9, 2022

      Adventures

      How to Go From ‘Desk to Glory’ in…

      January 12, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      The Best Advice We Received in 2021

      December 26, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      Gaia GPS’s Best New Overlanding Maps and Features…

      December 23, 2021

  • Adventures
    • User Stories
  • Activities
    • Backcountry Skiing
    • Boating
    • Emergency Response
    • Fishing
    • Offroading
  • New Features
    • Gaia GPS

      Discover Adventure Easier Than Ever with New Map…

      July 27, 2023

      Gaia GPS

      Meet Map Packs: A Totally New Way to…

      April 20, 2023

      Gaia GPS

      Book Campsites Right From Gaia GPS

      February 23, 2023

      Gaia GPS

      Our Favorite New Maps and Features

      December 23, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      OpenSnow Weather Now Available at-a-Tap on the Map

      November 9, 2022

      Backcountry Skiing

      Find the Deepest, Lightest Powder with the Snow…

      November 8, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      New Edit Tools: Creating Your Own Routes Just…

      September 1, 2022

  • New Maps
    • Gaia GPS

      See the World More Clearly with New Gaia…

      May 18, 2023

      Gaia GPS

      Gaia Classic: The Only Map You’ll Ever Need?

      May 4, 2023

      Gaia GPS

      Why NatGeo Trails Illustrated are America’s Favorite Maps

      February 9, 2023

      Backcountry Skiing

      New! Find Backcountry Skiing in Gaia Winter Map

      January 11, 2023

      Gaia GPS

      Our Favorite New Maps and Features

      December 23, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      Spy Avalanche Terrain with Higher Res Slope Angle…

      December 14, 2022

      Backcountry Skiing

      Find the Deepest, Lightest Powder with the Snow…

      November 8, 2022

  • Home
Gaia GPS
  • 7-Day Free Trial Gaia GPS Premium
  • Out and Back Podcast
    • Gaia GPS

      Meet Grizzly Bear 399, the Most Famous Bears…

      May 19, 2023

      Gaia GPS

      Everything You Need to Know About Satellite Communicators

      December 1, 2022

      Adventures

      How to Avoid Another Deadly Avalanche Season

      January 21, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      The Best Advice We Received in 2021

      December 26, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      Avalanche Safety with Snow Science Expert Bruce Tremper

      November 30, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      Planning a Thru-Hike Next Year? Here’s What You…

      October 21, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      A Definitive Guide to the Best Camp Coffee

      September 30, 2021

  • Offroad Podcast
    • Gaia GPS

      Cook Marco Hernandez’s Mouthwatering Camp Meals

      January 25, 2023

      Gaia GPS

      Monique Song: How a City Girl Became the…

      April 7, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      TrailRecon Explains How to Become an Overlander Overnight

      March 9, 2022

      Adventures

      How to Stay Married on a Long-Distance Adventure

      February 9, 2022

      Adventures

      How to Go From ‘Desk to Glory’ in…

      January 12, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      The Best Advice We Received in 2021

      December 26, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      Gaia GPS’s Best New Overlanding Maps and Features…

      December 23, 2021

  • Adventures
    • User Stories
  • Activities
    • Backcountry Skiing
    • Boating
    • Emergency Response
    • Fishing
    • Offroading
  • New Features
    • Gaia GPS

      Discover Adventure Easier Than Ever with New Map…

      July 27, 2023

      Gaia GPS

      Meet Map Packs: A Totally New Way to…

      April 20, 2023

      Gaia GPS

      Book Campsites Right From Gaia GPS

      February 23, 2023

      Gaia GPS

      Our Favorite New Maps and Features

      December 23, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      OpenSnow Weather Now Available at-a-Tap on the Map

      November 9, 2022

      Backcountry Skiing

      Find the Deepest, Lightest Powder with the Snow…

      November 8, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      New Edit Tools: Creating Your Own Routes Just…

      September 1, 2022

  • New Maps
    • Gaia GPS

      See the World More Clearly with New Gaia…

      May 18, 2023

      Gaia GPS

      Gaia Classic: The Only Map You’ll Ever Need?

      May 4, 2023

      Gaia GPS

      Why NatGeo Trails Illustrated are America’s Favorite Maps

      February 9, 2023

      Backcountry Skiing

      New! Find Backcountry Skiing in Gaia Winter Map

      January 11, 2023

      Gaia GPS

      Our Favorite New Maps and Features

      December 23, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      Spy Avalanche Terrain with Higher Res Slope Angle…

      December 14, 2022

      Backcountry Skiing

      Find the Deepest, Lightest Powder with the Snow…

      November 8, 2022

  • Home

We Roll Like Nordstrom – Money back, No Questions Asked

by Andrew Johnson September 27, 2011
by Andrew Johnson September 27, 2011

A proper business should guarantee their products. My idea of a good return policy is that you can return a product for any reason at all, and that you shouldn’t have to state the reason if you don’t care to do so. That’s how we operate, and you can boil it down into three tenets:

  1. We will never turn down a request for a refund

  2. We go out of our way to make it easy and painless to get refunded

  3. We make sure any customer in distress knows that a refund is there for the asking

I always loved the story I heard in business school about Nordstrom, a high-end department store that many of you have probably at least walked by in a mall. The story story goes like this… a man walked into Nordstrom to return a tire without a receipt. While Nordstrom does not carry tires, and while the receipt for the tire did not say Nordstrom, the customer service desk processed the refund without argument.

Now that’s my idea of good customer service – it’s a policy that guarantees that shoppers walk away happy, no matter what, and you get a big karmic kickback too. Sure, customer service could have told the man that they don’t sell tires, or maybe they could have tried to help him figure out where to return it, but instead they focused on satisfying the customer, above all else. I want more businesses like that.


A model for good customer service

Whenever it comes up in our business, we instruct people that they can request a refund through the App Store, but we also know that is a pain in the neck. So, in addition we offer to immediately process a refund via PayPal, and our only hope is that the user will keep the app and find it useful someday. It doesn’t matter to us whether you found a bug in one of our apps, you are just having a bad day, or your fortune teller told you iPhone apps are cursed. There is no invalid reason for a refund.

Maybe someday when my business is really big, I’ll find that people try and game us out of money, and we’ll need more onerous policies. But as long as we’re not going broke, that’s how we’re going to do it. I am always shocked by the goodness of our users in the face of this policy. Maybe that’s what Paul Graham means when he writes, “Go out of your way to make people happy. They’ll be overwhelmed; you’ll see.”

The response to a refund offer is usually not “yes, right away.” Only about 1 in 10 people will take a refund when offered, probably less. The much more likely response is reciprocal support and encouragement – from people who didn’t have a good experience with our software, but nonetheless want us to succeed. Or it also often ends up that we offer the refund, but we solve their problem in parallel, and they are doubly happy to know that we both care and will go to the mat to make sure they are satisfied.

And let’s be real here – I’m not selling cars or cigarettes, I’m selling software. It costs me exactly zero dollars to make each additional copy of my app, so if I can’t make money while still offering a money back guarantee, my software surely must suck. There’s no reason why a dissatisfied user shouldn’t get a refund when the marginal production cost is zero.

If you are a customer of ours, you can take that to the bank. And if you are an entrepreneur, I hope you do what we do – it’s the right thing to do, it’s the smart thing to do, and the world will be a better place when all products, or software at least, works that way.

customer serviceessays
0
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Andrew Johnson

Andrew founded Gaia GPS. He writes code and manages the business.

previous post
Facebook – Culture of Coercion
next post
Mis-translated support request of the day

You may also like

Adjusting Our Gaia GPS Premium Prices

December 1, 2023

How to Use Maps to Help Avoid Avalanches

November 27, 2023

Meet the Redesigned Gaia GPS

November 27, 2023

It’s Giving Season—Support What You Love

November 27, 2023

How to Find the Best Fall Foliage

September 14, 2023

Discover Adventure Easier Than Ever with New Map...

July 27, 2023

Type 2 Engineering™: How the Gaia GPS Team...

June 30, 2023

Meet Grizzly Bear 399, the Most Famous Bears...

May 19, 2023

See the World More Clearly with New Gaia...

May 18, 2023

Gaia Classic: The Only Map You’ll Ever Need?

May 4, 2023

Categories

  • Adventures
  • Android
  • App Comparisons
  • App Updates
  • Backcountry Skiing
  • Boating
  • Company News
  • Emergency Response
  • Featured
  • Fishing
  • Gaia GPS
  • Gaia GPS Offroad Podcast
  • GaiaCloud
  • Hikes
  • How-To
  • Hunting
  • iOS
  • New Features
  • New Maps
  • Newsletter
  • Offroading
  • Out and Back Podcast
  • User Profiles

Recent Posts

  • Adjusting Our Gaia GPS Premium Prices
  • How to Use Maps to Help Avoid Avalanches
  • Meet the Redesigned Gaia GPS
  • It’s Giving Season—Support What You Love
  • How to Find the Best Fall Foliage
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • RSS

@2022 - All Right Reserved. Gaia GPS


Back To Top