Sometime around the 19th of September I received an email from Linkedin. You know the kind.
“Click here to receive a free upgrade!”
“One month free service at no cost!”
“Want to know who’s been looking at your profile?”
Truth is – I DID want to know who had been looking at my profile. And I KNOW how these things work. They require your credit card information up front, your service receives an upgrade, you check out who has been looking at your profile and then forget to cancel the free upgrade.
I didn’t forget to cancel, but I waited until the last day. After all, they said I had a free month, right? So I wasn’t going to cancel after 3 weeks and 3 days. I was taking advantage of the full month long service.
Problem is, we went out of town just before the 19th of October. And when it came time for me to cancel my service I had to do so from my handheld device. Now I don’t think that should matter, but when I clicked the link that said ‘click here to downgrade your settings’ this is the page I landed on. With no way of moving forward I had to give up on cancelling my upgraded service and accept the fact that I was going to be charged the monthly fee.
When I returned home I took time to sit down and write Linkedin. I kept my email professional, but prepared for the response:
“We’re sorry. It’s not our fault you waited until the very last minute to cancel,” (I imagine a snickering 20-something year-old punching away at his keyboard, snickering through the reply. “Ya big idiot!” he laughs to himself.)
“While it’s not our policy to issue refunds, we are happy to give you an additional month of free service.” (A slightly kinder, also 20-something year-old female might be behind this response. She is nice around the edges, but all business on the inside.)
“Sorry. You agreed to the terms and conditions when you applied for the upgrade.” (I’m not sure who would be behind this response – but it is the one I was most certain I would hear.)
It’s safe to say, not only was I surprised to get a response, but even more surprised to get a very nice response!
Just a few days later the refund showed up in my checking account.
I still can’t get over how quick and pain-free the process was. I can’t believe some big shot at Linkedin actually took time to reply, let alone look up my account information and issue a refund within 48 hours.
Will I consider upgrading in the future? Absolutely.
Will I be likely to refer Linkedin to my friends and colleagues? You know it!
Now that I think about it… I think I just did.
Greenwood's Garden 
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