30-Days Refund Guarantee: troubleshooting thread
Update from Forum moderator
Most recent information:
currently 30-days money back guarantee covers all Home products, please check this article and this comment for more details. Should you have any questions, concerns or face any problems with requesting a refund, please leave a comment below, we will assist you.
Original post:
When I purchased a one year subscription for True Image Online Backup 2011 on October 30, 2010, I noted graphics in two places on the checkout page clearly indicating a 30-day money-back guarantee.
After two weeks of problems with True Image Online Backup 2011, I decided to wait for Acronis to mature the product and I would take advantage of the 30-day money back guarantee. In a chat session with Acronis, I was told that there is no 30-day money back guarantee for Acronis Online products. I asked about the clear indication at checkout, including if one were to purchase Online Backup today (November 15, 2010), that there is a 30-day money back guarantee. Nowhere is it stated that Online products are excepted. I've attached a PDF file of the checkout screen from the Acronis Web site a few moments ago to prove it. Based on such a checkout page, I don't see how I was supposed to conclude that the 30-day money back guarantee doesn't apply to Online products.
Acronis' claim that there is no 30-day money back guarantee on Online products is highly deceptive. I am hoping Acronis will make right by the customer by issuing me a refund for my 1-year subscription for True Image Online Backup 2011 and fixing their Web page for future customers. I've been a long-time registered user of their offline True Image product and hope to continue doing business with them in the future.
Colin,
First of all, thank you for your reply.
You've pointed out a second location on the Acronis Web site that indicates that purchases from the Acronis online store are covered by a 30-day money back guarantee (I showed the first location in the attachment to my first posting above). I'm astonished then that the Acronis support person was absolutely adamant that there are no 30-day refunds for True Image Online Backup subscriptions.
I do not have case number for the online chat, but I did capture the complete chat dialog. The support person was Sunny Arora.
To which Acronis moderator should I post a message requesting a refund?
Lawrence
Whichever one you can find first.
Anton or Yana are on here the most often
Colin,
Please pardon my ignorance, but could you point out to me where (or how) one can contact a moderator on these forums.
Thanks.
Lawrence
Colin,
I just sent a message to Yana w/r to my issue.
Lawrence
I am in the boat. I need to cancel acronis online backup for the same reason - need to wait till it matures.
Again, I was rejected a refund by one of the support person "Bishwajit Choudhary".
One reason I gave Acrnois a try was because of their excellent customer service. What I am finding out is the complete opposite. THis is not good that they first commit to 30 day money back garanttee and then bluntly refuse the process a refund.
Below is an email extract of what Bishwajit had to say. No idea what to do next.
Anand
From: Bishwajit Choudhary
Hello Anand,
Thank you for your response.
I regret to inform you that we cannot provide you a refund for Acronis Online backup monthly subscription. However, you can cancel the subscription renewal for next month after 12/09/2010.
Hello all,
Thank you for your comments, I really appreciate it. I can see the confusion here, and will do my best to shed the light to the situation.
According to the Acronis Online Backup License Policy the refund is possible only in case you're experiencing the technical issues with the software. There are several known problems, which we're working on, and in case you've faced any of these issues, we will proceed with the refund.
I entirely share your frustration and concern. This situation is absolutely not acceptable, the information is confusing and sets incorrect expectations. I have already reported it to our Management team, and they are working on improving the situation.
Dear Lawrence, I have already issues the refund for you. You actually had technical issues, and was fully eligible for the refund from the start. I have notified respective Management team, they will make sure this situation never occurs again. I would appreciate if you could keep me posted, and let me know in case you got your money back on time
Dear Anand, thank you for your comment and for specifying the details of the situation. There's no doubt that you should be able to get a refund. The misinforming information on our website is our fault. I don't want to set incorrect expectation, so I won't promise anything, but I have already sent your case information to the Support Director. As soon as I have any news from him regarding the situation, I will immediately update you. Thank you for finding time to leave a comment on Forum, and bring this situation to our attention.
Your opinion is very important for us. Please don't hesitate to share your feedback with me on Forum or with our Management team directly.
Should you need anything else or have any further questions - feel free to contact us at your earliest convenience, we will be happy to help you!
Thank you!
Hello Yana,
Thank you for following up on our issues. I was actually able to discuss with a 'live chat representative' and he has promised to process my refund request. Below are the details...
Yesterday's Live Chat with Acronis Representative:
Kavish Bathla: Anand, as per your request, I have submitted a refund request for the order # 16732261 to our on-line store.
Kavish Bathla: You are going to receive a credit notification from the on-line store that managed this purchase, Cleverbridge, in 1 business day.
I will let you guys know as soon as the refund request is processes.
Thanks,
Anand
Update: It seems i was either lied too.
I NEVER GOT MY REFUND EVEN AFTER BEING PROMISED !!!
It has been over 10 days since I was promised by Acronis Customer support that they are processing my refund and I should get it in refund back in 1 business day.
30 - day money back garantee from Acronis is a LIE. Do not believe everything that is present on their website nor believe everything that customer support tell you.
Dear Anand,
Thank you for your comments.
I entirely understand your frustration. This is an important question, so I checked our Database. Per its information, the reimbursement date is 11/26/2010. We have the credit note for it, and I will send you the link to it via PM, since this information is confidential. The amount of $4.95 has been refunded to your credit card on 11/25/2010.
I assume that you got the payment but expect to view it as credited by Acronis, however our on-line store is powered on Cleverbridge INC platform. Hence, you get the payment in your bank statement as made by Cleverbridge INC. Cleverbridge, Inc. is the merchant of record for this transaction.
By the way, the notification from CB was sent to you at 11/26/2010 , after the refund was successfully booked in the system, the email has the subject is: Reference#16732261: Your refund for Acronis Online Backup. The message was sent to: heaven2021[at][domain mail name].com. It could've been placed to your spam folder, please kindly check it.
I suggest to check your bank statement using this information as it is fully processed in our database and in case you cannot locate it please provide me with last 4 digits of your credit card via PM.
Please let me know in case you have any concerned, or the bank never processed the refund from their end, I will help you with it.
Thank you!
I have to apologies. It was my mistake. Acronis DID ISSUE a REFUND.
It was my mistake that I was looking at the wrong credit card for the refund. It was infact another bank account on which the refund was issued and hence I could not find that refund amount.
Sorry for the incovinience cause to the customer support staff.
This has restored my confidence in Acronis Customer Support. and I hope that they keep up this level of good customer support.
[Thank you Yana for following up my case and keeping this forum up to dates]
Dear Anand,
Thank you for your message, I'm glad to know this inconvenience got sorted out. I really appreciate your kind comment regarding support, thank you for it!
There's nothing to apologize for: misunderstandings happen. You expressed your opinion that you had at that exact moment, and that's what Forums are (in additional to technical questions). We got very concerned regarding the issue with the refund your reported, and decided to double-check every record. No inconvenience caused, I'm glad to know that we got this sorted out.
In case you have any questions or concerns - please, share them with us, we will gladly help.
Thank you!
I almost purchased Acronis True Image Home today. Here are the reasons I did not:
1) Your product requires activation. I find it offensive to be implicitly accused of piracy while actual pirates have likely disabled the entire activation scheme in their versions.
2) You require me to enter a heinously long serial number. Since my lab is not connected to the Internet, I cannot simply copy and paste it, as you suggest.
3) Your 30-day trial does not mention any limitations beyond the time limit. Your email, containing my trial serial number, likewise does not mention any limitations. However, the limitations are severe enough that I cannot actually try out much of the core functionality, such as disk cloning.
Even if you have legitimate business reasons for these limitations, you should be honest enough to disclose them up front on your web site and in the email.
4) You display a 30-day money back guarantee badge prominently on your web site. However, the badge is not clickable. Knowing that such guarantees usually come with limitations and exclusions, I googled "acronis true image money back guarantee". The results, including discussion threads on your own support forums, indicate that you do not honor this guarantee. While some customers (not all) were eventually successful in badgering you into honoring the guarantee, this is blatant false advertising.
In lieu of a functional trial, I considered simply purchasing the product and relying on this guarantee should it fail to meet my needs. Since I cannot trust Acronis to be true to their word, this option is also unavailable to me.
In conclusion, you seem to have an excellent product that receives all-around good reviews from customers and tech journalists a like. However, your corporate behavior has lost you a sale today. And I doubt I'm the only prospective customer who feels this way.
Trial version limitations are on the following webpage.
Hello Stian and Colin,
Thank you for your comments.
Colin, thanks a lot for clarification.
Stian, I entirely understand your concern regarding the refund policy, the comments can be really disturbing. However we do guarantee 30 days money back. It's a strict rule, and we stick to it. Recently we had more complicated refund policy for Online Backup, but later changed it to be more user-oriented, so it's also included into the common rule: you can request a refund within 30 days without explaining a reason. Support will offer you a technical assistance as an option, it's a corporate rule, but should you decline it, we will immediately issue a refund. No exclusions.
We cannot proceed with the refund only in one case: if the purchase was made from another seller (even Amazon). After we provide our resellers with the licenses we no longer have any access to them, so we simply unable to refund you the money, provided to the reseller. However all situation are discussable, and you can contact our support and management team with your questions at any time.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to convince you change your mind, I respect your decision. Just thought that it would be good to share this information with you.
I have also forwarded your comment to the Management team, and can assure you that it's been taken under consideration. Thank you for sharing this info with us, it's really important, and it's good to have such detailed feedback.
Should you have any additional concerns, let us know.
Thank you.