The business of getting what you paid for

If it weren't a shameless way to make money off the back of other people's misfortune, I swear it would be possible to get rich having a full time job where all you do is call companies to complain about a service or product that either wasn't delivered as agreed, is broken, or just doesn't do what it's supposed to do.

I love the Consumerist, and I always feel quite proud of people who plod on until they actually get what they paid for. Like James, who bought a MacBook Pro and also wanted to get CS4 (some graphics software).

According to James, "they didn't have enough copies for people seeking student discounts, so they said that they'd send me CS3 so that I could go to class, and that they would automatically send me CS4 as soon as possible."

Unfortunately for James, this was agreed over the phone, and not in writing. So in good faith, James pays up, trusting that he will be sent his CS4 Adobe software. None arrives. And James has learnt a hard lesson; never trust a salesman.

We all get bitten by it in one guise or other, and it is such a shame that we can't trust people to do what they say they'll do or deliver what they say they'll deliver. But before you pay for anything or sign anything always get an agreement in writing, especially if anything is out of the ordinary. Hopefully you'll never need to refer back to it, but if you do, it can save a lot of time and effort down the line later.

In the end, James got what he wanted. But as he said himself, even his persistence was waning, "...I almost took the deal, too. Glad I didn't give up!"