Thoughts on Company Policies – Webmail International
Webmail in this article refers to South African company Webmail International – a subsidiary of Interface IT Media, and should not be confused with the web-based software or any other entity. As well, these are my words and my interpretation and does not qualify as legal advice.
[UPDATE: 08/2011] I have, since I first published this, been approached by Webmail in an attempt to rectify things. They have offered me Google advertising instead of the email campaign in the amount that I had lost. I appreciate their willingness to make things right, but would like to stress that I still consider the below point lessons I’ve learnt from the experience.
I recently had the great misfortune of being swindled by South African email marketing company, Webmail International.
Webmail Intl have a free email system like Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft’s Hotmail, with one difference: They use their email database to hook people on expensive marketing campaigns. Of course, with a system like that, people who have signed up for what seems like a good deal – i.e. free email – are being spammed left right and centre.
I signed an agreement with Webmail Intl, the company didn’t perform, and I found myself in a position where I was asked to hand over R25,000 for absolutely no returns – i.e. a literal R25,000 donation. When I made it known that I believe this to be unethical at best, I was threatened with blacklisting and legal action.
I had a chat with my lawyer and after being told in the nicest way that I’m screwed, I took home some lessons. I have identified several red flags I should have seen during the sales process which you can look out for when you’re in a position to sign an agreement.
When signing any agreement, look out for the following red flags:
- When you are pressured to sign immediately and discouraged from thinking it over. Of course no one will directly tell you not to think it over, but they might sweeten the deal every time you object, until you reach the point where you cave in and sign. Or they might try to close you again simply using different words every time. Never sign a document at the first meeting. Always take the document home and read over it, or preferably have a lawyer read over it.
- When you have to pay an unreasonable percentage of the balance you owe in order to cancel the agreement. Webmail International have a clause in their agreement requiring that you pay 75% of the outstanding balance when you want to cancel the agreement. Major red flag. That one point alone is basically the company saying that they don’t care whether they meet your needs or not – only that you get locked in. The very second you put your pen to that paper, they shout, “CHEDDAR COMING!” on the inside, and from that point you’re screwed.
- When the contract states that you are only signing the words written in the contract, and not any verbal statements made during the meeting. What that means is that, the sales person you’re meeting with can say what they want and show you evidence that is completely false and misleading, simply to convince you, and then you cannot take them to court for misrepresentation when their product ends up being total rubbish. Big red flag.
- When the company doesn’t guarantee results. Again, it comes down to taking responsibility for what you’re offering. If a company doesn’t guarantee results, there can often be a good reason for it. In my case, my marketing material could have been poor which would result in a poor response. I happen to know it’s not my marketing material simply because we use another marketing company as well and the exact same text gets a great response every week. In my case, at the meeting I asked the salesman at Webmail International whether I could pay per lead or per sale. You can imagine that that was something they avoided like cancer. So always try go for an agreement where remuneration is tied to performance. If a company doesn’t want to take responsibility for their own performance, RED FLAG!
These are the major lessons I learned from my dealings with the South African company, Webmail International. Some amateur mistakes were made, but you live you learn and if one person reads this and saves themselves some bucks, my experience may have been worth it.