In my last blog, I wrote about what happened to me concerning Lulu.com. Basically, one day I logged in and saw that all my files were gone… all my products were gone… all my sales histories were gone… all my payments were… gone.
I looked for a phone number.
No phone number anywhere.
I looked for Live Help.
Found out in the Forum that they decided Live Help wasn’t helping their bottom line, so… they chopped it. No live help.
What’s left? E-mail.
So I send them an e-mail. Surprisingly polite, too, considering that they just “lost” 50% of my monthly income.
I get an automated response back. “We’re sorry, but due to a larger than normal amount of problems, we won’t be getting back to you in our normal 1-2 days. See ya.”
So I wait. Three days goes by. Five. Ten. Fifteen.
Nothing.
I am keeping tabs on what’s going on with my account on their site. The only thing that’s there the whole time is a project called… “Test”.
Nothing.
I write to them again, this time being a lot less polite. (Still not letting loose, because that usually isn’t productive, but still.) No response at all.
Then I have my partner, Andrew, inform me that one of my customers tried to download a large product from the subliminal-shop.com site, and it failed for him, so he purchased the product from Lulu.com and wanted a refund.
*Insert sound of needle being torn off a record player*
What?
Lulu is still selling my stuff, but I am not able to access it?
I’m not getting paid for it?
And the store is having trouble with downloads completing occasionally?
This means that not only do we have to find and fix the problem at the download shop (we’re very much on that puppy, let me assure you!), but now Lulu has been paid for my product, and I don’t get the money… and I have to refund what I did get?
In other words… I don’t get paid, but my customer has to pay for it?
In other words… Lulu screwed me AND my customer?
He got his refund. We stand behind our products and our money back guarantee. But that was money out of my pocket because he didn’t ask for help directly from us… we could have sent it to him another way, and he wouldn’t have had to spend that money again. We may be having slight technical difficulties, but we do have backup and redundancy plans. If you have a problem with a download, just say so. We will do what it takes to make it right.
I went straight to Lulu.com and canceled my account. Why? Because I could not think of any other way to get them to delete the products I had there, which they were now illegally selling and not paying me for. The cancellation page states that they will delete all digital files you have uploaded within 24 hours of deleting your account, as long as none of them have been purchased within that time. This gives the purchaser time to download.
Okay, makes sense. So I deleted it, and then I discovered in his e-mail a download link, from Lulu, which he put in his e-mail proving he had made his purchases. Lo and behold, there’s my storefront… with all my products… still being displayed… still available for the world to see… still available for purchase.
Why, pray tell, was I not able to see them when I had an account?
Let me tell you, this got me very upset. I just hoped and prayed that the would all be deleted in 24 hours.
Were they?
Nope. Of course not. That would make sense.
Days and days later, and Lulu is still happily selling my things. After I have canceled my account. Just go there and do a search for my name – Shannon Matteson – and you’ll see my stuff still there, still available for purchase.
Don’t buy it from Lulu. If you do, and you need a refund, they won’t refund you. And neither will I, because I can’t refund you money I don’t have from an illegal sale of my property.
Let me be very clear. I am glad to refund legitimate purchases, for legitimate reasons. But I can’t pay my bills and refund you money that you didn’t give to me. And if you purchase my intellectual property from Lulu… you are not giving your money to me. I don’t have an accoun
