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Pre-Paid Legal and Market Dilution
Once in a while, a great idea comes along. And, sometimes, a great idea becomes so well-accepted and even overused that it becomes totally ineffective.
Take Pre-Paid Legal for example. It is a fantastic idea - a low monthly fee to cover basic legal expenses, including the writing of attorney letters in the event of disputes or other issues with another party.
The problem, though, is how overused and abused the letter-writing service has become.
I used to get an attorney letter maybe once a year, if that. Now it's become a weekly event and sometimes even more frequent than that. And guess what I do the instant I receive an attorney letter? You guessed it - I Google the law firm, and if Pre-Paid Legal comes up, I ignore the letter and throw it in the trash.
I know full well that those letters come from people who pay the $25/month membership fee and who do not have the resources or the intent to pursue a lawsuit against me (Pre-Paid Legal does not cover the filing of lawsuits, only defense in the event you are sued).
And, to make matters worse, people are firing off those letters over anything and everything. I've even had customers who had a problem downloading an e-book, just as an example, who, instead of contacting my helpdesk to get the issue resolved in a matter of minutes, instead had a threatening Pre-Paid Legal letter sent to me.
How ridiculous.
This is what happens when a good idea becomes too accessible to the masses. Perhaps it's time for Pre-Paid Legal to raise their fees, or curb or even eliminate the letter-writing service, which has now become totally ineffective because it's become so overused and because people like me now ignore them entirely. It's an easy selling point because petty argumentative people salivate at the prospect of having an attorney threaten people on their behalf for $25/month, but come on, let's use the service for what it was originally intended for - coverage of legitimate legal expenses.
Remember, exclusivity is one of the most powerful marketing tactics in existence. Dilution and overuse destroy exclusivity. Having an attorney write a letter on your behalf used to be the private province of the affluent, but now that the common masses have access to it, it just doesn't work anymore.
Posted by Frank Rumbauskas on November 21, 2007 | Permalink
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Comments
Frank, I have to disagree with you and agree at the same time if that's possible but I'll show you what I mean. Many letters are sent on behalf of average folks that can't afford $200 an hour for an attorney and many positive results take place with these letters and they are not all from petty argumentative people. Unfortunately, I have had first hand experience with this service where I had a letter sent to you from a provider attorney and of course no response from you. My letter was not threatening and all I was asking for was an apology. I returned your system under a 30 day free guaranty. I followed everything explained under your return policy (and I understand why you have the system you have because of fraud) but in this case it was not fraud. I returned the material, and I have to note here I had never ordered anything online before this order. Well, I was still charged the full amount of both orders wrongly by your business. I have received full credit, which proved I returned everything on time and in resale condition. Your help desk didn't resolve my problem in minutes. In fact, I was told twice someone would call back and no one ever did. Finally on the third attempt I get an email from Ashley (not a professional response, lacking much customer service)and she says in response to my email I'll look into it and get back with you. Well, when will she get back? a week, two days? Feeling like I may be getting ripped off here I put a dispute with my bank and letting Ashley know. Bottom line is I get an email back calling me a fraud and thief and scum. Again I understand the amount of fraud you probably get and that's the reason for your policy, but in this case I am not a fraud nor a thief. So instead of hiring an attorney at $200 an hour I use my Prepaid Legal service to write a letter demanding an apology for defamation. It's obvious you choose not to screen even legit claims and probably figure there are more negative claims than honest claims against your business. So who cares if you loose one customer. Do I have the resources to pursue my claim-yes, do I have the intent to do so?maybe. Again, all I asked for was an apology for being wrongly accused as a thief and committing fraud. Remember it was your business that wrongly charged my account and your help desk that never responded until my third attempt and if it's your practice to have employees call customers liars, thieves, fraudsters and scum with your approval even to the innocent maybe I should pursue my intent for defamation? Did my letter have any effect? no. Not to you, because you could probably care less about customer satisfaction and businesses that will also throw away claims from customers I'm sure have the same poor service as your business has demonstrated. This is why Prepaid Legal has the service they do. To give back to the average person that can't afford attorney fees the access that only the country club rich have. See, it's not justice for all but justice to those who can afford it.Who's taking advantage of who? Maybe businesses like yours that wrongly charge accounts that have returned items on full guaranty's knowing the average person will not have the resources or intent to do anything about it.
Posted by: J. Smith | Nov 25, 2007 4:50:50 PM
J. Smith -
I'm confused by your post. The gist of it is that you didn't receive a refund; however, right at the beginning you say "I received full credit for both orders." I know you didn't dispute credit card charges, because those come directly to my desk, so I have no idea what happened here.
If someone returns a product and doesn't receive full immediate credit, there can be a number of reason:
- Did you return it to the proper CA address (not the AZ return address on the box)?
- Was the RA form completed in full and included so my staff could process the refund promptly without searching for your information in our database?
- Was the product in new condition?
- Was it lost in the mail? (Yes, it has happened before, which is why we require return packages to carry tracking.)
... and on and on. The only two reasons anyone doesn't receive an immediate refund (within one business day of receipt, per our policy) is if they sent it to the incorrect Arizona address, or if the package was lost, in which case we will issue a full refund as long as you can provide a tracking number showing that we received it.
In any case, since you said up front that you have received full credit, I'm still confused as to what the dispute is.
Posted by: Frank Rumbauskas | Nov 26, 2007 11:06:14 AM
I don't think direct marketing companies really care about oversaturation. Their plan is just to put it into as many hands as possible.
Posted by: Troy Bingham | May 6, 2008 9:14:23 AM
I agree, and that's one of the big challenges of direct marketing, that eventually the market becomes saturated and newcomers find it difficult to impossible to sell product.
I know some legitimate companies that sell via direct marketing and present a real opportunity to newcomers, but I think PPL's opportunity is coming to a close now that everyone and their brother is signed up with them.
Posted by: Frank | May 6, 2008 10:14:03 AM
