When you hear or see a
claim in an ad that ”guarantees” the claim, it really doesn’t, if the rest of
the sentence says ”or your money back”. This tactic is a favorite of mail-order
advertising because they know one simple truth about human nature.
If you order something,
especially something that can be consumed or used up, and the product doesn’t
perform as advertised, you will probably just throw away the rest. The last
thing most people would do is save the rest, wrap it up and pay postage to send
it back for a refund. Sometimes also having to fill out a form explaining your
reasons for doing so. They know that. Statistics prove it to them. They don’t
expect re-orders from you. These people deal in thousands, if not millions, and
if someone actually does send it back, they will gladly refund their money.
What a perfect demonstration against law suits.
They get away with this
because laws were lobbied to enable them to.
If a consumer
organization ever decided to be on the consumer’s side, they would lobby to
have the law changed to have “guarantee” mean exactly what it says. The
guarantee isn’t that you’ll get a refund if the product doesn’t work, but
guarantees the claim that they make is valid, or be guilty of false
advertising. Class action suits would then quickly change these legally
fraudulent ads.
