We have all heard it. “The customer is always right.” It is the statement that seems to be somehow still live to this day and has that old-fashion 1950’s business feel to it. Unfortunately over time, the reason for that statement has changed.

“The customer is always right” used to mean, make sure you give the customer good customer service and keep them happy. At least in short that is what it meant, even if you had to bend over backwards a bit for them, but in today’s day and age the term means something more like
“the customer owns you in this unfair world”.

Dreamco Design happens to pride itself in good old-fashion customer service and that is something that is fairly rare today, especially in the web design industry. Typically web developers are some of the worst service minded people and thousands of people that have tried to build a website can relate to that statement, unless you got one through us of course. But the real point here is that we don’t want to live by that “customer is always right” term, we want to live by “let us impress you but let’s keep it fair” mentality.

“The customer is always right” today means “my god, please don’t charge back or I will lose my merchant account.” Now many of you might be like, OK, what the heck are you guys over at Dreamco Design talking about? NO we didn’t have a bad experience, and YES, our merchant will brag about how amazing our track record is. What I am talking about here is that statement in general, not just in the web design industry.

Most people don’t know about it, but by simply flipping over your credit card and calling that number on the back side, you can dispute anything that you have purchased. It doesn’t matter if it was a TV, a box of staples, a website, a bag of potatoes, or a tricycle. Basically most credit card companies just allow you to simply call them within a window of 90 and sometimes up to 160 days and just simply say “I am not happy, I want my money back” and the credit card company won’t even hesitate to argue with you.

Don’t believe me? Well, I am not urging you to try it. Some people still have morals and in my opinion this is out-right theft and taking advantage of someone but the fact of the matter is that you can make that simple call, and literally 9 times out of 10 you will have no issue at all. Don’t believe it? Look up merchant charge-back accounts and statements. Go apply for a merchant account and read the terms and conditions. American Express even ADVERTISES THAT YOU CAN CHARGE BACK! There was a commercial with Ellen in which she didn’t remember if she purchased 1 or 2 socks so she was just going to call AMX to dispute a charge. Yes people, it is getting that ridiculous. The world of credit cards have such a dirty river of money running through them, they are permanently tainted the pretty colors they come printed in.

Why would the credit card company want to upset you. You might take your business and your high interest rates somewhere else and they wouldn’t make as much money from you! So you are probably wondering, what happens on the other side of the equation? Well, basically, merchants get flat out screwed. Even if someone disputed a credit card charge they did not recognize, then suddenly remembered what the charge was for and then called back to cancel the charge-back, the merchant that did the charge has a negative item on their merchant history and the money was deducted from their account for up to 75 days.

Can you imagine pulling up to your bank on a Thursday morning and you go to check your balance and it is $10,000 less because someone didn’t remember if they paid you or not so they called the bank. Then they called the bank back and said, oh yea, I remember, sorry, but then your $10,000 is gone for 3 months! Yup. That is what happens. Why do you think companies like WALMART will let you return a bike from 5 months ago with a flat tire and a bent frame? Do you think it is because they want everyone to be happy? No! It is because they cannot afford a charge back because they could lose their merchant account and the only thing that could put Wal-Mart out of business is if they couldn’t take payments anymore via credit card.

Just think about it. Think of the warming trend over the last 10 years. Over the span of the last 10 years more and more companies have turned to just a “bring it back and we will give you your $ back” mentality. The last 10 years have also seen more credit card growth and usage than ever before. The two go hand in hand. Merchants aren’t trying to always satisfy the client, they are trying to keep the credit card providers happy and it is sick but guess what, no one can do anything about it. The monopoly created by credit card companies is just as bad as some giant oil companies. You simply have no choice as a consumer or business owner unless you want to basically become a Mormon.

So what does all this mean? Morality and fairness need to fight back. “Treat others the way you want to be treated” has a better ring to it than “the customer is always right” in today’s day and age. If people would just smarten up and be fair the world would be a much better place, and not just with credit cards.

Categories: Web Design - Service
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Web Design & Development is actually quite a strange industry. With the technology field always changing and becoming more advanced, people are always trying to keep up. In the world of websites however, not too much has progressed over the last 10 years with the exception of animations in websites.

The web design industry is basically made up of the following…

Individuals who freelance websites for friends, family, or any jobs they can get.

Small companies that typically deal with a local market or perhaps limited service.

Overseas companies that bid on projects to be outsourced to them.

Large scale companies that specialize in domains, hosting, or other materials and have cookie cutter website structures.

There is a huge void in the world of web design and many feel that is where Dreamco Design comes into play. Our company is growing at an incredible rate and our client base ranges from local startup companies or contractors all the way up to top tier house-hold name businesses. We certainly have created a niche in the industry with some of our trade-secret approaches but we certainly see why many companies have attempted to do the same and have failed.

Websites are subjective. Period. Yes, they are technically “there” which makes them an OBJECT but they are subjective to opinion. A website might be built E X A C T L Y the way a customer asked for it to be designed, even with their provided text and images, but in the end, often times they just simply dislike it.

It is incredible when you look at the bigger picture. So many bright minds with so many great ideas, however, often times they are not always well thought through. As web developers we must take on a roll of flexibility to account for both change in design and change in business practices. With websites becoming more and more streamline for a company, we can often help dictate how that company is portrayed and what services they offer.

It is also unfortunate that the typical client does not understand the amount of work that goes into designing a site or a piece of programming for one. You would hope that design mockups, collecting content, ideas, and information would be enough but sometimes even after building the most beautiful website the answer is just simply “I don’t like it.” The worst part is, some clients won’t even tell you what they don’t like. This makes websites a subjective piece of material that has nothing to do with the objective behavior behind them.

On a good note, through the darkness of client disagreement on design there is a light at the end of the tunnel for web design companies and freelancers, long as they truly understand the customer they are working with and are willing to go the extra step. After all, if it is a custom site you are building, it most certainly is going to take a custom approach.

Categories: Web Designers Block
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