The Appstar Financial complaints played a major role in the work I do not because I was a victim directly but because it made it harder to market an outstanding company that didn’t deserve this kind of treatment. Appstar Financial has been and will probably always be upright in its business dealing. In fact, it never ran away from the complaints but faced them squarely in the eye and addressed them properly.
Too Much Emotions, Not Enough Hard Facts
Money, they say, is the root of all evil. In this case it may be true but in a lopsided way. A service in today’s business world will always come attached with a fee. It’s what pays for the overhead of a business. With Appstar Financial, every electronic transaction that makes use of its machine come with a service fee or fixed rate. Merchants who have initially agreed to these terms and then decide they would rather not pay it may very well be the scam. Yes, it’s harsh but fair.
It has been proven that having an electronic payment system in your website or land-based store will increase your sales by at least 3%, if not more. Part of that increased sales must go to paying the service fee or rental for the machine. Could it be that some of these business owners have suddenly become greedy?
On the other hand, there are a few who have legitimate complaints. These are the guys who don’t have to worry about a renegotiated business agreement or some kind of compromise. Companies like Appstar Financial will assume the cost if they are responsible; it is part of who they are.
How It Has Affected Business
Being a sales agent for electronic business systems, gossip like the Appstar Financial scam plays havoc with negotiations with and marketing to new clients. They have become more suspicious and wary. While being careful is a good thing, being downright accusative is another.
The
problem also is that these complaints have caused a minor setback in the
economy. This is because it has partially stalled what would have been smooth
sailing for the industry and small business owners. Keep in mind that small to
medium-sized business owners need as much help and leverage as possible to
compete with the large conglomerates.
Fake Complaints?
Did you know that there are quite a number of “entrepreneurs” whose business is to file fake complaints? They are more commonly called con artists or fraudsters and they are a growing industry especially with the convenience of the Internet. For instance, in 2012 alone, an official report from the FBI show that fake complaints or bogus messages are inundating the web more than ever before.
There are viruses, emails, fake callers, and complaints done in person to swindle a company out of money using a threat to reveal a problem in the business. For instance, there have been hundreds of cases of people calling in complaining about food poisoning after eating in a certain restaurant. This kind of news, if published, could spell doom and disaster for a restaurant regardless of whether it’s true or not. Naturally in almost all cases, the restaurant paid the complainant money to keep quiet. And it’s not just small to medium-sized companies that are being targeted. Companies like FedEx and insurance companies have reported similar cases.
In short, the cases of scams work both ways and this should give you reason enough to think twice whenever you read a report of a new scam. FedEx and other top companies have the resources to investigate such claims. Many restaurants and coffee shops don’t have that kind of advantage because they operate on a strict budget. Appstar Financial was fortunate to be in a position to delve deeper into the complaints although the process took a while and caused them to lose potential clients.
Fortunately, advanced technology and the tough competitive business environment dictate that a store should equip itself with as many features as possible to consummate a sale. Those who are “just looking around” might end up at the cashier because they have plastic cards while those who can’t use plastic may just walk out because they don’t have enough cash on them.
Its impulse buying that brings in more revenue than planned shopping trips or persons with a list. Infographics released a report last March that 40% of sales are from impulse buying. Furthermore, last year 80% of women made an impulse buying decision while 88% of shoppers impulsively bought something on sale even if they didn’t need it. One more shocking figure is that in the last quarter of 2010 which was the holiday season, impulse buying amounted to an estimated $4.2 trillion! Now you see how urgent it is to get an electronic payment system in your store? Appstar Financial complaints may have given the economy a hiccup for a few months but it certainly won’t be able to stop consumers from buying impulsively – mainly because there was too much hype and not enough solid evidence.
