Sold Down the Digital River
If there's one kind of product that ought to be easy to sell online, it's software. And maybe it would be if companies like online software distributor Digital River didn't make it so hard to just buy what you want. At least that's how one reader feels after trying in vain not to order Digital River's bogus "extended download" insurance while purchasing a BlackIce subscription renewal.
"Last night I
Follow @infoworldIf there's one kind of product that ought to be easy to sell online, it's software. And maybe it would be if companies like online software distributor Digital River didn't make it so hard to just buy what you want. At least that's how one reader feels after trying in vain not to order Digital River's bogus "extended download" insurance while purchasing a BlackIce subscription renewal.
"Last night I was home and on my music machine (a computer I have set up exclusively to deal with digital music and recording) and noticed that my Symantec Internet Security had expired," the reader wrote. "The company where I work just purchased 100 seats of Sophos AV and Sophos kindly allows a matching number of installations for a company's home users (you buy 100 for your company, Sophos gives you 100 more 'standalone' installs for home users). This is great policy and most welcome. I thought that I'd uninstall Symantec and install Sophos in its place, but this would leave me without a firewall. I have the BlackIce firewall from ISS, but that too had lapsed and so I decided to renew the product."
The reader went to the ISS website and purchased a renewal for BlackIce for $19.95. "When I hit the checkout button, there was an option box for an additional $6.99 already checked that prompted for download insurance, some goofy policy that allows a purchaser to re-download their purchase for up to one year. I cannot imagine why anyone would need to do this, but there it is. I unchecked the box and hit the 'update order' button to opt out of the insurance, and that appeared to do the trick. So I proceeded through the purchase, entering my personal data. That box popped up again, once more already filled in, obligating me to the additional $6.99. Once again I un-checked it, and again it looked like I could just pay #19.95. At the end of the purchase I was given a summary of my purchase and you can imagine what happened; I was charged the extra $6.99. At this point, it was a done turkey as I had made the purchase. I was livid and searched for somewhere to call or write to get this charge off my card."
