Now that we know what Webster considered a claim refund, let us examine what many Internet marketers think of as a scam; because, I think there is a difference of opinion on this topic. After spending many years in forums devoted to the subject of scams, it appears that most think a program, company, or business opportunity is a scam if they do not make money with it. It seems to me that that is the only real requisite for being able to cry scam online.
However, just because a person fails to build a network marketing business, online or off, doesn’t make the opportunity/program a scam. It may simply mean that the person who failed, didn’t do something right, or work hard enough, or at all for that matter. So many think they can sign up for a program and money will just roll in. When it doesn’t happen that way, rather than look to themselves for the failure, it is easier to cry scam on the company.
As for the thought of money for nothing, some would blame the marketers, for leading them to believe that it is possible to amass huge quantities of cash for doing absolutely nothing. However, they really can’t blame anyone but themselves, because they were stupid enough to fall for it.
Think about this: Say a person buys a TrueValue(TM) franchise, but does not advertise the business, or does not promote it enough in the right places, and they lose their shirt, file for bankruptcy, etc.. Does that give them the right to call TrueValue(TM) a scam Certainly not.
Or say that someone orders a product from a mail order catalog, and the billing gets screwed up; say the person was charged twice… Does that mean the mail order company is a scam? No it does not. Paperwork errors happen, and data entry, since it requires human interaction, is not perfect either. In other words… Stuff happens.
If the policies and procedures are not to one’s liking, that is not a reason to cry foul either. The company has the right to establish policy at their discretion, within the confines of the law. If the policy breaks the law, then either the company has a poor legal team, or it could very well be a scam.