Is it too good to be true?

[Bronze_Palms]

As business owners, I feel like we have all been there - something that is too good to be true, likely is.

I purchased this veryyy expensive piece of equipment for my salon that was custom wrapped and had all the bells and whistles. It was okay until it wasn't - very messy, the wrap started to peel up and now it is just the metal frame it was wrapped on lol.

What have you signed up for or bought into that ended up being too good to be true?

[mpmpmp22]

Ah sorry to hear that @Bronze_Palms! Were you able to get this fixed or a refund?

I remember when I was consulting for a business, we were pitched this analytics software that was going to be a game-changer for how the company reported and all of the insights that it could attain. Their demos were great and it looked like it checked a lot of the boxes. However, once we signed up, we quickly realized that the product wasn't nearly as built out as we were told and it ended up not being that great to use!

@Pesso I feel like you would have some good stories here too!

[Candlestore]

@Bronze_Palms ;

I have Salespeople (no offense to non-people reading this) come in and pitch they have this or that POS that is great and can same me $$$$$ over Square.  They have more features and more apps to customize everything.  Better reports etc.  Was almost ready to switch then I ask.... can I use my Ipad.... not Squares Stand but my Ipad with their system How much do I need to spend for 'Their' System..... $5000 for 1 POS station.... cash today or can pay monthly.  NO WAY did that seem worth it.

i also have had Wax salespeople tell me their wax is the best.  I tried it in samples, they Smelled better, had less labor to make the candles but had no scent throw.  So I was glad I did not buy their sales pitch.  

[Pesso]

Thanks for kicking this off and sharing, @Bronze_Palms !

That's so crummy that happened and that you're left with an ugly metal frame when you paid so much for something custom and beautiful. Did you try reaching out to the company to remedy the situation?

My dad and I were always super skeptical with basically everything, so we luckily didn't have too many of these situations.

But during a renovation and remodel we spent a ton on new ice cream freezers with a new design that were supposed to be more efficient and easier to service. Of course, none of those ended up being true. They were much less efficient, generated a lot more heat, used a lot more electricity, were constantly breaking down, cost more to repair, and just overall a complete mess. Definitely not a good time, but we had to deal with it after all of the money we spent. 

[takeiteasy]

Very similar to what @mpmpmp22 has shared. I remember seeing the demo of promises and capabilities of new system that was introduced to the company I was working for, but the launch team failed to mentioned timeline (10 years).
There is no harm in having long term plan but the act of under promise over deliver works better than reverse of it.
Staff very quickly will be demotivated if changes are too many, complicated and doesn't match the promises. 

[Bronze_Palms]

I could not agree more - changes are very easy to make when you're independent. However, when you bring staff on, it gets more and more complicated and causes friction.

[Doran]

@Bronze_Palms I feel your pain!  This has happened to me twice.  The first was a total loss and the second the business was great at getting the machine fixed over and over.  But, the loss of revenue from people trying to book that service just to show up and the machine was down that day was frustrating!  I hope your situation gets remedied soon.  I hate the idea of a small business owner having to pay for a larger business's shadiness. 

[DinaLRosenberg]

Thankfully this hasn't happened to us- although there have been times where we have over bought a material b/c someone told us it was getting depleted, etc. and that didn't come to pass.

[Bronze_Palms]

Definitely been there - these days with affiliate links, I have a hard time discerning between what is of quality and what is simply being sold to me. I don't mind if it is both, though!