Ebook Theft - It Really Happens! (Part 2)

I promised that I would keep you updated on the situation with the ebook author who hired an attorney to send a cease and desist letter to the party that was unlawfully distributing copies of her ebook (See the original post Ebook Theft - It Really Happens!) The author has informed me that the offending party is being cooperative and communicating with her attorney. In addition, per the attorney's request, they are compiling an accounting of how many of her ebooks they distributed. The offending party has expressed an interest in entering an licensing agreement with the author in order to lawfully distribute her ebooks in the future.

Hopefully, the final outcome will be a positive one for the ebook author! I'll let you know if I get any more updates.

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Stop Charging My Credit Card!

I have had several potential customers email me about their hesitation to have their credit card billed on a monthly basis. Seems that they've had bad experiences with subscription services in the past when they've tried to cancel. I can completely relate to how these people feel since I recently had problems with cancelling an online subscription account myself. Let me briefly tell you my story.

I had a membership to an online fitness club where my credit card was billed every three months. It was for an online support system that offered the ability to form groups with people that are doing the same workout program as yourself, communicate with personal trainers and coaches and get healthy recipes and fitness tips. I had the membership for about a year and simply wasn't using it. I'm pretty self-motivated and independent and have been working out six days a week for over two years and have worked hard to form good eating habits. Seeing that I wasn't benefiting from my membership, I decided to cancel it.

I sent the company an email on 4/15/07 and asked them to cancel my membership. They responded on 4/17/07 and stated that my membership was cancelled. I was pleased that I had received such a quick response and thought no more of it.

On 5/16/07, nearly a month later, I logged into my credit card account to pay my bill online and much to my dismay, there was a charge on 5/4/07 from that very company for the 3-month subscription. Needless to say, I was upset and sent them another email that same day explaining the situation and asking them to please refund my money and verify my subscription was cancelled.

I waited almost an entire week with no response. On 5/22/07, I sent them another email (a bit of a rude one to be honest with you), and got a response the next day. It appeared I was in luck! I got a customer service rep who seemed eager to communicate with me and get things cleared things up. She assured me that I would be credited for the amount charged on 5/4/07 and my account would be cancelled. As of today however, I still have not been credited. *sigh*

My point in telling you this is to say that I understand your hesitation! No one wants to have to deal with a situation like this. It's frustrating and it's downright bad customer service.

I want my customers to know that if they ever want to cancel their account - regardless of the reason - it will be taken care of immediately. I respect my customers and I strive to treat them the way I personally desire to be treated. I believe that treating customers fairly, honestly, and respectfully should be every business' top priority.

If there is ever anything I can do for you, please don't hesitate to let me know. I would love to hear from you!

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Ebook Theft - It Really Happens!

I recently came into contact with an ebook author who found out in a round about way that copies of her ebooks were being given away without her permission. (To protect her privacy, I won't be mentioning her name or giving out any information that could reveal her identity.) When the author found out about her ebooks being unlawfully distributed, she immediately contacted an intellectual property rights attorney in the state where the offense occurred to find out what her options for recourse were.

The attorney's response was that he could write a cease and desist letter... and that to do the necessary research, compile the letter and follow up would cost approximately $2,000.00 US. If they ended up going to court, the cost could easily add up to $15,000.00 - $20,000.00 US(!) There would be no guarantee that the ebook author would be able to recover any of her legal fees or be rewarded any settlement money.

Because the ebook author had no idea how many copies were given away, it was a difficult decision for her to make as to whether spending the money for legal representation was worth it or not. In the end, she decided to go ahead and pay the $2,000.00 US to have the attorney do the cease and desist letter with hopes that she would be able to reach a settlement with the offending party without going to court.

I am not telling you this in order to use it as a scare tactic, but to show you that ebook theft is something that really happens. Thieves take advantage of the fact that they will probably get away with unlawfully distributing copies of ebooks because the legal fees are too costly for most small business owners to take legal action.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. I'll keep you posted!

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