We deal with thieves and con artists very harshly at our company. That’s why we refuse to do business with folks from some countries. Now, the title of this post is not meant to qualify the person in question as (or imply that they are) a thief or con artist, but I would like to share a recent experience with a former client, so that others can make their own informed decision as to whether or not to do business with him.

There is a former client of ours by the name of Adam Palmer (adamsinfo dot com), a UK man who touts himself as a PHP programmer and website security consultant. He runs APNIC Solutions, or so he claims. The company’s website does not list him as being in charge, as of this morning. Based on information he provides on his sites, this company appears to have an office in a month-to-month office building that doesn’t seem to be fitting for a 7-figure company, in my opinion. More on that later.

He voluntarily ordered SEO and blog services from us, with the understanding that we would do all we could to get his SEO positions to where he wants to be, but no competent company can guarantee such results.

He was not happy with the results, and he expected his money back, thus implying, at least to me, that he wanted services for free. At no time did we make a money-back guarantee. It says very clearly in our terms of service that we do not offer refunds.

He agreed to those terms by ticking on the box when he signed up for his account, and a link to our terms was provided before he paid his invoice. He had two opportunities to read our terms of service, and indicated that he indeed had. It was clearly outlined that we do not offer refunds or guarantees.

Never mind the fact that he said he didn’t want a refund (Want to see the headers on that? Why sure!). He then opened a PayPal dispute that was for a tangible item, when only services were provided. Yep, he told PayPal that he ordered “software.” The dispute was decided in our favor.

Only after services were rendered did he open the dispute. Am I missing something here? Does he want us to work free of charge? I mean, really, I want to sleep with Emma Watson, but that isn’t going to happen either. When he signed up for an account on our billing platform, he agreed to our terms, which make it clear that there are no refunds, a policy designed to prevent us from being taken advantage of.