Last week we got an e-mail from Paypal saying that some dude who bought The Husband’s Guide to Getting Lucky wanted his $2.99 back. He claimed that the transaction was unauthorized. Why someone would hack into someone else’s paypal account and buy a $3 e-book is beyond me, but we gave him his money back (even though he couldn’t exactly return the book).
Whatever.
The next day I got an e-mail from a sweet gal who had heard about the e-book from one of my relatives and decided to buy it for her husband. She thought he would appreciate the fact that she was thinking of him, and at the sweet price of $2.99 didn’t feel the need to discuss the purchase beforehand.
In the checkout process, I noticed that I could pay with Paypal, so I opted to do that. My husband is the one who normally uses it and it is tied to his email. About 30 minutes after I purchased the book I thought that maybe I should send him an email and let him know what I had done. He wasn’t home at the time. So I sent the email and left for a meeting at church, with a smile on my face thinking about his reaction.
A few hours later on my way home I had a voicemail from him. Instead of the cheery, thankful call I was expecting, it was more of a panicked, annoyed and extremely frustrated message that I received. You see, he just happened to be checking his email when the paypal notice came through. He knew he hadn’t purchased anything about “getting lucky” and he seriously thought his account had been hacked to purchase porn. He completely panicked and went into protection mode. He submitted an unauthorized payment dispute and began the process of changing passwords on paypal, emails, etc. AFTER he had done all of this he received the email from me about my purchase. Needless to say, my intended thoughtful gesture resulted in a lot of anxiety and frustration and we ended up spending an evening crying and talking, not “getting lucky.”
This is not your fault in any way. But maybe your website could say something warning wives to let their husband know BEFORE they purchase the book. I’d hate for another couple to have to go through what we did. I thought you might enjoy this story. We are definitely back on speaking terms and I’m sure someday we will laugh about this… but it was a rather painful experience. My good intentions were met with poor timing and caused a disaster. I cannot fault him for reacting the way he did; he was trying to save our bank account. He did try to call me but I was in that meeting. He canceled the claim with Paypal but I’m not sure if the payment went through our not. Maybe we owe you $2.99? Let me know.
I offered my sincerest apologies and told her to keep the free e-book for their troubles.
Thanks Marla. Yeah, it was pretty bad. How can two people’s good intentions cause such a mess? I guess it is a funny story though. We’re fine now. Sorry for all the trouble. It sure wasn’t your fault. At least I can be very thankful that his defense against porn is pretty strong!
The moral of the story? Wives, go buy the book for your husband. If he gets upset, you could get it for FREE. If he doesn’t, you just helped us get to Cambodia (all proceeds from the e-book go toward our family trip in December).
Three more things:
1. Gabe and I are working on a little project for the book. If you’re a husband who read it and you’d be willing to send us a photo of yourself (we’ll give you the details–it’s all squeaky clean, I promise), e-mail me here. You could totally be famous.
2. From now through Friday at midnight, buy Is That All He Thinks About? and get The Husband’s Guide to Getting Lucky FREE. AND a copy of either Blushing Bride or Changing Your World. So, buy one book, get TWO FREE.
3. There’s still time to win one of SIX copies of Zealous Love.
Have a great Thursday, friends!
