Refund? I don't think so...

[mazz]

In the interest of full disclosure, I did some nosing around and found Taxi's refund policy. It seems to be pretty clear cut that it's one year for the FIRST year:

"Money Back
Full Year Guarantee

We're so confident that you'll love belonging to TAXI, that we'll shoulder the risk. If you think that our Industry Listings aren't the best you've ever seen, we'll refund your membership fee in full. If you don't think our feedback helps you improve your music, ditto. And the same goes for our unmatched customer service. If you call with a question or a problem and you're not greeted by one of the friendliest, most helpful people you've ever met at any business, we'll refund your membership fee.

And that's not a 30-day guarantee. It's a Full, One-Year Guarantee. Yes, you read that correctly! We give you a full year to make sure you're happy with our listings, feedback and customer service. And if you're not, mail a letter telling us why you're not and we'll refund your first year's membership fee.

For obvious reasons we can't guarantee you'll get a deal through TAXI or that your music will be forwarded. That depends on the music you pitch and how well you target those pitches. This guarantee applies only to the first year membership fee and does not include renewals or any additional/upgraded services offered by TAXI.

We regret that we can't give refunds based on financial difficulties, the inability to dedicate the appropriate time to writing and pitching your music through TAXI, outside success, the quality of your recordings or becoming discouraged if your music isn't "there" yet. We're here to help you with that. And that's why we'd like you to use our service for a full year."



How many businesses do that these days?

Mazz

[japaneseprincess]

hmmm, Simon gives a good and interesting opinion from another angle.

BUT I don't think Taxi is the one that gets all the blame. they are doing their job as usual (i believe). trend changes and industry look for new things. we need to be flexible to accept that and try to aim for something what labels and publishers are after rather than doing what "we" think its hot and amazing.

limiting to just one category is not what Taxi asked Claire to do. there are lots of other opportunities outside country music that she may have been able to go for (which she has not been aware of), by collabing with other producers and writers.

if we limit ourselves, its easy to blame taxi for not being good enough to adjust to our needs.

my 1st year memebership is running out next week, i will be coming back to taxi restaurant for another year to experience different dishes i have not tried yet


taek

[k o star]

Mine just ran out but I'l be back soon when my $$$ rises for more Taxi Sushi Deluxe ^_^

K

[mazz]

It's not like the information isn't out there that the country nut is extremely hard to crack, or that Michael Laskow himself states that TAXI is the second best way to get heard, the first, of course, being what you can do yourself if you have a way to, and that TAXI is one tool in your career toolbox.

And the country market is pretty self-selecting and just by the nature of it, there will be fewer TAXI listings for that genre. An experienced writer like Claire should already be cognizant of that fact.

I don't think TAXI blows off it's repeat customers, the quality of the Road Rally is a testament to that, add to that the fact that Michael has a very hands on approach to running the business and making sure the quality of the service stays high, and I don't think that argument holds water.

But the fact is, you can't please everyone, it doesn't matter what business you're in, and since this is the music business that TAXI's engaging in, the percentage of "sense of entitlement" of their customers is probably much higher than in the convenience store business, for example.

I'm glad TAXI didn't fold on this, because it would just open the door to more disgruntled people to take advantage of TAXI's generally good nature.

Claire of all people should be painfully aware of the nature of the country business and I'm sure it's got to be an extremely frustrating path to take, but blaming others for one's lack of success in any endeavor just shows a lack of willingness to look in the mirror.

To echo the original thread title: Refund? I don't think so.

Mazz

[DesireeBowen]

Woah- well put Mazz!

[robbylane]

Mazz made the right move by posting the Taxi Guidelines to this forum.
The single-most important sentence reads as follows:

"This guarantee applies only to the first year membership fee and does not include renewals or any additional/upgraded services offered by TAXI."

This was worth posting so that EVERYONE (newbies and classic members) have an understanding of how the Taxi Refund Policy works and applies. This also serves as a lesson for signing contracts...as in, pay attention to the details. If ever there are details of ANY contract that you cannot understand or comprehend, take it to an attorney who can explain it to you, rather than you sign your life away!
For anyone who would like to learn more about the consequences of signing bad contracts or hiring the wrong manager, I encourage you to go to Youtube and type in "Badfinger Behind the Music". Badfinger was the first band who got signed by the Beatles to their Apple Records label. Their story went from potentially-awesome...to tragic. I encourage all Taxi members to take 45 minutes of their time and watch that story on Youtube. There are lessons to be learned.

Robby