ConvertKit Had Bad Support — Here’s Why I Recommend Them Anyway: Part 3 of the Considering Kit series

Click here if you missed parts of the Considering Kit series

If you cancelled ConvertKit back in 2016, you were in for a nasty surprise. Users back in the day took to Reddit,Twitter, and Slack groups, complaining about the multi-step cancellation processes, strict no-refund policy, slow response times – and even charges post-cancellation. 

Tagline shmagline – you could say you’re “for Creators” all you want, but if you’re taking to black hat business practices, you aren’t exactly living up to your promise. 

So why in the world did I feel confident switching to Kit – or becoming an affiliate and risking my reputation by recommending them? 

Four reasons:

#1: The old complaints? Mostly refund-related — and kind of expected.

The complaints that I saw back in the height of the bad press were all about the strict no-refund policy. I’d seen a handful of peers complaining that they’d purchased an annual plan, cancelled mid-way through the year, and were refused a pro-rated refund. 

Honestly, I was surprised at those complaints. Isn’t that the whole point of annual plan discounts? And why companies offer monthly plans? 

So I was able to approach my considerations with an emotional grain of salt, even when I saw much worse complaints when researching their support quality, 

#2: I’ve worked with startups. These were growing pains, not red flags.

Having worked with a number of start ups, I’m familiar with these kinds of growing pains. Because, yes, that’s exactly what they were. One startup I worked with was run by the most meticulously honest guy – and yet he implemented a not-customer-focused practice when he added a self-serve tier. He needed the cash flow, everyone else was doing it, everything followed the letter of the law… it was hard not to fall prey to  rationalization, even though it didn’t fit his usual operating ethos. 

Nathan Barry, Kit’s founder, has been building in public since its inception, and has always seemed genuinely interested in serving his cusotmers. 

#3: I care more about how a company responds than whether they mess up.

To that end, I’m not out to find vendors who never make mistakes, but instead those who own up to mistakes. 

I once hired a subcontractor who dropped off the planet halfway through the project. She actually had a good excuse – but she didn’t tell me what happened, nor was she apologetic. Contrast that with a subcontractor who I hired multiple times who wasn’t perfect about deadlines, but had an innate sense of commitment and responsibility – and worked to fix things when she messed up. 

By 2018, Kit dropped the cancellation hoops, sped up support times, and were super upfront about their policies. Sure, you can say they just didn’t like the bad press, but there are tens of thousands of businesses who retain their black hat practices despite all the social venting – because, yes, you actually can get away with it. 

#4:  I tested them myself — and support today is actually great.

So, that was pre-joining. 

Once I joined, I saw that I made the right calculations. The live agents are responsive – and seem genuinely interested in being helpful. More importantly, they feel a sense of responsibility to bring each ticket to an actual resolution. Sadly, that hasn’t been my experience with a whole bunch of other tech. 

Whew, okay. That wraps up this post. 

Now the post you’ve been waiting for: Features I love about Kit. 

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