Regretful Purchases
Who doesn’t have a story they continue to tell about a regretful purchase? We usually hear people reference ‘Buyer’s Remorse’ when speaking about large purchases along the lines of homes and cars. However, this concept can apply to any purchase, all the way down to a $10 trinket.
You might think that once you get below a certain price level, you couldn’t possibly have any remorse. Well, think about the hoarder demographic. Those that just cannot bring themselves to throw away anything. That’s when you end up with regret over a tiny purchase. Because you eventually run out of space to store stuff. I have to deal with this, not because I’m a hoarder, but my wife is to an extent.
But let’s discuss the low-mid range purchases that can cause remorse. Those that don’t break the bank but still sting a little when the product turns out to be a dud. My ongoing experience in this department has been trying to find the best pair of Bluetooth Headphones geared towards exercise. I’ve been an avid fitness fanatic for the bulk of my life, and I love listening to music and podcasts. My drive to find a reliable pair of wireless headphones dates back over a decade.
A Personal Experience with Buyer’s Remorse
The Problem
It is kind of a funny story. I was training for a marathon in the dead of winter and would regularly have to run before sunrise. Worse still, in a town that wasn’t very runner-friendly. Due to the freezing cold wind chills and lack of running trails, I would settle for eight-mile runs on treadmills. Not fun and surprisingly not smart, as I would later find out the hard way. The gym had televisions lined up in front of the treadmills. And each treadmill had an audio jack you to plug your headphones in. That way, you could listen to a TV while running.
As you can imagine I would work up a pretty heavy sweat. And from time to time I would get a minor electric shock in one ear or the other, due to the sweat short circuiting the ear buds. Never a fun way to start the day. But I didn’t have a choice if I wanted to avoid silence.
The Regretful Purchase
My buyer’s remorse story happened when advertising got to me and I decided to upgrade to a pair of Bluetooth ear buds. They were super expensive but so cool! For example, they fit right into my ears and were almost impossible to shake out. In fact, they were also waterproof and could store songs if I wanted to swim laps in them. The sound was great when I tested them right out of the box and I could not wait for the next day’s sunrise where I would get to put them to the test of running.
The next morning came and I fired up my favorite play list, put the phone in my pocket and started my run. It wasn’t 15 seconds later that the sound began to cut out every 10 seconds or less. It drove me crazy! If my phone was not right next to my right ear bud, the quality was terrible. This was a major deal killer and it ended up taking me almost 4 months to get a refund for the purchase since I had already used them once.
Try to Avoid Buyer’s Remorse
My buyer’s remorse did not stem so much from the cost of the item, since I received a refund, but more so from the excitement I had having found such an amazing product. If the kind of money I spent on this product could not provide the user experience I was hoping for, then what is the point of continuing to look? This happened years ago, and I am aware that the technology has significantly improved. But I lost my drive to continue the hunt and eventually settled on the ‘”‘okay’ pair I’ve used for the better part of a decade.
All in all, buyer’s remorse does not have to stem from a several thousand dollar purchase of a lemon. It can also simply be a product that you were super excited about getting that never lived up to the hype. That is why we at VTR provide free CPE courses for you to ‘try before you buy’, allowing you to try them out before having to open up your wallet.
Article written by Vaughn Pourchot
Last updated March 14, 2023
