These days, we are so divorced from the concept of barter and trade that we easily overlook that the entire customer/shop relationship is really just a specific type of trade. At the end of the day, we are all still bartering, still trading.
When someone buys something from a shop, they are trading one thing for another -- money for a product or service. In a sense, both parties are "Customers". This realiziation -- that both parties are customers -- had pretty much died by the late 20th century thanks to the rise of mass consumerism and retail businesses. The 20th century brought us the phrase "the customer is always right".
The 21st century, I suspect, will return people to the realization that being a customer is a two-way street. Anyone thinking differently need only look at the terms of service of World of Warcraft, for instance. In that, Blizzard can revoke your service at any time should you violate any of their rules.
WinCustomize operates much the same way. Not often, but occasionally, a user will aggravate us to the point where we'll forcibly refund them. Or looked at from another point of view, we demand a refund from the customer. That is, we demand they stop using our service and hand back the money they paid to use it.
Such an instance came up today and motivated me to write this. They believed, wrongly, that simply because they had purchased a WinCustomize subscription that they had the right to comment and post on the forums. That is not the case at all. When someone purchases a subscription they are trading money for a very specific set of services -- unlimited bandwidth use, a personal page, the skin browser, etc. Being able to post on the forums or make comments is related to one's user access (click on any profile and you will see that there is Access class and User Level. They are distinct.
This particular user had lost his posting priviledges due to repeated (and I mean REPEATED) instances of abusive behavior on the forums and news. He was in the process of getting back his access (we generally give second chances to users who have contributed to the various skin libraries here) when he started emailing us personally with various demands including removing all his skins/themes/etc. At which point he got his wish but lost his "second chance". And at that point, having tired of his personal attacks in email, I decided we'd "Refund" him his WC subscription and exile him so that we wouldn't have to deal with him.
The point being, being a customer is a two-way street. When you buy something, you are making a specific trade. Typically money for a very explicitly listed set of goods and or services. Too often, especially on-line, people think that their exchange of money implicitly gives them the right to behave rudely. Such is not the case. And just as a customer is inclined to demand a refund for payment towards a service if the provider is repeatedly rude to them, so to can the service provider terminate the relationship with the "customer".
