FACE-TO-FACE conversation unfolds slowly. It teaches patience. When we communicate on our digital devices, we learn different habits. As we ramp up the volume and velocity of online connections, we start to expect faster answers. To get these, we ask one another simpler questions; we dumb down our communications, even on the most important matters. It is as though we have all put ourselves on cable news.

• John J. Thompson at ThinkChristian reviews Blue Like Jazz, which premiered last night at the South By Southwest film festival, and says it is no Courageous (read Blue Like Jazz, not like Courageous).
• Mike Cope (PreacherMike) reviews Higher Ground and compares the movie to the seasons of his own faith journey (read Higher Ground).
• Euangelion’s Joel Willitts says that “Love the sinner, hate the sin” is “is one of the most unbiblical ideas I’ve ever heard” and undercuts the radical nature of God’s love (read The Myth of “Love the Sinner, Hate the Sin”).
• Michael Kruse (Kruse Kronicle) has started a series of posts about how the Church fails business people (read How the Church Fails Business People – 1, How the Church Fails Business People – 2, and How the Church Fails Business People – 3).

In the first case, the product was actually a web service that offered unlimited backup space at an inexpensive price. After I signed up and paid, it was revealed that many of the “features” that were prominently advertised in connection with the service came at an extra price. The net effect was that the inexpensive backup service would end up costing as much or more than the service I was currently using (albeit with “unlimited” space).

So, I requested a refund and explained why I was doing so. Customer service/retention dangled several offers to dissuade me from cancelling but I politely declined. After a couple of days of this going back-and-forth, a refund was promised within 7-10 business days. After a dozen business days and no sign of a refund, I sent a brief email that said if there wasn’t a credit to my PayPal account in the next 48 hours, I would be filing a dispute. Less than 20 minutes later PayPal informed me that my account had been credited.

In the second case, I confirmed via email that I had 30 days to get my money back if the product didn’t work for me. It didn’t and after requesting help in the customer support forum and receiving no reply after 48 hours I requested a refund. A tech exchanged a few emails with me about the matter but after providing the info he requested I haven’t heard back from him. So, I reiterated my request for a refund. I’ve been told a request has been sent to PayPal but four days later nothing has shown up in my account. I will give them another few days before I make my third request.

The third case demonstrates how such matters should be handled. After downloading and installing a piece of software, I decided, even though it worked fine, it wasn’t what I needed. I found a refund request form on the website, filled it out, and had a refund credited to my PayPal account within 10 minutes of submitting the form. That was truly “Money Back Guaranteed!”

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