Ryan O.

I'm trying to start a consulting business, but I'm not loaded with money, just knowledge and a talented team and we'd like to at least secure our name and imagery. I'm sure your actual services are great, obviously you have five star reviews everywhere.

However, I'm extremely unimpressed with the Dark Patterns used on your website (https://www.darkpatterns.org/types-of-dark-pattern/sneak-into-basket). I know it's not a full "sneak into basket" dark pattern, but it's similar because I didn't see any mention of the additional federal charges to come at least mentioned in my basket -- I reviewed my purchase for $69.00 (Trademark Reg), $59.00 (Certified Copy add-on), and $99 (Statement of Use add-on) and expected those to be my final totals. Three days later, I got 3x charges of 350 (explanations in billing records) + an additional 59 (no explanation) and 69 dollar charge (no explanation). When I spoke to customer service, they explained there is a note that says the government will also charge 350 per item -- I missed this and I'll take the blame for that, but I didn't see it in plain sight either. Not all end users are slow paced. When I suddenly get a message from my credit card company saying a "purchase was declined for 350" I become very upset. Most end users are in a hurry because they don't want to spend a lot of time on a website to buy a product, so make sure these charges are visible at the end, even if they won't be charged today.

My other complaint is how you handle the add-ons. I recall there was no way to "go back" or "undo" after selecting an addon, you just had to keep going through until you finished. I view this as a dark pattern as well and it takes advantage of users without giving them an option to immediately undo their choice, instead they have to wait to get to the cart. Or maybe it is there, but extremely hard to find... which is the point of a dark pattern.

I'll use Trademark Engine when some of these UX designs and content are updated. You do have a solid service, but terrible UX design choices destroy a good product.

Customer service is excellent, I will say that 5/5. But you get an instant 0/5 (1/5 in this case) if there is even a hint of bad UX design in your digital product.