Early this year, a fan asked Bill Zebub to try Gumroad, which was a site some indie directors used as a means for fans to download movie files. The initial test was a success despite the interface being primitive, counterintuitive, and almost impossible to find some answers.

It didn’t take long for Bill Zebub to receive emails that claimed to be from gumroad despite the sender’s email not being from gumroad, being from “iffy” something or other.

Bill Zebub combed through the dashboard and found no notifications, and fans still were able to buy downloads.

As an added measure of security, Bill Zebub found a customer service address and emailed what happened. He received three different emails back that seemed to be written by AI. One of them described what phishing was. Duh. One of them described what to do when phished. Duh. One of them gave instructions about how to find messages in the dashboard, but only in a cursory way that really meant nothing. It was like being told to go find notification in the dashboard, but there is no such entry.

A sensible person would think that the emails warning of suspension were phishing attempts, especially because no errors or notifications were in the dashboard, and the emails were not from gumroad. Bill Zebub googled “iffy” and you can too. Could gumroad really not have any humans working there and just use AI to send erroneous and misleading emails?

While Bill Zebub was on a filming trip over a thousand miles from his computer, his account was suspended, unknown to him. When he returned, he found emails from fans asking why they can’t continue with checkout. Bill suggested they ask customer service. He assumed the primitive and counterintuitive interface sure was to blame.

On a whim, he emailed the support email of gumroad to ask if his account was frozen. Her received three emails, all by AI, with contradictory answers. Only one email stated that his account was suspended, and it had a link to appeal the decision.

Bill Zebub’s movie “Crippled by Desire” was flagged. In the appeals box on the primitive interface, Bill Zebub simply wrote that all movies were widely distributed and that the movie in question was part of the SERIAL KILLER COLLECTION Bluray sold at major retailers, and links to the movie on those sites were provided.

Bill instantly received an email with a scripted message that, due to repeated offenses, the account is permanently deleted.

Fans hated the site, and Bill Zebub should have listened to them. The only reason why gumroad was tested was because it is good business practice not to put all eggs in one basket.

The reason for this post is to warn people that gumroad is a site that doesn’t seem to be run by people. When you ask a question via email, you will get the equivalent of reading a Chinese fortune cookie. Buyer beware.