You get what you pay for.

You got more than you bar­gained for.

Ever notice that phrases like these mean some­thing neg­a­tive when on the face of it, they shouldn’t? You pay for some­thing, and you get it. Nat­u­rally. You bar­gain for some­thing, and get a lit­tle extra. Who wouldn’t be happy about that?

Yet these phrases don’t mean good things. These phrases mean there’s an unan­tic­i­pated short­fall in the deal, and you’ve been short­changed in one way or another.

Money-back guar­an­tee. In other words, if you don’t get what you’re sup­posed to, you can return it for a refund. This is your bare-minimum: both sides of the ledger bal­ance out, one way or the other. Dollar-for-dollar, equiv­a­lent value.