posted on November 17, 2001 01:41:26 PM
I signed up for the power plan on November 2nd, the one with no FVF - today I check my statement and I am being charged FVF - please fix this or tell me where I need to address this - I am definitely not having a good week with AW - I should have the monthly fee and then the launch fee - no FVF!!!!!
posted on November 17, 2001 04:12:59 PM
Hi Touchofeurope,
Were these auctions active when you switched plans? If so, they would fall under the plan that you had when you launched the auctions, not the plan you switched to after the auctions were launched
-Brian
Got Questions? Check out AuctionWatch.com\'s Customer Service center at http://www.auctionwatch.com/service
[ edited by BrianAW on Nov 17, 2001 04:14 PM ]
posted on November 17, 2001 05:04:37 PM
The first ones were active but not the second lot, the one that ended last week-end - they ended on the 11th and were launched on the 1st, the day I switched I think. Also, I was told that if they were active, they would not have FVF but only partial FVF, some kind of proration would apply since otherwise I would be paying the monthly fee and FVF for NOvember which didn't seem fair (according to Mike I believe)
posted on November 17, 2001 05:29:53 PM
Hi Touchofeurope,
Actually, I'm not sure how that is supposed to work, so let me get back to you on Monday. I don't want to tell you something that is incorrect. I have your email address, expect to hear from me first thing Monday.
posted on November 19, 2001 04:57:05 PM
So did they contact you touch? Just curious to see if their word was kept or you were just being brushed aside.
posted on November 19, 2001 05:40:20 PM
Lo and behold, they did. But I don't agree with the answer.
The plan was supposed to be available on the 1st but only became available very late. As a result, I was only able to switch late (about 6.30) which auctions were actively launching (200 of them I think). So half of them loose out which I think is really nitpicking. They should have simply said that if you switched on the 1st, you had the plan per the first at any time of the day. As it is they are second and tenth of a seconding me, (or nickel and diming, same difference) - so I am not really happy. I haven't been happy for a while with a lot of issues I have had - if I can find another venue to bulk launch with off-line capabilities, I'll be looking into it.
I like the AW service in principle, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired and I am having huge problems with photographs because of the number of pics we have online - guess AW can't handle very large volume sellers who need a lot of pictures (like us) - too bad.
posted on November 19, 2001 10:58:50 PM
touchofeurope,
I reread all of the correspondence related to your account difficulty. After all the work we (and I personally) did in getting these new plans out in response to our customer requests, I feel badly that a situation like this happens (and I wish we had pushed the plan changes earlier on the 1st of Nov). Your online billing statement is correct per our terms of service, and Greg did ask you very professionally in his e-mail to respond if you didn't agree:
"Now, all the final value fees I find after* this plan change are for auctions that listed *prior* to this plan change date. And the way our system works now, item final value fees are computed using the plan in
place for each auction, when that auction launches (this prevents certain forms of gaming against our system). So, the FVFs on your statement after your plan change are for auctions listed before your plan change.
In your particular case, however, since your items were actively launching at the moment you were making the change, this can appear a little ambiguous. Please review your statement in light of my comments above and let me know if you are dissatisfied with our approach.
Also, thank you for being diligent and bringing this to our attention. We work hard to perform accurate billing and anytime a question like this arises we take it very seriously."
I guess I wish you had just let us know that, "yea, that's probably technically correct, but I'm not happy with it, and if you hadn't noticed I'm a pretty big-time seller." Most people who have read my posts here know we try really hard to make things right. We would have so in this case, too, just as I have already done.
So here's what I've done. I reviewed your account history for the time period in question, going line by line and calculating your fees under both plans. By my calculation, during just this one day's launches, the new Power Plan Flat Rate would have saved you $26.82 over your existing plan (these are the auctions that were caught "in flight" ). While I'm not certain you'll stay with us despite these ongoing savings, I do at least want to make this situation right. If you check your e-mail and online statement you'll see that I have refunded your $39.95 subscription fee for this month as compensation for any ill will you have experienced. I hope this comes closer to meeting your initial expectations.
I've also been surfing around our site under your account ID to see if I can replicate your image hosting issues (obviously not launching any auctions or anything). While 10,000 images is a lot, I'm not experiencing any difficulties. We also have several hundred other customers with more images than that, so I'm not sure the issue you are seeing. Can you please write me an e-mail describing your difficulty? Thanks, and I wish you continued fortune in your online selling and all future endeavors.
Best,
Mike.
edited to eliminate unwanted " in the middle of a sentence . . ..
[ edited by meffle on Nov 19, 2001 11:01 PM ]
posted on November 20, 2001 08:32:44 AM
Hi Mike
Thanks for the post, I really appreciate your response and the refund. I really want to stay with AW since it makes my life easier when it works .
The issues I am having are with synchronizing. I prepare batches or just add pictures, and when I try to synch, if there are over 10,000 pictures, I get a 'bad response from server, please check your images online' message every time. If I delete a few pictures (about 100), I can usually get it to work, but it is causing problems since all the pictures up there are very current and recent. I even deleted the pictures from a relist by accident while trying to upload more.
I am not sure where the problem is. I am using a very powerful machine (Compaq laptop 2701, 1Ghz HD, 512 K ram, 30 GB harddrive). I am still using AMPro because I can't use BE (they only allow 4 pictures max per auction, we average 6-7 per auction and don't want to change our format since we need that number of pictures to adequately show details). If that problem can be resolved, I will be a very happy camper.
A lot of the issues have to do with the responsiveness when this started happening 10 days ago - I tried to synch for 3 days before I finally got help. I realize you have few staff members available on the week-end, but perhaps it would be better to change this. Most sellers launch on week-ends or evenings and support at that time, quickly! is essential.
I have a couple of suggestions that would help me use BE, I know I would love to be able to use it but only if it would be easier than AMPro and not have the limits that are currently in place. AMPro is generally good software, I just dread the synch bit every time!
I have no idea whether the synch issue can be solved, but any help you can give me would be appreciate. I am sorry if I come accros as irate a lot of the time, but I guess you know that you only hear from customers when they are having problems. In my case, juggling a full-time school schedule (I am a grad business student) and the amount we're doing on e-Bay is stressful and I don't need the extra problems.
in the middle of a sentence . . ..
.