posted on July 19, 2002 07:11:48 AM
I had an auction for a camera lens cap. The payment was received promptly, and I shipped the item promptly. Shortly afterwards, I received an e-mail from the bidder stating that the lens cap was broken. I do check my merchandise very carefully, but I realize that mistakes can happen. So, I sent him an e-mail asking him to send back the lens cap so that I could inspect it, and then I would send him another identical lens cap and re-imburse him for his postage (no reason for him to pay if the mistake was mine!).
Never got a response back from him, but today I got a letter in a standard envelope from him. The envelope had a letter in it describing the problem with the cap in detail. However, the cap was not inside! Upon inspecting the envelope, their was a tear in the side where the lens cap must have fallen out. There was no padding or cardboard to protect this from happening. It was just a standard envelope and one sheet of paper for the letter.
The question is... what do I do now??? I can't inspect the lens cap... it's lost somewhere in the USPS postal system. I can't return the item to my vendor to get re-imbursed either. Of course, I also know that the bidders going to be upset if I don't do something. Suggestions?? Thanks for your input!
posted on July 19, 2002 07:43:26 AM
if they were so concerned about the cap then they should have taken the time to ship it back correctly. if i was in your shoes i would not refund the money.
i have actually had a seller ship me my item in a padded envelope, which they had actually shipped nothing in it. what they had done was slice a hole in teh side of teh mailer large enough for the item to fall out and taped it up with priority mail tape. then blamed it on the post office. after coresponding with other buyers, the seller confessed to the scam.
i have no idea if this is what your buyer has done but id be very annoyed if my buyer sent my item back to me in such a lousely packaged manner.
posted on July 19, 2002 07:48:09 AM
how much is the lens worth? If it is inexpensive I would suck it up, send him a new one but not pay for return postage since you did not receive it back....sounds fair to me....
posted on July 19, 2002 08:23:58 AM
The buyer did mail the cap back to you so I would assume that it was damaged as he / she stated. To me its a small fire that needs to be put out at once. Send them a new cap plus their postage for "returning" the old one. You are not going make much profit on this deal, accept it and move on.
posted on July 19, 2002 11:14:36 AM
On the other hand, he may have kept your good lens and was going to mail you back his original broken lens. (The old switcheroo.) However, you screwed up his plan when you said you would send a new lens. Therefore, he concocted this scheme to make it look as if the lens fell out of the envelope.
Take a look at the postage on his envelope. Does it accurately reflect the weight of the lens plus the letter? If so, you can decide if it was indeed a PO error and give your buyer the benefit of the doubt. If it is only 37 cents, you'll know he didn't mail the lens with the letter.
Giving good customer service should not be confused with getting ripped off. Use your best judgment as to which situation this is, and go from there. Good luck.
