Buyer purchases 2 brand-name items from me. 1 is a BIN & 1 is an auction. (One is a perfume compact - the other a refill for it). The purchases are two weeks apart. I ship the refill first (it closed 1st on auction) and then 2 weeks later, I ship the EXPENSIVE perfume compact. Now mind you - I'm a small seller - one woman business and only have 6 of the compacts. I shipped all but one out the same day. My inventory and physical count agrees ( and I have the delivery confirmation numbers for ALL the Compacts ) .... 3 weeks pass - the buyer writes, telling me she received another refill, but not the EXPENSIVE compact. How could that be I ask myself?? I'm the ONLY HUMAN LIVING HERE and the only shmuck packing small boxes all day So....I asked her to do me a favor and, at my expense, return BOTH the refills she received (to prove that she actually DID recieve two refills instead of one refill & one EXPENSIVE compact) She agrees and then suddenly her package arrives with only ONE refill in it - and it was not in the original packaging but put inside a flimsy Greeting card, which was bent and therefore the ONE refill she returned has been smashed and is unsaleable. WHY the happy greeting card??..... you can guess, I'm sure.
So - I write her, telling her that both refills were not there and the one was damaged. She responded with smiley faces and asked when her EXPENSIVE compact would be sent out. I professionally voiced my concern about her ignoring the agreed upon return method which...she promptly ignored.
I then shipped her a NEW EXPENSIVE compact, because after all...our customers are important, aren't they?
Three days later, AFTER her (2nd) compact was shipped and the delivery confirmation number forwarded to her via eMail - she leaves me a NEG ~! Stating that she STILL hasn't received the right product...
agggghhhhhhhhhhh............
I know this has been discussed before but why in the H_ _ _ doesn't eBay have some method of removing unwarranted, blatantly untrue feedback? And how would you have handled this kind of customer?? Perhaps I shouldn't have given in....after all...all those years in college taught me how to count to 6, but not how to deal with insane customers.
posted on July 12, 2004 11:17:10 PM
The only thing you did wrong was to ship that second compact. Yes, customers are important and worth going the extra yard for. Scam artists are not important, and need to be dealt with on their level. The first email from her about the mixed up shipment should have tipped you off. The return of the single refill instead of both should have been a red flag. At that point you should have refused to deal with her further, which would have earned you a neg. Or you could have come here and asked for opinions on how to word a reply that in essence tells her to pizz up a rope and given her that response, which would also earn you a neg. But it would be a lot easier to live with
A $75.00 solid state device will always blow first to protect a 25 cent fuse ~ Murphy's Law
posted on July 12, 2004 11:19:01 PM
When you received only one refill it was a dead give away that she was lying. I would have insisted she send "both" which obviously she couldn't do.
Then:
I would not have sent her another expensive compact, but I would have sent the improperly packaged damaged refill back to her & wished her a long happy life & then block her from bidding.
You have proof of mailing & you know your inventory & yes, you shouldn't have given in.
How to deal with insane customers. When they don't do as asked to resolve a problem.....
Ignore them, don't be taken by them.
I'm really feel bad to see something like this happen to you & boy was I sorry to see that you gave in & look at what you got for your kindness, a neg.
posted on July 12, 2004 11:21:09 PM
Tx Sparkz ~
You're right - the neg would've been easier to live with allbeit I did manage to jot off a simplistic but effective "shame on you" eMail to her.
~ Learning kinesthetically is such fun
posted on July 13, 2004 01:18:21 AM
A bidder others here might want to block. Someone tell us the acceptable posting method for leading us there. The auction number seems easiest. God bless you, Lorelei.
posted on July 13, 2004 03:46:02 AM
It's getting worse and eBay seems very disinterested in it all. Why should they really care? They have their money.
I hasve friends who work at K-Mart, WalMart and Cosco. Guess which company has the least amount of problems with theft, returns of items clearly broken by the customer, etc.? Cosco. My theory is that because you have to pay to join, you attract a better type of customer. My question is why couldn't eBay be a Cosco? $39.95 a year to join. The money could go into an insurance fund to cover the losses of sellers who are ripped off by people paying, receiving and then reversing. We as sellers could pay a VERY small insurance fee (say 5 cents per listing that we'd like insured against theft). I would rather deal with bidders who were willing to pay for the service than those who just sign up to rip off. Having to "join" would cut down on the NPBs, I'm sure. At least those who join to deliberately wreck havoc. It may not be the brightest of ideas (give me a break it's 6:45 a.m.), but it's JMO.
There are no safeguards in place for sellers at all.
posted on July 13, 2004 04:14:59 AM
Cheryl; those are some really good ideas and I would think worth exploring. {wonder if ebay's thought of it and since nixed it though?]
You know the old adage, no one appreciates things that are free. When we offered free alternative therapies to people who had no insurance, we had no-show after no-show for the appointments. Once we scrapped the program and made them pay even $10 per therapy, the no-shows were greatly reduced. The thinking is that when something is free it isn't as good as things that cost money. Why not with eBay? $39.95 was just a figure I threw out there. By having to pay to use the service, you are apt to draw a more serious buying crowd. Since it's free, you attract everyone. By charging, people are seeing that there has been a value assigned the service.
I don't know if eBay has looked into this. I couldn't imagine them scrapping such an idea since it would only bring them income. Sadly, it takes more than a force of one to convince eBay of anything.
posted on July 13, 2004 05:41:36 AM
yes, i definitely agree with your theories about free vs. paying and the type of clientele each attracts.
But I would think ebay would have a big loss in terms of "surfers" and potential customers. The whole open market type of thing gets lost on that precept - doesnt it?
I dont really know. I dont have the kind of business acumen to really figure it out. But that would be my guess why ebay wouldn't do it.
....btw, costo pays their employees better than most and their CEO only earns 350k in comparision to most CEO's in the millions.
They are very steady. Wonder if that has anything to do with it? (I dont go there, but I do have a sams membership - which I hardly use because everything is so much in bulk and I have no room to store it.)
How is your web-site doing Cheryl? I need to do something more than ebay I think.
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edited for spelling before bob 9899 wants a fight for it lol
[ edited by neroter12 on Jul 13, 2004 05:47 AM ]
posted on July 13, 2004 06:23:20 AM
I agree that Ebay has probably already looked at the idea. They likely decided that they'd lose more business by alienating people than additional income it would generate. Oh - but that hasn't stopped them before has it?
Oh yeah, I forget, they don't care if sellers leave. Heaven forbid they lose any buyers, even undesirable ones. After all, Ebay is never hurt by bad buyers. Only the sellers are.
posted on July 13, 2004 08:00:57 AM
I think having a member fee is a fantastic idea! ebay could tweak it to make it work. People could surf all they want but when they decide to bid, they would have to become a "member" and pay a fee. Maybe it could be designed in such a way so that the fee would be applied against your first auction; the fee is $25.00, your first item won is $30.00, you only pay $5.00. Or maybe a fee on a graduated scale to encourage bidders to spend more. If you spend or sell over $1000.00 per year, no fee. I think it would help get rid ofat least some of the troublemakers.
So....I asked her to do me a favor and, at my expense, return BOTH the refills she received (to prove that she actually DID recieve two refills instead of one refill & one EXPENSIVE compact) She agrees and then suddenly her package arrives with only ONE refill in it - and it was not in the original packaging but put inside a flimsy Greeting card, which was bent and therefore the ONE refill she returned has been smashed and is unsaleable. WHY the happy greeting card??..... you can guess, I'm sure.
