posted on December 31, 2001 05:19:20 AM new
This is a first for me....cant say I'm so much pissed off as I am totally amazed at some people. Sold a breakable item for $78 dollars at the beginning of Dec. Left positive feedback for the Doctor who bought it because he answered emails and sent payment quickly. 3 weeks after he receives item he emails me saying that the item was broken because of poor packing. He wants refund. I told him to take it to the post office, he said no because it wasn't the post offices fault it was mine for poor packing. I told him that I needed the post office to confirm that, and he said that he threw the box away and said he wants a refund. Threatened negative feedback (which by the way he did give me). We went back and forth in emails and him insisting that he will leave negative feedback and then he threatened me with contacting all my buyers from now on. Well guess what, on friday my auctions ended. I will copy and past what several of my buyers received from him, sorry this is so long.
posted on December 31, 2001 05:23:51 AM new
Here is what my first customer sent to me after I sent her winning bid notification: The following mail reached me. Do you have a problem?
Hello:
> :
> : I noticed that you bid on an item from auntjemima1. I received a
glassware
> item that was extremely poorly wrapped in spite of paying a high shipping
> charge. The item broke in transit because too little packing was placed
in the
> box and glassware items bounced against each other causing one item to
break.
> :
> : I contacted this seller and told her of the situation and she refused to
do
> anything about it other than suggest that I contact the P.O. I told the
seller
> that the P.O. does not reimburse for items that are too poorly packed,
that it
> was her fault the items broke, not the P.O. After repeated requests to
rectify
> the situation, she refused to correct this matter. In fact in her last
e-mail
> message, she told me that I should "go to Kmart and buy something off of
the
> shelf."
> :
> : I pass this message to you so that you are informed of this situation.
I
> suggest that you check out my feedback complaint of 12/27/01 and one from
Jess82
> from 8/30/01 on page 19 of the feedback on auntjemima1.
> :
> : From a caring Ebay buyer
I contacted safeharbor, and of course that is another story. They said that they can do nothing about email between people. I sent them their own rules where it says that contacting other people and interfering with auctions is an offense, I have not heard back from them. Need to drink some coffee, there is more to this story.
posted on December 31, 2001 05:34:01 AM new
I have now forwarded the email he has sent buyers to ebay. I also pulled contact info and called him.
Conversation went something like this:
Hello I am calling about the broken piece you received from auntjemima could you please tell me what the problem is so we can resolve this. He explains that the item was broken and that it was from poor packaging. I ask him if he worked for the post office, he said no, and then I ask how he can say it was from poor packaging, he insists that it was, and I said thats fine but I do not know you from adam and if in fact it was due to poor packaging I will need something stating that from the post office and will refund your money, he says again he threw away the box, and I said for all I know you could have taken it out and dropped it on the floor, it ended up being a pissing match in which he hung up on me.
Received another email stating that I am harrassing him and he will contact the police in my city to file a complaint if I call again. Anyone interested in seeing this newest email, let me know!
posted on December 31, 2001 05:55:14 AM new
If the package was insured at the PO he must go to the PO to place the claim.
If he threw out the box & claims poor packaging then he has know way to prove it.
You have tried to placate him & he still is acting like a small whiny child.
You have followed all the proper actions & he still left you negative feedback.
Not much else you can do.
I personally would set up a page with details on the whole situation & include a link in your repsonse to the negative he left.
I also would contact all the bidders he may have sent his email to & explain the situation to them.
You may also want to include a statement on what proper steps he should have taken.
posted on December 31, 2001 07:27:56 AM new
Yes, lets see the next email...Keep all emails because maybe your ISP has rules against harrassing. I feel that this is harrassing. Next ask him if he would like you to sit outside his waiting room and talk with his patients as to what he is doing? That is about the same thing that he is doing. Do you have a friend that is a lawyer? If so ask them to write you a letter to this person so that it looks like you have gotten yourself some legal council and go from there. So you got a negative, it just makes your page look colorful and I doubt if many people look anyway. I never look at a buyers feedback because most negs are retalliatory anyway. Why not in your About Me page write what happened and then refer your buyers to that page. There is always one bad apple that spoils the bunch. Good Luck and keep us posted.
posted on December 31, 2001 07:39:50 AM new
Here is his last message which I haven't responded too. Thank you for all the advice. I do not mind the negative, and I told him so, as you can see he reported that to ebay like it was a big deal or something. I followed all proper steps and was very cordial, in the beginning, but I am only human and this was totally ridiculous. Good Idea about asking him if he minded my sitting in his office and talking to his patients, and I will put a heads up on my ebay page! Thanx for all the advice, I was not saying I didn't poorly package the item, I just may have! I try hard to package my items very carefully but they do slip through, the item was definitely insured.
Ms. XXXX:
>
> I wish to have no further contact from you
If I receive any further harassing telephone calls or
> e-mail messages from you , I will file a complaint with the
> Police department in York Pennsylvania. I have filed a complaint with
> Ebay and forwarded the text of the last e-mail message that I received
> wherein you indicated that negative feedback of little concern to you.
> I suspect that Ebay Support will not appreciate that statement.
>
> It is unnecessary for you to respond to this e-mail message. As a
> reasonable person, I always forewarn people before being forced to take
> punitive action. You have now been forewarned regarding discontinuation
> of harassing correspondence directed towards me.
>
> XXXXX>
posted on December 31, 2001 07:50:39 AM new
Wow! I am sure the police in York Penna are just sitting around waiting for this. Can you believe that. I forgot to say that I have a friend who collects certain dishes and she bid on a whole set because she wanted the serving pieces $60.00. She won, well when they came there were all broke but one. There was little packaging around them like news paper but she did bring them to the USPS and they did pay her for them and she didn't even have the insurance slip because the seller wouldn't send it. She had to start the process because the seller wouldn't answer her. But she did get her money back and that was really poor packaging. You have some great feed back and I wouldn't worry about it any more. The only thing is that if he still contacts your buyers that is auction interference and ebay needs to stand up for their rules. Since he doesn't want any contact with you he better not have any contact with your buyers. Good Luck
posted on December 31, 2001 07:57:45 AM new
auntjemima, was this package insured with the USPS? You never stated if it was insured, because if it wasn't, the USPS wouldn't do anything for him anyway. If the buyer didn't spring for the insurance, I always cover it when it's a pricy fragile item (I just don't go stating it in my TOS since obviously everybody would take advantage of it).
I should think Safeharbor would consider this to be auction interference. If that isn't interference, I don't know what is.
You may as well not respond to his last email. Not because that's what he's demanding, but because it doesn't deserve the dignity of a response.
posted on December 31, 2001 08:07:25 AM new
holdenrex-I do the same thing with packages. If the buyer elects NOT to insure and it is a high ticket item I put insurance on it but I never tell them. They never know until they receive the package. That protects me from harrassment. It also protects sellers from buyers saying they did not receive the package. It's not that I don't trust people it is just being careful. Happy New Year
posted on December 31, 2001 08:12:47 AM new
I absolutely insure all items, even if the buyer does not pay for it, I fork it out. And this item was insured. He is being so unreasonable, but I must say when he made a comment in his email about Ebay not liking my comment about not caring about a negative, like I was paying homage to the devil! Oh well, I pretty much decided not to respond, it wouldn't be a pleasant response anyway, and who knows, this guy just may be a walking time bomb, thank heavens hes not my doctor!
posted on December 31, 2001 08:13:34 AM new
we have run into this twice recently with buyers refusing to file with USPS for insurance becouse they have decide the packing was not acceptable
one did a paypal chargebck ,we had the paypal account locked up for 2 months while we fought it out with her finally just refunded her money to make her go away.
just had one the other day two broken plates ...she says items were wrapped in plastic bags only...yes they were in plastic bags but hey were also wrapped in bublewrap packed with penuts ect ect ....oh well I guess we will wind up refunding that one also
I am going to start self insuring ....charging usps rates but not buying insurance from them since buyers seem to think we should pay anyway
good luck........
spock here......
Live long and Prosper
Emailing buyers in an open or ended transaction to warn them away from a seller or item.
Send SafeHarbor a link to the page above, plus copies of the emails with headers. Try to get a copy of the original emails your customers received (have them forward you the email as an attachment) so you will have the headers intact. This is required by SafeHarbor to prove that the emails are valid. You can view the headers by opening the email and then selecting Properties from the File menu. Copy the headers and paste them at the top of the email(s), then send the whole thing to SafeHarbor. If you do that, they will stop the user.
posted on December 31, 2001 08:31:48 AM new
this doctor buyer of yours,sounds rather comical,he emailed your high bidders about how bad you are and then told them he has to GO DRINK SOME COFFEE !!!!!!will be back for more badmouthing i assume after he gets his shot of more caffeine.
i would say you better make peace with him as coffee prices are not rising,i just picked up a large can of folger coffee for 2.44.the grocery clerk told me he bot 21 cans at that price,he gets a discount for working there/
too bad he threw away the box,usps would not pay any attention to him if he has no box to prove.
my advice to you is to check out his networth,some doctors make a good living and he could be one of those valuable customer you dont want to lose to your competitors.
send him a replacement along with a can of coffee .
posted on December 31, 2001 09:04:48 AM new
The buyer doesn't insure a breakable item worth $78? However, The PO is responsible for the item while it is in their care no matter how you package it (minium packaging should only be a box and crumpled paper to prevent basic damage such as movement).
In future instances, when the PO doesn't cover a claim, insurance or not, take the PO to small claims court. Tell the buyer to ship back the item and box w/ packaging exactly as it is, so you can use it as evidence against the PO. If the buyer refuses, then tell him you can't get back his money because you have no evidence to take to the court.
Keep all copies of the emails the buyer sent your buyers. Hound ebay until they pay attention to your claim. Better yet, contact Meg directly and tell her Safeharbor has ignored your claim, and ask her if Safe transactions are a priority of hers because she often states to the media it is, but clearly Safeharbor does not act that way.
If the dollar amount is high enough where you feel you've lost money due to this buyer scaring away your buyers, buy yourself an airline ticket and take a "free' vacation" courtesy of the doctor, and sue his butt.
posted on December 31, 2001 09:10:04 AM newsome doctors make a good living and he could be one of those valuable customer you dont want to lose to your competitors. send him a replacement along with a can of coffee
Customers like this should be lost--who needs the aggravation? First off, he could have contacted you much sooner than he did. How do you know that the item didn't break during the holiday festivities?
No box, no claim. I wouldn't bother responding on the 'me' page because it makes it look like a bigger deal than it is. Report him for auction interferance and if he negs you just reply factually that you did offer insurance.
Also, add him to your block bidder list so he doesn't mess with your other auctions in the future.
posted on December 31, 2001 09:21:24 AM new
ask him if he has pancakes along with his coffee,if so,what syrup does he use?if he uses aunt jemina pancake mix and syrup,ISSUE REFUND IN FULL.
posted on December 31, 2001 11:16:02 AM new
As hard as it is sometimes, these situations call for keeping it totally professional, almost to a lobotomy-type level. That way, you can avoid being quoted as saying "next time go to kmart..." (assuming you did, in fact, say that in one of your emails.
Just like dealing with telemarketers, you almost need to have a "script" ready to deal with dissatisfied customers.
Item lost? Insurance requires you to go to the PO and file a claim.
Item broken? Insurance requires you to go to the PO and file a claim.
Item not as described? Please send back item and I will check for my hidden identifying marks.
and so on, for each reason for dissatisfaction.
Keeping this as much a "process" as possible will help keep emotions down and lay the "blame" where it belongs - in this case, if the customer refuses to go to the PO, that is their choice, not yours, so they have no reason to complain, and you can just keep answering their complaints with "as soon as you go to the PO and file a claim, we'll proceed".
Saying as little as possible and keeping it as professional and non-emotional as possible will limit your time and pain in this kind of matter.
Its hard to do this, of course, because the natural inclination is to get much more involved...which rarely works out well for the seller (or buyer for that matter).
posted on December 31, 2001 12:07:00 PM new
Thanks everyone! You have made me feel so much better! Got a good laugh on the coffee scenerios! And yes, I did get a little hot headed and told him to buy his stuff at kmart from now on.....oops....Just to verify, the good doctor did pay for and receive insurance on his package. He is the one who declined to take it to the post office because it was his expertise that decided it was broken because of "bad packing" and not the fault of the post office. When I suggested he still take it to the PO with proof of insurance and have "them" tell me it was broken because of my careless packing, he also declined again quoting his expertise as a doctor (maybe one of his patients works in the post office and that makes him an expert?) and also told me that he threw the box away. Did forward his email to my customers with all headers and have saved his emails and forwarded the last one with his "warning" to them also, still have not heard anything from safeharbor, but not holding my breath. I am checking my peep hole though when the door bell rings, it may be our friendly police officer here in York PA.
posted on December 31, 2001 12:25:57 PM new
captainkirk says it for me, too. Professionalism is your best defense, and it's one of the hardest things to do well. It's true you need strict policies, but sellers also need to at least appear to be amenable in their communications with customers, even in the face of insults and threats.
In an environment where unsolicited feedback can make or break your ability to conduct business, "real jerks" (as my father calls them) are a major concern. Be cool, be professional, and remain as emotionally detached as possible when replying. Then, go outside and have a good long scream (works for me).
posted on December 31, 2001 12:52:51 PM new
If he is using eBay's system to email your bidders, he is spamming in addition to doing auction interference. Any ISP worth their salt would pull this guy's internet/email account in a heartbeat. Forward the email with headers to his ISP.
posted on December 31, 2001 01:25:11 PM new
hahaha quickdraw, no he doesn't sound smart enough to be a doctor, but arrogant as all hell! Will contact his ISP ASP! Thanx!
posted on December 31, 2001 02:33:13 PM new
may not be a medical doctor,could be a PHD like a professor or a boeing engineer.
could be a retired aeronautical engineer,you see there are not too many boeing 777 orders these days.
posted on December 31, 2001 04:56:07 PM new
well I left a response to his negative feedback he left for me, now he responded to my response with a Ebay expects trust especially from someone with negative feedback....Hate to say it but we trusted Bill Clinton....look where that got us, I don't know this guy from Adam, I am starting to believe he is from another planet, wheres his reality, trust someone you have no clue who the H he is!??!?! Hmmmm, I also have a mayor here in York PA that is on trial for murder.....trust huh, This guy needs to get a LIFE! I hope he contacts the police like he threatened, I think they will be alittle more concerned about our mayor than his crybaby life.
posted on December 31, 2001 06:39:42 PM new
to be a good retailer,you must be willing and able to accept craps like that,there are plenty of lunies out there.
you can call the hunt brothers and corner the coffee beans market and drive the prices up.that would teach him a real lesson.
posted on December 31, 2001 11:01:23 PM new
If it was me, I would go in and post a follow up to the positive feedback you already left for him........something that lets others know how unreasonable he turned out to be later on!
posted on January 1, 2002 01:50:31 AM new
A similar issue like this happened to me, except in my case it was a month later and the "lady" said that she just got around to opening the package and that the item was damaged. She had decline the insurance.
She first posts a NEG. and then afterwards emails wanting a refund, plus additional amount because now she would have to buy the item in the local store.
I would have refunded her to avoid the negative, even though the last thing we do before sealing a package is to take a picture of the item and a picture of it packed. (the picture remain on the disk unless needed - takes 2 seconds)
Now:
When selling - I don't post a feedback until I receive a feedback. My feeling is that the auction is not final until the customer is satisfied (if its possible). This causes some extra time particularly with using AW but I think its worth it.
I continue to take the archive pictures for reference - (No insurance) (Self Insurance @ USPS rates)or(USPS Insured over 100.00 items).
I would be interested in what others think about waiting on feedback until the buyer posts first.
If nothing else, it might have given "auntjemima1" another option to consider.
chc
