posted on January 31, 2003 06:41:29 AM new
I had a buyer contact me last week to see if I got his payment and sent his item. I had received the payment in Jan and mailed and the tracking said he had received it. I sent him an email to this effect. He sends back an email and says that he did get that one but is talking about another one under XXXXXXX item number. I look at the auction and the seller is completely different so I tell him this. No return email on that one.
A couple of days later, I get a check in the mail from this guy. I email him and tell him he sent the payment to me instead of his seller. I tell him I will shred the check but he needs to pay the correct seller. This morning he sends me an email back and asks me for the email and mailing address for this other seller. Like I would know!
posted on January 31, 2003 07:41:00 AM new
I had a similar customer last year. He was obviously a recent import from Mexico and did not understand English well.
Well, he won a Mortal Kombat software game from me. I include our 1-800 number in my EOA e-mails, so he calls, gives his CC number and all is well. We shipped his game and he was happy.
Then the trouble began.
A week later, he calls again and wants to pay for his most recent auction winnings. Unfortunately, he didn't bid on any of my stuff. After much back and forth talking slowly, we figured out that he had bid on things from SIX other sellers, but none of them sent him a phone number, so he calls us. My favorite quote... "But you're eBay! Don't you know how to contact them?" He honestly thought *I* was *eBay*.
After much explaining, he went away. Then the next week he did THE EXACT SAME THING AGAIN! Called wanting to pay for his auctions. Again, we explained the situation, and again, we went away.
THEN... A few days later, we get a call on our phone from him wanting to talk to the manager of eBay, so he could complain about eBay's customer service (Me actually, because I wouldn't take his money for the other seller's items).
The guy still thought our phone number was for eBay! I'm just so glad the guy didn't understand feedback either.
posted on January 31, 2003 07:58:03 AM new
replaymedia: We have a valid voice number also connected to a fax machine. No one ever answers it when it rings. Your story is part of the reason why.
This is really going to tick off the gooey-squishy types but I was not put on this earth to eliminate peoples' misconceptions about eBay or to educate them as to how the whole system works when there are perfectly fine help pages and tutorials online. (Not to mention "eBay for Dummies" and the like.)
As a tech support admin in an earlier life, I learned that sometimes the kindest thing you can do is NOT lead that horse to water. People never develop self-sufficiency and researching skills if you make it too easy for them to reach you 24/7. And I've a theory at the ability to READ stops when they find a phone number they can call.
A common email complaint is "I've tried and tried to call you to give you my credit card number."
posted on January 31, 2003 08:04:00 AM new
And then there is the problem of send perishable confectionary foodstuffs through the mail......
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We call them our heroes...but we pay them like chumps
posted on January 31, 2003 08:27:37 AM new
I believe there may be a significant portion of the population with severe memory problems. I get a lot of bidders paying with PayPal two or three times for the same item.
posted on January 31, 2003 09:00:46 AM new
I have also had several bidders pay me twice with Paypal for the same item. They need to learn how to use the transaction history.
posted on January 31, 2003 02:15:02 PM new
Yeah, I've had double Paypal payments a few times as well.
But just this afternoon, I received payment from an auction winner. She had won two comic book auctions on yahoo.
I got TWO identical envelopes, two individual checks, with two full-price shipping charges. Normally, I combine shipping, but once in a while people just add up the individual charges. That I can live with, but two different checks in two different stamped envelopes threw me.
These were hand-addressed. She HAD to know they were going to the same place.
