posted on September 3, 2004 05:32:47 PM new
So, a guy buys a shirt from me. I accidentally send him the wrong shirt. It is similar in brand, but the size was incorrect. He wanted a 2XL, and I sent him a Medium. He emails me very rudely threatening to leave me negative feedback right off the opening line. He insists that I send him the correct shirt and he would then return the wrong shirt. I email him back and apologize for the error. I tell him my policy regarding returns, which basically is that the bidder must return the shirt first and then I will reimburse them for shipment plus send the correct item to them. That wasn't good enough for him. So we agree that I will send him a SASE to return the item in. I send it a few weeks ago, and he doesn't get it. Last weekend I get a pick up card from the post office. I don't know it is the SASE I sent him, but I was already on my way to the post office to send another SASE when I picked up the package waiting for me. It was the original SASE I sent and it had the correct address on it. So, I send it along with the new package to rectify the situation. Now, I know I was at fault for the first error, but his package was returned reading, "Moved" on it and his address crossed out. He never moved and has the same address. So, today he emails me telling me he now wants a refund. I email him back and explain that I wasn't going to issue a refund because the SASE was again on its way and should arrive any day. So, he negs me. Now, I generally don't antagonize people, but how stupid could you be to do that? I mean, the guy hasn't received the correct shirt yet, and he leaves me a negative. I know part is my fault, and part is misfortune for the delivery of the first SASE. This guy simply has no idea how to be a bit patient with this. He had to jump in and leave me a neg. Then to follow up he emails me an email that simply reads, "read em and weep" referring to the neg. I of course, couldn't help temptation to respond to his rudeness and let him know just how stupid he is for doing so. Now he is stuck with a size Medium t-shirt when he wanted a 2XL, and I now have absolutely no intentions of fixing this.
posted on September 3, 2004 05:55:42 PM new
In order to rectify the situation, why don't you send him a copy of the Atkins Diet (an old used one) so that he may eventually fit into the medium he got. LOL! What a dope for leaving the feedback before he received the right shirt!!
I had this happen to me before and not on eBay. Newport News sent an entirely wrong shirt to me once. It was the wrong style and the wrong size. They weren't going to send me the correct one until they received the wrong one back. It happens even to the best of them.
Cheryl
. . .if you still try to defend the infamies and horrors perpetrated by that Antichrist- I really believe he is Antichrist- I will have nothing more to do with you and you are no longer my friend.. . - War and Peace, Tolstoy
posted on September 3, 2004 06:29:41 PM new
Rusty - I think your return policy makes sense when the problem with the item is something other than a mistake on your part. But, given the circumstances here, I think you should have sent him the right shirt along with SASE at the beginning and avoided all this mess. It's been several weeks and he still doesn't have his shirt and he mever received your SASE....you refuse to refund and don't send the right shirt out when you discover the SASE has been sitting at the post office....can't blame the guy for feeling a little sour about the whole deal...not HIS fault! He doesn't know you and is probably thinking that you are trying to pull a fast one.
posted on September 3, 2004 07:23:21 PM new
I have to agree with Neglus, couldn't have stated the buyer's side better myself.
Yes, it's a comedy of errors, but YOU are the professional. You can't let emotions get the best of you.
posted on September 3, 2004 09:52:37 PM new
The most interesting part of this thread is the asumptions regarding the physical condition of the 2X shirt buyer. Look at many of our college & professional footbal players, wrestlers, and weight lifters today.
I have a friend that wears a 3X shirt He can also press over 315lbs while in a bridge position (only head and feet touching the floor). I don't think anyone will be calling him a lard ass anytime soon... at least not to his face.
~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~
If it's really "common" sense, why do so few people actually have it?
Oh, heavens, you made a mistake. Here's 50 lashes with a wet noodle for you. We should never make mistakes. We all need to be perfect. I had a customer much like yours once. She never paid me, though. She left a neg saying I was impatient (after waiting the alloted 10 days for a payment and after receiving absolutely no response to any emails I sent) before I could leave feedback. I responded and left feedback. She ended up looking worse. In your case, however, I wouldn't leave a neg although I'd be tempted to. Neutral would be the lowest I would go.
It's hardly Rusty's fault that the envelope got sent back - chalk one up for USPS and their probable delivery to the wrong address. Rusty can hardly be blamed for wanting the shirt back considering how bidders have been of late. No phyical store and no online store is going to make good their mistake without the item sent in error back in their possession. It's as simple as that. I believe that Rusty already admitted to making the error so beating her up is rather pointless. The buyer acted in haste. I have heard it said many times on this board that once feedback is left, the deal is done. Is everyone taking that back now?
No one is poking fun at anyone's size. We're poking fun at the situation. Many people that are a 2x are too large - my stepfather included. It's not healthy for most of them. I, on the other hand, am too small. It's not healthy for me, but I don't get all bent out of shape when someone tells me that. Tom is just being, well, Tom. He pokes fun at Ralphie's eating habits from time-to-time.
Cheryl
. . .if you still try to defend the infamies and horrors perpetrated by that Antichrist- I really believe he is Antichrist- I will have nothing more to do with you and you are no longer my friend.. . - War and Peace, Tolstoy
ROTFL! Ralphie, now you get your "lardy arse" off that floor and go bail "yer" daddy out of jail, you hear?
Cheryl
. . .if you still try to defend the infamies and horrors perpetrated by that Antichrist- I really believe he is Antichrist- I will have nothing more to do with you and you are no longer my friend.. . - War and Peace, Tolstoy
posted on September 4, 2004 09:23:42 AM new
IT WAS A JOKE! A JOKE BASED ON THE SITUATION OVER A 2X AND A MEDIUM and the fact that he's stuck with the medium. PART OF THE SITUATION. For your information, my other half is not small by any stretch of the imagination and I joke to him all the time. I poked fun at myself for being too small and so does he. You really need to retract your claws, fluffy. I don't think I'm the only one getting tired of your pompous crap.
Geeze, tom, guess I'll be spending time in jail with you.
Edited to add: BTW, my other half who wears an XL, didn't find anything offensive OR bigoted in what I said. In fact, he laughed and asked that I send him a copy because he's been meaning to lose some weight. Most of my family members are overweight. So take your "bigot" theory and well, you know what you can do with it.
Cheryl
. . .if you still try to defend the infamies and horrors perpetrated by that Antichrist- I really believe he is Antichrist- I will have nothing more to do with you and you are no longer my friend.. . - War and Peace, Tolstoy
[ edited by CBlev65252 on Sep 4, 2004 09:32 AM ]
posted on September 4, 2004 11:00:56 AM new
I would never give a refund unless I had in hand both items. 2 or 3 years ago I sent someone a shirt the very next day after they paid via Paypal. They claimed to have never received it. Insurance was purchased, so I filed the Insurance claim and sent the person a replacement. They then emailed me two days later that they received both items in the mail on the same day. Legally, I couldn't continue with the Insurance claim since they received it and Delivery Confirmation proved it was received by them. Did they return one of the items? Nope. They kept it, and then accused me of taking too long to ship their original item when it wasn't my fault to begin with. I am a professional, and every professional outlet whether it is Amazon.com or MomandPop.com has a policy to protect them against fraud. That is exactly why I do not send out items until I have received the other one back. I have learned my lesson about dishonesty from first hand experience, and I do not plan to allow others to take advantage. Yes, I made a mistake, but I run a business, and I already take the loss in shipping costs, and make every effort to correct a problem quickly. Most of the time, it works out without a hitch, and then there are times like this.
posted on September 4, 2004 11:13:39 AM new
I have to agree with rusty, no return shirt, no swap.
Also when negative FB is left I would consider the transaction over & done with.
posted on September 4, 2004 12:29:37 PM new
iareateacher
I would except this board wouldn't be half the fun! I've never put anyone on ignore and I don't intend to start.
Cheryl
. . .if you still try to defend the infamies and horrors perpetrated by that Antichrist- I really believe he is Antichrist- I will have nothing more to do with you and you are no longer my friend.. . - War and Peace, Tolstoy
posted on September 4, 2004 12:32:42 PM newAlso when negative FB is left I would consider the transaction over & done with.
mcjane, normally I would agree with this wholeheartedly.
Rusty was a little vague about the timeline, so here are the established facts: The auction ended July 27 and the negative feedback was left September 3.
Assume payment/shipping took a week, which is reasonable since Rusty left the buyer this feedback on July 31:
posted on September 4, 2004 01:15:15 PM new
iareateacher
I will concede - I'm sure I probably make more mistakes than normal. Glad to know I'm not the only one who admits to the error of her ways! I'm also guilty of having a hot Irish temper! Mix that with the Scot and you have a virtual fireworks display at times! It's only the English in me that causes me to calm down and then feel bad about being bad. LOL! I'm fighting multiple emotional personalities here.
Cheryl
. . .if you still try to defend the infamies and horrors perpetrated by that Antichrist- I really believe he is Antichrist- I will have nothing more to do with you and you are no longer my friend.. . - War and Peace, Tolstoy
posted on September 4, 2004 01:29:04 PM new
teach, I see your point, but mistakes happen & rusty was working on it & asked for the return of the wrong size shirt which is not at all unreasonable. Since the buyer was rude from the start I would doubt that he would return the shirt had she mailed before getting the wrong one back.
If the guy was smart & so determined to neg rusty he should have waited until he got his shirt & then go ahead & do it. His "read em & weep" email is almost funny because he spited himself. I would rather have my shirt than leave neg FB which is often meaningless.
All this could have been avoided had he just mailed the wrong size shirt back in the first place.
posted on September 4, 2004 02:01:04 PM new
mcjane: Okay. So how would you handle the situation from here on out? Do you really think the buyer doesn't deserve to get the shirt he bought, instead of one which is worthless to him?
The transaction can be salvaged, but someone has to decide they're going to have some faith.
"Good companies make mistakes.
Great companies fix them." -- Steve Jobs
posted on September 4, 2004 10:08:09 PM newBuyers, get real, you say send the right item, before receiving the wrong one back! The seller, particularly with such an impatient, juvenile acting buyer, would most likely will never see either item again.
Someone said that the seller was a "professional," and that they should have sent the correct size, prior to the return of the wrong size. WELL I GUESS, someone needs to tell Sears, Wal-Mart, and all other companies about that, since you certainly aren't going to get one of them to send you out another product (free) until you return the mis-sent item! That is the professional way.
posted on September 5, 2004 09:00:58 AM new
Rusty goofed on this clearly and did deserve the neg. And as for Tom the idiot, the buyer was in the right here and did deserve the positive. What you should have done is to send a pick up tag. Not a SASE. A pick up tag requires the delivery driver to actually pick up the parcel to bring back to you. That also gives the buyer a receipt of the transaction as well. You should have also sent out the correct item asap as well. The buyer had the right to be upset. You sent the wrong item. He wasn't being rude, just demanding and rightly so.
When you got burned 2-3 years ago, that was your fault as well for over-reacting. You should have told your buyer to give it another week to see if the PO will find the item first.
posted on September 5, 2004 06:38:46 PM newteacher, sorry, I didn't see your question until now
How would I handle it, well I guess I would still hold out for the return of the wrong item.
So, I feel that the value of the item has nothing to do with it. How many would replace a 500.00 "wrong" item before getting it back. To me there is no difference, 5.00 or 500.00 if the seller's policy is to correct the mistake only after the buyer follows the sellers terms....return first.
I'll say one thing though, I'll bet rusty "might" have bent the rules had the buyer shown a little courtesy up front instead of a neg FB threat.
I certainly would not trust him to return the wrong item.
