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Or: "Why I always win by following the rules"
So, as you all know, I sell TV parts online. Mostly it's on eBay, but we do have a ProStores site as well. Because we're also a TV repair shop, I buy parts that we don't have.
99% of the time, if I buy on eBay the sellers are great and have the same values and business ethic that I do. If someone needs to return something to me, I take it. I don't care if they're rookies who just threw parts at their broken TVs to try to get them to work or if it's legitimately a bad part- I take it back with a smile because it's just good business sense and the right thing to do.
Two weeks ago, I bought a board for a customer's TV. I get the board in a poorly-packed crockpot box with hardly any packaging or anti-static protection. It irked me, but I was willing to look past it if the part worked, which it didn't. So, I contacted the seller about returning it and promptly got my head bitten off.
His response to my email, which was a longer, less blunt version of "thanks for the fast shipping, but the part didn't work and I need to return it," was to send back THREE emails that questioned my shop's integrity, my seller practices on eBay and hinted that I was going to try to steal from him by sending back my broken board.
After 3 more emails, I got a confirmation of refund upon return, a return address (I always verify where I send my returns. I heart butt coverage), sent it Priority with a signature confirmation and gave him the tracking number. I *should* have opened a case at this point, but I'm a little too nice for my own good.
He let it sit at the post office for a week and ignored my emails. So, at this point I *did* open a case. Not 3 hours later he emails me and tells me he's been sick and couldn't get to the post office. I just rolled my eyes at that one!
Then, the next day things got amusing. He informs me that he's only going to refund me if he finds the board to be non-working. This goes against what he agreed to, so I told him that I would escalate the case if he couldn't promise the refund. No response, so I escalated it and won.
Now, I never EVER leave negative feedback. You have to be the king of the schmucks to actually get that from me. I've only left 1-2 neutral feedbacks, honestly. This guy got it. It wasn't mean, just honest. Thus began his personal vendetta.
He has now emailed me 10 times in the past few days accusing me of mail fraud (because apparently I underweighted the package by 8 pounds) and threatening us with lawsuits for the apparent $18 he said he had to pay for the package. He even left us positive feedback with a negative message (since removed. But I got to keep the positive points! Thanks, eBay!
).
So, now I have eBay involved. Oh, and he won't actually prove he had to pay anything, either; So, needless to say I don't believe him. The thing is that if I did underweigh it, it was maybe by a pound and totally by accident. I would have actually reimbursed him for it since I agreed to pay for return postage. But, since he's out of his mind, I stopped reading or replying to him since he threatened us and refused to prove anything.
Supposedly he's "contacted the post master and eBay" and I'm inches away from Federal Prison.
So, as you all know, I sell TV parts online. Mostly it's on eBay, but we do have a ProStores site as well. Because we're also a TV repair shop, I buy parts that we don't have.
99% of the time, if I buy on eBay the sellers are great and have the same values and business ethic that I do. If someone needs to return something to me, I take it. I don't care if they're rookies who just threw parts at their broken TVs to try to get them to work or if it's legitimately a bad part- I take it back with a smile because it's just good business sense and the right thing to do.
Two weeks ago, I bought a board for a customer's TV. I get the board in a poorly-packed crockpot box with hardly any packaging or anti-static protection. It irked me, but I was willing to look past it if the part worked, which it didn't. So, I contacted the seller about returning it and promptly got my head bitten off.
His response to my email, which was a longer, less blunt version of "thanks for the fast shipping, but the part didn't work and I need to return it," was to send back THREE emails that questioned my shop's integrity, my seller practices on eBay and hinted that I was going to try to steal from him by sending back my broken board.
After 3 more emails, I got a confirmation of refund upon return, a return address (I always verify where I send my returns. I heart butt coverage), sent it Priority with a signature confirmation and gave him the tracking number. I *should* have opened a case at this point, but I'm a little too nice for my own good.
He let it sit at the post office for a week and ignored my emails. So, at this point I *did* open a case. Not 3 hours later he emails me and tells me he's been sick and couldn't get to the post office. I just rolled my eyes at that one!
Then, the next day things got amusing. He informs me that he's only going to refund me if he finds the board to be non-working. This goes against what he agreed to, so I told him that I would escalate the case if he couldn't promise the refund. No response, so I escalated it and won.
Now, I never EVER leave negative feedback. You have to be the king of the schmucks to actually get that from me. I've only left 1-2 neutral feedbacks, honestly. This guy got it. It wasn't mean, just honest. Thus began his personal vendetta.
He has now emailed me 10 times in the past few days accusing me of mail fraud (because apparently I underweighted the package by 8 pounds) and threatening us with lawsuits for the apparent $18 he said he had to pay for the package. He even left us positive feedback with a negative message (since removed. But I got to keep the positive points! Thanks, eBay!
). So, now I have eBay involved. Oh, and he won't actually prove he had to pay anything, either; So, needless to say I don't believe him. The thing is that if I did underweigh it, it was maybe by a pound and totally by accident. I would have actually reimbursed him for it since I agreed to pay for return postage. But, since he's out of his mind, I stopped reading or replying to him since he threatened us and refused to prove anything.
Supposedly he's "contacted the post master and eBay" and I'm inches away from Federal Prison.
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