...take my customer, no please, take my customer

[Gecko_Girl3]

I'm almost to the point of ripping my hair out on this one.

I had a customer purchase an airsoft rifle from my site. At the time of the sale this item was $30. It's a plastic AK47, electric airsoft rifle. Shortly after receiving it I received an email stating the gun wasn't working properly. That it would not fire bbs unless you fed them into the barrel one at a time and fired them out one at a time. There was also a complaint that the battery and magazines were too diffucult to get in and out of the gun.

I immediately called the customer to see what the problem was. Immediately I was informed that the customer dropped the gun and the barrel broke off! I was shocked to hear this. My response was "wow? you dropped the gun? On the ground? On the table? That's quite odd that the entire barrel would break off like that..." I was then told that the customers 14 year old son was running with the gun and he tripped and fell, falling on top of the gun, causing the barrel to break off.

Long story short, I spoke to my drop shipper about the problem with the gun firing, he gave me a solution as to how to fix this. It was as simple as turning a ratchet on top of the magazine to allow the bbs to travel from the mag to the gun, causing the gun to fire. I relayed this to the customer,l she told me she didn't have time to go back and fourth about this, she just wanted a replacement...

Well, I can't give her a placement on a gun that 1) more than likely works just fine, she's just unwilling to try what I told her to try 2) her son broke in two!

My policy clearly states that in order to get a refund on an item you need to return it in it's original condition. She admittedly broke the gun and glued it back together, it no longer is in it's original condition. I can't get a refund for such a thing from my dropshipper, he can't ask for a refund from his supplier...

I'm beginning to hate this line of work.

[Bethers]

My comment to that customer would be "I'm so very sorry that your son broke his new airsoft rifle. Here's a way you might be able to fix it. If that doesn't work, we'd be happy to fill a new order for a new one for you.

Thanks,"

Don't get headaches out of the idiots - you don't need to fool with them.

[KarenMac]

LMAO... send em a copy of that Christmas Movie : "YOULL PUT YOUR EYE OUT WITH THAT"

Karen

[Gecko_Girl3]

I think she's finally seen the light with my last email. I explained that we would gladly take the rifle back and fully refund her if the item were not BROKEN (by her son's misuse). That we have policies that state should the item need to be returned for any reason it first and foremost needs to be in it's original condition. She admitted to me to breaking the gun, therefore I know it's NOT in it's original condition.

I also offered her a replacement at my cost, as I do empathize with her.

I also spoke to ECI today to find out if she could still try to issue a charge back, etc. Even they told me to stick to my sites policy and even if I didn't have a policy common sense would tell you that if you break something you cannot return it.

I haven't heard back from her in awhile, perhaps she finally realized that the customer is not always right...

[KarenMac]

Actually.. i think they can do a charge back up to 60 days.. 30 days from when the charge appears on their bill.. so it averages to around 45 days.. give or take depending on when their card cycles its bills.

Karen

[EDS]

And to put icing on the pudding,

When a chargeback does occur, in many cases you don't get the merchandise back either if the customer wins, so you are out the money and the merch.

Now that really S**ks.

[Gecko_Girl3]

Actually.. i think they can do a charge back up to 60 days.. 30 days from when the charge appears on their bill.. so it averages to around 45 days.. give or take depending on when their card cycles its bills.

Karen

When I spoke to ECI they stated the customer has 3 months to issue a charge back.

3 months!

I'm not worried about this one, the customer openly admitted to breaking the merchandise. I know the ECI rep does not represent the CC companies, but he assured me that no CC company is going to side with the customer in a case like this, especially when my policy clearly states that merchandise must be in it's original condition in order to be returned. He even went on to say that even if my policy said nothing about the merchandise needing to be in it's original condition that it's just a given, you can't return an item that you have broken, period.

Like I said, I think the customer finally got the picture when I reminded her of what my return policy states AND that she agreed to said policy when she placed her order (by checking the box). I'm sure she could complain to her CC company but once they hear that her son fell on the gun and broke it they'll explain to her that you cannot return broken merchandise.

[Bethers]

Oh, customers can initiate a chargeback for no good reason. The biggest unfortunate, is VISA and M/C actually charge the merchant a fee for getting a chargeback ($25) and if you win it, they charge you again - I've fought them on it and told them that it's nice to let customers know they have the chargeback to use as a recourse BUT that if it's the customer's error/fault then they should pay the fee. Needless to say, they didn't listen to me - but in the chargeback I was arguing this, they waived the 2nd fee.

AMEX, when a customer initiated a chargeback, didn't charge me any fees, and when I won, I wasn't out any money.

That said - I'll fight them just for the principle when they lie, etc to get money back they don't deserve. It's one of the reasons I make sure they have to accept my return policy at checkout.

[Richard]

I've had the occasional unhappy customer - product taking to long to arrive; it's not actually what I asked for etc
I actually give them a 5% discount on their next order - this keeps them happy

[ncope]

I had an interesting situation with a chargeback attempt a couple weeks ago. It was from a sale at Amazon. I got an email from Amazon saying a customer initiated a chargeback on a sale placed back in March and they wanted the tracking number.

So I looked up the order and sent Amazon the information. The product was shipped the day of the order and received 3 days later. The really strange thing was this customer gave feedback on the order saying she received the item very fast and that it was a cute item.

So, 3 months after the order she is trying to do a chargeback on a small dog toy.

[Richard]

Surely they can't legally do that.
It's like going into a department store buying something and then changing our minds and wanting a refund. I don't know of any department store giving a refund for a change of mind.
It could also send us all broke