Forum Moderators: buckworks
Well, we got our first today, the entire order reeks. We contacted the customer and nicely explained that we can't accept the return, of course they hit the roof, going to contact my credit card company, blah blah blah . . . . slammed the phone down.
We figure we'll ride it out, see what happens, but will probably get stuck with the loss. What's your experience on this, is there anything we can do or just eat it?
our policy now with difficult people is to just give in, and refund the purchase price. don't want successful chargebacks on our merchant account, and the merchant usually loses anyway.
and life is too short.
good luck.
Dust the item(s) liberally with baking soda to absorb the smoke odor. Wait a couple hours, then vacuum.
For stuff that you can't dust with baking soda (like electronics), place an open box(es) of baking soda near the item(s) to absorb the odor. Will probably take longer this way. Might help to enclose the item(s) and baking soda in a garbage bag or something to speed up absorption.
After you've done your best to get rid of the odor, put the item(s) up on Ebay.
Our policy is very clear on this, and publicly posted, but people seem to think they can play house with your merchandise and send it back just because it's still got a tag. My wife was telling me about women who buy new clothes for a wedding, pin all the tags up out of sight, even put masking tape on the bottoms of the kids shoes so they can take them all back!
Anyway the witch hung up on her after the initial call but called right back. After letting her scream and rant, my wife agreed to return a portion of the order minus shipping and a cleaning fee. She never knuckled under though - she presented a calm case, let the customer scream, then ended with "the best I can do for you is . . . . ."
The woman's tone changed immedately. It was amazing, because she thought she won, she loves us again and will be back to buy more. :-) Wife's pretty confident whe can regain the loss on the goods, but we won't be able to sell them as new.
The interesting thing was that several times throughout the conversation the woman claimed there wasn't anything on our site saying no returns on damaged goods - but it's plain as day, in bold, and specifies smoke. So you can put all the work into a TOS/return policy you want, no one's going to read it anyway. :-)
Some people are crooks and use chargebacks as a "power tool". It has to take up a lot of resources to deal with all the paperwork involved.
Now thats something I would not want to remember 20 years from now on my wedding anniversary! The customer above did win and her anger and an effect on your business. You gave in and agreed to do something for her which you don't do for everyone, thereby singling her out as special and eroding the loyalty you have for all the other customers who silently accepted your policies or whose wheel make not squeak as loudly in the future.
There are of course exceptions as if a customer purchases multiple same items how long they have been a customer etc.
Put a time limit on the return add a restocking fee charge and shipping isn't refunded unless it is our fault.
Make them pay for the ship back unless we made the mistake and you can keep this type of stuff from happening.
I give them 24 hours to call and notify us on a return after that we do not accept returns.
I dont know how many chargebacks they allow exactly but I suppose that it tarnishes their name.
The customer above did win and her anger and an effect on your business. You gave in and agreed to do something for her which you don't do for everyone, thereby singling her out as special and eroding the loyalty you have for all the other customers who silently accepted your policies or whose wheel make not squeak as loudly in the future.
What is more costly: a chargeback and one customer badmouthing us to everyone she knows, or a loss on one order and a converted happy customer organically generating business for us? By our calculator, #2 will generate more business and was less costly.
For the record, we give **all** customers the same "exception" if they are reasonable.
Here is the root of the problem: Large retailers have set the tone for customer abuse. My wife worked for many years for one of them. Retail clothing shoppers, particularly women*, are accustomed to spending several hours in a retail clothing store, trying everything on and throwing it about the dressing room like rags, and leaving without buying a thing. Or bringing it all back the next day for a full refund. So for many online shoppers this is an expectation.
This makes it very difficult for small companies to remain competitive, some flexibility is necessary.
* Men shop entirely differently for clothing. We walk in, check the size, carry it out with our wives complaining all the way to the car, "you aren't even going to TRY IT ON?" :-).
There was a very large retailer in Canada that was famous for its generous return policy. People abused them all the time, same stories about weddings and parties. You could basically "borrow" anything in the store.
Guess what happened ..... bankrupt after more than a 100 years of business.
Guess what happened ..... bankrupt after more than a 100 years of business.
But, with a customer database, an online business can track a customer's behavior and profitablity on a per customer basis.
If a customer abuses your policy, you can cut them off from making any future purchases. "We're sorry, but your account activity shows that we have been consistently unable to provide you with the level of satisfaction you expect. To avoid further disappointment, we feel it is in your best interests to cease doing business with our company. We have cancelled your order, and your credit card has not been charged. Best wishes, ABC Company."
Not that abuse-tracking was not possible in the past before computers, but it is so much easier today.
Not that abuse-tracking was not possible in the past before computers, but it is so much easier today.
I've been selling clothing to women online for three years. I can think of perhaps two women out of the thousands we have served that I would refuse future service to (and both those were identity fraud thieves that I couldn't recognize in the future even if I wanted to).
Policies designed to protect merchants from unscrupulous customers need to be implemented very cautiously as they mean very little to the bottom line but can impact all customers.
Selling to women, you'll get tons of returns/exchanges - its just the nature of the business. Many of those returns will come back unusable. You can make it policy to confront each customer and refuse the return, but you are going to be telling a lot of women that they are "dirty" (e.g. smokers, cat lovers, lint-picker-uppers, hair-shedders, etc) and that's really not a positive message. A good deal of them will take a great deal of offense and you'll not only lose a chance at their future business, but you run the risk of negative referrals.
We've found it preferable to just build the loss into the prices.
Thats very nicly put, did you write it yourself?
You talking to me? If so, thanks. Yes, I wrote that myself.
Never have had occasion to use it. Never had to use such a letter though. I did have a customer tick me off once, and I was tempted to respond in kind, but instead I took it as a challenge. Ended up getting another order from him.
The biggest head-scratcher was an order that I was late in shipping. Actually, it was right on time. I overnighted the order to reach them by their requested date. I was late on shipping, so I didn't charge them for the overnight shipping, as it was my fault not theirs. In addition, I didn't charge them for the order. The invoice was clearly marked as such. Their credit card was never charged either. About a week later, the order was returned, contents intact but package had clearly been opened, and they demanded a "full refund." How do you refund free? And, why spend money in postage to return a free item? Use it, toss it, whatever--it was free! Even if they had not received a confirmation email and ordered it somewhere else to be sure they had it for their deadline, it was free.
Guess what happened ..... bankrupt after more than a 100 years of business.
It's a long-perpetuated myth that baking soda absorbs odors very well. If you want something that will actually absorb smells and odors, get activated charcoal. It costs a bit more, but this is the stuff that's been scientfically proven to work, while baking soda has been repeatedly disproven.
In the meantime, your merchant bank is looking at percentages, every month. Even close to 1% chargebacks & you're history. And other merchant banks won't take a chance on you. Don't gamble with your business over refunds.
Short answer. Give 'em their money back. As Lenny Bruce said "there's no justice in the halls of justice"
Keep a close eye on your ratios of processing to chargebacks. As long as you're under 1% in chargebacks, you should be okay. Although some conservative banks may get nervous as you approach the 1% and are not actually there yet.
Once you go over the magic 1%, and esp if you go over it several months in a row, most banks will freeze your funds and/or requre serious reserves. And, it'll be difficult for you to establish an account at another merchant bank because of bad history.
