Forum Moderators: buckworks
Mr Read said: "I was told the phone was in good condition, but there were scratches all over it, a big chip out of the side and it was a different phone. I paid for a Samsung F700 and got a Samsung F700V."
Article [timesonline.co.uk]
Summary of article: "If I damage my own reputation, you are responsible and must pay me."
Oh yeah, Western Society is in great shape.
If you want something that's in mint condition, look for the word "mint" or "brand new". Sellers sure aren't shy to toss those fancy words around on there.
If anything, this should detour some competitors or just plain old snobby customers that would rather use feedback systems as a form of communication (versus trying to solve crap like this internally).
I've seen (and experienced) far too many issues where a buyer simply ASSUMES something - then gets nasty after they realized they missed something in the photo or description.
One of many reasons why feedback and review sites are pretty much useless. It's too easy to publish defamatory feedback and reviews on the web with little to-no truth.
There's no follow-up by outside parties (AFTER internal communication has failed--most buyers opt for chargebacks and mudslinging before trying to work things out) or (on most review sites) proof that the reviewer is even a customer of said company.
Not to say this specific case is valid, though. :) But seeing as the seller refunded the guys money, what else does he really want? Seems to me, the BUYER missed the key word: good. Not great, fabulous or MINT.
If he shipped the wrong phone, he shipped the wrong phone. That's relevant to future buyers.
It is not uncommon for the occasional error to happen with a business. Invoices get mixed up, etc. Human error. It happens.
There's no reason the seller should have a one-sided negative on his record, if he took care of the buyer.
If he ignored the buyer, blamed him and chose not to issue a reimbursement - then there's ground for a negative.
But with my comment, I was referring to review sites as well as ebay's feedback.. which seems to have gone backwards by nailing sellers with no way to leave negatives to shoddy buyers. It's basically a free for all for buyers to screw with sellers (or competitors!) Sellers should also be able to decide who they work with, as they have far more to lose than a buyer.
The seller (most of the time) wants a life-long customer, there's no incentive to screw the buyer over.
There's no reason the seller should have a one-sided negative on his record, if he took care of the buyer.
Doesn't matter if he got reimbursed or not...if I order something and don't get what I ordered that is inconvenient and I would definitely mention it in my feedback.
Doesn't matter if he got reimbursed or not...if I order something and don't get what I ordered that is inconvenient and I would definitely mention it in my feedback.
Of course it matters. If you order something, are not content and get your money back within seven days - or if you order something, are not content and don't get your money back, those are two totally different cases.
However suing the buyer goes to far. He is perfectly within his right to mention this in his feedback.
Is it no longer possible for sellers to add a remark of his own to the feedback a customer leaves on ebay? The seller could simply have explained the error and added that he returned the money within seven days.
Things have changed, and not for the better.
Perhaps if sellers could give rebuttals and rate customers on specific areas (e.g.- communication, timely payment, patience, etc.) then they may think differently. Take for instance shopping in a small town, when you live there. Do you defame the man you know and have purchased from sicne childhood or do you attempt to work it out and recognize that we are all trying to survive here?
I have witnessed customers creating phone listings in company names, because they were angry, and place the number to a local attormey general. I have also seen them post their own number as the business number so they could destroy the company anytime someone unwittingly dialed them. Can the company sue them, I don't know.
I had more to say but now I am disgusted by the fact that everyone wants to make a quick buck or save a hew bucks quick, but are unwilling to play the game and realize the dangers or atleast take responsibility.
However, filing a lawsuit goes a bit too far, but in the end, hopefully, he/or the judge will make a point with eBay.
Then the internet comes along, and it's great... You can reach millions of people for next to no money. Problem is, so can the customer... I recently had a situation where someone bought a product from us and wasn't completely happy with it. It's a performance/technology type of item... Most people are totally happy with our stuff, but this particular person wasn't... Hey it happens. Problem is, I didn't find out he wasn't happy with it by him telling me directly... I found out by him posting a "review" on a very popular forum that revolves around the product subject-matter. Traffic on said group of forums accounts for a huge percentage of our business. The customer went on to explain in his post how he wasn't happy with the product and that it "didn't do what it should do". It just so happened that he included photos of the item installed. Well, I saw right off that at least 4 major errors had been made when he installed it, and they were directly related to how well the product worked. I explained this to the person directly on the forum, and low and behold, once the guy made the changes, it worked as promised.
The point is, it was only luck that I happen to see that post and was able to vindicate us. Had I not seen it, that post would have been seen by potentially thousands of people and it would have done untold amounts of damage to our reputation. Should one person have that kind of power? Even if a mistake has been made, should one mistake be punished to such an extreme? I think in the right scenario, I might be thinking about legal action myself.
If the issue of sellers not being able to leave feedback becomes more of a problem, their revolt against eBay will be felt
What about the buyer's perspective. Ebay is prompting me to provide my opinion of the transaction, but I can be SUED if someone doesn't like it? Talk about a serious disincentive to ever shop there.
I personally do not understand why any retailer would think s/he has the right to post a review of a customer on the internet. I was on a private business forum in my niche and someone wanted to start a blacklist of kook customers. I think if I lived 12 lifetimes I would not have enough time to do that.
