Forum Moderators: buckworks
Any advice? If I send out a replacement package, I would be breaking even on the transaction. If his chargeback is approved, I'm out a little money. Since this is an Internet transaction, are his chances of receiving an approved chargeback good?
1) Advise him you have a delivery receipt showing he received it.
2) If it seems he is trying to cheat you, remind him that if he requests a chargeback, as you have proof the package was delivered to him, you will have him charged with credit card fraud, and let him know it's up to 10 years in prison and up to $10,000 fine (Federal Law... credit card fraud is credit card fraud even if the cardholder performs it - which some seem to forget).
3) Send copies of the delivery receipt, etc to his cc company if he actually does go through with the chargeback.
4) Was it insured? If so and the delivery receipt cant prove who it was delivered to, then file a claim with the USPS. There is (I think...) a default insurance limit that comes with shipping the way you did, so you should at least get something back.
Hope that helps,
Rob
I hope you carefully reviewed the address where the package was reportedly delivered.
Here is a good example of why I prefer UPS.
1) The package would have automatically been insured.
2) It's up to UPS to do a follow up. Either they prove the customer received the package or they pay the insured amount.
Sure, it may not be fraud. It could have been a USPS mistake, it could have been stolen from his doorstep or by a roommate or whatever.
But does it really matter? The guy's got bad voodoo on him. I'd say cut your losses as soon as possible and move on.
dvduval, I have my reasons for not using UPS, but we can talk about that in another thread. ;)
But does it really matter?
You're right, it doesn't matter. I am considering giving him a refund. That way my reputation would not be tarnished in any way. But here's my other thought. If this is a pattern with the buyer, wouldn't another chargeback lead the credit card company to lose confidence in the buyer?
golden rule no. 1 - only deliver to the cardholder's address
golden rule no. 2 - always get the cardholder's signature
>>If this is a pattern with the buyer, wouldn't another
>>chargeback lead the credit card company to lose
>>confidence in the buyer?
the buyer is their customer. the card company won't lose anything out of their customer's run of bad luck ....
We sell to small businesses and they charge on their personal cards, so there is usually not an address match.
Getting a signature costs extra for residential delivery with UPS in the US at least... the 1.75 per package can increase the customer's shipping expense by 30% which can lead to abandoned carts.
When a customer claims that they did not get the package (really a pretty rare event for us, knock on wood), we've been going back to UPS and filing a claim - this enables us to reship the customer the item (signature required this time) without taking a hit (as long as the value of the package is <$100).
I used to do a decent amount of mail delieveries by USPS with delivery confirmation. I never did signature required - and didn't get ripped off once - with probably 700 deliveries or so. I only had two people (that I can remember) claim they didn't get it - I copied the delivery confirmation info - as well as more detailed info of what it would have looked like (my packaging was much more elaborate looking than people expected) and never heard back from them.
Drugstore.com sent me a package that contained about a 7 pound device. All I got was the half of the cardboard box top. No return address, but I figured out it was them by looking up the zipcode I got with USPS delivery confirmation.
I called them and they replaced it. Stuff like that always bothers me - as I assume no one is going to believe me.
I also have two other packages that are in the middle of being researched. I have never had this problem until the last couple of months.
Delivery Confirmation is far from perfect.
However 1 out of 500 USPS parcels disappears without a trace, even though it claims it was delivered.
USPS has a habit of dropping off boxes on doorsteps, when the customer is not at home, and I beleive that some of these boxes are stolen or were misdirected to the wrong address.
I always assume the customer is right, and put a claim in with USPS. Unless USPS can come up with a signature of the customer, they must refund your money. If by chance, USPS comes up with the customers actual signature, then you have a case of mail fraud.
After that, we play it by ear as to resolution. If in the end, we re-send the product with more expensive signature-options and if it costs us money, then so be it. Cost of doing business. Customer Service and going out of your way to be nice is everything on the internet.
Customer Service and going out of your way to be nice is everything on the internet.
I'd have to second this. You've done your homework re: determining if the package was delivered or not and you still do not have absolute proof - re: customer signature.
Send him another item, with sig verification, and make a note in his customer record for future reference and determination of a trend.
But as this is the first incident, I'd err on the side of customer just to keep from causing a riff between you because you don't have absolute proof he received the product.
surely $1.75 isn't going to cause that much harm to a business? if business survival is that finely balanced, then something is wrong. you need to look beyond the additional $1.75 cost. play it right and you probably won't see any loss at all - make it work for you and the customer.
one lost package means one angry / disappointed customer who might not order from you a second time and might not recommend you to others, simply because you failed to deliver the first time. can you afford that loss of business?
you could tell the customers you require their signature (hence $1.75 extra) to ensure deliveries don't get lost and to help keep the costs of your goods down - make it clear that you do this for their benefit - if they perceive it as a benefit to them, they will normally like it.
you could hide the costs, partly in the costs of the goods, partly in other shipping costs. you could even swallow a small part of the costs yourself - after all, you'll make savings in time because you won't have to investigate lost orders and make claims against USPS / UPS / whoever and you will be less likely to lose recommendations and repeat business.
think it through carefully ...... remember you must always look beyond the $1.75 ...
one lost package means one angry / disappointed customer who might not order from you a second time and might not recommend you to others, simply because you failed to deliver the first time. can you afford that loss of business?
Actually, I find that the most loyal customers are the ones you had problems with, but took a hit to make sure they are happy.
People feel it. Every company seems nice when things go smooth, it's when the problems arise you see the true face.
I'll give you an example of an order I processed last week. One of the orders my distributor shipped was supposed to contain two items.
When the customer received it: one item was broken, the other one was missing. Well, that's about as bad as it gets... Not quite, the missing item suddely became out-of-stock and I could not even order it again.
After a few e-mail exchanges with the customer, promise to refund her money if she decides so, promise to replace the borken item without the need to return it first, and offer to pick another item in place of a missing one with a greater value - that's the response I got:
=======
Thank you so much for your pleasant service.it doesn't get any better that
you reply-below. Thanks for being so nice.
I will be happy to wait until the <widgets> are in stock.if
I haven't received them within the next 60 days, I will choose another item
and email my choice then.
Thanks for sending the replacement.
Your satisfied customer,
<the name>
=======
That's an e-mail from a customer who hasn't even received anything yet!
My distributor is really bad and I have problems with at least one order out of 20. I don't ship anything directly so I don't have any control over fulfillment, so I have to compensate with good customer service.
I imagine it would be tougher if I was selling DVD players and digital cameras, but still, a problem with the first order does not mean a lost customer. It's all in your attitude.
Distributers have a different state of mind.
They are used to shipping to retailers, and if one or two items get broken in a $5000 shipment, to the retailer, its no big deal, they just replace it in the next order. Retailers come to
expect this. Distributers ship in volume and they are not big on packaging shipments all that
carefully.
Send one or two items to a consumer, and the items
are broken. It a very big deal, and it effects your reputation.
Thats why we carry practically everything we sell, and avoid drop shipping like the plague.
