Forum Moderators: buckworks
The customer claims that they have not received a parcel, and the tracking indicates that it was delivered.
Find, we place an inquiry with Canada Post, however the customer phones us everyday on the status.
A few days latter the customer cancels her order and demands a refund. For us this is a red flag.
I politely, explain the procedure that must be followed, and we must receive confirmation from Canada Post, before we issue a refund.
We have gotten burned in the past with issuing refunds, only to be shown signature of deliveries instead of our insurance check.
This lady has emailed us everyday for the past 21 days, with various threats, and considering the amount is for less than $200, I suspect a real fraudester would realize the game was up, and stop bugging us.
I have responded to everyone of her threatening emails, with a polite response. And I must admit it is a incredible waste of time.
The stupid thing is, if this person would just be polite, and stop accusing us of fraud, I would probably just issue her the refund, and be done with it.
However she is getting me so pissed off, Im going to follow our claims procedure to the letter.
The last email from her was actually amuzing.
She claims the following,
I have a website in which I will post all of our emails on the matter and the story behind how you are ruining my <secret> and make sure that it is easily accessed by all.
If she could carry out this feat, I would hire her to do all my SEO work :)
Any body have a similiar extreme customer horror story.
This one sets a record for five years in business.
[edited by: lgn at 1:12 am (utc) on May 23, 2003]
hang in there buddy ;)
De-stress - otherwise she will win - one way or the other.
good luck.
-Could you give me a bit of info on that Zicam... is it automated?
tks
"I ordered it at 4:30pm yesterday and it still isn't here at 10am, my boss is furious and he blames me, what are you going to do about it?"
"What do you mean you can't ship it to me before the holiday, you've ruined by daughter's Christmas…"
"Don't you realise that as a mail order company you are basically running a try before you buy service…"
The scary thing is that the last part is actually right under the UK distance selling regulations.
I can't really think of any advice for dealing with your nightmare lgn, just hang in there and try not to get too stressed…
Remember this though:
Sometimes confused, mis-informed,
rude, stubborn, changeable and
even downright stupid.
BUT NEVER WRONG
The original quote is something along the lines of "The customer is always right when he chooses to buy from you."
Quite different.
1: email the customer request that she ceases emailing you daily because this is harrassment - tell them you will email, or phone her with, a weekly situation report ignore her daily emails after this- MAKE sure you do this.
2; Examine the signature, making sure its not your clerks accepting a return - if its an unknown signature someone received it somewhere - refuse a refund if thats the case.
3; Stick to your investigation policy no matter what, check that the charge for postage equals the weight of the product shipped - proof that you have shipped something and not an empty box because that WILL be her next line of attack.
4; keep copies of all communications - a chore but very worthwhile.
5; keep calm and polite - IF there is any doubt that the customer is right refund the money.
6; Either way refuse to deal with her in the future.
Your credit card processors may become involved then im afraid its all over baby blue and she must have her refund. Credit card firms 90% of the time fall down in the customers favour.
I tend to view customers as deceit beings out for what they can get at any expense, Ive had them lie and contradict themselves watch yourself.
We have a had a couple of instances where UPS packages were delivered to the wrong address, stolen off the porch and even one instance where a $1000 item was stolen by a FedEx employee (reported to us by FedEx when they paid us the reimbursement).
One thing that you might try that has helped us with these situations is to have your customer file a report with her local authorities. If the item really has been stolen then it will help with the insurance. She will then quickly realize that you are not trying to rip her off. And if she is running a scam it will stop right away.
Best of luck.
Sometimes it is just the thrill of "winning" that makes fraudsters keep it up. The was a radio segment on "This American Life" a few months ago about a woman who did stuff like this. She said she would push and threaten no matter how long it took until she got her way, even when she knew that she was being dishonest. She said basically that she figured it was her god given right to get what she wanted, even if she didn't deserve it.
Could anyone tell me what is your recommended procedure to follow. What if Hong Kong post sticks to the original claim of delivery. Since the value involved in these transactions are small, we are quite willing to resend. The fact that the customer from the Philipines hasn't come back to us for over a month makes me suspicious of his claim.
