Advice please, I think I might have done the wrong thing

vangirl_2

Hi, I received 3 claims for non receipt of goods on Friday which is an all time record for me, they were for items bought last Sunday and posted on Monday I sent the usual message explaining the postage delays and that I would contact their sorting offices etc etc but this was ignored by two and this weekend got snotting emails and a demand for a refund.

Normally I refund very quickly as Im keen to keep my customers happy and they usually send polite emails but in this instance I told them to put an ebay claim in to receive their refunds, in the nicest possible way of course.

The reason I did this is after recieving my TRS badge I seem to be having nothing but problems, I got my first low stars the day after I got my badge and this weekend had the lowest sales ever despite buying a small fortune in stock last week.

I checked both their feedback and they seemed to be buying lots of stuff but not leaving feedback for any so in my paranoid state decided they must be trying it on and though if they put in a claim at least I would get my fees back.

Now having thought about it this was probably the wrong thing to do and now am wondering if I should just refund them?

*Scarlett

I think you probably did the right thing - surely no one in the country who is buying on-line or mail order could be unaware of the current postal disruption!

Are these time sensitive items? I'm sure many would urge you to just refund if these are just low value items (not sent recorded) and claim of RM after 15 working days. If you do you could ask buyer to repay when they arrive and foster some goodwill to avoid negs.

Apparently however, E-bay seem to be aware of the problems in delivery times - there's an announcement that dispatch DSR star may be suspended if the national strike goes ahead.

You may find that they will require buyers to wait a little longer for delivery (who knows - miracles do happen!)

As regards to feedback buyers have left on other items, maybe their area is effected by postal strikes and they are just panicking about non-delivery on multiple items.

Keep communications open and try to persuade them to wait a bit longer - advise them they have 45 days with Paypal / Ebay and if the item is indeed lost they will receive a refund or replacement.

Hope it all works out for you.

vangirl_2

Thanks for that Scarlett,

No these were not high value items and normally I would just refund and claim from RM but just the tone of the emails wanted me to make them work a bit harder for there money back than usual. I know this is petty but all of us have had to wait longer for our stuff to be delivered.

Anyway Ive been polite in all my emails and have not heard back yet so I might just wait and see what happens next.

To be honest I think the changes on ebay and the postal strikes have a put a bit of a downer on ebay and I'm over reacting.

soolin

I'm fairly quick to refund but even I would not be looking to do that a week after posting. I would expect my buyers to wait a few more days yet, maybe into the end of the week at least.

However, I never tell my buyers to start a paypal claim against me, I don't want paypal to think I have any issues about refunding. You also gain nothing as however you refund you will get your paypal fees back.

vangirl_2

Hi, I didnt tell them to start a paypal claim. I just told them to go via ebay resolve a problem link and they could open a non recipt of goods claim so I could refund them but would also get my ebay fees back, usually I just refund.

I think my first post was misleading. They havent put in a claim with ebay as yet they just sent me a message to say they havent received the good.

I have tried to make them wait a bit longer but they both want a refund now which is why I said to open an ebay claim instead of me just refunding them, I thought if they where trying it on it might put them off or stop them doing it again if they knew it was being logged on ebay.

Im not normally this paranoid but they seem a bit too keen to get a refund.