Amazon Marketplace Seller Is A Complete Fruitcake

fallen121

Here's my story.

Bought a book from an Amazon Marketplace seller. Not sure if I am allowed to name her on here so will hang fire for now.

Basically, after 10 days had gone past, I became concerned because she still hadn't posted the book, so I emailed her once asking about where it was. No reply. A few days later I emailed again. This time I got an email back.

First of all, she didn't apologise for not responding to my first email. She basically said she couldn't login to her Amazon account "if you can give me any ideas then I would welcome them".

Hang on. I'm the buyer and the seller wants MY help because she can't logon? Jeeze. This still doesn't explain why she didn't respond to my first email as presumably the emails she's getting from Amazon are arriving ok.

A couple of days later she emails again saying she still can't logon so she advises me to contact Amazon to get my money back "because I don't think I shall be using them again". Hang on. Since when was it MY responsibility to contact Amazon about a Marketplace purchase that they have already credited her account with? The site quite clearly states that disputes must be reserved between buyer and seller. Amazon do have a claims procedure, but it doesn't kick in until 3 weeks after I have ordered the book.

I email her back. As you can imagine I am getting a little bit annoyed by now. She knows what the book is. Each email states this at the top. She has the book. I can give her my address if she needs it. Why can't she just send the darn book?

I basically tell her in no uncertain terms:

• That she has zero customer service skills and a complete inability to understand her responsibilities as a seller
• That I will be leaving appropriate feedback if and when I ever get this wretched book
• There are a number of things she ought to have done WAY before now, which includes phoning Amazon to get her account access problems sorted

Tonight she emails me back saying "I didn't even bother reading past paragraph 1 of your email" (obviously lies, as she contradicts this statement in the very next sentence).

"For your information, I already phoned Amazon today and they can't do anything until Monday" (funny that she didn't read past paragraph one, yet I suggested this very thing in the part of the email she claimed not to have read!)

Lastly she says to me "I shall be blocking your emails from now on". Doesn't bother me, as I had kind of given up on this fruitcake seller anyway.

As I see it, she has a couple of options open to her:

1. Send the book, in which case I hope she's prepared for the feedback I leave her, as by that time she will have kept me waiting nearly a month
2. Not send the book, in which case she needs to provide a refund (which is going to be difficult if she is blocking emails)
3. Do nothing, in which case I will file a claim against her, which is not going to do her seller reputation much good

My question (for the more experienced of you on here) is - can a fruitcake seller leave poor feedback for a buyer? I feel sure she will get back at me for any negative comments, even IMHO though she well deserves them. However, this could leave me in a bad position as I sometimes sell myself on Amazon and I don't want my reputation ruined because I happened to buy from someone who is clearly a complete flake.

I feel better now for venting at least! :j

hcb42

i wouldnt worry over feedback, just claim your money back when you can

fallen121

I am worried any feedback she may leave for me because I don't sell much on Amazon and if she says anything particularly vile it is likely to remain visible at the top of my profile for a long time and could put my own buyers off. She herself will have less to lose from anything I may say about her because it sounds like she has pretty much given up on the idea of selling on Amazon anyway.

The only thing that prompts me to leave honest and factual feedback about her is as a warning to others. She has quite a few books listed on Amazon and if she abandons any attempt to get her access problems sorted there is every chance that these books will remain on sale and could be "purchased" by others - who will be charged but won't be able to reclaim their money for ages, as I am now finding.

Maybe I am just too public spirited, but this seller ought to come with a health warning - she has certainly suceeded in raising MY blood pressure!

Oliver14

Buyers dont get Feedback on Amazon. Open an A-Z claim for a refund. Amazon require that sellers dispatch within 2 days so she wont last long as a seller on Amazon. They take a dim view of poor sellers.

fallen121

That's a relief to know that buyers can't get feedback, but as previously stated opening an "A to Z Guarantee Claim" is not possible at present.

Amazon have allowed a window of 14th to 30th September for the book to be delivered to me (presumably this time starts a few days after the order is placed and doesn't include weekends?). This seems a ridiculously long time and inconsistent with Amazon's own policies if they require sellers to post within two days - Royal Mail may be bad, but it isn't THAT slow. Until 30th September window has closed, therefore, most of the drop down "reason" options on the "A to Z" claim are greyed out and not available to me. The only one I am allowed to select at present is "order contained incorrect/defective/damaged items".

I understand that Amazon want to allow enough time to discount any chance of postal delays, etc. and I appreciate that this beef is primarily between myself and the seller. But if she can't login and is blocking my emails there SHOULD be a way for me to highlight to Amazon that contacting the seller isn't working. She refuses to have dialogue with me. She won't send the book.

Wouldn't it be funny if the seller came on here and saw this? I think it would be quite amusing to hear her side of the story. Like what she was doing for ten days. Apart from ignoring my emails, that is.

soolin

Actually buyers can get feedback although most sellers don't bother. However I do see your worry here and it is something that has always worried me on Amazon as a seller myself- we are only allowed one account so we have to buy and sell on the same one. We find a difficult seller and leave appropriate feedback- then that seller either leaves us appalling feedback which we struggle to get rid of, or they wreck our selling by buying from us and leaving low stars.

Personally I would open an A-Z as soon as you can and risk the feedback. The last time I did an A-Z it took about 6 weeks to get my money back, so the sooner you start the better.

fallen121

Checked this morning and the seller has now removed the other books she had for sale on Amazon, so she's obviously got her access back, but she still hasn't sent the book.

Hopefully I'll be able to raise an A-Z claim and leave her some negative feedback if she hasn't done anything by Saturday, which is when the despatch windows expires.

A previous poster mentioned that it took about 6 weeks to get their money back. Presumably Amazon won't have credited the seller's account if the book hasn't shown as being shipped, so I am hoping it will be quicker than that for me.

One of the worries I have is that I used a gift voucher to pay for this order and the gift voucher expiry date was 14th December. If it takes longer than that to get a refund, I may end up with a gift voucher I can no longer use because it has expired. :mad:

I wish some people would wake up to the fact that their careless actions have consequences for others.

fallen121

Ok it's now 1st October. the window for the seller to post the book to me has now passed. Went onto the website to file an A-Z claim.....AND ALL THE OPTIONS ARE STILL GREYED OUT!! How much longer am I going to have to wait? :mad:

Amazon, please get your finger out. This seller has scammed me....and 3 weeks after the sale I still can't even BEGIN my claim.

Never thought I'd say this, but even Paypal is better than this.

soolin

fallen121 wrote: »

Ok it's now 1st October. the window for the seller to post the book to me has now passed. Went onto the website to file an A-Z claim.....AND ALL THE OPTIONS ARE STILL GREYED OUT!! How much longer am I going to have to wait? :mad:

Amazon, please get your finger out. This seller has scammed me....and 3 weeks after the sale I still can't even BEGIN my claim.

Never thought I'd say this, but even Paypal is better than this.

I'm not sure customer services is open on a Saturday, but have a look and if so phone them.

Although I am a marketplace seller I must say that having had so many issues with getting a refund due to a rogue seller made me think twice about ever buying from marketplace again if item was expensive. I know we are guaranteed our money back, so for smaller items it is OK having your funds held for a couple of months, but for expensive items it might be an issue.

Only this week I bought something from an Ebay seller at a very slightly higher price (before topcashback discount) as it is over £30 and I didn't fancy risking Amazon marketplace again. At least on ebay I know I can technically have a refund in my hands after 17 days if it all goes wrong. Odd thing is I think it was the same seller on both Amazon and ebay, not overly brilliant feedback on either but I fancied my chances better with a paypal chargeback.

fallen121

Tried to phone Amazon yesterday - after half an hour listening to musack I gave up as I needed to clean the car. I am sure my call is important to them too.

Now 2nd of October and I am still unable to file an A-Z claim - even though the seller had until 30th September to post my book.

C'mon, Amazon - most of the options on the A-Z dropdown are still disabled and the message, "Disabled reasons will become available shortly after the seller's advertised delivery window" is hardly reassuring. What the heck does "shortly" mean??? Shortly before the time to claim expires, you mean?

Time to name and shame the seller I think - stand up SYLVIA SMITH

Abbafan1972

Well the 30th Sept was only on Friday, so perhaps they don't count weekends?