 |
Only on ebay...Posted Jun-18-08 11:56:21 PDT Updated Jun-18-08 12:05:46 PDT
I'm sure many of you have worked retail jobs. I used to work at a very well known electronics store....many, MANY moons ago. When I first started working there, I couldn't believe how often people would throw around the word "scam". Let me give a few examples: A customer comes in and wants to return a camera that's 10 days beyond the return period. Our reps tell the person, "Sorry, you're outside of the grace period". User screams, "Scam. Bad customer service. I'll never shop here again". A client buys a warranty that does not cover accidental damage to her laptop. She brings it back to the store and swears by the name of every deity the LCD shattered all by itself. The chunk of plastic missing from the corner of the laptop has nothing to do with her LCD becoming nothing more than a Rorschach test. Her warranty request is denied. "SCAM! Bad customer service. I'll never shop here again!!!" I once had a lady get furious with me because I could not load a washer and dryer in her little Dodge Neon. Let me repeat that (in case that idiot woman is reading this). She was upset with me because a full size washing machine AND a full size dryer would not fit in the trunk of her Dodge Neon. A DODGE F#$%^&* NEON?!?! I told her we had a delivery service and she screamed...well, honestly I went back in the store and let her complain to my manager. Maybe I provided bad customer service that day, but come on. A Dodge Neon? I bring this all up as I was reminded how much we expect of our retailers. The above examples happen on a daily basis at stores all across the US (...sans the Dodge Neon lady. She's special.) These are not isolated incidents. It seems our society expects a retailer to not only have very appealing, customer centric policies, they also expect the retailer to be willing to break those policies in favor of the customer. ...and then we have e-bay retailers. I noticed the following bit of text while browsing for a laptop battery: Do not post negative feedback before giving us the opportunity to repair or replace the item, it may result in void of warranty Oh really? My warranty is dependent on the feedback you earn? If you earn a negative feedback and I happily oblige with said negative feedback, I lose my warranty? Oh really?!? Several of the people selling laptops state things like, "Super fast 300mHz Pentium 2"or "HUGE 2,000,000 byte hard drive". Those people are annoying and prey on the uninformed. We have people selling items that should be free (see my previous post about the guy selling "the best OS"). Those people are annoying. However, using this tactic as insurance against negative feedback you may earn makes you scum. The lowest of the low. Now, I understand how important feedback scores are for sellers. One day I'll have some items to post myself and I will be livid is someone gives me negative feedback I don't deserve. I understand a physical store does not have feedback rating posted outside of their location. You're not going to see, "Feedback score: 74%" the next time you go to Wally World (though it would be an awesome idea). I can't think of anything comparable, but even the lady in the Dodge Neon can see this sort of policy is wrong on every level (....and that's saying a lot!) I won't go so far as to mention the person's ID here. S/he may be a great person (their feedback score is nearly perfect...go figure). Maybe I'm taking that statement out of context. Maybe I'm being too harsh (hopefully some of you sellers can respond). As of now, that single policy is enough for me to scream: "SCAM. BAD CUSTOMER SERVICE. I'LL NEVER SHOP WITH YOU. EVER." |
)  About eBay | Announcements | Security Center | eBay Toolbar | Policies | Government Relations | Site Map | Help | |
Copyright © 1995-2008 eBay Inc. All Rights Reserved. Designated trademarks and brands are the property of their respective owners. Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of the eBay User Agreement and Privacy Policy.
| |