Question
History:
Dec (yes december) - buyer buys 3 charms
Jan - receive email saying charms are very cute, but they are too big
I say "fine send them back and we can do an exchange or a refund".
6+ emails - including that she should receive a discount for them if she buys more. uhhh, ok???
We send her prices. She decides that she only wants 3 of them, but for the discounted prices. ok, again?? (I'm tired) The difference 1.65 which I ask her to please include w/ her items she is returning. No, she sends it paypal, which costs us an extra .34 (21%) - Paypal thanks her.
Oh, it also takes her 14 days to send us the package, on day 16 she starts asking me where the replacements are.
One of the items she ordered was the light link charm bracelet - should be fine since her charms are small right?, wrong!!!
Feb: get this:
The charms are sooo cute!! The bracelet is pretty, but very "light" looking when I place it on the counter and lay the charms on it to get a preliminary look at the finished product ...they look quite mismatched!!
I don't want to keep bugging you with this bracelet issue so I feel like I don't dare ask you to exchange it for a heavier weight bracelet and paypal you the difference. I guess I will just live with it, unless you are willing to work with me one more time with it. I think the problem is that I just don't know what a 4mm, 6mm or 8mm looks like to say definitively, yes, that's the one! What do you suggest?
masochist that I am, I say "oh don't be silly, it will be fine, but please send the difference (1.35) w/ your return".
March 15th haven't received the return. Okay no problem.
Then I get this:[quote]My husband said he mailed on March 2nd the package with the 4mm bracelet that I am returning to exchange for a 6mm bracelet. You should have it by now, or in the next couple of days at the latest. Did you receive it okay?
How much is the cost difference between the 6mm and the 4mm, and the postage, so that I could paypal you the costs (was in 2 emails and NO paypal on this small amount!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!). Also, have you mailed out the 6mm bracelet?(no, will send it when your return arrives)QUOTE]
So, now I have sent responses to 4 emails about wanting to know if her bracelet has shipped. No, we will send it when we get your exchange. Try that with target, it won't work there either.
Thurs of last week I get this:
My husband sent it a few weeks ago with a delivery confirmation. Unfortunately, my husband is in the hospital with end-stage heart failure. I've been spending my days at the hospital and trying now to catch up on e-mail and mail. I asked him about the confirmation number and he said he gave it to me (but I don't have it). I know he sent it because he sent it the same day I asked him to send out 2 other packages and they were both received last week. Please let me know when you receive it.
I say "sorry to hear about your husband, I will watch for it and let you know as soon as it arrives". I think - Your husband is dying and you are quizing him on a package he mailed w/ 2 others -how many sellers are you doing this to/with? She is not a seller.
Today I get this -
It's been almost a month now since my husband sent you the 4mm bracelet back and I have not heard back from you for a while now about the 6mm replacement. In this past few weeks I have had an extreme amount of pressure on me between the loss of our 19-year old cat (I have no children so she was like my only child) and now I'm also losing my husband at only age 42 from heart failure. I do not tell you these things for you to feel pity upon me -- it's just that I want to end my business with you so that I may finish the tribute charm bracelet before I lose him! I'm hoping this will help me in my grieving and be able to move on. When can I expect to receive from you the 8" 6mm double link Sterling Silver bracelet from you. I have all the charms and I would like the bracelet to be complete before the end of my husband's life and to have when it's time to bury him. Will you please help me? I have paid you all but a dollar and change for the difference between the cost of the two bracelets and the postage, and I am happy to send it to you -- I just need the bracelet so that I can work on it ASAP -- won't you please help me and send me the bracelet?! I look forward to hearing from you soon
Part of me is very empathetic (same age, furbabies) and says "send it to her it's only $8 and the time is getting rediculous (exasperated by me w/ this thread).
But, part of me is pretty sure that I wouldn't be thinking about what piece of jewelry I was going to wear to my husbands funeral. And the business side of me says "I am so tired of ebay buyers taking advantage of us. We jump through hoops for ebay buyers that our "real" buyers would never ask us to jump through.
Also tribute bracelet to him ? These are charms that were involved: lipstick, duck, computer mouse, tiara, scissors, cat??? Maybe it was a tribute to the cat and I am confused.
What would you do?
Answer
I would just stop replying to her.
Answer
I think she's full of it.
Answer
Sheila, you have to be the most patient seller on eBay.
I would have cut off that loser after the first change of mind. She is acting as if she is in Tiffany's, though I believe this cheapskate probably couldn't find a clerk at WalMart and so is walking all over you instead.
Larry
Answer
You can't win with someone like that. She obviously has a screw loose. Put her on your blocked bidder list and blocked sender email list.
Joan
Answer
Ditto what everyone else said. Block her, ignore her and forget her!
Answer
Ok, I'm gonna go against the majority here...If it were me, I'd send her the bracelet that she wanted, along with a note that said something like, "I hope that this is in time...my prayers for you and your husband"....I wouldn't ask for any more $$, I wouldn't neg her account....I'd just give it to her and move on...
Answer
Phoenix's idea might create a repeat customer. I once had a return package tied up in the US (priority) mail for over FOUR months.
Also, for some people (this one included), it seems emotion has a lot to do with making purchases. Chances are, you might get some referrals from her when she tells others about her bracelet, if she's happy with it, etc.
Its the buyers that buy expensive things, and then try to get away with something on the sly, those are the one's that I'm more straight-forward with.
I sympathize with you though, it was painful just reading abiout your ordeal.
Just be glad they're not all like that. Take the high road when you can.
Answer
The emails just warm my heart. LOL. Now, where did I put those hip waders? (cause it is getting deep in here)
My first thought was the same as the others, cease contact.
Then I thought, hey here is an idea...
I'd email the lady and say... I am sorry to hear about all your problems. I also have a 21 year old cat that is on his last legs. I am so depressed over the anticipated loss. I've also already lost my dad. I am not financially well off. I am sorry that you apparently have lost a package in the mail. I suggest that you ask USPS to trace your package. I am not responsible for their actions or the loss.
I will help you see that you have a bracelet before your husband's funeral if you will go ahead and purchase it. It will cost $x + $y shipping. I will send it priority to arrive in 2-4 days, or for $z I will send it overnight and in all cases it will be insured and have online trackable delivery as I always do.
If your return shows up here, I will process a refund promptly upon its receipt which will be $b excluding the shipping and insurance, which is not refundable.
God Bless you and your family,
.....
Now, I feel my nose growing in most of those statements but they match the buyer's. On the off chance the buyer is sincere, then you have gone the extra extra mile. And if the buyer is a thief, they will sense in "your losses" the fact that you have caught on to their little scam. The buyer might even be a little sympathetic in that they are ripping off someone else who isn't financially well off.
But that is just me...
Have a good day. And thank you for sharing. Each one of these unusual situations or scams I read about help me not fall for them when I hear it myself...
Dennis
Answer
She sounds like a nut. Her husband is supposedly dying, and she is wrangling with whether or not she can "live with" a bracelet that is too small / too big / too light, etc. She can't tell the difference between 4mm, 6mm, and 8mm (get a darned ruler, lady!) and she wants a discount on everything??
I try to be patient. I try to be centered. I try to have compassion for every living creature on the planet.
I just don't trust this one. She is very concerned about being precisely pleased, and obsessed with getting discounts, and the perceived preciousness of her items. She is a strange one, and I don't trust a word she says.
And you are more patient than I, that's for sure! I would have told her politely that the order was complete months ago.