OT I'm LIVID - my first negative feedback

I think you are well within your rights; that buyer is well out of
bounds and knows it. You're not running a charity, you're running a
business, and since you'd already filed NPB and relisted the set you
were simply telling her the literal truth about the situation. She
should have apologized and let it go... you did nothing wrong, and she
didn't give you any information with which to act compassionately; she
gave you nothing to go on at all. In addition, she's not being truthful
about you being hard to contact so I would not be surprised if she
wasn't being truthful about having a family tragedy; that's the #1 eBay
NPB excuse. I am guessing that if she is telling the truth about it, she
is angry and distraught about her family member, and it can be
temporarily comforting to resort to anger and pinning blame for negative
events on a human source, so in that sense she is probably using you as
a proxy for her anger about the family tragedy. *If* she's telling the
truth, she'll probably be embarrassed about it later.

Were I you, I would seek to have the feedback removed; it is retaliatory
and undeserved.

Kandice Seeber wrote:
Venting follows - feel free to skip if you don't want to hear my whining.

I'm breaking my own rule about not posting anything negative about a
customer. I know that. But, I'm so mad, I could spit nails. I just got my
first negative feedback on my ebay account. It's completely retaliatory no
less.

It's from the person who didn't respond or pay for the Mint Blossoms set
that I relisted recently. She finally contacted me letting me know she was
back in town, that she'd had a family emergency. This was after I had filed
the NPB and relisted the beads. She wanted to know if she could still buy
the beads, and if I could wait a week while she got her finances together.
I was very nice to her - saying I understood that emergencies happen, that I
hoped things got better for her, but that I was sorry - I had already
relisted the beads on ebay and could not sell them to her.

Well, she finally responded back after 5 days saying that I didn't care
about customers, that I only cared about money. And that I was hard to
contact (?????). Then she left the negative feedback.

Hard to contact? I have emailed her several times, and answered every thing
she's contacted me about on the day she contacted me. What on earth did I
do wrong here? I had no idea if I was ever going to hear from her until
after I had relisted the beads. I relisted well after the 7 day waiting
period I give everyone, which is written clearly in my auction description.
All the buyer has to do is contact me within 7 days. I am very leniant as
to payment - if they need longer, I can almost always work something out.
But 7 days without any kind of contact is my limit. I have too many other
customers wanting my beads to continue to hold something indefinitely.

I waited 8 days before relisting and even longer before leaving her negative
feedback. I didn't hear from her for 10 days. ****sigh**** I can no
longer be proud of a 100% feedback rating. This really makes me angry.

I am sure there are people who are going to say that I didn't wait long
enough. But you know what? Why should I hold beads indefinitely when I
have so many wonderful customers who are willing to contact me right after
the sale and pay within a reasonable amount of time? Maybe I have been
spoiled - but honestly, if I would have heard from this person on time I
would have worked out a payment arrangement with her based on the family
emergecy. I'm not heartless. Damn it.


--
-Kalera
http://www.beadwife.com

That was true at the time, Cheryl, but they've been responding to a
combination of market and customer pressure... they're not the only game
in town anymore, and although they may not actually CARE, they still
have to change their procedures in order to COMPETE. When the Google
Marketplace opens up eBay had better not be ****ing off buyers and
sellers left and right or they'll go bankrupt.

Cheryl wrote:
BS

ebay doesn't give a flying you know what about feedback

I had a SELLER RIP ME OFF for $14....
and then left FALSE FEEDBACK that he wasn't paid
uh - I have the PAYPAL to prove that I did...

emailed Ebay for a month - bitching - they
told me "too bad" we can't do anything....

that is one reason I do not SELL ON EBAY!
Cheryl


--
-Kalera
http://www.beadwife.com

This reminds me of the statement that the only people who never do anything
wrong are the people who never do anything. Perfection seems an unrealistic
goal, especially in a circumstance where someone's ego can lead to them
leaving incorrect feed back.

Hope you can get this fixed.

Tina


"Marisa Cappetta" wrote in message
...
Sweetie, leave a rebuttal and let it go. I know it's so hard. On Friday I
managed to completely **** off a customer, in spite of spending 20 minutes
trying to help her. I mean really, really trying. She was still ****ed
off.
I would like to say I make all my customers happy, but nothing in life is
perfect. You're unlikely to loose business because of it. I do know how
you feel though, hon, it's yucky.
Marisa AU/NZ

On Sun, 26 Jun 2005 17:36:58 +1200, "Marisa Cappetta"
wrote:

The tricky part about ****ing off a customer face to face is running into
them in the supermarket, like I just did 20 minutes ago. I could see she
still thinks I'm a blithering idiot This woman admitted to knowing
nothing about sewing and then wouldn't listen to my advice, even though she
asked for it. Oi. Save me from the stupid people.

You know...I sort days into categories at work...there's drapery days,
where every other customer is making drapes, or dining room chair
days, where everyone is recovering them...it seems to run in cycles
(except that at least one customer a day needs me to tell him/her how
to make a poker table...what IS the attraction with poker all of a
sudden?
But the past week, EVERY day has been "stupid people day". Every
person who has walked into my store has been stupid. They've asked
stupid questions. They've wanted to do stupid things (make drapes for
a 12' window without spending more than $10, out of prime designer
fabric) or they are completely unable to understand instructions like
"fold the fabric selvage to selvage".

Frustrating...

Jeanne

Wonderful - thank you Su. I am definitely willing to go the mediation
route, but I am not sure the customer would agree.

--
Kandice Seeber
www.lampwork.net
"Su/Cutworks" wrote in message
...
Kandice wrote:

I did respond to her negative, and I also followed up on the feedback I
left her. I was very business-like. However, I was under the impression
that ebay didn't get involved with negative feedback disputes. I'll check
that out - thanks, Su.

Not only will they get involved they're rolling out a new feedback dispute
procedure soon, because too many people use the threat of negative
feedback to get an advantage over a seller. At the moment there is a
mediation process that you might be able to use.

I'd rather have a negative and explain it than be held hostage by a buyer.
Or a seller, if I found one to be unscrupulous. Fortunately I've not had
that displeasure.

Here's a link about the new procedures they will be instituting. There
was a thread on it in the eBay Bead Hive group.

http://www2.ebay.com/aw/core/200506....05-06-23213051

-Su

--
.sig lite: http://www.tillermanbeads.co.uk All roads lead to beads.
British Lampwork 'Modern Glass - Ancient Roots'
http://www.britishlampwork.co.uk

Thank you Denise. I don't think this really warrants any kind of legal
action - it's not that big of an issue in the grand scheme of things. My
pride is hurt most of all. I am not sure you could call the remarks
defamatory - she did lie about not being able to contact me, but I am not
sure that falls under the law - it's so vague. Ebay does have the mediation
process that allows us to mutually remove both negatives. I might consider
that if she's willing, but after what we've both said to eachother, I would
find it hard to believe that she would be. I might ask, though - we'll see.

--
Kandice Seeber
www.lampwork.net
"Glitzy Glass" wrote in message
ups.com...
Kandice - Here is a quote from ebay's feedback dispute area -

"Members could be held legally responsible for damages to a member's
reputation if a court were to find that the remarks constitute libel or
defamation.. Under federal law (the Communications Decency Act),
because eBay does not censor feedback or investigate it for accuracy,
eBay is not legally responsible for the remarks that members post, even
if those remarks are defamatory. However, this law does not protect the
person who leaves the feedback from responsibility for it."

Let me tell you - if someone did that to me I would file a legal claim
- it took you years to establish your name and feedback and she tried
to ruin you with an outritght lie. Our neighbor is an attorney and she
told me that the fee would be about $25.00 to serve her with a letter
from an attorney's office requesting that she agree to a mutal
withdrawl (which ebay honors if both of you agree) of her negative
feedback. If she doesn't want to do it, then she needs to be aware
that there are quite a few attorneys that are willing to sue for fees
won.

You are allowed to request that Ebay provide you with the bidders
address and phone number etc..., I think you did everything by the book
- be sure to keep the emails you sent her - they are legal documents
and can be submitted as proof of attempted contact. Her emails
requesting unreasonable terms are also important and can bite her in
the butt if she doesn't settle and remove her slander.

I am so sorry this happened to you!

Denise

Yep, I did. I just wanted to vent about it. I was very business-like and
level headed in both rebuttals (even though I was hopping mad). Venting here
made me feel better. You guys are always a great help when it comes to
that.

--
Kandice Seeber
www.lampwork.net
"Marisa Cappetta" wrote in message
...
Sweetie, leave a rebuttal and let it go. I know it's so hard. On Friday I
managed to completely **** off a customer, in spite of spending 20 minutes
trying to help her. I mean really, really trying. She was still ****ed
off.
I would like to say I make all my customers happy, but nothing in life is
perfect. You're unlikely to loose business because of it. I do know how
you feel though, hon, it's yucky.
Marisa AU/NZ

Yep, they've started instituting several procedures for negative feedback
removal, unpaid item disputes and non-performing seller disputes.

--
Kandice Seeber
www.lampwork.net
"Kalera Stratton" wrote in message
...
That was true at the time, Cheryl, but they've been responding to a
combination of market and customer pressure... they're not the only game
in town anymore, and although they may not actually CARE, they still have
to change their procedures in order to COMPETE. When the Google
Marketplace opens up eBay had better not be ****ing off buyers and sellers
left and right or they'll go bankrupt.

Cheryl wrote:
BS

ebay doesn't give a flying you know what about feedback

I had a SELLER RIP ME OFF for $14....
and then left FALSE FEEDBACK that he wasn't paid
uh - I have the PAYPAL to prove that I did...

emailed Ebay for a month - bitching - they
told me "too bad" we can't do anything....

that is one reason I do not SELL ON EBAY!
Cheryl


--
-Kalera
http://www.beadwife.com

I'm sure are an honorable seller and the buyer that stiffed you is just
angry because you gave negative feedback. A lot of people have trouble
accepting responsibility (your buyer)!!
When I buy on E-Bay, I do check out feedback that is negative, but
would never reject a buy for just one negative comment. There is
always more than one side to the story.
Lilyflower

The tricky part about ****ing off a customer face to face is running into
them in the supermarket, like I just did 20 minutes ago. I could see she
still thinks I'm a blithering idiot This woman admitted to knowing
nothing about sewing and then wouldn't listen to my advice, even though she
asked for it. Oi. Save me from the stupid people.

At least you don't have to see that! That's one of the great things about on
line trading. Relative anonymity may embolden a snotty customer to make
horrid remarks, but at least you never have to look at them again, that's a
very good thing, trust me.
Marisa AU/NZ

"Kandice Seeber" wrote in message
...
Yep, I did. I just wanted to vent about it. I was very business-like and
level headed in both rebuttals (even though I was hopping mad). Venting
here
made me feel better. You guys are always a great help when it comes to
that.

--
Kandice Seeber
www.lampwork.net
"Marisa Cappetta" wrote in
message
...
Sweetie, leave a rebuttal and let it go. I know it's so hard. On Friday
I
managed to completely **** off a customer, in spite of spending 20
minutes
trying to help her. I mean really, really trying. She was still ****ed
off.
I would like to say I make all my customers happy, but nothing in life
is
perfect. You're unlikely to loose business because of it. I do know
how
you feel though, hon, it's yucky.
Marisa AU/NZ