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in general, how should you deal with a legitimately crazy buyer? think i just failed.
 

question is in the title. my recent insane buyer story in 1st comment below... :faint:

i just dealt with a buyer who i think must literally be insane. like bipolar, anger issues, something mental. from here on out insane buyer will be referred to as "B." :violin:

B bought used $130 item, and I shipped it almost immediately. after item is shipped, B sends worried e-mail, asking specific Qs about condition of item (red flag). B lives completely cross country, and bought standard shipping. After 1 week, B emails me complaining and making threats... going to report me to Amazon, wants $ back, etc. because he'd "never waited that long for an item to arrive, etc." i call PO, PO says package "guaranteed" to arrive on XX day - i forward message to B.

day rolls around, package does not get to B, instead I GET THE PACKAGE with a return notice/sticker from the PO that says "REFUSED" (!!!!!) i forward info to B. if it is possible to communicate a heart attack through an e-mail, B does this. literally screaming at me for being so stupid and using the USPS, "i chose the carrier, so it is my fault", blah blah blah, etc. and that "he did not refuse package" (B lives in apartment complex)

note: it is very clear that B is unemployed, and i get the sense that he is on welfare (which he has hinted at) - i wouldn't comment on this, but B is buying frivolous items for $130+ and behaving this way towards actual people trying to make a living - kind of irellevent to my question, but just want to paint a picture of the type of guy B seems to be.

I say i will re-ship & refund his original shipping charges (now about to pay double what was already higher priced shipping than amazon charged) using whatever carrier he thinks i should use. i say i will check into the fastest deals etc, and will try to get it back out by end of day and get back to him w/ tracking #. i was not able to get out of the house in time to do this. since i was not able to get tracking # etc, i did not think there was any point in messaging - planned to mail package/message first thing in AM. YES, I did NOT get back to him that night. Perhaps I should have, but I felt it was pointless to do so, as any remotely normal person would have probably gotten the idea.

by morning B has sent me 5 more angry e-mails. I'm "blowing him off" he's "going to report me to amazon" "going to file a claim" "you can explain to amazon why you are blowing off a customer" "going to report me to the Better Business Bureau" " the worst seller he's ever dealt with" "he has been SO patient this whole time" "he is a great customer" mocks me/what i've said in emails, etc… FIVE e-mails worth of this…

also says in the e-mails that if i have not yet sent item to "forget about it" and give him a refund. he then changes his mind 5 mins later, and say he will give me one more chance, if i get it to him by 5pm "tomorrow" that will be fine - if not, he wants a refund. overnight shipping would cost over $100.

So i issue a refund.

B is then super pissed that I issued refund. "he really wanted item"

oh yea, and i even researched on CL (FOR HIM!! cause i'm a pussy) and found the same thing in (what looked like) the same condition for even cheaper - only a few miles from where he lives.

"he doesn't want someone else's" 'he want the one i'm selling" "now he can't get what he wanted" etc…

so… i'm leaving out a whole bunch of details, but the cumulative messages he sent were all just so crazy and harassing and cruel. he was clearly trying to take advantage of a small seller cause he knew he could. NO business would have responded like i did and would have tried to accommodate him like i did.

now… i don't think i really handled this correctly (i think i was overly accommodating and too much of a push over)… but wtf should i have done? how do you deal with a legitimate crazy person? i don't know…

Seems you handled it properly considering the crazy nature of the buyer. You get these unstable buyers every once in awhile. Save all the emails should you have to send them to Amazon. Pretty sure your going to get a scathing bad feedback. All you could do is refund, accept the feedback, and move on. Hopefully he doesn't harass your account in the future.

If they have made any harassing, or physical threats, you may be able to press criminal charges (long shot) just to scare them off, but this can be more trouble than its worth.

If its a legit account, you can be in for some of Amazons infamous behavior regarding accounts that have irritated buyers. It it is stealth, open a new account and move on.

Sorry to hear of your dire circumstance. Have a few drinks, calm down, and try not to worry about it too much. This person is probably mentally challanged, and they are beyond being reasoned with.

Best of luck on this one.

If they have made any harassing, or physical threats, you may be able to press criminal charges

Better yet, just forward these to Amazon and maybe get him kicked off, or at least get any feedback he may leave removed.

Sadly, almost every one of us will deal with a nut like this sometime in our online selling career. I've dealt with similar (but not as bad) ones both on eBay and Amazon. One thing I have learned: there is no pleasing these losers, and there is no reasoning with them. Want a more detailed, clinical explanation of what ails them? Look up the word "sociopath".

Dude I feel for you. I just got a first negative feedback from a nutcase similar to yours... If you've made multiple sales in the past, look for the first sticky in this forum (this one) on how to increase your feedback by 15% and have positives to cover the neg you may (and most likely will) receive.

Reasoning with Amaz0n is of no use unless this moron either leaves you a product review feedback or rights a profanity in which case Amazon can legally remove it.:smash:

in which case Amazon can legally remove it

Has nothing to do with "legally". It's just Amazon policy to only remove it in those cases.

You have some nice advice here - hope it works out for you.

Some people use the internet to vent. They get more and more irrational and angry over something silly. Everything is wrong and everything is your fault. That shows you they are a bit loopy. [And emails over and over in a short period are also crazy]

Best thing is to try and be calm and kind in emails. But many times they are so upset about the whole thing you cant fix it anyway. They are just crazy and irrational at this point. Refund is what I would have done too. If the mail returned in error it would have still been all your fault and you would have been the bad guy to them no mater what. Saying things like you have to get it to him the next day and so on is a losing battle.

They pop up from time to time and it hurts the account, but you really cant do much when dealing with crazy. You did all you could and then some....

Amaz0n seller forums typically advise to mail jeff@amazon.com in case you get in trouble because of a nutcase like this. All the correspondence is monitored and can easily be retrieved by interesting CSR to analyze (an issue is to find someone on the other side who is genuinely interested).

Bending over backwards all the time doesn't help either because there is no way of pleasing a nutcase like this. They will be unhappy no matter what you do. Just be firm and polite. If you already cancelled your order just sit tight and see what happens.

I once cancelled the order before shipping from a "B" like this one.

Man went berserk with "press charges, report to amazon, file a claim, file suit ". Lol.

I looked up his name and address, and found some pictures of him. A guy in his mid 40's, mountain climber / outdoors type. I guess here in the US they go senile a bit early ( 50's or so ), while elsewhere they go senile at 70-80, lmao.

It's difficult to generalize about people you meet on the Internet, because the Internet can turn anyone into a monster. Take relative anonymity, the unlikelihood of repercussions, and add that to sellers who are told to quake in terror when dealing with buyers, and what do you get?

Instant sociopaths who do and say things online that they would never dream of doing/saying to your face!