Package arrived tampered with, what to do?

[Melissa1971]

Hi

I have been online but do not see the information , even on the US Postal service website

A customer says he received a hard drive from me that the packaging was broken, the labels were torn off etc...This is an expensive item. He was pretty angry. I addressed his concerns and sent him pictures of the item taken before it was sent. I am a pro merchant so 90% of my listings contain pictures of my items on a specific table using the exact same vintage bedspread (so no one can say I got the picture online)

Well he thanked me and says he is sending it back. I let him know I already sent him $20 to put towards postage. He never addressed the email with the pictures of the item. Can I file a report with the post office? Am I legally obligated to pay him the whole amount? I think it is strange he ignored that communication. He only replied to the one where I took responsibility, the other I told him if what he said was true, it was tampered with. I did pull off a few price tags but nothing like he described, no labels.

Thanks for any advice anyone has

Melissa

[ovidiu]

There is nothing you can do if he is uncooperative, you are screwed. I have been defrauded by buyers before and Amazon basically ignored my complaints.

[First Edition]

Does this mean the hard drive is broken? It's not unusual for packages to get broken into this time of year... you can take it up with the post office, if you try.... but odds are they won't help at all if insurance wasn't purchased. If he returns it and it works, refund him for sure.

typically when you get a package and you accept it when it's obviously been broken into, you accepted the packaged regardless. If it were legit I would have taken it right back to the post office before I did anything.

[Melissa1971]

He is mailing the package back to me he says. I already sent him $20 to do so, he lives in San Francisco like a few hrs away from me. I don't know if he's an anal gay guy who is exaggerating to the point of lying because the outer packaging wasn't cosmetically what he imagined (as it did have one or two prices ripped off of it) also some light glue was left from beneath the price tags.

The outer packaging of the hard drive is thin cardboard surrounding the box.He says the inside was not sealed. That means the box inside the cardboard was not sealed. He also says the hard drive was not sealed which was located inside the box but I know it was. I removed the cardboard and opened the box to check it closely before sending it out.


Never occured to me that you were not suppose to be able to open the box after slipping off the outer cardboard. I believe that is how they packaged it.

He says labels were missing and I sent him a used item They were not, I removed two price tags but that's it.

Ok I guess there is nothing I can do. He may puncture the inside hard drive if it is not if he has lied to get a refund, which I would have given him anyhow, even for Buyers Remorse. My concern is my account is on review and it may not pass. So many people asked me for refunds lately, none have made it into customer metrics though

Oh well....

[ovidiu]

Maybe you should consider refunding the small orders thru money orders so they don't show up on your account. You are going to come across anal buyers time and time again on Amazon, since there's no reason for them to behave, and indeed all the reasons in the world to misbehave. And no, having your own return policy won't work, because in reality, you're required to follow the Marketplace return policy. Another unmarked land mine!

[Melissa1971]

Originally Posted by ovidiu

Maybe you should consider refunding the small orders thru money orders so they don't show up on your account. You are going to come across anal buyers time and time again on Amazon, since there's no reason for them to behave, and indeed all the reasons in the world to misbehave. And no, having your own return policy won't work, because in reality, you're required to follow the Marketplace return policy. Another unmarked land mine!

Yes, I agree I have to refund him. Somehow I was hoping not to, or have some kind of alternative. He wanted a refund for his shipping costs but it is doubtful I will go that far (though I did front him $20 to send it back)

My customer metrics don't show a refund but I've done alot of them lately for whatever reasons. I always send cash for the refunds, don't give any other option. If they ever say they didn't get the $$ and try to file an a-z, I will close my bank account immediately. It's not ethical in my opinion to assist a thief by providing a bank account to do so, whether it is my own or someone else's. But I understand people think differently so this is just me

[cherrqell]

Originally Posted by Melissa1971

Hi

I have been online but do not see the information , even on the US Postal service website

A customer says he received a hard drive from me that the packaging was broken, the labels were torn off etc...This is an expensive item. He was pretty angry. I addressed his concerns and sent him pictures of the item taken before it was sent. I am a pro merchant so 90% of my listings contain pictures of my items on a specific table using the exact same vintage bedspread (so no one can say I got the picture online)

Well he thanked me and says he is sending it back. I let him know I already sent him $20 to put towards postage. He never addressed the email with the pictures of the item. Can I file a report with the post office? Am I legally obligated to pay him the whole amount? I think it is strange he ignored that communication. He only replied to the one where I took responsibility, the other I told him if what he said was true, it was tampered with. I did pull off a few price tags but nothing like he described, no labels.

Thanks for any advice anyone has

Melissa

If this person is only a few hours away from you, and you have all the proof that he is trying to scam you, you may consider taking this person to small claims court over your damages and loss. May be an option. You have all the pictures, and paper trail. A judge may find in your favor, and this jerk may have to pay punitive damages, on top of your item loss.

[Melissa1971]

Originally Posted by cherrqell

If this person is only a few hours away from you, and you have all the proof that he is trying to scam you, you may consider taking this person to small claims court over your damages and loss. May be an option. You have all the pictures, and paper trail. A judge may find in your favor, and this jerk may have to pay punitive damages, on top of your item loss.

Thanks, I remembered this late last night. My best friend is an Attorney who used to volunteer once a month for small claims court as the Judge. Now they have real Judges. Here's the last correspondence I sent him

Hi *******

I still have no reply from you to my other emails??? You were under the impression the item was used, tampered with including broken seals and grossly misrepresented. We need to get to the bottom of this, I included pictures of the item so PLEASE let me know

We will be in S.F this weekend but I don't have time to meet. PLEASE KEEP the packaging and item so we can file a report together with the Post Office so they can investigate. You also need a refund so let's get that process started by filing.


I won't be home today so call me at (***) ***-** If I am out, leave your phone # with Joe *** the Attorney and I will call you back. He is familiar with this but swamped today with work. We will be in S.F for at least a week around Xmas so we need to meet up with you and file a report.

Again, the hard drive would appear as the pictures do I sent you. Please let me know and keep all of the items, including my $20 I sent you towards return postage since it is not needed. Thanks so much for replying back to this email asap


I'll be waiting to hear from you, again, thanks so much~sorry this happened


.

[Melissa1971]

Luckily we do go to San Francisco alot because our family lives there.
So filing a claim in small claims court if needed will not be much trouble. My feedback is like 22-28% at 100% (all 5 stars)

[ovidiu]

I've been in small claims court. Usually a waste of time.

[First Edition]

Seems a tad redundant.... Aren't all gay guys anal?

[ovidiu]

Lol, they would probably disagree, but then again they don't want straight's knowing they all liking eating you know what.

[cherrqell]

Originally Posted by Melissa1971

Luckily we do go to San Francisco alot because our family lives there.
So filing a claim in small claims court if needed will not be much trouble. My feedback is like 22-28% at 100% (all 5 stars)

If your using a stealth account, and alot of your information is ****, This may be a problem. You could be committing perjury. Just a FYI.

Good luck.

[ovidiu]

If your using a stealth account, and alot of your information is ****, This may be a problem. You could be committing perjury. Just a FYI.

Good luck.

Agreed, I did not think of this one. It would probably automatically lose you the case too if the judge figured it out.

[Melissa1971]

Originally Posted by cherrqell

If your using a stealth account, and alot of your information is ****, This may be a problem. You could be committing perjury. Just a FYI.

Good luck.

Thank you. Yes, it is my real name and real address.
Hopefully he will leave his phone number today but so far, I've heard nothing. I don't want to give him my home phone

[Melissa1971]

Originally Posted by ovidiu

Lol, they would probably disagree, but then again they don't want straight's knowing they all liking eating you know what.

.

[Melissa1971]

Originally Posted by First Edition

Seems a tad redundant.... Aren't all gay guys anal?

probably....