| jeffweico | 06-30-2010 10:44 PM |
I once had a buyer on one of my websites who bought an $80 watch. 100% legitimate merchandise.
About 3 weeks after sending the watch, he emailed me that he was not happy, as he ordered the blue face watch and I sent him the black face watch. I checked, and he ordered the black, but I decided it was not worth it to fight. I offered him a refund or replacement upon return of the merchandise.
Then he emailed me stating that I was a crook and a con-artist because he found the same watch on another website for $65. Whatever... Then he demanded that I pay for return shipping. I was boiling mad but decided it was better than a chargeback, so I offered to include a $6 credit when he returned the merchandise.
I didn't hear from him for another week. Then he emails me that he wanted his refund FAST and that I needed to pay for FedEx to return the item. I refused, firmly, but politely. I REALLY didn't want to be polite at this point, but I was.
I didn't hear back from him. Then, I get a letter from the Better Business Bureau that he filed a complaint with them. I explained to them that I offered him a refund, and also offered to pay $6 for the return shipping, but that he demanded that I pay to have it overnighted and that I would not do that as it was unreasonable. They agreed and eventually closed out the complaint.
2 weeks later, I get another email from him. This time he was demanding that I go to his house personally to pick up the item. Sure, like I'm going to get on a plane to make a nutjob happy. He htreatened if I did not do it, he would do a chargeback and that I would lose my merchant account.
I sent him one final email advising him that if he contacted me again, I would be filing a police report on the matter.
Another week went by and then my merchant account provider contacted me. He filed for a chargeback. They asked me if I wanted to fight it. He basically just told them that he bought something from me and that he wanted to return it and I was making that difficult. I was furious!
I printed out every single one of his emails, along with my responses. I also printed the original order from my website. I wrote a letter explaining what happened and gave them the name and number of the person at the BBB who contacted me. I suggested that they look at his purchase history to see if there was a pattern of him doing this before.
3 days later the guy actually called me. He was screaming that I was committing fraud, that he would report me to the police, the FTC, the FBI and the OSI (I never did figure out what the OSI was). The he threatened to "come to Chicago to kick my a**".
I did not find out until the next day that his bank refused his chargeback request. That probably was what set him off. I never heard from him again until about a year later.
That's right, he placed ANOTHER ORDER on my website!
The bottom line is, be professional at all times. KEEP EVERYTHING, especially if the customer threatens you. Some people are just looking for a fight. And you never know what kind of a nutball you are dealing with. | 
