Problem Customer That Makes Me Want To Scream.

[GaryNunn]

Out of the 200+ sales I've had in the last 5 months, I've had ONE single problem customer.

He ordered this holster, that CLEARLY said won't ship until 5 days after payment, he emails me via Ebay the next day wanting to know why it hasn't shipped yet, threatening to report me to Ebay. I told him it would be 5 days.

As soon as he gets it, he claims it's too tight. I told him to follow the break-in instructions, so the next day he emails me and said that he just "discovered" a small chip in the leather, and it's still too tight. I immediately offered to replace the holster or refund his money.

Now, 4 days later, he emails me another picture and says that the leather "developed" cracks and the piece is about to fall off the holster. I tried to duplicate the damage on a scrap piece in my shop, and I had to SERIOUSLY abuse the leather just to get surface cracks, there was no way i could crack it all the way through... not to mention the fact that it's 8-9 oz leather. It also looks like the finish has been seriously dulled, I'm wondering what else he did to it.

So now he's demanding that I replace the holster with one that fits and pay for his shipping expenses, with hints that he might expect me to pay for his "lost time" if I don't do a timely replacement.

That's an $80 holster he's destroyed.

I emailed Ebay and asked for guidance. One thing for sure, this guy is getting blocked from ANY future purchases.

Edited February 26, 2016 by GaryNunn

[TinkerTailor]

I would just send him his money, and cease communication. Not worth your time to make another one. Can't please them all, specially if they are trying to be displeased.

[Troy I]

I had one guy do the same thing, with one of my rifle slings...as soon as he got it he forced the leather around the swivel on his rifle...the leather cracked...he then wanted me to make him another sling in a different color....I gave him his money back and told him that he needed to go else where to have his next sling made.

Keep in mind I include a full sheet of instructions with each purchase...that has in it to not force the leather, let it break in on its own.

Also in my discription I state that leather is a natural product and may have blemishes and scars that make each item unique.

Edited February 26, 2016 by Troy I

[NVLeatherWorx]

As has already been stated: give this idiot his money back and end all communications with him, people like this are around every corner and the more that you try and make it right by them the more noise they make because they think that they have a patsy on their hands. People like this wake up every morning hating the miserable life that they enjoy and just all of us to join them in their misery, ain't worth it to try and keep the $80.00 on the books. Costs less in the long run because you can cut him out before he does any real damage to your business. It is also the main reason why I don't use eBay for any business; that place crawls with garbage like this guy.

[Studio-N]

eBay will NEVER stand behind a seller and their ex-wife paypal is the same.

Cut your losses on this one and refund it - BUT make sure it is on the condition

of him returning it. At least that way he won't have a free holster.

Edited February 27, 2016 by Studio-N

[Mike516]

I have been selling antiques and collectibles on eBay for years, but it doesn't matter what you sell, it's the same deal.

There are mostly good people on there buying but there are some that know how to "play the system" and get what they want for free. It has gotten so bad that I am liquidating my inventory and getting out of eBay.

I have researched other places to sell and will likely soon be making my own website. But my customer service will remain the same. I just don't want to be under someone else's thumb, especially one that has a broken system. And eBay's system is as broken as it gets.

But customer service should never change no matter who the client is. And in this case, the guy says he's not happy, so he's not happy weather it be about life or his job, it probably has nothing to do with your holster. But he's not happy and there is no way to undo that so don't try. I would do this by the book....have him send the item back (the only way ebay SHOULD force a refund - but I have heard stories where they will refund without a return so the best you can do is attempt to mitigate eBay involvement) then refund his money and place him on the blocked bidder list. Then, and this is the hardest part, forget about the guy and move on.

There's no point in letting him get to you. Remember the other 199 customers you have made happy.

Good luck to you.

[TinkerTailor]

Then, and this is the hardest part, forget about the guy and move on.

There's no point in letting him get to you. Remember the other 199 customers you have made happy.

Good luck to you.

In your mind, just pretend you spilled glue all over a finished holster and had to scrap it....

[Kulafarmer]

I agree with Tink, just give em his cash back and say buhbye

[dfrensdorff]

I agree.... Give money back and get the holster back. The one thing I completely disagree with as far as eBay goes is negative feedback that is completely unwarranted, and the difficulty in getting it removed....hope you don't have to deal with this as well.

[penguineer]

I agree.... Give money back and get the holster back. The one thing I completely disagree with as far as eBay goes is negative feedback that is completely unwarranted, and the difficulty in getting it removed....hope you don't have to deal with this as well.

One negative Ebay feedback is not an absolute end of the world.

Just suppose you have 199 satisfied customers leaving feedback with rankings in the 3-5 stars range and one customer leaves a nastygram review with 0 star feedback........

I tend to look for patterns in the feedback(ie if the last 10 feedback are negative or related to one item).....

On the other side - if a seller has 5000+ sales and every single one of them is five star glowing reviews....I start to get a bit suspicious(although it seems anything less than 5 stars these day is a no-no). Call me old-fashioned....

Cheers!

Edited February 29, 2016 by penguineer

[Dwight]

I'm with ya Gary, . . . one bad customer can ruin your whole day.

I'd just give him back his money, . . . toss the holster in a drawer, . . . sooner or later a buddy will need one, . . . he'll be tickled pink when you joke and tell him you need 59 cents for the hardware, . . . but he can have the holster for free.

We've all been in your boat, . . . it ain't fun, . . . but with Ebay being what it is, . . . get your holster back, . . . give him his money back, . . . go on down the road.

May God bless,

Dwight

[Boriqua]

My mental health is worth far more than 80 bucks and your issue would have me insane. Im with all the rest .. refund his money and make him go away and sleep easy. I wasnt always that way but as I get older I just want to live as problem free as possible.

I saw someone on a youtube channel suggest applying denatured alcohol to finished holsters to aid in break in. he said be generous! I dont know but I would prefer if people didnt add alcohol to my finished product. I wonder if that is what may have caused the problem. You will never know so dont sweat it.

[LumpenDoodle2]

Just give him his money back "he aint wurf it", and get your holster back, if possible. If it is so unuseable, then he shouldn't mind.

You could always take another tact, by mentioning that you need to see the damage to work out how it happened and prevent it happening to other holsters. If he's honest, he won't mind sending it back, if he's coming the cowboy, then he'll be reluctant. Especially if he has abused the holster in some way.

As to ebay, take no nonsense from them. I had a case of someone bidding on an item, and not taking the time to read the details. Their opening gambit was to aggressively demand a part or full refund or they would leave negative feedback (something ebay say they do not tolerate). I spoke to ebay, and explained the situation, and they agreed I was not at fault, but unbeknown to me, a couple of hours later, the decided to refund the buyers money and get the item sent back to me.

I blew my top at them, as the buyer had broken ebay rules by threatening me with negative feedback. Ebay backed down and let me keep the money and the item.

Still annoyed that they took no action about the buyer, but that's ebay for you.

[Ulfberht Leather Works]

I learned my lesson about a year ago. Ended up with a customer who could not read and thought he was ordering two of a custom item, even though exolicitly listed as single units. He wrote to me and said he could not afford them as pair which he believed he was receiving. He then proceeded to advise that "upon further inspection.... blah blah blah.... busted rivet.... blah blah blah" in tertiary emails days later. I refused to refund him at that point and vowed to repair it, which resulted in a very negative response litterally wishing a "curse" on me and his negative "review" on my shop page. PayPal refunded him anyways and made me pay return shipping. It cost me days of work, money and honestly a great bit of anger over all of it, NOT WORTH IT!

[Sonydaze]

Life is too short to keep dealing with a**hats. I would have the holster returned then refund him including return shipping. Then I would not communicate further. It leaves him in the weakest position to complain and without a 'stolen' holster.

Hang the holster on your wall to remind you to appreciate the many great people you deal with.

[GaryNunn]

Update: The buyer returned the holster, and it was cracked around every edge possible. The leather had clearly been intentionally bent back and squeezed to the point it cracked. He sent it via Fed Ex, bypassing the Ebay return process, and demanded that I reimburse his cost, that I replace the holster and also send the replacement to him Fed Ex overnight - which would have been more expensive than the holster itself.

I refunded his money and sent him a polite message that I couldn't replace the holster and I thought it was in our mutual best interest to simply issue a refund.

This guy is PISSED.

He's threatening to sue me for time and expenses, as well as leave me negative feedback and file "fraud" complaints with Ebay. I shouldn't have replied, but I reminded him that I also have the ability to leave feedback for him as well, so now he's also threatening to sue me for defamation if I leave him negative feedback.

-> Picture me doing an eye roll and double facepalm here.

I'm not worried, I'm actually amused.

He's blocked from buying again.

lesson learned.

[artwithapulse]

Amazing that someone can get so upset over $80 - especially when the seller has attempted a few times to make ammends.

Some people just need to stick with plastic products, hey?!

[bob21804]

Gary, sounds like you handled this well. I always try to remember to "respond", but not "react", to people like that. He'll lose interest and unfortunately become someone else's problem soon.

[fredk]

I can add little to what has already been said.

I've had customers like that. I've done over 10,000 deals on ebay, and have had about 10 to 15 like this messer of yours.

As for the threats ~ I've had some too. I reported them to ebay immediately and they banned the buyer. I call it a 'pre-emptive strike'

[LumpenDoodle2]

If it was me, I'd pass the threatening messages on to ebay, as what he is doing is against ebay policy. You also don't know how many others he's bullied like this and got away with it.

Pass it on ebay purely to let them know what is going on. They need to know about this sort of thing, as otherwise, all they see is another seller, and a faulty item. It keeps yourself right if nothing else.

What I find slightly worrying is that someone has allowed this bampot with way too much unjustified aggression to have a gun, Leaving him in charge of a sharpened stick would be decidedly iffy for the world (IMHO).

Edited March 7, 2016 by LumpenDoodle2

[Mike516]

Unfortunately, sellers can only leave positive feedback for buyers.

He's threatening to sue me for time and expenses, as well as leave me negative feedback and file "fraud" complaints with Ebay. I shouldn't have replied, but I reminded him that I also have the ability to leave feedback for him as well, so now he's also threatening to sue me for defamation if I leave him negative feedback.

Unfortunately, there's nothing you can do to him. Sellers can only leave positive feedback for buyers. If you leave him a "false positive", he can easily have it removed.

So, unbelievably, there is no way to warn potential sellers about this guy. The best you can do is what you have done and ignore any further communication with him.

You could try and let eBay know, but it's unlikely they will do anything to this guy because he's a buyer.