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How would you rate this seller?
Magic Pink
Tur-Boner-FedRegistered User regular
Tur-Boner-FedRegistered User regular
So I bought an old DVD off Amazon. It was listed as "Like New". The thing showed up yesterday with a completely ruined case and a dvd that won't read because of the scratches. I sent an email to the seller who replied the next morning with a full refund but then also said not to rate him unless I gave him a four star or better.
Now, normally I only give a 5 star review if I get what I pay for, as descrivbed, in a reasonable amount of time, period. Any thing else is less; normally this would have immediately been a 1 star and I would have ignored it but this DVD actually cost a bit of cash so I wanted a refund. At best I can't imagine giving him better then a 3 but the insistance via email that I don't rate him at all unless I can give a 4 or better really chaps my ass.
So what would you do?
Now, normally I only give a 5 star review if I get what I pay for, as descrivbed, in a reasonable amount of time, period. Any thing else is less; normally this would have immediately been a 1 star and I would have ignored it but this DVD actually cost a bit of cash so I wanted a refund. At best I can't imagine giving him better then a 3 but the insistance via email that I don't rate him at all unless I can give a 4 or better really chaps my ass.
So what would you do?
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The fact that he failed to send even a working copy when it is proclaimed to be "like new" would probably have me rate it 1 or if possible 0 stars.
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Now, it seems like a jerk move to give a bad review since he sought to fix the problem. However, it's possible that this seller doesn't check their stock as well as they should and sometimes sells bad goods to take advantage of people's reluctance to return/refund.
Online reviewing works best if everyone provides an accurate review of the seller's ability to provide what they promised. If I were you I might give a 2 star review and clearly state what happened. If this is an incredibly rare event, one 2 star review isn't going to hurt them at all. If this occurs often, hopefully several people will post reviews about it and future buyers will know not to waste their time with an unreliable seller.
Qualifying the rating with a description of what happened lets someone who is on the fence determine if they want to take the same risk.
Probably like a 2 star? The fact he gave you a refund doesn't detract from the fact that the item you got was not as described, and probably shouldn't have been sold at all.
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See, this is where my quandry is. Is it a jerk move? The guy sold me a blatantly falsely described item that doesn't even work then told me not to rate him unless it's glowing. All he's done right so far is refund me and, as far as I'm concerned, that's the bare minimum of what he should have done. But I also admit to being a huge angry, asshole when I feel like I've been ripped off.
Sorry, no. I didn't mean, "It seems to be a jerk move and you should feel that way." I meant, "I think most people might feel a bit bad about it at first glance, but..."
Defintely qualify whatever rating you give.
Then I'd just need to decide if I'm going to just file a dispute or if I'm going to give the seller another chance to not be an asshat.
If I got the refund (no strings), I'd probably give a 3. Shit happens, if I'm made whole then it's an average transaction. That said the seller should not be making refunds conditional or forcing you to threaten disputing the transaction just to get the refund you're entitled to (other things like making me send a picture of the damage I can understand, but this is shady).
Agreed. I would just leave it if he refunded you in full. It could have been an honest mistake.
Clearly you and I have very different definitions of "like new."
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No. If the seller had said "tough luck" or said that the customer could return it on his own dime, THEN I would pursue a full refund/negative rating.
But if the seller gave a full refund on an item that was not as described, then I wouldn't bother rating him at all. Just be done with it. The seller has already lost money on the transaction in both selling fees and shipping costs.
EXCEPT he clearly told me to rate him a 4 or nothing AFTER he already processed the refund. I consider that pretty scummy.
And the difference in condition from Like New and this is miles and miles.
In any case, I gave him a 3.
In a perfect world, they'd overnight you a pristine copy with a big phat mea culpa, but if you're ordering from a small seller with limited inventory, they most likely did the only thing they could.
If I was in your position, I just wouldn't rate them at all (if that's viable on your marketplace).
That said, they could have been a shit seller who just sent you junk and didn't bother to check, so, ya know, YMMV.
That way you're not being overly condemning of a seller who didn't give you a fuss about a refund, you're getting the word out that it was wrong of him to falsely advertise the item's state, and you're being honest.
Caveat: Be absolutely sure he packaged a damaged product, and that the damage couldn't have happened due to a shipping mishap.
Yeah, in that case, I wouldn't begrudge you begrudging him. That's just poor shipping practices. He really should have offered an immediate replacement if able if he expected any kind of 4-5 star review.
Just curious as to what else you think he should have done in this case? Offer you a free spinach dip on your next visit?
I agree that a low rating is fair since he sent a bad product (intentional or not, pay the fuck attention, seller), but a full refund without asking for a return is the maximum he could have done in exchange.
I guess he could have also not tried to circumvent the eBay TOS regarding feedback, but eh.
I would just let it go. Getting your money back should count for something.
Well, the maximum a seller can do in goodness is to sell the product advertised and provide it in described condition and good faith. By completely failing in his entire reason for existing as a business, he is scraping the barrel no matter what.
It's nice that he provided a fast refund, but that's more or less a default expectation for when you've sold someone a broken fucking product.
It's interesting that the guy sent the e-mail begging to only be rated at 4+. I wonder how well it works for him (for example: do you think his e-mail factored-in to you giving him a 3 instead of, say, a 1 or 2?)
He should have described the item as it was or sent me an item that was actually Like New initially.
Yes, exactly. Unless he has a lot of inventory / staff and someone grabbed a used copy instead of a new one, it's a bit much to su'misggest that this could've been a 'mhistake'.
It sounds like he or she is one of the many eBay sellers who tries to offload busted inventory at full price while crossing their fingers and playing the odds that the buyer won't be bothered to request a refund.
OP while I personally would have dropped it, you were in your boundaries to leave him any score that you wished. The seller should not have requested that you blatantly give him a 4+ score. I manage a large eBay business, and when we make a mistake I ask the customer what I can do to make them happy. A happy customer leaves a happy review, right? Unfortunately this seller didn't do that.
My own score tends to be:
5: The transaction went more or less smoothly. Item arrived on time, in more or less exactly the condition I expect.
4: Smooth transaction, but there was some minor issue: maybe the item was late, or maybe there's some slight damage.
3: Not a smooth transaction, but I did get the item and it works or the seller sent a replacement via priority mail.
2: Not a smooth transaction; I either received a broken item or no item arrived. Upon contacting the seller, they offered to ship a replacement but not via priority mail.
1: Not a smooth transaction; I either received a broken item or no item arrived. Upon contacting the seller, they offered a refund.
0: Outright theft of my money. No item / broken item, no response from seller upon contacting them.
I guess that's considered kind of harsh?
On the bright side, I've never had to give anyone a 0 or 1, and probably 95% of the time I've given 5 star ratings. The Internet is still my favorite shopping mall.
He refunded you, but he shouldn't be rewarded (either with no review or with 4+ stars). The fact of the matter is that he shouldn't have listed it as like new. He shouldn't have even SOLD it. Even in the best case scenario he lied about the condition and most likely he was hoping you just wouldn't want to bother dealing with the refund process.
If you don't rate people like this or if you give them false reviews, you're paving the way for more people who will trust this guy and get burned for it.
Definitely make sure the refund clears first, but then rate him accurately.
Twist my arm, I'd probably give him a three. You're rating your interaction with the seller, and in this case it seems like it's been decent aside from the damaged goods.
that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat
And the lost time, of course. That shit ain't free.
To me, it defeats the entire purpose of the ratings system, and I won't be a part of their dodgy bullshit.
If you feel like he should be punished then rate a 3 or lower. Personally I would just not leave anything, but I tend to value service over what was probably a mistake (he ate the shipping cost I assume. This isn't the type of thing he wants to do consistantly).
...Except that you can get away with it for quite a while as an electronic retailer, because most consumers for whatever reason will not bother asking for a refund. Even if the product never arrives and the 'seller' is outright stealing money, buyers often won't even contact the crook (much less report them).
The 'good' thing is that buyers also don't often give any rating after receiving their purchase unless the seller does a follow-up, so ratings do eventually end-up being a decent indicator of how reliable the seller is (because some people will eventually 1-star the scumbags, while absolutely nobody will 5-star them).
I'd like to know where you pulled this information from. In my experience if everything isn't perfect, the customer won't hesitate to let you know before leaving their review. Which I appreciate, because if there IS a problem, I need to know before they leave a feedback/score. I hardly think this guy could get away with sending DVDs that don't even work. Let alone that a customer would just say "oh, well", and not bother pursuing a refund or resolution on a defective that doesn't even work.