Let me begin with the obvious- I really don't care where the Customer Service offices are- if they are a) able to speak and understand English (or French, since this is the eBay.ca site), b) have some understanding of ebay.ca own rules and c) knows the difference between Canada Post, United States Postal Service, US Customs, and a carrier company- I don't think it's too much to ask.
I had an order late on Jan 5th (a Friday) from someone in CA. They had the option of either Canada Post USA Small Packet, or Canada Post Tracked Packet USA for an additional $3 more- they chose the cheaper of the two. The item shows ONE day handling time- but because it was the weekend- that gave me until the 8th (Monday). I put everything together and dropped it off at a postal outlet (Shoppers Drug Mart) on the 6th, knowing it was going to sit there till Monday- and as always- I sent the buyer a note thanking them for the purchase and it's been dropped off- he responded wanting a tracking number- I told him that he never requested or paid for tracking and he informed me ALL first class mail had tracking- I knew the answer for Canada Post- but thought I would check out the USPS site- they too offer tracking- on first class mail, for an additional cost- I showed him the options in the order that he had- and the option he choose- he decided to save the extra $3 not to have tracking. Then almost daily he harrassed me saying he wanted a tracking number and wanted to know where is package was- I told him I had no idea, and there was no way of me to find out- I explained from central Canada- it will be shipped to the border via Canada Post, then put into bond and given to USPS who would take it to Chicago to clear US Customs. The time frame at US Customs is anywhere from 2 hours to 2 weeks- depending on their backlog and whatever other factors are relevant to US Customs at the time. Once cleared, it is given back to USPS to deliver to the address on the envelope- again, I have no idea how long it would take for it to go from Chicago to Califonia via USPS- but it's usually not that bad. This harassment went on almost every 2 days- and I kept on telling him the same thing- he said he never buys anything without tracking and I should have put tracking on it- I explained it was an option for him to choose- but he didn't choose it. I tried, over and over to try to reasonably explain it to him. One mistake I made is that I showed it was mailed on the 6th- the day it was dropped off at the post office- that started eBay's 'Estimated Delivery Time'- if I waited till the 8th- it would have bought me 2 extra days.
Knowing what he was going to do- I called, well tried to get the eBay AI to get an agent to call me- eventually someone did. As soon as the person heard it had to do with an international shipment she said- oh, sorry- I'm going to transfer you to someone who handles that type of shipment- and the call was transferred. The person I talked to seemed reasonable and listened- having 2 degrees in Logistics I wanted to make sure we were on the same page- so I asked her to define the word 'ESTIMATED' as used in the estimated delivery time frame that is shown to the customer- although there were elements that was a little difference in the definition of the word in the logistics field- what was important is that she accepted that there is a difference between ESTIMATE and GUARANTEE. She asked what in my opinion would be a reasonable period of time- and I said there have been items I waited for 2 months to be delivered from eBay because of where it was shipped from and the shipping option I chose. I suggested a month- if the item was not received by Fed 5th, I would offer a complete refund (minus service fees)- or offer to send another item and even pay for Canada Post-US EXPEDITED so he would have it within a week- she agreed that would be reasonable.
TWO HOURS LATER, I was notified by eBay that there was a hold on my account until I reimbursed the seller the full amount- I got through to ebay again- and asked to speak to someone that deals with international shipments- and was told there wasn't such a department- I asked who was I talking to for 30 minutes then a couple hours earlier. She insisted that she could help. I said, okay- I would assume that there would be notes one the file- gave her the order number and all there was a note that said "International shipment" and nothing after that. She insisted I explain it to her- so I attempted to do so- and her response was to go to the carrier who I used and get them to tell me where the package was. I explained it wasn't a 'carrier' it was Canada Post- a Crown Corporation- meaning part of the Canadian Government- not FedEx. I explained that he dicided not to pay for tracking so there wasn't anyway of them to find out where it was- besides- Canada Post only had care/custody/control of the item until it reached the border then it was transferred to the USPS who would take it to US Customs to clear before releasing it for delivery. She said okay- contact the other carrier - the USPS to see where it was. I had to explain that the USPS stood for the UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE- a branch of the US Government- NOT a carrier- and there was no way that they could track a single piece of mail- she kept on telling me that the carriers could tell me where it was- I asked to speak to her supervisor- and explained the whole thing over again- and again she couldn't understand why I couldn't just call Canada Post to see where it was- and everything on ebay has a tracking number- I admit I was getting frustrated- I asked her if she had access to the eBay.ca site- she said yes- I said look at the shipping options- there in black and white it says Canada Post-US Standard mail, Canada Post-US Airmail, and then Canada Post-US Tracking- I said the buyer only wanted to pay for the standard rate- besides the ESTIMATED delivery dates- was an ESTIMATE, not a Guarantee- she said that this is something they offer the buyers- I asked her to google the two words- look at ebays own difinition of the two terms. I explained that I had talked to someone earlier (no notes except one saying 'INTERNATIONAL SHIPMENT) and we agreed that if it wasn't received by the 5th, I would offer a complete refund or send another expedited at my cost- She informed me that there was no notes of the conversations and as such the standard rules would apply- I agree to refund the buyer by Friday or they would refund the amount and take it out of my account anyway. I asked to speak to her supervisor and was told she was the highest person I was allowed to talk to.
IS THERE SOMEONE AT EBAY.CA THAT UNDERSTANDS THE RULES? DOES ANYONE HAVE AN EMAIL ADDRESS?
On a side note, I did contact the buyer- and told him what I agreed to earlier in the day- that if it's not received by the 5th- a complete refund- or another item sent via expedited but also told him that the USPS has a service called INFORMED DELIVERY that will show him what mail is expected to arrive at his address-. He responded that sounded okay- but that wasn't going to waste his time signing up at USPS, because- you know- Big Brother and all that. So now the buyer is agreeing to my offer- but my account is still on hold- WHO DO I CONTACT AT EBAY.CA?
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