eBay

Anonymous · ‎08-07-2015

Hi guys - I am hoping you can help me out with this one! You helped tremendously with a previous problem I had but this is more of a doozy.

A buyer contacted me asking where his item was that he purchased on July 27th - well I was immediately concerned as shipping from Oakville to Toronto only takes 2-3 days tops. When looking at tracking, the item was delivered to him on July 30th BUT was refused by the receiver and sent back to me. It is currently waiting for me at my local Post Office (I am up North on a family vacation right now) to pick up. I will have to pay the returned parcel shipping cost when I pick this up as per Canada Post protocol.

Anyhow, the signature and name on file of the person who refused it and sent it back is a David B - NOT my buyer and my buyer claims he has no idea who this is. I double checked and the buyer address I sent it to was correct but is an apartment complex. The buyer is upset and wants it sent back to him asap and claims it is MY mistake - he says the Post Office told him I put on the wrong Postal Code, wth? Not sure how he would be privy to that info and it is not true anyways - it was the correct address.

SO do you think my buyer is fooling around here (says he doesn't know this David B who happened to accept the package at his address but perhaps he does and is embarrased that his family member caused this trouble, OR perhaps did the Postal Person deliver to the wrong apartment complex in the building. And if so, why didn't David and the Postperson see that David was clearly NOT Yuri - with a different last name?

Is Canada Post to blame and how would I approach this with them ?

So I did everything correctly yet now I have a disgruntled buyer who is angry at me, I have to pay the returned parcel fee to get the package back and then repay shipping to re-send it to the sender - with the slightly scary possibility that it may be again delivered to this "David" and not the correct buyer!!

Help! How would you deal with this situation!!! The buyer is awaiting my response.

mr.elmwood · ‎08-07-2015

Had something like this happen to me a year or so ago. Parcel goes out to the US, customer writes wondering where it is, it lands in my mailbox. Address is 100% correct. I Google Map and it is an office building.

It was stamped with "no such address".

I sent it out again, on my dime, as, it was not the customer's fault. I then called CP and got a refund on the original postage.

At the end of it all, the customer has to be made whole.

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View solution in original post

Anonymous · ‎08-07-2015

Any help or comment at all? Pretty please!

pierrelebel · ‎08-07-2015

"do you think my buyer is fooling around here"

The buyer is upset because he did not get the merchandise he ordered and paid for.

Since you do not have access to the parcel at this time there is not much you can do but let the buyer know you will take care of the problem once you return.

Alternatively, you may want to offer the option of an immediate refund for the full payment advising you will re-invoice upon your return.

rose-dee · ‎08-07-2015

What's the value of the item? If it's an expensive or OOAK item, I think you have two choices: either consider sending it back with signature confirmation (Xpresspost) at your own cost, or just refund the buyer. You'll get a defect for the refund, but even if you send it back, you may still get neutral or negative FB if the buyer is displeased, which will mean a defect anyway.

If it's a relatively inexpensive item, rather than risking a second round of non-delivery, I think I'd just refund the buyer with an apology and take the defect hit. In your case, you have enough sales volume to absorb it. The buyer may not be happy in the end whatever you do, and for a relatively low value item you'll have lost the cost of the return postage and the cost of shipping it back to him.

If the buyer does leave a neg/neutral FB comment, you can always leave a reasonable, factual response, such as: "Item was undeliverable at buyer's address" or something along those lines.

Perhaps other sellers will come along with some other options -- best of luck with this!

pjcdn2005 · ‎08-07-2015

If it was delivered to the wrong address it seems odd that they person would just refuse it rather than tell the postman it is at the wrong address. I wonder if once you see the returned parcel there will be more info written on it to help you know what happened.

If you do refund you shouldn't get a defect as you can check off that there was a problem with the address.

I'm not really sure what to suggest that you do although if you are only away for a couple of more days you might want to wait to do anything until you get back and can pick up the parcel although that may just cause more grief from the buyer.

treasure.hunter.d · ‎08-07-2015

As you say, Oakville to Toronto is not far.

I would contact the buyer and make him aware that you are out of town but that you will see to it that it is delivered immediately upon your return.

Once back from wherever you are, if I was you, I would take the package and deliver it to the buyer myself. Hand it to someone at the address, if not the buyer then have them sign a receipt, simple as that. There can be no further dispute if you do this yourself.

The cost of remailing vs the cost of traveling from Oakville to Toronto, and the additional possibility for further mayhem, to me anyway, makes this a no brainer.

Cheers,

thD

pinetreecottage · ‎08-07-2015

There should be no signature from the person who refused it, since the name on the package is not the name of the person that supposedly refused it, why would the mail person get a signature from a completely different person. Also, a signature is not required to refuse an item. And, the postal code is the same for an entire apartment complex, regardless of how many suites there are. Lots of red flags here. I also think, for your own good reputation, give this buyer what he wants, and move on.

"What you lose on the swing. you gain on the merrygoround"

mr.elmwood · ‎08-07-2015

Had something like this happen to me a year or so ago. Parcel goes out to the US, customer writes wondering where it is, it lands in my mailbox. Address is 100% correct. I Google Map and it is an office building.

It was stamped with "no such address".

I sent it out again, on my dime, as, it was not the customer's fault. I then called CP and got a refund on the original postage.

At the end of it all, the customer has to be made whole.

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zee-chan · ‎08-08-2015

@mr.elmwood wrote:

I sent it out again, on my dime, as, it was not the customer's fault. I then called CP and got a refund on the original postage.

Was it a tracked parcel (like tracked packet or expedited) or a regular small/light packet? I'm just curious if you can get a refund with regular small/light packet... and what did you do to get a refund? Simply call them and say this is what happened, or did you needed to provide some sort of proof that it was bounced back by USPS saying no such address?

mr.elmwood · ‎08-08-2015

Small Packet.

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mcrlmn · ‎08-09-2015

According to Canada Post, any person that can provide ID with the same address can accept registered mail.

I have had other people sign and accept my registered CP deliveries, and I have signed/accepted, at home and also done the same picking up registered mail from my local CP outlet, for other members of my household.