I pride myself on my customer service. Recently, I had a dispute with someone that is making me doubt myself.

Now I'm not sure if he's a member here, so I won't name names, but I just wanted to see if I'm missing something here.

I list very clearly on my website that it takes 4-8 weeks from when someone makes a payment until the item ships out.

Someone ordered a throat guard in November, and I told him that as soon as it was ready to ship, I would let him know. Two weeks later he contacted me and asked if it shipped yet. I reminded him of the 4-8 weeks thing, and told him I would try and rush it.

At the four week mark he e-mailed me again and asked if it shipped. I reminded him again of the 4-8 weeks thing and said I would try and speed it up.

I finished the guard on Monday night and was going to e-mail him Tuesday to let him know it would ship out to him today. Before I could e-mail him, he e-mailed me and reminded me that it's now been six weeks since he placed his order and wanted his item. Before I could respond, he opened an PayPal investigation, claiming that he has not received his item.

Here's what he wrote to PayPal:

"seller keeps tell Item will be shipping as soon as it is done ,and adding on week till it will be shipped. Seller states it take 4 to 8 week for Item to be made and shipped. It has now been 6 weeks. But I have order from seller before with never a time frame problem like this in the past. I wish to get my Item ASAP. If it can happen?"

Am I missing something? Or did he just make my case for me? Does he not comprehend that 6 is less than 8?

That's like ordering a pizza that promises to be there in 30 minutes or its free, then calling the pizza place after 20 minutes and demanding that it be free because its not there yet.

He upgraded it to a full dispute last night, so now I have no choice but to refund his money because I refuse to ship something to him while he has the money tied up in PayPal. I told him that, and he told PayPal that I was unreasonable and threatening.

Keep in mind that he is from California, and not to disparage the whole state, but I do tend to find that people from the Left Coast are more likely to want things the way they want them even if that's not the way it comes.

So my choices in PayPal now are to ship the item and hope he releases my money, or to just give him a refund and move on.

Advice?

_________________
-Spat

Refund the money and tell the asshat in question to read the shipping details before ordering. Just my 0.2 $ worth. And of course inform him/ her/it that you don't need their business or hassle in the future.

When i ran my own online model busniess i had the same trouble, people expecting a kit within a week of ordering, despite my site saying allow upto 28 days..

Refund his money ... then put the throat guard for sale on here Spat,

Some people just don't understand when you tell them its made to order and takes 6 - 8 weeks..

_________________
Pfc Glenn Allen ,
1st Batt. 69th Regiment,
Homers Hero's..
Drops so Far.... 29 and counting

My opinion. refund money and be done with it. I mean some folks just don't appreciate the art and time in stuff like this.

_________________
SFC
Michael Larson
Minnesota-USA

A03/TQ1.0.92141E1

And if you read what he sent to PayPal, he obviously has read and knows about the shipping times, but I don't think he comprehends what it means.

And strong arm tactics like locking funds in my PayPal account is not the best way to get me to see his side of the argument.

_________________
-Spat

I can't help wondering if this problem is made worse by the fact that these days we can order and pay for an item in an instant - pretty much in the click of a mouse.

Some people fail to understand that the manufacturing and delivery part of the chain will never work as quickly, but because they ordered it fast; they want it fast. Also he probably doesn't realise that you're just a guy who makes this stuff as a sideline and who also has a real life and other stuff to do. Perhaps because they see a photo of the item they want on your website they think that's the one they're going to get - pulled straight off the shelf and into a box especially for them.

I agree with everyone else, refund his money and don't deal with him again.

Harry

_________________

http://www.facebook.com/TheHHACA - @TheHHACA

I sent him his refund. Along with a note reading:

"Basic Math - 6<8 Look it up."

So, anyone need a Throat Guard?

_________________
-Spat

Hey SPAT, where my S@#T I ordered?...............................Oh wait I should order it first. As Denis Leary would say have a "Merry
F#%$in Christmas"

_________________


One shot, One kill.

Do you think he'll know what '<' means? He can hardly write a coherent sentence!

Harry

_________________

http://www.facebook.com/TheHHACA - @TheHHACA

Anthony said the same thing, Harry. Like minds and all...

_________________
-Spat

Honestly Spat you've made the right choice. I work with a guy that makes armor and we get this issue all the time. I've come to the point with every email to say our wait time is at least 8 weeks.
That way when the customer gets it sooner they are happy. I hate to say it but no matter what you will always get complaints of why their item isn't shipped the same day. What can you do.
And Hey I am on the west coast and I didn't complain when I ordered a helmet.

_________________
If you accept pocket lint as a currency well I'll take it all!

Oregon is a very different place from Southern Cali.



My Uncle moved to Santa Monica and acclimated way too quickly. One day he decided to buy a computer from Dell. He got it, opened the box, plugged it in and when it prompted him to insert the set up disk, he boxed it up and shipped it back. He wanted to ready to go out of the box and would not accept anything less.

That's the California attitude that really scares me.

_________________
-Spat

Come on guys dont be hatin' cuz its sunny and kinda warm outside here:) The only way I could possibly semi excuse this guys behavior is if he had ZERO idea who you were. There are plenty of online replica prop sellers who go missing. Thankfully you are not one of them.

Ill take it. Give me a day or to look over you site and see what else I cant live without.

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Wow, I got a brazilion for this?

Well, the guy even says that he's ordered from me before.

Either way, I'll send you it in exchange for those counters, Learman.

_________________
-Spat

Maybe the guy is a afraid of vampires

Not running a business so it's hard for me to say...

My response would have only been "I'll contact you when it's ready"
Just from what you posted it seems eveytime you talked to him, he was hearing "I'll get it in a week"

But I think I would start making a list of "nomal/regular" customers and if you are not on the list you can only order from the "in stock " page. That way you have to earn you way on to the normal list, or no someone one who can order for you. Of course you can make an exception to members here or I would never get anything

But as I said, I'm a jerk and not running a business, so my idea's are jaded, I also work in IT and assume everyone is stupid.

my 2 cents, and way too many quotation marks

_________________
Rob Slater
A08/TQ2.0.42136E1

Sorry, I know us Californians can be a hassle to work with sometimes (seriously).

I'm going to school in Oklahoma now, and one things for sure, people are a lot different there! (In a very good way)

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Private B. Lipnick
A07/TQ1.0.02161E1

~funny name, serious attitude~

I don't keep anything in stock. Everything I offer is made for you at the time you order it. And since this is not my full time job, it takes time to custom make something from scratch for people since I do it all in my spare time.

Again though, all of this is posted on the website in the store and in the FAQ. All it takes to know how long things will take to get is to read the info that's posted there.

Ignorance is no excuse.

He even mentions that the website lists 4-8 weeks for it to ship and it's been 6 weeks. My math tells me that I still have 2 weeks until it's actually late.

Oh well. First unhappy customer in almost 10 years.

_________________
-Spat

you are going to get '"those people" who are never happy no matter what .

_________________
"I am the ULTIMATE BADASS , state of the badass art"
Alpha squad. Burton's Bandits

That guys just an Asshole.

I know I've only got a few things off you so far Spat but you've got any prop maker I've dealt with hands down as being the best for customer service.

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PFC Tom "Kenny" Kness
A10/TQ2.0.72155E1

Agree on the refund.

Socal is a big melting pot, I wouldn't make broad assumptions...

I've run into 3-4 asshats from new jersey in my life, and I have a
bad impression of people from there. Not a good thing.
There are twat communities everywehere. When I go to hollywood,
I feel like I'm in a cracked-out rat race.. And that is less than
15 miles away.

My policy is I don't take any payments, until the item is ready to ship. It's easier that way, but it does suck if you have to buy a bunch of materials.

The guy may need a throat guard if he comes to a con...

I wouldn't worry about it.

Well, I did preference my comment by saying that I was not trying to disparage the whole state of California.

But as for New Jersey... the whole state needs to fall into the ocean!

But that kind of hate for a whole state comes from having grown up on Staten Island and having to breath in the Jersey fumes for a lot of my life!

_________________
-Spat

You are a VERY Badman.




Seriously though- I have to agree that you did the right thing on the refund. Of course it's your choice whether or not you ever decide to deal with this guy again- but if you do I would make it clear in no uncertain terms what a wait time is to this guy. (I know that's what you did to begin with... he obviously did not get it).

Just to get a little philosophical...

We live in an age of instant gratification. Good customer service is defined in terms of how quickly someone got their order (be it food, items etc). Nobody seems to care anymore that quality takes time or that a custom made item is exactly that- custom made from scratch.

Everyone has gotten used to clicking a mouse and their needs instantly appearing before them. Going through a drive thru, and the food being ready by the time you pull up to the second window. The light turns red and people freak because they had to stop. At the grocery store if there are more than a couple of people in line at the checkout they expect another cashier to open.

I work in food service. After four years I have become convinced that people in this World have no patience at all. Someone is waiting 30 seconds and they glare at you as if I was the one who keyed their car last week. Then they pull the cry baby attitude "I didn't get good service... I want to speak to the manager! I'm gonna get somebody fired!" Or "I'm going to spend my money elsewhere!"

My attitude is "The tissues are in isle 3; go dry your eyes".

I think the Soup Nazi had it right all along.


However I can also appreciate being nervous about sending a stranger your hard earned money and not receiving something in a timely manner. It's seems that these days a timely manner is considered 24 hrs.

Kevin

_________________
I told you I'd shoot, but you didn't believe me! WHY DIDN'T YOU BELIEVE ME!?!

Spat you're a horrible man. We all know that all you do is hit a button on your press and out pops armor, already trimmed painted, strapped, packaged, address and ready for mailing. Why does it take weeks. Why oh why.....LOL

_________________
If you accept pocket lint as a currency well I'll take it all!

Well, the main reason it takes so long is because the button is waaaaayyy over on the other side of the room. My sofa is nice and warm, and the button is in a cold corner of the house.

Also, the button is kind of stiff, so I have to press it really hard. And then it almost becomes like work!

_________________
-Spat

You need the finglonger!



Harry

_________________

http://www.facebook.com/TheHHACA - @TheHHACA