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| | | Author: | Schenkel  | | Posted: | Oct 27, 2021 18:47 | | Subject: | Package returned to sender: refund or not? | | Viewed: | 222 times | | Topic: | Shipping | |
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| Hi all,
I have an issue with a customer: the package he bought was returned to me after
shipping, because the buyer was not at home when the delivery service offered
the package (3 times they tried). I want to resend the package to him and even
offered to pay 50% of the shipping costs for this second time. He states it is
not his fault the package was returned (however; the package was shipped without
insurance). Now the buyer wants a refund and cancel the order, because he does
not want to pay for any extra shipping costs.
Since it was a big order, I don't want to cancel or refund the order. And
I will definitely not pay back the shipping costs. What are your thoughts about
this? How should I proceed?
In general: when a buyer chooses a cheap shipment (without insurance) and anything
goes wrong (for example; the package got lost); it is not my responsibility,
is it?
Last thoughts: you don't want negative reviews/ratings of your store, but
what to do when a customer is just unreasonable?
Let me know what you think or your experiences were! I am very curious...
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| | | | | Author: | BricksterXD | | Posted: | Oct 27, 2021 18:59 | | Subject: | Re: Package returned to sender: refund or not? | | Viewed: | 103 times | | Topic: | Shipping | |
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| In Shipping, Schenkel writes:
| | Hi all,
I have an issue with a customer: the package he bought was returned to me after
shipping, because the buyer was not at home when the delivery service offered
the package (3 times they tried). I want to resend the package to him and even
offered to pay 50% of the shipping costs for this second time. He states it is
not his fault the package was returned (however; the package was shipped without
insurance). Now the buyer wants a refund and cancel the order, because he does
not want to pay for any extra shipping costs.
Since it was a big order, I don't want to cancel or refund the order. And
I will definitely not pay back the shipping costs. What are your thoughts about
this? How should I proceed?
In general: when a buyer chooses a cheap shipment (without insurance) and anything
goes wrong (for example; the package got lost); it is not my responsibility,
is it?
Last thoughts: you don't want negative reviews/ratings of your store, but
what to do when a customer is just unreasonable?
Let me know what you think or your experiences were! I am very curious...
|
None of what has happened is your fault. However, unreasonable and overdemanding
customers are an inevitability, especially online.
Assuming you've done your best to convince the buyer, there's very little
you can do. If the buyer was so lazy that he didn't bother showing up to
collect something he ordered three times, there's nothing stopping him from
doing it a fourth or fifth time. I'd honestly just shoulder it and refund
the buyer to avoid anymore headaches.
As for negative feedback, if he does leave some, you could request a review and
removal of it, but the best you yourself can do is mention how the buyer is at
fault for the order.
Don't beat yourself up over it. It happens.
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| | | | | | | Author: | Schenkel | | Posted: | Oct 28, 2021 04:24 | | Subject: | Re: Package returned to sender: refund or not? | | Viewed: | 34 times | | Topic: | Shipping | |
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| | Thanks! |
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| | | | | Author: | JerseyGirl689 | | Posted: | Oct 27, 2021 20:59 | | Subject: | Re: Package returned to sender: refund or not? | | Viewed: | 66 times | | Topic: | Shipping | |
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| In Shipping, Schenkel writes:
| | Hi all,
I have an issue with a customer: the package he bought was returned to me after
shipping, because the buyer was not at home when the delivery service offered
the package (3 times they tried). I want to resend the package to him and even
offered to pay 50% of the shipping costs for this second time. He states it is
not his fault the package was returned (however; the package was shipped without
insurance). Now the buyer wants a refund and cancel the order, because he does
not want to pay for any extra shipping costs.
Since it was a big order, I don't want to cancel or refund the order. And
I will definitely not pay back the shipping costs. What are your thoughts about
this? How should I proceed?
|
Personally I would refund, including shipping, and move on.
| |
In general: when a buyer chooses a cheap shipment (without insurance) and anything
goes wrong (for example; the package got lost); it is not my responsibility,
is it?
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Yes, as a seller it is your responsibility whether it's insured or not.
| |
Last thoughts: you don't want negative reviews/ratings of your store, but
what to do when a customer is just unreasonable?
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Whatever it takes to make them happy, within reason. Happy customers are loyal
customers.
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Let me know what you think or your experiences were! I am very curious...
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| | | | | Author: | SezaR | | Posted: | Oct 27, 2021 23:45 | | Subject: | Re: Package returned to sender: refund or not? | | Viewed: | 58 times | | Topic: | Shipping | |
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| In Shipping, Schenkel writes:
| | Hi all,
I have an issue with a customer: the package he bought was returned to me after
shipping, because the buyer was not at home when the delivery service offered
the package (3 times they tried).
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Three times delivery attempts? I bet you shipped to Italy then!
| | I want to resend the package to him and even
offered to pay 50% of the shipping costs for this second time. He states it is
not his fault the package was returned (however; the package was shipped without
insurance). Now the buyer wants a refund and cancel the order, because he does
not want to pay for any extra shipping costs.
Since it was a big order,
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Big order? So you really sent a big order without tracking and insurance? This
is a big mistake.
I only ship small orders without tracking and insurance and this still means
I am 100% responsible for the order to be delivered, no matter what.
| | I don't want to cancel or refund the order. And
I will definitely not pay back the shipping costs. What are your thoughts about
this? How should I proceed?
In general: when a buyer chooses a cheap shipment (without insurance) and anything
goes wrong (for example; the package got lost); it is not my responsibility,
is it?
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YES IT IS! IT IS.. IT IS...IT IS.. IT IS...IT IS.. IT IS...IT IS.. IT IS...IT
IS.. IT IS... IT IS!
You cannot control it to be lost or delivered but IT IS your responsibility to
refund.
| |
Last thoughts: you don't want negative reviews/ratings of your store, but
what to do when a customer is just unreasonable?
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You already received a neutral. You sorted it out but I don't know why you
didn't contact the buyer and request him to remove the feedback and leave
a new positive one.
Since you don't have many positive feedbacks yet, it is better you refund
and move on from this order.
If you had sent with tracking, you could have checked the order was not picked
up while it was in the country of buyer and/or give thee feedback to the buyer
to check the status of the package.
| |
Let me know what you think or your experiences were! I am very curious...
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| | | | | | | Author: | Schenkel | | Posted: | Oct 28, 2021 04:23 | | Subject: | Re: Package returned to sender: refund or not? | | Viewed: | 44 times | | Topic: | Shipping | |
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| In Shipping, SezaR writes:
| | In Shipping, Schenkel writes:
| | Hi all,
I have an issue with a customer: the package he bought was returned to me after
shipping, because the buyer was not at home when the delivery service offered
the package (3 times they tried).
|
Three times delivery attempts? I bet you shipped to Italy then! Good guess!!
| | I want to resend the package to him and even
offered to pay 50% of the shipping costs for this second time. He states it is
not his fault the package was returned (however; the package was shipped without
insurance). Now the buyer wants a refund and cancel the order, because he does
not want to pay for any extra shipping costs.
Since it was a big order,
|
Big order? So you really sent a big order without tracking and insurance? This
is a big mistake.
I only ship small orders without tracking and insurance and this still means
I am 100% responsible for the order to be delivered, no matter what. Package was with T&T of course, only without insurance.
| | I don't want to cancel or refund the order. And
I will definitely not pay back the shipping costs. What are your thoughts about
this? How should I proceed?
In general: when a buyer chooses a cheap shipment (without insurance) and anything
goes wrong (for example; the package got lost); it is not my responsibility,
is it?
|
YES IT IS! IT IS.. IT IS...IT IS.. IT IS...IT IS.. IT IS...IT IS.. IT IS...IT
IS.. IT IS... IT IS!
You cannot control it to be lost or delivered but IT IS your responsibility to
refund.
| |
Last thoughts: you don't want negative reviews/ratings of your store, but
what to do when a customer is just unreasonable?
|
You already received a neutral. You sorted it out but I don't know why you
didn't contact the buyer and request him to remove the feedback and leave
a new positive one.
Since you don't have many positive feedbacks yet, it is better you refund
and move on from this order.
If you had sent with tracking, you could have checked the order was not picked
up while it was in the country of buyer and/or give thee feedback to the buyer
to check the status of the package. Thanks for your feedback!
| |
Let me know what you think or your experiences were! I am very curious...
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| | | | | Author: | Teup | | Posted: | Oct 28, 2021 04:41 | | Subject: | Re: Package returned to sender: refund or not? | | Viewed: | 56 times | | Topic: | Shipping | |
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| In Shipping, Schenkel writes:
| | Hi all,
I have an issue with a customer: the package he bought was returned to me after
shipping, because the buyer was not at home when the delivery service offered
the package (3 times they tried). I want to resend the package to him and even
offered to pay 50% of the shipping costs for this second time. He states it is
not his fault the package was returned (however; the package was shipped without
insurance). Now the buyer wants a refund and cancel the order, because he does
not want to pay for any extra shipping costs.
Since it was a big order, I don't want to cancel or refund the order. And
I will definitely not pay back the shipping costs. What are your thoughts about
this? How should I proceed?
In general: when a buyer chooses a cheap shipment (without insurance) and anything
goes wrong (for example; the package got lost); it is not my responsibility,
is it?
Last thoughts: you don't want negative reviews/ratings of your store, but
what to do when a customer is just unreasonable?
Let me know what you think or your experiences were! I am very curious...
|
That's annoying, yes, and the customer does not have a right to free shipping
if they messed up the first time. After all, how long can that go on? Who's
to say the same thing won't happen 10x?
Looking at their perspective, it feels a bit like extortion and hard to believe
that someone would actually cancel a big order over a few euros. Maybe they spent
an hour compiling it, they were counting on having those parts, and now they
are going to throw all of that away over a few euros? Really?
I would refuse, because it's their fault, and because I think it's bluff.
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| | | | | | | Author: | Teup | | Posted: | Oct 28, 2021 04:44 | | Subject: | Re: Package returned to sender: refund or not? | | Viewed: | 44 times | | Topic: | Shipping | |
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| In Shipping, Teup writes:
| | In Shipping, Schenkel writes:
| | Hi all,
I have an issue with a customer: the package he bought was returned to me after
shipping, because the buyer was not at home when the delivery service offered
the package (3 times they tried). I want to resend the package to him and even
offered to pay 50% of the shipping costs for this second time. He states it is
not his fault the package was returned (however; the package was shipped without
insurance). Now the buyer wants a refund and cancel the order, because he does
not want to pay for any extra shipping costs.
Since it was a big order, I don't want to cancel or refund the order. And
I will definitely not pay back the shipping costs. What are your thoughts about
this? How should I proceed?
In general: when a buyer chooses a cheap shipment (without insurance) and anything
goes wrong (for example; the package got lost); it is not my responsibility,
is it?
Last thoughts: you don't want negative reviews/ratings of your store, but
what to do when a customer is just unreasonable?
Let me know what you think or your experiences were! I am very curious...
|
That's annoying, yes, and the customer does not have a right to free shipping
if they messed up the first time. After all, how long can that go on? Who's
to say the same thing won't happen 10x?
Looking at their perspective, it feels a bit like extortion and hard to believe
that someone would actually cancel a big order over a few euros. Maybe they spent
an hour compiling it, they were counting on having those parts, and now they
are going to throw all of that away over a few euros? Really?
I would refuse, because it's their fault, and because I think it's bluff.
|
By the way,
| | | | In general: when a buyer chooses a cheap shipment (without insurance) and anything
goes wrong (for example; the package got lost); it is not my responsibility,
is it?
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It is. But there's a difference between a fault in the mail (which is under
your responsibility as you contracted that service) or a fault made by the customer,
such as a wrong address or not opening the door.
| | | | Last thoughts: you don't want negative reviews/ratings of your store, but
what to do when a customer is just unreasonable?
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If the buyer wants to cancel in such an unreasonable way, you could debate if
that makes someone a non-paying buyer (you are immune to feedback from non-paying
buyers).
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| | | | | Author: | jethroo | | Posted: | Oct 28, 2021 04:45 | | Subject: | Re: Package returned to sender: refund or not? | | Viewed: | 50 times | | Topic: | Shipping | |
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| | | Since it was a big order, I don't want to cancel or refund the order. And
I will definitely not pay back the shipping costs. What are your thoughts about
this? How should I proceed?
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I think within the EU there is a general 14 days refund policy by law without
the need to specify any reasons (starts as soon as the good arrives at the customer)
| | In general: when a buyer chooses a cheap shipment (without insurance) and anything
goes wrong (for example; the package got lost); it is not my responsibility,
is it?
|
Due to the refund policy you kind of need to proof that you order arrived at
the customer in some way. So uninsured shipping is kind of always the sellers
risk.
For my store I offer uninsured / nontracked shipping but with the knowledge when
something does not arrive it will be fully! refunded by my side. I do this because
in 11 years only ~10 deliveries got lost and it may convince buyers to place
an order with me rather when pay 3 EUR more in an other shop (especially if its
a small order). If something is to risky for me I upgrade the shipping to insured/tracked
one on my side (mathematically its just a 5%-10% discount on the order usually
- which is quite common though) (BUT I currently also only ship in DE though
^^)
| | Last thoughts: you don't want negative reviews/ratings of your store, but
what to do when a customer is just unreasonable?
|
I would recommend to offer shipping the order covering the costs from your side
or cancel / refund the order including shipping costs completely. At least that
is what I would do.
As already meantioned you might loose a bit here but a returning happy customer
can be worth more in the long run. Even though they might not order a second
time, maybe their friends will due to his recommendation. You never know 
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| | | | | | | Author: | yorbrick | | Posted: | Oct 28, 2021 05:39 | | Subject: | Re: Package returned to sender: refund or not? | | Viewed: | 52 times | | Topic: | Shipping | |
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| In Shipping, jethroo writes:
| | | | Since it was a big order, I don't want to cancel or refund the order. And
I will definitely not pay back the shipping costs. What are your thoughts about
this? How should I proceed?
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I think within the EU there is a general 14 days refund policy by law without
the need to specify any reasons (starts as soon as the good arrives at the customer)
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And especially here, where the goods never arrived at the customer's address
and were returned to the seller.
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| | | | | Author: | zorbanj | | Posted: | Oct 28, 2021 09:23 | | Subject: | Re: Package returned to sender: refund or not? | | Viewed: | 47 times | | Topic: | Shipping | |
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| In Shipping, Schenkel writes:
| | Hi all,
I have an issue with a customer: the package he bought was returned to me after
shipping, because the buyer was not at home when the delivery service offered
the package (3 times they tried). I want to resend the package to him and even
offered to pay 50% of the shipping costs for this second time. He states it is
not his fault the package was returned (however; the package was shipped without
insurance). Now the buyer wants a refund and cancel the order, because he does
not want to pay for any extra shipping costs.
Since it was a big order, I don't want to cancel or refund the order. And
I will definitely not pay back the shipping costs. What are your thoughts about
this? How should I proceed?
|
Refund the order total less shipping costs and processing (PayPal/stripe) fees.
Your items were returned, you can't keep the money and the items too.
Why would you offer to pay 50% of the new shipping cost to re-send the order?
This could easily happen again. Sounds like your buyer no longer needs the parts
and hid from the deliveryman.
| | In general: when a buyer chooses a cheap shipment (without insurance) and anything
goes wrong (for example; the package got lost); it is not my responsibility,
is it?
|
You are responsible until the order is delivered.
| | Last thoughts: you don't want negative reviews/ratings of your store, but
what to do when a customer is just unreasonable?
|
No seller wants a negative, but unreasonable customers are a part of doing business.
If you receive a negative, respond with what happened.
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| | | | | | | Author: | SylvainLS | | Posted: | Oct 28, 2021 09:28 | | Subject: | Re: Package returned to sender: refund or not? | | Viewed: | 38 times | | Topic: | Shipping | |
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| In Shipping, zorbanj writes:
| | […]
Refund the order total less shipping costs and processing (PayPal/stripe) fees.
Your items were returned, you can't keep the money and the items too.
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In EU, the seller can’t keep anything if it was not clearly in their terms _before_
the order was made. So OP can’t keep shipping costs or fees, the refund should
be total.
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| | | | | | | Author: | yorbrick | | Posted: | Oct 28, 2021 09:38 | | Subject: | Re: Package returned to sender: refund or not? | | Viewed: | 48 times | | Topic: | Shipping | |
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| | | Why would you offer to pay 50% of the new shipping cost to re-send the order?
This could easily happen again. Sounds like your buyer no longer needs the parts
and hid from the deliveryman.
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Not necessarily. Sometimes delivery drivers don't bother attempting delivery
if it is too far out of their way and they need to hit time targets. Instead
they just mark it as customer not in. Here, they will always leave a card with
details on if a delivery is attempted, and no card almost certainly means they
didn't bother to try to deliver.
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| | | | | Author: | wyldkat1976 | | Posted: | Oct 28, 2021 10:09 | | Subject: | Re: Package returned to sender: refund or not? | | Viewed: | 44 times | | Topic: | Shipping | |
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| Hi
Everybody as already answered the basic points, but one thing to bare in mind
for future orders. If the buyer insists on not paying the extra for tracked and
insured and it is a biggish order, agree and then pay the extra few Euros yourself
and still send it tracked and insured. It may cost you a few Euros extra, but
trying to force the buyer to pay insured if they do not want to usually ends
in the buyer cancelling the order and you lose the whole profit from a big order
rather than a few Euros in extra shipping. Also it protects you against claims
and is also proof of the whole journey of the shipping and is needed for any
claims in paypal or disputes. It also scuppers scam buyers as they think you
are sending it uninsured, and if you do they will receive the item with no tracking
and just claim it hasn't arrived, whereas they cannot make this claim if
there is traceable trail. A few extra Euros at the start is always better than
a lot further down the line.
Kev
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| | | | | | | Author: | Teup | | Posted: | Oct 28, 2021 11:40 | | Subject: | Re: Package returned to sender: refund or not? | | Viewed: | 37 times | | Topic: | Shipping | |
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| In Shipping, wyldkat1976 writes:
| | Hi
Everybody as already answered the basic points, but one thing to bare in mind
for future orders. If the buyer insists on not paying the extra for tracked and
insured and it is a biggish order, agree and then pay the extra few Euros yourself
and still send it tracked and insured. It may cost you a few Euros extra, but
trying to force the buyer to pay insured if they do not want to usually ends
in the buyer cancelling the order and you lose the whole profit from a big order
rather than a few Euros in extra shipping. Also it protects you against claims
and is also proof of the whole journey of the shipping and is needed for any
claims in paypal or disputes. It also scuppers scam buyers as they think you
are sending it uninsured, and if you do they will receive the item with no tracking
and just claim it hasn't arrived, whereas they cannot make this claim if
there is traceable trail. A few extra Euros at the start is always better than
a lot further down the line.
Kev
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Actually, in situations like these it's an advantage not to have any
insurance. Without insurance it's possible to deliver it to the neighbours
(although seems this time they didn't do that), so there would have been
a bigger chance the order got delivered even when the buyer wasn't home,
because it doesn't require a signature.
(Of course, you can't know in advance the buyer won't be home, so it's
kind of captain hindsight)
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| | | | | | | Author: | yorbrick | | Posted: | Oct 28, 2021 11:59 | | Subject: | Re: Package returned to sender: refund or not? | | Viewed: | 34 times | | Topic: | Shipping | |
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| In Shipping, wyldkat1976 writes:
| | Hi
Everybody as already answered the basic points, but one thing to bare in mind
for future orders. If the buyer insists on not paying the extra for tracked and
insured and it is a biggish order, agree and then pay the extra few Euros yourself
and still send it tracked and insured. It may cost you a few Euros extra, but
trying to force the buyer to pay insured if they do not want to usually ends
in the buyer cancelling the order and you lose the whole profit from a big order
rather than a few Euros in extra shipping. Also it protects you against claims
and is also proof of the whole journey of the shipping and is needed for any
claims in paypal or disputes. It also scuppers scam buyers as they think you
are sending it uninsured, and if you do they will receive the item with no tracking
and just claim it hasn't arrived, whereas they cannot make this claim if
there is traceable trail. A few extra Euros at the start is always better than
a lot further down the line.
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If they really are a scammer, they will just claim something else though - wrong
set, fake parts, it was dog food, etc.
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| | | | | Author: | wahiggin | | Posted: | Oct 28, 2021 14:30 | | Subject: | Re: Package returned to sender: refund or not? | | Viewed: | 39 times | | Topic: | Shipping | |
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| In Shipping, Schenkel writes:
| | Hi all,
I have an issue with a customer: the package he bought was returned to me after
shipping, because the buyer was not at home when the delivery service offered
the package (3 times they tried). I want to resend the package to him and even
offered to pay 50% of the shipping costs for this second time. He states it is
not his fault the package was returned (however; the package was shipped without
insurance). Now the buyer wants a refund and cancel the order, because he does
not want to pay for any extra shipping costs.
Since it was a big order, I don't want to cancel or refund the order. And
I will definitely not pay back the shipping costs. What are your thoughts about
this? How should I proceed?
In general: when a buyer chooses a cheap shipment (without insurance) and anything
goes wrong (for example; the package got lost); it is not my responsibility,
is it?
Last thoughts: you don't want negative reviews/ratings of your store, but
what to do when a customer is just unreasonable?
Let me know what you think or your experiences were! I am very curious...
|
I would cancel the order, refund the customer in full, and then move on. 
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Netherlands, Zuid-Holland
United Kingdom, England
USA, Florida
Canada, British Columbia
Germany, Brandenburg
France, Nouvelle-Aquitaine
