Buyer Bully, please help!
Hi everyone, would really appreciate some help! As usual I have contacted Amazon but have received no help as of yet. Sorry this is a long message but would like all the help I can get as feeling quite stressed!
We had a buyer purchase a hat from us and claimed that the text was all wonky, he sent a photo in and it looked fine but said he could return it to us so we could take a look at it, the hat is personalised so we don’t usually offer returns on those.
The customer never responded and we waited for the hat, which never came back to us.
He then purchased another hat (we didn’t realise it was the same person) and he messages us to say that we sent him it in upper and lowercase and it looked stupid as he wanted it all in uppercase. I double checked and could see that it was how he typed it in the personalisation box, therefore ineligible for a refund or a return. Now had he have been nice from this point on I would have probably offered a heavy discount (bearing in mind the hat is £9)
His messages from then on in I would say were abusive and bullying. I contact Amazon immediatly and reported his messages but nothing has been done. He told me he had thousands of youtube subscribers and he was going to buy s***t tons of hats (immediate red flag) That the hat is only good for the bin because it’s not all in capitals and is issuing a civil court case.
Now I really hate bullys but I have an 8 month old baby that currently has a cold and is going through a fussy stage (much lack of sleep!) so whilst trying to run a business and look after her I’m getting quite stressed (and i know you may say I’ve answered my own question but I really don’t like this guys tone)
I then received an email from Amazon (contact form from customer) to issue a prepaid returns label ‘Details: The item has arrived, but it was wrong item.’ (it clearly isn’t the wrong item)
After all of this he then says there is a second issue anyway and the text is wonky (again) I suggested he put an A-Z in so that Amazon can make a final decision Then I get a message to say that he requires a full subject access request and the highest contact details to make a civil claim against me. We’re a ltd company so not sure if he means me or the company! He then put to clear things up he accepts he made a mistake with the text but the text is wonky and it will be an easy win and goes onto say what could be an easy solution (refund the £9) will now cost us thousands as we’re going against a number of policies and law and that he’s taking me to court.
I contacted Amazon again at this point who told me to ignore the message while they looked into it, this was yesterday and haven’t received anything from Amazon yet and we’ve received another message from him saying that he’s giving us one last chance to refund his order or will see us in court.
i finally gave in and asked if he wanted a returns label so we could inspect the item, his reply was for me to stop being dumb , he’s taken the first steps to suing me , that I’ve made my case worse and to send the return label so he can send the piece of rubbish back and because I’m refusing to rectify it I’m not a part of a scam and we’re fraudsters.
SO a lot to unpack, I’ve wrote and re-wrote a reply but not actually sent it. What do I do? What would you do? Just ignore his message and send a returns label? I’ve told him about the A-Z guarantee and to go through that but it’s falling on deaf ears
Sorry for the long post and appreciate any response!
67 replies
Seller_7VbclcPFFRTnc
It’s very easy to get wound up with this type of behaviour - especially with other things going on
From what I can see, he’s already had a returns label for the first product ?!
He’s not opened an a-z ?! That’s a red flag for me as a potential serial scammer who doesn’t want to get picked up on the system ?!
Two options - wait and see what happens and mark all messages as no response needed or , you refund the £9 and walk away
Seller_Rds42gzScDQFa
I’d let him take you to the small claims court. It’s obvious he’s in the wrong. You have all of his abusive and threatening messages. For the sake of a £9 hat it could cost him a lot and if he should win by some inconceivable miracle it won’t cost you a fortune.
I understand how you feel because I’ve had my share of, well you know. Don’t let it get to you and don’t take it personal.
Seller_B4VbHpnDLDLAU
This is 100% bully tactic to get you a refund without return. I would also suspect they have more time
In there hands to do so.
I think you have done everything right. Anything more is ignore the message / keep Hitting the report button (bottom left in messages)
Seller_CUs6cobAjKDF7
All the behaviour here looks like they’re not actually going to do it. They usually don’t have “thousands of followers” and probably won’t take court action.
It’s infuriating the lengths people will actually go to, isn’t it?
Seller_ifjlYUcHxsvrE
the buyer will not issue a civil court action, he is bullying you. He needs to prove that what he recieved was not as ordered, its clear cut, and logical.
THere are always a few who want things for nothing,
stand your ground. x
Seller_rLNyRNI1jSpqi
You could set the Max Order Quantity to 1 on the Offer tab where you edit your inventory. This would mean no-one could buy more than one hat in the same order. I know it doesn’t prevent multiple orders but if a customer planned to buy a large quantity in the same order, this would make it impossible.
Seller_2Zn4LKv3YOnlV
I had a really unpleasant customer just after Christmas - I reported their messages to Amazon and like you didn’t get a response.
They opened a return, but didn’t return the item, and then opened an A-Z. Amazon closed this without refunding them and given that A-Z’s are often closed in buyers favour immediately I can only assume that this was because I had consistently reported their abusive messages. Amazon also removed the negative feedback they left.
Send a return label, continue to report the messages and don’t bother replying any further. Hope your baby is better very soon!
Seller_24Bec1n3QCVmi
Please, please, please, do not refund this guy. I know exactly how you feel and, yes it’s the easiest option, but if you refund him he will learn very quickly that his bullying works and he’ll do exactly the same to other small businesses on here or, even worse, will try it again with you when you’ve all but forgotten about him.
As others have said, the buyer is just trying to intimidate you into giving him a refund without him having to return the hat so he ends up with a free hat.
He also clearly doesn’t know how the county court/small claims system works. For a £9 claim, the fees will be £35 (not ‘thousands’) and he’s not got a cat in hells chance of winning a court case. You also cannot claim for solicitors fees beyond a ‘representation fee’ which I think is about £75, so again, not ‘thousands’.
For him to win a court claim against you, he would have to prove you were in the wrong or that your product is faulty. He has already admitted to you in writing (via amazon messages presumably) that he made a mistake with the text and any judge with common sense will see through his ‘wonky’ text claim as cooking something up to save him from the cost of his mistake.
Seller_nEKSWuvVhNsfi
Like a lot of sellers, I am sick and tired of these type of customers and ones that claim non-delivery, etc and really do hope that they are monitored by Amazon and eventually blocked from the site, but think a lot of them go under the radar.
As there is no way that Amazon would let us share personal details of bad customers to eachother on the forum, I was thinking recently if there would be demand for an independent database/website for sellers only, where names, addresses etc of bad and suspicious customers can be listed.
In the event of a bad experience with a customer, this database could then be checked for any previous history with other sellers and give a better understanding of the type of person we are dealing with.
Not sure about the legalities of sharing customer details on a members only website though!!?
Seller_uLWfKCVo2Wbga
It is really awful when you get a customer like this and I am pretty sure Amazon will not come down on your side, their customers are always put in front of selllers even if they are thrieves and bullies. You have done everything you can and I would now send a message to your buyer just saying that you do not respond to threats and for them to now discuss with Amazon directly and not to message you again. If they do mennsage you, tick the no response needed box and do not read.
If each hat was definitely OK then do not send a refund either, but if an A to Z is raised I have never known Amazon to not refund the buyer.
Unfortunately you can’t block buyers on Amazon but I have a small list of buyers like this so I recognise them if they order again and I immediately cancel their order, Amazon have never questioned this but Amazon do not treat me well enough as a seller for me to put up with being treated like this from anyone, in fact they treat seillrs worse than most customers do.
Good luck and stick to your guns, no one has the right to bully you.
