Ebay Customer Support
It's not as ugly James' t-shirt, or a daycare with rats, but it's ugly just the same.
I wrote to ebay customer support because I had sold an item, my customer had paid almost immediately with paypal, and the next day I had a message on "my ebay" that the item was eligible for a "second-chance offer," and it gave me instructions on how I could sell that item to the next-highest bidder.
Baffled, I checked my paypal account. The payment was received. I sent an email to the customer. Yes, she wanted the item. And I wrote a three-sentence letter to ebay customer support:
When I visit the "my ebay" page, I get a note that one of my
auctions is eligible for a second-chance offer. I want to know why.
The buyer paid and says she wants the item.
Thanks,
Maggie
What I received back was a rambling message about what "Second-Chance Offer" means. It is clear to me they didn't even read my message. This is the second time I've contacted ebay customer support. The first time I ended up on the phone because they couldn't even understand the problem. (I wasn't able to put a "best offer" on a "buy-it-now" item.)
I'm really annoyed about the "Second-Chance Offer" error, because it could cause people to lose items they've purchased. But I'm also annoyed that ebay employs such poor customer service, or they're so overworked, that they can't read and respond appropriately to a three-sentence message.
I wrote to ebay customer support because I had sold an item, my customer had paid almost immediately with paypal, and the next day I had a message on "my ebay" that the item was eligible for a "second-chance offer," and it gave me instructions on how I could sell that item to the next-highest bidder.
Baffled, I checked my paypal account. The payment was received. I sent an email to the customer. Yes, she wanted the item. And I wrote a three-sentence letter to ebay customer support:
When I visit the "my ebay" page, I get a note that one of my
auctions is eligible for a second-chance offer. I want to know why.
The buyer paid and says she wants the item.
Thanks,
Maggie
What I received back was a rambling message about what "Second-Chance Offer" means. It is clear to me they didn't even read my message. This is the second time I've contacted ebay customer support. The first time I ended up on the phone because they couldn't even understand the problem. (I wasn't able to put a "best offer" on a "buy-it-now" item.)
I'm really annoyed about the "Second-Chance Offer" error, because it could cause people to lose items they've purchased. But I'm also annoyed that ebay employs such poor customer service, or they're so overworked, that they can't read and respond appropriately to a three-sentence message.
posted by Maggie at 1/10/2006 09:28:00 AM
4 Comments:
And if you say anything like "As I pointed out in my original message" it's YOU who are being the jerk. I get so frustrated. Support is not hard. I've done it at long stretches in years past. All you have to do is pay attention.
I always say "as I pointed out in my original message," in the hope that someday it will inspire one of these people to read the original message.
Something weird happened to me this week. I sent a complaint to SC Johnson & Co., and their reply included an accurate summary of my complaint in their own words. I nearly fell of my chair.
BTW, I've had several of those exchanges with ebay people, and what surprises me is that they are usually followed by an email asking me to rate the quality of their reply. I think this "survey" is just a cheap way for them to act as though they care, because it doesn't seem to me like anyone is actually analyzing the results.
Wow, I've never been asked to rate my reply.
In this case, I was the jerk. I said "as I said in my previous message," and then later I said how bad I thought their customer service was, and my message had only been three sentences, you'd think they could have read it.
The reply was straight out of the valium vapors. They told me that basically, yeah, you're immediately informed that your auction is eligible for second-chance offer, or whatever it's called, as soon as it closes. I think if they need to automate that, there should at least be a form that the seller fills out so it's a little harder than clicking on a link. You should have to ask for it, it shouldn't be handed to you when the poor buyer has already paid.
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