Bad Amazon Marketplace Experience
On the morning of 4/3/06 I ordered a CD box set from Amazon Marketplace seller "books_strings_and_things_ii" AKA wrightbooks@comcast.net AKA Books, Strings And Things II.
When the set didn't arrive after more than a week, I emailed Mr. Bill Wright the following on 4/12:
Hi
This order has not yet been rec'd. Please advise as to status. Thanks!
Mr. Wright didn't respond.
On 4/13 the set arrived and I left the following Amazon feedback for him:
3 out of 5*: "New CD set, great price. Delivery took a little too long and didn't respond to email inquiry."
At this point I must note that Mr. Wright left an untrue follow-up feedback:
Seller Response: "I believe this customer has confused us with another seller. This order was placed just about a week ago and I've received no emails about the order."
It should be noted that in his first email to me, Mr. Wright quoted the email he claimed not to receive. Furthermore, the order was placed more than "a week ago".
After reading his feedback, Mr. Wright finally decided to email me the following:
I read the comments that you left today at Amazon concerning the order
that you place with me. I shipped your order less than 24 hours after receipt
and assuming that you received it late yesterday or early today it was
delivery well within the delivery expectations that Amazon sets for Standard
delivery of 4-14 Business days. I'm sorry that I did not have time yesterday to respond to you email inquiry but I think it would have been fair to give
me more than a day to research the status of the order.
I would respectfully ask that you consider removing the feedback as any negative remarks in the feedback forum has a direct effect on my sales at
Amazon. I don't mind taking the negative comments when they are deserved (it
keeps me on my toes) but I don't think they were in this case.
I replied:
Hi
First of all, I left you a neutral feedback, not a negative.
I order a lot of items from Amazon's Marketplace and I base my feedback
entries on the typical fullfillment of these orders.
Based on that, your service on this particular order was just fair.
Had you taken the time to respond to my email inquiry in a timely manner,
I might have rated you 4 stars rather than 3.
I believe I've placed orders with you before and probably will again, as
you sell nice items at a low price and seem like an honest guy.
But on this order you just plain dropped the ball.
Mr. Wright churlishly responded with:
I see that you have placed four orders from me in the past. Based on what
I still believe is the unfair negative feedback that you left (I think I'm
in a better position to judge what does and does not affect my business),
please choose another seller in the future. Thank you.
So I wrote:
Do you have a problem comprehending the difference between NEUTRAL and
NEGATIVE feedback?
Instead of using this to better your customer service, you childishly pout
and want to whine about how I'm hurting your business. I note that I
didn't get an email from you lauding me for the positive feedback I have given
you in the past.
But enough of this.
I'm going to report your insane behavior to Amazon and, with any luck, you
won't be harrassing their customers any longer.
To which Mr. Wright replied:
My point was simply that, you and I have a difference of opinion on what
consistutes "negative feedback" and that I would prefer not to receive
this kind feedback in the future for what I see as unfair expectatiions.
I did not intend any of my emails to be harassing, and childish and I
apologize if they came across that way.
So I said:
Amazon clearly defines what constitutes neutral and negative feedback.
It says it right on your feedback page.
As far as unfair expectations go, I don't feel it unfair to expect an
inquiry as to an order's status to take less than a day or so. Even an
email saying that you will check on it and get back to me would be better
than the stoney silence I was met with.
If you want to insure positive feedback, make sure a customer's shopping
experience with you is positive. If you were the customer and rec'd the
treatment I got from you, would you consider it a positive experience?
> I did not intend any of my emails to be harassing, and childish and I
> apologize if they came across that way.
Wouldn't it have been better to just say you'd try harder next time rather
than telling someone not to order from you again.
The upshot of this whole situation is:
1: You've have lost a steady customer.
2: You'll be reported to Amazon.
3: You've practically guaranteed you will wind up on one or more of my
blogs with a complete account of this incident. That ought to be good for
your business!
So there you have it so far.
I guess if you order from Mr. Wright and don't give him a glowing review regardless of the type of service you receive, you will have to put up with the same nonsense.
Ask youself, "Is the buck or two I'll save by ordering from this guy worth the aggravation?"
My answer is an emphatic NO!
Later...
Mr. Bill Wright, knowing he had been caught in a blatant lie, has removed the response he posted to my feedback.
I don't blame him! As excuses go, this one was right (or Wright) up there with "The dog ate my homework."
I fear Mr. Wright's business future will be rather bleak. He likes to blame his customers for his shortcomings rather than improve his sloppy business practices.
So do yourself a favor when ordering from Amazon Marketplace - avoid this guy like the plague!
When the set didn't arrive after more than a week, I emailed Mr. Bill Wright the following on 4/12:
Hi
This order has not yet been rec'd. Please advise as to status. Thanks!
Mr. Wright didn't respond.
On 4/13 the set arrived and I left the following Amazon feedback for him:
3 out of 5*: "New CD set, great price. Delivery took a little too long and didn't respond to email inquiry."
At this point I must note that Mr. Wright left an untrue follow-up feedback:
Seller Response: "I believe this customer has confused us with another seller. This order was placed just about a week ago and I've received no emails about the order."
It should be noted that in his first email to me, Mr. Wright quoted the email he claimed not to receive. Furthermore, the order was placed more than "a week ago".
After reading his feedback, Mr. Wright finally decided to email me the following:
I read the comments that you left today at Amazon concerning the order
that you place with me. I shipped your order less than 24 hours after receipt
and assuming that you received it late yesterday or early today it was
delivery well within the delivery expectations that Amazon sets for Standard
delivery of 4-14 Business days. I'm sorry that I did not have time yesterday to respond to you email inquiry but I think it would have been fair to give
me more than a day to research the status of the order.
I would respectfully ask that you consider removing the feedback as any negative remarks in the feedback forum has a direct effect on my sales at
Amazon. I don't mind taking the negative comments when they are deserved (it
keeps me on my toes) but I don't think they were in this case.
I replied:
Hi
First of all, I left you a neutral feedback, not a negative.
I order a lot of items from Amazon's Marketplace and I base my feedback
entries on the typical fullfillment of these orders.
Based on that, your service on this particular order was just fair.
Had you taken the time to respond to my email inquiry in a timely manner,
I might have rated you 4 stars rather than 3.
I believe I've placed orders with you before and probably will again, as
you sell nice items at a low price and seem like an honest guy.
But on this order you just plain dropped the ball.
Mr. Wright churlishly responded with:
I see that you have placed four orders from me in the past. Based on what
I still believe is the unfair negative feedback that you left (I think I'm
in a better position to judge what does and does not affect my business),
please choose another seller in the future. Thank you.
So I wrote:
Do you have a problem comprehending the difference between NEUTRAL and
NEGATIVE feedback?
Instead of using this to better your customer service, you childishly pout
and want to whine about how I'm hurting your business. I note that I
didn't get an email from you lauding me for the positive feedback I have given
you in the past.
But enough of this.
I'm going to report your insane behavior to Amazon and, with any luck, you
won't be harrassing their customers any longer.
To which Mr. Wright replied:
My point was simply that, you and I have a difference of opinion on what
consistutes "negative feedback" and that I would prefer not to receive
this kind feedback in the future for what I see as unfair expectatiions.
I did not intend any of my emails to be harassing, and childish and I
apologize if they came across that way.
So I said:
Amazon clearly defines what constitutes neutral and negative feedback.
It says it right on your feedback page.
As far as unfair expectations go, I don't feel it unfair to expect an
inquiry as to an order's status to take less than a day or so. Even an
email saying that you will check on it and get back to me would be better
than the stoney silence I was met with.
If you want to insure positive feedback, make sure a customer's shopping
experience with you is positive. If you were the customer and rec'd the
treatment I got from you, would you consider it a positive experience?
> I did not intend any of my emails to be harassing, and childish and I
> apologize if they came across that way.
Wouldn't it have been better to just say you'd try harder next time rather
than telling someone not to order from you again.
The upshot of this whole situation is:
1: You've have lost a steady customer.
2: You'll be reported to Amazon.
3: You've practically guaranteed you will wind up on one or more of my
blogs with a complete account of this incident. That ought to be good for
your business!
So there you have it so far.
I guess if you order from Mr. Wright and don't give him a glowing review regardless of the type of service you receive, you will have to put up with the same nonsense.
Ask youself, "Is the buck or two I'll save by ordering from this guy worth the aggravation?"
My answer is an emphatic NO!
Later...
Mr. Bill Wright, knowing he had been caught in a blatant lie, has removed the response he posted to my feedback.
I don't blame him! As excuses go, this one was right (or Wright) up there with "The dog ate my homework."
I fear Mr. Wright's business future will be rather bleak. He likes to blame his customers for his shortcomings rather than improve his sloppy business practices.
So do yourself a favor when ordering from Amazon Marketplace - avoid this guy like the plague!
posted by Bob at 4/14/2006 10:19:00 AM
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