You Don’t Say! “PayPal Looks to Reverse Poor Customer-Service Reputation”
GEE, I CANNOT FOR THE LIFE OF ME understand how Paypal got such a reputation …
“PayPal says it’s finally serious about addressing some of its biggest customer-service issues, which its president admits the eBay unit has at times “become known for.””
You can read more at AllThingsDigital.
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2 September 2013
9 Comments
I do want to say that paypal operates the way all large service centers now operate since the economy has taken a dive. All the customer requests or complaints go through an automatic call or email distributor so when a buyer send a request to dispute a purchase for a refund it most likely gets sent through the system to one of the very many reps in one of these centers. Productivity is measured by how many of these you can handle or close out. So whoever gets the request is not going to take the time to investigate and verify the claim because that takes time and will make them look bad by having lower numbers.
As long as there are customer service centers this is not going to change.
My big problem with them is if you disagree with a decision they do not have an acceptable escalation process in place. No one seems to have the authority to do anything. I could give them some lessons and a procedure to handle things properly but I doubt they would listen to me. They will spend a fortune on an expert to make things look better to the executives but do little to really make anything better for the customer and probably make things worse for the employees.
I ship quite frequently Internationally and have had few problems however I did have a problem one time and paypal was a disappointment. I shipped a very expensive item express mail ( 100.00 )so the customer would get it in time for Christmas. The item was refused and it turned out the customer provided an incorrect address. He contacted me right away and I contacted the post to try and get it redelivered but it was still returned to me. I had no problem refunding the amount of the item . My problem, why should they be refunded the shipping costs when the delivery information clearly shows it was delivered but refused and the item was shipped to the address on the customers ebay account and printed on ebay. I had to eat the 100.00
I have had nothing but run around and problems when I called paypal about problems. I was a manager in customer service for 25 years for a utility and no one likes utilities but we would never have treated a customer they way they do.
I sold some cars on ebay to a guy named Edgar Farrar – he said he was a member of one of these boards. Everything went fine for the first 2 transactions. Then he messaged me and wanted a discount on a bunch of Cartney Brakins (wanted 10 of them for $10 a piece). I said no and was polite about it. Then he wanted to purchase 7 different items from me on ebay whereby 2 of the 7 had ‘free shipping’ listed but the others had shipping costs. He thought that all 7 should be FREE since at least one of the group was. I said no and in an instant the nice guy who I always thought was pleasant went off on me – called me a crook – mentioned that he was still upset I wouldn’t take his Cartney Brakin offer.
A couple weeks later I see a chargeback from Paypal appear from him on one of the completed transactions we had done. He was now claiming he never received the item. Paypal actually did a good job handling it cause I sent them the tracking # showing it was delivered and also a screenshot showing the positive feedback he gave me on ebay for that item (gotcha!). Paypal recredited me back the money and said they would dispute the chargeback with his credit card company. But they wouldn’t tell me if they just ate it themselves or if they were able to get the credit card company to reverse it. (privacy issues they said)
Beware of Edgar Farrar from California. I dont’ know his screen name on the boards but he goes by ebay id ‘majbuu’.
Here is poor customer service: http://shine.yahoo.com/healthy-living/father-thrown-universal-studios-over-t-shirt-171900772.html
If you ship outside the US, you need to do registered first class mail that can protect you to $43. More than that you have to use Priority or Express. Don’t forget to pass these costs onto your customer. Be careful since some countries do not allow you to insure beyond a basic indemnity with Priority. Express has basic insurance of $100.
Most countries all you to add but some don’t so…
Investigate all postal information before mailing.
Beware of mailing toys not wholly made of wood to Italy.
Any plastic or metal toys are prohibited by Italy.
Be careful with all mailings.
I haven’t had a problem with PayPal but its sister company eBay is another matter. I have never had a conversation with them that has gone my way….. EVER! Probably spoken with them around 12+ times.
eBay, PayPal, and the United States Postal Service are all to blame for why I will NEVER ship First Class International ever again (add in a couple of unethical buyers as well).
Yea right! I don’t trust them since I had a terrible experience a few years ago. I shipped something to someone in Germany, after several failed attempts to deliver it to this person (it was the correct address, I guess they just were not home) it sat at their local post office for pick up. This person messaged me asking where their package was, I checked tracking (they had this info as well) and told them that it was at their post office and needed to be picked up. I then never heard anything from that person again, instead they filed a claim and Paypal gave them the $150 back even after I sent proof of sending it (receipts, tracking, Etc.) then a few days later after they got the money back they picked up the package at the post office. So I was out of $150 and the item! I called PayPal to notify them but I heard nothing but excuses and how international claims are handled differently…. Lets just say I won’t ever ship outside the US again!
After my own problem with paypal I now wait to leave feedback for the buyer until the item has been delivered. I check each shipment and email the customer if the item could not be delivered. My policy is to work with the customer to resolve all problems before paypal or ebay gets involved. It is more work for me but paypal and ebay only complicate things and do not benefit me when involved. I have never had to leave bad feedback for a buyer but the option is there if I wait until the item arrives and the customer is not a problem.