TechnoDestructo

Triterion

Wrong. If a store screws up, they should make it good without expectation of reward.

@stanfrombrooklyn: God, isn't that the worst! I recently got an email from a buyer that said basically. "I think your price was too high. Please give me a refund of 50% or I will be forced to consider negative feedback."

This email came about one hour after the sale. They were not judging the with the product in hand, they basically just wanted me to mark it down. I canceled the sale and forwarded the email to Amazon, adding my concerns and CCing the buyer. No response from Amazon at all but the buyer sent me an apology.

JaneBadall

overbysara

FightOnTrojans

Now, the only thing I worry about is that some people may try to abuse this and purposely leave neutral or negative comments to get a refund when, in actuality, they received exemplary service and there was nothing wrong.

FightOnTrojans

trujunglist

Turns out, I contacted the case manufacturer and they told me the iPod case was the exact same thing as the iPhone case, but that MyGearStore shouldn't be marketing the iPhone case as an iPod case. I wrote my review, which pointed this out, but my review never got posted to the product page! I always thought that was fishy.

LastVigilante

I even had a customer call and basically blackmail us because he lives in Puerto Rico and the product didn't arrive in Amazon's guarantee 2-day U.S. delivery. And when I explained that Puerto Rico takes longer and that Amazon clearly is referring to the 48 contigiuous states he went off on a rant that Puerto Rico is part of the U.S. blah blah blah. So then he said if we didn't refund all his shipping costs he would post a poor review of our product. Again, Amazon offers no recourse.

stanfrombrooklyn

Meltdown

Umm... no. There is no motivation for them to do this if the feedback remains (or could remain). The fact is, they already fucked up, and they already pissed the guy off. The feedback is there. If they NEVER do anything about it, the feedback is STILL THERE. If they compensate him and he doesn't remove it, the feedback is STILL THERE. Therefore, without confirmed removal, they have zero incentive to compensate the victim.

So, of course they will only compensate if the feedback is removed. That's just common sense. Why would they do it otherwise? To be nice? That doesn't happen often in business. A wording change may make it seem less like a "bribe" to the OP; but, however you slice it, EVERY customer service rectification is a "bribe." They are bribing you to buy from them, use their services, not tattle on them, not sue them, whatever. This company is just a little clearer on what it wants from the relationship. I see nothing wrong with that.

That, of course, is not to suggest that the company shouldn't be excoriated just for being shitty in the first place.

DrBologna

I disagree. Did the customer even give the company an opportunity to fix the problem in the first place? I always make things right for my customers, but I have to know there is a problem first. Once, a guy left me a negative review without ever contacting me. The worst part is I didn't even do anything wrong - he bought something, but decided he didn't like the price he paid. Nothing wrong with the product, he just found someone else selling the same product for $10 cheaper (He paid $100 for the item).

Had he bothered to mention it to me, I would have refunded him the $10. I don't have a price guarantee and I don't promise I'll do anything of the sort, but I'd have done it, anyway, to keep a customer. Instead he tells the public I cheated him out of $10. What the hell? All I did was ship the product at the advertised price, that he willingly paid. He never told me he was unhappy, I had to read it in a public forum.

He refused to remove the post so I refused to credit him the $10. I also offered him a full refund (regardless of his removing the post) if he wanted to ship it back to me because I DO have a return policy. He refused.

I think what MyGearStore asked was perfectly fair, especially if the customer left that review without ever contacting them. I don't see this as a bribe at all, but rather an honorable request. They recognize that he had a problem and they're going to make it right, but in exchange, they want him to fix the damage he's done to their reputation. What do you want to bet he never gave them a chance to fix the problems in the first place?

jimconsumer

femmme.fatal

It adds the web 2.0 grassroots integrity that helps other sites like Woot flourish - you can read what actual customers have to say about the process.

In addition, Amazon doesn't allow the sellers to remove neutral/negative feedback because that integrity is part of the service they provide.

This is nothing like a EECB or Exec Customer Service for the other prospective buyers who would never see the deleted negative/neutral feedback. This is more like astroturfing which sucks.

orielbean

I'd just file a chargeback and include the email with documentation to the bank that the merchant refused to make things right.

Buran

LOL

chartrule

iEddie

I would like to make a counter-offer.

1) You go blow a dead goat.

2) I leave my feedback in place.

3) I share your feeble bribe attempt with the world.

4) I don't shop with you any more.

Sounds like a win-win, don't you think?

Love,

Appalled Customer

BigElectricCat

mgy

MyGearStore is making it clear that the only reason they are trying to rectify the problem is because of the negative feedback. If they worded it as "We would like to rectify the problem. If you are satisfied with the resolution, please update your feedback to reflect this."

EyeHeartPie

lightaugust

macinjosh

I left negative feedback for a futon I got that was in no way as pictured (metal frame vs pic of wood frame). The seller gave me a full refund of 250ish to remove my feedback. So if I got a full refund plus I got to keep the futon. Does that really count as a purchase?

To be honest just a small credit would have made me happy but giving me a 250ish futon for free was incredible service at least in my opinion and worthy of the removal of my negative feedback.

Milstar

MayorBee

NotATool

The customer had a problem, posted the problem online, and the company responded to try and make everything better for the customer...

*shrug*

dwarf74

He got crappy service, posted feedback to that effect, and has been contacted by the company with some form of rectification. What's the problem? Is it because they were blatant in their desire to have the neutral feedback removed? Would it have been as bad if they asked him to leave the neutral feedback but post new positive feedback that they provided a partial refund?

It seems like an unusual standard here. Don't we often say good job to a company that steps up when a customer initiates an EECB? Isn't that kudos on a similar level to removing the "negative feedback" of a Consumerist post?

I find it unreasonable to expect a company to provide recompense for an issue, knowing that they'll still forever be branded with neutral or negative feedback. Where is their incentive?

DrBologna

However, I do agree that MyGearStore should have their Amazon profile suspended or put on notice or something. This kind of padding of ratings is why so many people avoid eBay.

EyeHeartPie

hypnotik_jello

Concerned_Citizen

Now, if he just worded it differently, it could have been a whole different story...

"Blah blah blah, we apologize for your dissatisfaction, and will promptly offer you a (partial) refund. I hope that this will make things right, and if so I would really appreciate if you could remove or edit your feedback to reflect the final outcome of our transaction."

Then, promptly refund, and maybe the person will be satisfied with the outcome enough to edit his feedback to reflect it.

But his letter is clearly a bribe.

"Once you remove it, I will refund your money" (Buyer not given a choice)

versus

"I will refund your money. Can you please remove it?" (Buyer given a choice, so if he removes it, the integrity of the feedback system is preserved, as it reflects his true feelings)

Dooley

iEddie