Customer Missing Portion of Order

[SarahInc]

I have never encounted this in my two year of business and I am not quite sure how to handle it.

I was contacted by a customer this morning stating she didn’t receive a portion of her order. And she needs me to overnight her the missing portion of her order because her wedding is Saturday. I found this a bit suspicious because she received her order on 2/10.

I called my vendor who dropships the order and talked to someone and they said they would look into. My vendor then called me back shortly after and told me they will NOT send out a replacement because they don’t believe her order was missing anything. They think she is lying. In part bc she waited so long before saying anything, and also because she said everything is weighed and the order that was shipped out weighed exactly what it was suppose to with everything in it.

I am not quite sure what to tell my customer. Thoughts?

[RDavis]

Overnight something when a weeding is saturday

When I used to sell on Ebay (yup) I started on that..... "Place" I always found that the people trying to defraud me on merchandise were always the ones who DEMANDED i take care of it that very minute and ship out a replacement (usually an expensive 300 dollar or more phone) sounds to me like shes trying to get a little extra for nothing but seeing as you didnt ship the item yourself you will never know its always hard drop shipping but your supplier says it was exact weight...


Best of luck in getting this resolved hope it all works out well for you



RDavis
www.firstsourcecellular.com

[SarahInc]

Part of me would love to cut out dropshipping for that very reason...sometimes mistakes happen that would have never happen if I could cut out the middleman. Right now that isn't an option though.

As for the problem on hand, it isn't an expensive item. In fact her whole order was less than $60, and the item "missing" was $5. Lying or not, I would just send a replacement except for it would cost me more than the entire order and because my vendor is in Canada, and they don't overnight, she wouldn't even get it in time.

I have never had someone make a claim like this, espeically two weeks after they received the order. Not to mention, this is the first time I have had a vendor refuse to send a replacement.

[www.frik-n-frak.com]

Noting beats the truth!

Dear Customer,

Thank you for contacting us with your concerns regarding order number xxxx.

It appears that perhaps there may be some confusion. Our records indicate that you placed your order on Day, Month 2009 at what:ever time PM. Your order was processed and a package totaling xx lbs. xx oz. was shipped from our Canada warehouse on Day, Month 2009 via whatever carrier : del. confirmation/tracking number : xxxxx.

Each package processed by our company is inspected and weighed prior to shipping. We maintain records for all orders processed for many years.

Please double check the contents of your package as our records indicate that your order of blah blah blah should have weighed xx lbs. xx ounces and did indeed meet that weight specification.

Unfortunately, we are unable to accommodate your request for replacement items. We appreciate your understanding of our policies.

Sincerely,


Be sure to CC: [email protected]

[RDavis]

Yeah what he said that works

a lot of people like the bully tactic until they realize they arent dealing with an amatuer

Frik had a wonderful solution *files that away if i ever need it in the future*


RDavis

www.firstsourcecellular.com

[Buttons]

Love that response. We've also had people say that they were "shorted" .. the weight factor always messes them up. Eventually they "find" the missing items.

[Mark]

Cost of doing drop ship business......send the replacement. :(
We received the same request over the weekend. Someone didn't check their order until yesterday! But, since they were missing the least expensive item in the total order, it didn't seem like a scam to us. (was for maybe like a $10 item in a $150 order)
This is also what plagued on on an auction site we used to sell on, especially with international recipents. They know there is no tracking available.

We use several manufacturer ship-direct vendors. They are very good. Every once in a while there may be a missing item. They usually just send it out for us. Based on our volume for them.

[SarahInc]

Cost of doing drop ship business......send the replacement. :(
We received the same request over the weekend. Someone didn't check their order until yesterday! But, since they were missing the least expensive item in the total order, it didn't seem like a scam to us. (was for maybe like a $10 item in a $150 order)
This is also what plagued on on an auction site we used to sell on, especially with international recipents. They know there is no tracking available.

We use several manufacturer ship-direct vendors. They are very good. Every once in a while there may be a missing item. They usually just send it out for us. Based on our volume for them.

I was all for sending a replacement. It was $5, it seemed like the easiest solution. And although I have never had missing item complaints before, my dropshippers have always been more than accomodating in replacing items broken during shipment. This was the first time I was refused. I needed them to send it, without me just reordering it bc then they would ship it by the fastest way necessary (an option not available to me if I just reordered it for her). And seeing as though she needs it by this weekend, and they are in Canada it is the only way she would even remotely get it on time.

Anyway, I contacted my vendor again and the person I spoke to this time seemed appalled at the previous response that I had gotten from customer service there. She resent the item, but they can't guarantee she will get it by Friday. It all depends on customs.

[cekman]

First - I'm not too surprised that the customer didn't notice something was missing until 2 weeks after receiving it. I get packages every day and I'm so busy that sometimes they go days without even being opened. Then - I may open it - but not do a full inventory right away.

Sometimes I get bead supplies that have hundreds of items in one shipment - I have to plan the time to go through the package. I have had times where I didn't notice something was missing right away.

Also - I may order beads and go through the inventory, and know they are all there - but I may not USE the beads for weeks or months later - at the time I use them I may notice something is broken or defective. Of course it's usually too late by then.

But my point - If I was getting married and really stressed - I may not go through every item of every package right away.

In the future if your are actually not able to resend the item I would apologize for the mistake and immediately refund the amount of the miising item. This of course for small dollar items.

For things that are very expensive -then I would probably stick to my guns a little more.

I just had a package that was supposed to be sent to the customers work address and I sent it to the home address - we haven't found the item yet. Even if it was delivered to the home address on time - I will refund the shipping because I made a mistake.

Of course in your case you didn't make a mistake and can't know what did happen - makes it harder. I think you did exactly the right thing to recontact your vendor.

Hope it arrives in time

[ontiltcasinogear]

Thoughts?

if the item is not a big ticket item, i would just send it. Worst case scenario, they got something free, and hopefully karma will bite them in the ass.

Best case scenario, they got what they ordered, and although it was a hassle to contact you, you gave them no hassle when posed with the problem.

I have done that before when a customer calls and complains about something... they are elated AND shocked at how quickly the conversation ends with what they wanted. granted, I sell tshirts. I wouldn't be as lax if i sold atom bombs or something.

[www.frik-n-frak.com]

Of course, if your customer is missing an Atom Bomb... that's a big problem! :eek:

~fr_k