Good Grief....Ebay now outsourcing customer service

[clovis97]

Here is the back story:

My wife packed the ebay one afternoon, and mistakenly switched labels on 2 packages.

We sent a bike part to a guy that was supposed to receive a book, and a book to a woman who bought a bike part. While I hate the loss, especially in postage, it isn't the end of the world. I immediately sent another book to the guy, and the bike part woman has been waiting very patiently for me to get the part to ship to her.

"I'll send the bike part back ASAP. Thanks for your quick response in handling this issue" the guy said in an email.

Two weeks later, I still haven't gotten the bike part back, and he is no longer returning my emails.

So, I called ebay to see if I could file a report on the buyer...not that I am going to, but I wanted to know what my options were in the future.

The next thing I know, I am talking to a guy who reluctantly admitted was in Asia, and his broken English proved it. I don't really care where you are from, but this dude did not even comprehend the questions I was asking.

 

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[digging440yrs]

I KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN----I WORK FOR A DEFENCE COMPANY {AREOSPACE} AND THEY HAVE OUTSOURCED LOTS OF JOBS/WORK ALL OF THE WORLD----SOMETHING NEEDS TO BE DONE ABOUT KEEPING JOBS IN THE U.S.A.------

 

[cyberdan]

I have had that problem with my phone company (land line) I could tell right off the bat she was foreign born. Nothing wrong with that my wife and grandfather come from opposite sides of the globe. But she talked and talked and talked all in good English and was very friendly and did solve the problem. Did I mention she liked to talk? I squeezed out of her she was in India.

After I got off the phone I told my wife and she said she has been trying to get a good curry recipe and I should have asked. Can you imagine what my ear would be like if she gave me her curry powder recipe?

 

[jerseyben]

Not trying to be rude... but I can't believe you guys are so surprised by this. Ebay is a publicly traded company. They answer to their shareholders, which basically means make sure stock prices (and profits) always go up. A STANDARD cost cutting measure by most big business is outsourcing. Has been for many years now.

 

[clovis97]

Not trying to be rude... but I can't believe you guys are so surprised by this. Ebay is a publicly traded company. They answer to their shareholders, which basically means make sure stock prices (and profits) always go up. A STANDARD cost cutting measure by most big business is outsourcing. Has been for many years now.

Yes, I understand that point.

But, the dude didn't even understand my question(s). Reminds me of the time that we tried to book an train trip to Montana with one of Amtrak's outsourced call centers. The Indian that answered the phone tried to send us to Boston, Florida, Maine, Washington DC, Cincinnati, and then asked me how 'Montana' was spelled.

I was going to pop $1,400 on that rail trip, for a sleeper and the whole nine yards. But...they lost my money forever, because of a single phone call.

 

[Iron Patch]

Don't think there's a need to contact ebay for that one because I think it's pretty obvious you can't file a claim when you send the wrong package to someone. It's most definitely an example errors costing money in business, and it's just a dumb thing to do, and I've been there a time or two myself.

As for needing to communicate with Ebay in general, for all I care they could be using Asians speaking 'Asian' and it wouldn't bother me a bit, because there's nothing I need them to figure out for me. Between the sitemap and common sense, it's fairly easy to make your way through. In 12 years or however long I have been selling on the E I've only needed to contact them once, and that was to obtain my top rated seller status, having previously opted out of being a power seller. I think that's what was holding me back, but is besides the point, which is I don't see a need to be talking to ebay, with maybe the exception of fraud. But I would guess for that they would have an American representative.... but I guess you never know.

 

[diggummup]

I've done this before myself actually, but I waited till I had both items back in my hands, before I mailed either one back to the rightful person. About all you can do is refund the lady and hope the dude sends the part back. You shouldn't have sent his book till you received the bike part from him first. Live and learn.

As far as customer service outsourcing goes, they've been doing it for years. I guarantee he or she had an American sounding name though didn't they? lol. I've managed a local rep before but it took some persistence on my part. By local I mean the U.S.

 

[clovis97]

I've done this before myself actually, but I waited till I had both items back in my hands, before I mailed either one back to the rightful person. About all you can do is refund the lady and hope the dude sends the part back. You shouldn't have sent his book till you received the bike part from him first. Live and learn.

As far as customer service outsourcing goes, they've been doing it for years. I guarantee he or she had an American sounding name though didn't they? lol. I've managed a local rep before but it took some persistence on my part. By local I mean the U.S.

In all the years that I have been ebaying, surprisingly, this has only happened a few times with all the shipments. Never once in the past has getting an item returned been a problem. The few times that we've messed up, I've told the buyers to keep the wrong item...but all of them have returned it on their own accord, didn't ask for payment for the return postage, and all have left positive feedback.

In this case, the guy has been a turd head. He finally replied to my emails, but the story has changed 3 times. At first, he shipped, then he shipped it 'on Friday', and now the story is that he 'took it to the post office two weeks ago'.

 

[clovis97]

In this case, the guy has been a turd head. He finally replied to my emails, but the story has changed 3 times. At first, he shipped, then he shipped it 'on Friday', and now the story is that he 'took it to the post office two weeks ago'.

FWIW, and just as an update, the dude finally sent the bike part back. I had already refunded the correct buyer, but they still wanted it if the part ever got returned. The buyer sent me another payment, and I shipped the part to them last week.

 

[Iron Patch]

FWIW, and just as an update, the dude finally sent the bike part back. I had already refunded the correct buyer, but they still wanted it if the part ever got returned. The buyer sent me another payment, and I shipped the part to them last week.

Guess he was just lazy and not dishonest. Or he just figured you were going to stay on him until he did the right thing.

PS: Unbelievably after talking about this, I just did it this week! lol A lot of stuff I sell can be fairly similar, and because of that I'm almost obsessive about comparing the item to the sale, but sometimes I think.... oh I only have one of those, no need to look.... and that is usually how it happens. Luckily it's a very cheap item and the buyer is not concerned, and the the guy who's not getting an extra can keep it.