eBay, FedEx, and the Decline of Customer Service
I recently accepted a return at another account I use strictly for selling. The returned item was valued at more than $1,100.00. I’d shipped the item to the buyer using USPS Ground Advantage, a service I’ve found to be reliable and reasonably priced, but eBay offered only a FedEx Ground label for return shipping. Given my past experience with the carrier, I would never willingly use FedEx.
FedEx reported the delivery of the item to my residence but, although my signature was required for delivery, I wasn’t approached by a FedEx driver and couldn’t find the parcel anywhere around my residence. When I contacted FedEx about this, I was advised the parcel was indeed delivered but not to me. My name and address, the representative said, didn’t match FedEx records even though it was FedEx that reported the delivery to me by e-mail. An hour or two later, I walked to my mailbox, which is more than 360 feet from my residence through woods. There, resting on the ground at the base of the mailbox post, I found the parcel. Apparently, the FedEx driver forged my signature and saved himself/herself a trip up my street and down my driveway, depositing the parcel only a foot or two from the main thoroughfare through my community. I was fortunate it wasn’t pilfered. I sent a written complaint to FedEx through the Better Business Bureau but, not at all surprisingly, haven’t received a reply (the complaint was filed 12 January).
Before I discovered the parcel, I opened a case at eBay, fearing the parcel had been misdelivered or stolen. As soon as I realized it had arrived, I contacted eBay to cancel the case. I received an e-mail message from an eBay representative the following day indicating the case would be closed and the buyer refunded. I was advised I needn’t do anything further. On 5 January I was contacted by the buyer, who reported he’d not received the refund. I telephoned eBay and the representative to whom I spoke told me the case had just been closed that day and that the buyer would be receiving a refund within twenty-four to forty-eight hours. On Thursday, the 8th, the buyer still hadn’t gotten the refund, so I telephoned eBay again. The representative to whom I spoke told me the refund was “on its way†and that the buyer would receive it within twenty-four to forty-eight hours. Like the two representatives with whom I’d already communicated, he said I needn’t do anything. Later that day, the buyer contacted me to say he’d learned the Tier 1 representatives with whom I’d been dealing weren’t authorized to issue a refund in the correct amount. None did anything about it, none referred the matter onward (and that's putting the best spin on it). On 8 January, the buyer was able to reach a Tier 2 representative who, finally, issued the refund.
Why is getting such matters resolved at eBay so difficult? It seems the intent of each representative is to end the call as soon as possible whether or not the issue prompting the call has been addressed. I’m an older adult, not especially proficient with modern technologies, who’s selling off possessions collected over decades. My sales are modest and only occasionally do I require the assistance of eBay representatives. Given my experience with such representatives in the past several years, I’m reluctant to contact them unless I have to. Maybe that’s the objective.
kibble-net
·7 months agoNot sure what your gripe is with ebay. Just refund the customer, and file a complaint with FEDEX. I've filed a complaint with USPS for forging a signature before, you can do it with any delivery company. The driver will be reprimanded or fired, hopefully.
broto_64
·7 months agoYou can thank wonderful AI robotic spam code for this.
The intent of each representative is to end the call as soon as possible whether or not the issue prompting the call has been addressed - This is correct, the representative receives negative credit if they do not "resolve" the issue in a "timely" manner (usually the faster the better, so they must try or die to finish that call QUICK) and they will lie to do so because apparently they value their jobs.
This reality can be hard to digest for those of us who grew up in a time where a call to customer service meant a human being who spoke fluent English would actually answer the phone, spend however much time resolving our issues, and had powers often far beyond we peons had. Oh, and no menu tree.
But that is not today's reality and it is everywhere, I see it at Walmart, Farm Fresh foods, everywhere I turn it is like this, CVS, Target, Kroger, you name it, Home Depot, local or online it doesn't matter, Amazon for sure.
Today it's all about jumping through the hoops, doing that keeps the "employer" happy. Everyone that works in a corporation is about that, used to be your manager was your employer, but not today... Today the manager must jump through a set of hoops all their own too, perform acrobatic job-related gymnastics that absolutely convolute matters and do NOT help provide better service, however the corporate think tank firmly believes in this nonsense and thus this is how the reality is what it is today.
Today all customer service issues are handled by a flowchart-style menu tree (and if the answer to the problem does not exist then your problem isn't getting solved) AND nobody cares if there's no hoop there since no employee's job is in danger by them doing nothing.
I strongly suspect many issues such as yours exist, problems arise that do not exist in the flowchart menu tree. And when the problem does not exist in the database that is why there's no answer, believe me the frustration isn't just the consumers but everyone working feels it too.
That is the sad reality of today's corporate workplace.
Welcome to ebay, happy buying/selling, have a wonderful day!
(attach fake smile to face).
Not sure if it helps but I don't use Fedex.
I won't do it, ebay won't stand up for us if something goes wrong, probably not with USPS either but at least with USPS there's a little more "responsiveness" from the people working at the post office.
rouleur
OP7 months agoThanks for your accurate and helpful summation of the problem. As far as FedEx goes, I had no choice but to pay for the label eBay presented since no alternatives were offered. Maybe I could've dealt with the buyer directly to arrange the return, but I've no idea if that would've had unwelcome consequences.
broto_64
·7 months agoI understand, you did the right thing by going through ebay and not dealing directly with the buyer as that could leave you outside of seller protection schemes (more of those hoops, that if we don't jump through them, come back to bite us).
tobaccocardyahoo
·7 months agoYour FEDEX driver was atypical. He took the package out of the truck.
The drivers who deliver to me just leave a slip, without ringing a bell or doing anything with the package.
Their goal to have us pick it up at the FEDEX depot or store/
Definitely shows greater initiative even if it was illegal.
As for the Ebay CSRs, no reason to believe they know more than any seller about Ebay process and procedures.
I see no evidence of any DECLINE in customer service. FEDEX Ground was this bad before FEDEX bought them. Ebay never did refunds, that was and is a seller function.
12345jamesstamps
·7 months agoEbay customer service reps cannot do anything other than talk...so I don't know who did what...rather...it just finally got refunded by the refund process.
Refunds take time to reach the person.
As for a buyer saying I don't have my refund yet..not all buyers know how refunds are issued.
There is a period of time when the refund returns to the card(the exact card)used during business days and not Saturday/Sunday/holidays.
I never had a problem with delivery from Fedex...be aware a seller/buyer can input their email address and have updates/estimated time of delivery/and delivery to you by email...for free.
Living 360 feet from my residence through the woods is a personal problem...where a person decided to live there. A seller/buyer can also reroute their package to a pickup store online as well.
There was a time where we had personalized service...people on eBay by phone who can do stuff while on the phone...but that's long gone.😢
The problem was basically that of the buyer...which I would put on a block list.
The buyer created the headache(s) for you.
Customer service is gone unfortunately and I dislike that also.
christworks
·7 months ago@rouleur I guess I am lost as to why you did not refund the buyer before you opened the case. You indicate that you opened the case out of fear the parcel was stolen or misdelivered, neither of which was the buyer's fault. The immediate step would have been to refund the buyer, unless you had some reason to believe the item was returned in a different condition and you might need to reduce the refund.
I do not know whether the contractor will do anything. I've had relatives and friends who drive for a "large anonymous FedEx contractor," and their supervisor took complaints seriously. I do know the BBB cannot do anything. They are basically a mediator and will send your complaint to FedEx, who may or may not respond.
christworks
·7 months ago@rouleur Why do you need eBay to issue a refund that is your responsibility to issue? What am I missing here? You do not allege that the buyer altered the shipping label you sent but that FedEx messed up. Why didn't you issue the refund to your buyer? If eBay had to step in and issue it, you hurt your account.
The BBB is not going to do anything about your FedEx issue. Most of the delivery drivers work for companies who are contracted with FedEx. If you can find the contact information for that specific company, that's who you would complain at. There should be a photograph attached to the tracking number that shows exactly how the package was left. Have you checked that?
rouleur
OP7 months agoOnce I opened the case, I was no longer able to authorize a refund; eBay had to do it and failed to do so for more than a week. The buyer was not to blame for any of this and, fortunately for me, was cooperative.
FedEx drivers here are usually too 'clever' to include proof of delivery image in an instance like this. There was no such image accompanying the delivery notice for this parcel (and, as I indicated, FedEx lied about the disposition of the parcel when I contacted them). Do you actually think a largely anonymous FedEx contractor is going to do anything to remedy a situation like this? They're the problem, not the solution. UPS is frequently as bad with proof of delivery images. I've seen completely black images (with no information at all), images of the sky, and images of gravel and grass with no reference points at all.
wastingtime101
·7 months agoPost is wordy, but what I gathered is the OP asked eBay to step in on the return because they initially thought the return was lost. When they walked out to their mailbox they found the returned package, but by then it was too late.
Once the OP asked eBay to step in on the return and it was escalated to a case, the seller lost the ability to proactively refund. At that point eBay was already involved so the case would have to run its course and undergo a manual review until it was closed in the buyer's favor. That doesn't happen instantly - it can sometimes take a week.
The seller did not want to wait for eBay to review the case so they kept contacting CS to try and get it closed sooner even though CS couldn't do anything because it was beyond them a that point.
OP certainly has an unresolved case defect and lost eBay fees as a result of how this was handled. Too bad they jumped the gun using that deadly-for-sellers "ask eBay to step in" link on the return.
rouleur
OP7 months agoYour characterization of the matter is just wrong. In each of the contacts I had with eBay customer service representatives I was told the buyer would be refunded within twenty-four to forty-eight hours. I wasn't rushing any review; the matter should've been ended when I reported receipt of the return. What was there to review? And if a review was underway, why wasn't I so informed? I'd been advised the case had been closed when it wasn't. I was given misinformation repeatedly by eBay customer service representatives.
"CS couldn't do anything because it was beyond them a that point" is a bit ridiculous. It was ALWAYS beyond the Tier 1 representatives; they just chose not to share that information. How am I supposed to understand the inner workings of eBay? I was simply responding to what I'd been told by customer service representatives.
wastingtime101
·7 months ago24-48 hours is the party line to get you off the phone. They'll tell you the same with tech errors and more. 24-48 hours is a sign you're speaking to an uninformed rep.
I wasn't saying you needed to understand the inner workings of eBay, I was saying you got bad info from CS and followed it.
CS should have told you since it was escalated to a case you'd have to wait for the review which could take a week.