Hello,
I have only been selling since about early December, and this is my first post in a community forum. Here's my take on this:
CS is ALWAYS the first line of problem solving and COMPANY DEFENSE. I used to work for Sprint and I know how these people operate. A company like Sprint and eBay have so many first liner people working inbound calls and they are only operating from a script or list of customer questions and eBay's canned or prepared in advance response to the customer. All these call centers are staffed with these first liners probably in different groups. Not sure how many people would be in a typical group, but each group has a manager, who also reports to their manager who has a manager... and so on.
I have learned over the years that if you do not get an answer or resolution in your favor, I ask to speak to either a "floor manager" or that person's manager. Before putting there manager on the line, they put you on hold then relay your problem to the manager so the manager will be prepared with responses. If I don't get my issued resolved, especially when it comes to a billing or money issue, I will go up the chain of management for these people until I get it resolved. If it's a couple of dollars, no big deal, if it's a large amount, I keep going until I either "win outright or partially win" with the resolution in my favor. Always get that CS rep's first name and her number. In my exerience at Sprint, anytime an employee looked at a customer's account, their initials and assigned number showed up as some part of the list of entries for that customer's account. If a change to the person's account was made whether it was a change to an address or a refund, the Sprint employee's numer is part of that account list of entries.
CS reps will not likely always put you off with refunds most likely unless it's a small dollar amount refund that they can refund on thier own. The manager also has a limit on how much she can refund and it goes on up the ladder.
I would go up maybe a couple of levels of managers until I get the refund. If you have all the facts, then hopefully it will work out in your favor whether you go through the resolution center or not.
I hope this is helpful, I tend to overwirte but try to help out. One question I have though. How did you send the item to the buyer initially? Did you do a calculated weight or flat rate? If calculated rate, then you know how much your box weighed before sending it out. If I understand your situation, the buyer shipped the box back empty. Check to see if she used a calculated rate or flat rate. If calculated then the weigh of the box will be much less. Good luck.
