How to deal with dishonest buyers?

[hollowman]

How to deal with dishonest buyers?
a few days ago I received a 1star review in which my product was called non-working junk and urged not to spend money.
within a few hours I contacted the buyer. I thanked for the review, made a refund and asked what exactly does not work. but the buyer refused to explain and stated that they had already purchased another item. I flagged review and after waiting a day I turned to support. I was advised to flag review. omg, of course I flagged it before contacting them! who do they take me for ?! I replied that I had already flagged it. I was told to wait. I have been waiting for the third day and am in a nervous state. yes, i take it serious. once,
when I myself put a three-star review, some "merchant" pounced on me with threats and foul language. of course i removed it (now i dont know - why?!) Really the better you treat people, the worse they treat you ?!
What can be done even in such a situation? I do not see any other way out, except in violation of the rules to rearrange the item on sale. just a pity the other three five-star reviews and the loss of rating.

of course, this is my alt.

I’ll add that I made a comment to the review, with the same appeal to explain what does not work. in response received only appreciation for a full refund.
if the conflict is settled, well, be you human, remove the review !!!

I am really thinking of stop giving refunds and customer support at all!

Thanks for reading!

Edited August 20, 2019 by hollowman

[Cindy Evanier]

8 hours ago, hollowman said:

How to deal with dishonest buyers?
a few days ago I received a 1star review in which my product was called non-working junk and urged not to spend money.
within a few hours I contacted the buyer. I thanked for the review, made a refund and asked what exactly does not work. but the buyer refused to explain and stated that they had already purchased another item. I flagged review and after waiting a day I turned to support. I was advised to flag review. omg, of course I flagged it before contacting them! who do they take me for ?! I replied that I had already flagged it. I was told to wait. I have been waiting for the third day and am in a nervous state. yes, i take it serious. once,
when I myself put a three-star review, some "merchant" pounced on me with threats and foul language. of course i removed it (now i dont know - why?!) Really the better you treat people, the worse they treat you ?!
What can be done even in such a situation? I do not see any other way out, except in violation of the rules to rearrange the item on sale. just a pity the other three five-star reviews and the loss of rating.

of course, this is my alt.

I’ll add that I made a comment to the review, with the same appeal to explain what does not work. in response received only appreciation for a full refund.
if the conflict is settled, well, be you human, remove the review !!!

I am really thinking of stop giving refunds and customer support at all!

Thanks for reading!

If they have made a review that is wrong and you have flagged it then all you can do is wait for the team to remove it.

You can also use it to your advantage by calmly commenting on the review something along the lines of  - Thank you for your review.  I assure you the item is working and I urge anyone to come and test the demo. I am sorry you aren't happy with it and so therefore have refunded you but as you have failed to respond to my IM's I cannot work out what it is you think isn't working. Please respond to me here (on the marketplace) or inworld and I will do my best to sort out your issue.

That way people will see you have good customer service and anyone seeing the review will be assured you, as a merchant are listening and followng through with customers who are not happy and take their bad review with a grain of salt.  

 

edit.  Sorry I notice you have made a comment already so ignore me.  

Edited August 20, 2019 by Cindy Evanier
misread the OP

[Luna Bliss]

10 hours ago, hollowman said:

How to deal with dishonest buyers?
a few days ago I received a 1star review in which my product was called non-working junk....

when I myself put a three-star review, some "merchant" pounced on me with threats and foul language. of course i removed it (now i dont know - why?!) Really the better you treat people, the worse they treat you ?!
What can be done even in such a situation?

I am really thinking of stop giving refunds and customer support at all!

My impression is that you need to be more assertive in your interactions with both customers and merchants. I say this not to criticize you -- I'm concerned you will continue to be taken advantage of if you're not more assertive.

Personally, if I knew my product was okay I would not give a refund right off the bat -- there would need to be a discussion first. By giving a refund without discussion you're basically agreeing with your customer's perception and ignoring your own. I try to remain open to my customer's perspective but assume I have a voice in the matter too. Most of the time an amicable resolution can be reached when a desire to be fair (both to the customer AND myself) is in the forefront.
Likewise, if I'd give a less than stellar review on a product I would not change it unless the merchant offered a new perspective that I had not considered which then caused me to realize I was not evaluating their item clearly.

Most of my experiences with customers have been great, but there are those who feel it's their right to take as much as they can from another or are motivated by bugging others for fun. A consideration of fairness is far from their mind, and in order not to be taken advantage of you have to stand your ground.

[Alyona Su]

SL Business rules - and stick to them:

• Make it easy as possible for the customer to buy from you. (Very detailed description, offer demo, etc.)
• The customer is NOT king, you can "fire" a bad customer. (Block them in-world, now they also cannot buy your stuff on MP.)
• If a customer plops a bad review without contacting you first - 
  • Contact the customer and ask them what is wrong and how you can help satisfy their difficulty (use that word)
  • Offer to replace, exchange, repair, redeliver *BEFORE ever offering a refund.
  • If offering a refund, give back only what you receive (price minus LL commission).
  • If customer is a "bad" customer, block them in-world (this also prevents them from ever buying anything from you on MP, even free stuff)
    • In ALL cases, always leave a comment to the review and explain (to other readers) why it is a bad review.
      • Explain how you attempted to rectify the complaint and especially "scold" the reviewer for never attempting to contact in-world.
    • FLAG the review if it does not give details, category: competing merchant.
• LEAVE all reviews there, positive or negative, and never post your own review of your own product, even with an alt, EVER.
  • Bad reviews legitimize you. Always leave comments on reviews, positive or negative - 
    • Most smart shoppers who see there is a comment to a review will read the comments.
    • Most smart shoppers disregard reviews on demo items (it's a DEMO for goodness sakes).
• ALWAYS respond to inquiries, even if offline (delete quoted text in email before sending) - you DO have IMs-to-email set, right!?
  • This shows you are receptive and quick to take care of your customers; you are responsive.
    • This helps bring good word-of-mouth advertising.

I'll stop there. I should update my book and publish a third edition on how to do business in SL. LOL (Yes, really - there is a book, but needs to be updated)

Edited August 20, 2019 by Alyona Su

[Rya Nitely]

Just take solace in knowing that it happens to us all. Unfortunately, even when you stick to the rules it can happen to you.

What people say is very true, and a bad review with a sensible polite comment from the seller will not hinder the success of the item. And you may find buyers will be just as annoyed as you are with the unfair review, and add their comments. A bad review is only that if it is true.

It happened to me. I contacted the buyer who actually said she would change her review if the item was improved. I improved the item as she suggested, sent it to her, updated it with a description and waited for the review to be changed or removed, but nothing happened. So, I contacted her again and got an earful.

It happens and it can happen to anyone, no matter how much you do the right thing. There's no preventing it, only perhaps minimising the risk, and you probably already do this.

 

[Drake1 Nightfire]

I love when merchants come to the forums asking for advice about reviews on their alts.. Yes yes, we can make informed opinions about the review we cant find because you are hiding.. If you really dont think hiding is part of the problem... If i have any issues that need the forums to answer, i dont use my alt. 

As to the issue at hand.. If LL didn't remove the review, perhaps it has merit? I mean, you reviewed it yourself as the answer to a bad review and though that was a good idea. Just explain the situation as a reply to their review. Plenty of big name merchants do this, just dont attack them and be professional. Actual customers will read both and make their own minds up. Most onestar reviews are crap anyway. "DIDN'T WORK" "WRONG COLOR" Or some other equal nonsense.

[Alwin Alcott]

On 8/20/2019 at 2:38 AM, hollowman said:

made a refund

for what?... you admit your product is bad?
If so, the review might be actually true.
If not you won't please the bad reviewer with a refund.. he has what he wanted: a free product.

 

Edited August 21, 2019 by Alwin Alcott

[Dhyaanee]

On ‎8‎/‎19‎/‎2019 at 7:38 PM, hollowman said:

I am really thinking of stop giving refunds and customer support at all!

Hey don't turn into one of the bad guys!  Ignore the creeps and don't let them get you down.

[Alwin Alcott]

33 minutes ago, Dhyaanee said:

Hey don't turn into one of the bad guys!  Ignore the creeps and don't let them get you down.

the creeps are at the buyers side in this topic, not the seller, stopping a refund without valid reason isn't bad at all.

Edited August 21, 2019 by Alwin Alcott

[Dhyaanee]

1 minute ago, Alwin Alcott said:

the creeps are at the buyers side in this topic, not the seller.

Hollowman said "I am really thinking of stop giving refunds and customer support at all! " .

If he stopped giving refunds and customer support at all he would have turned into one of the creeps. My advice is to not get so upset by a creep being a creep that you cross over to the dark side as he is considering doing.    Prolly just a fantasy though like we all do when we've been hurt.

[Dhyaanee]

Alwin -- please stop editing your comments. That's not fair.

[Alwin Alcott]

1 minute ago, Dhyaanee said:

Alwin -- please stop editing your comments. That's not fair.

 i edit my post when i think it needs to be more clear, if your reply misses the message you also can edit it for the next 24 hours. Has nothing to do with being fair.

[Luna Bliss]

1 hour ago, Dhyaanee said:

Hey don't turn into one of the bad guys!  Ignore the creeps and don't let them get you down.

You're pointing out something very interesting, Dhya, by mentioning what Hollow was choosing to do at the end of his post in order to cope with his frustration. I agree, not a good choice there (to decide to never give customer support or refunds under any circumstance).
There IS a middle way, something better than getting so angry we become one of the "bad guys" or else become so hurt and depressed that we give up and let it zap our energy -- and that middle way is where we learn to exist in openness and try to be fair with another and expect them to respond in kind. In this open space we don't automatically assume one person or the other is all right or wrong, but know that both sides have validity, and that often it's simply education and awareness that needs to happen on both sides. It takes a little faith to venture into that space, as typically our customer is already in 'the blaming space' and so feels you will then rush to the other side and blame them. But it can be turned around most of the time -- my experiences prove that with some practice it can happen. The first step is to initially respond to your customer like you want to learn from them instead of blame them, and make it clear you want to fix the problem...and do this even IF the customer has been grumpy to start with.

[Love Zhaoying]

On 8/20/2019 at 10:48 AM, Alyona Su said:

SL Business rules - and stick to them:

• Make it easy as possible for the customer to buy from you. (Very detailed description, offer demo, etc.)
• The customer is NOT king, you can "fire" a bad customer. (Block them in-world, now they also cannot buy your stuff on MP.)
• If a customer plops a bad review without contacting you first - 
  • Contact the customer and ask them what is wrong and how you can help satisfy their difficulty (use that word)
  • Offer to replace, exchange, repair, redeliver *BEFORE ever offering a refund.
  • If offering a refund, give back only what you receive (price minus LL commission).
  • If customer is a "bad" customer, block them in-world (this also prevents them from ever buying anything from you on MP, even free stuff)
    • In ALL cases, always leave a comment to the review and explain (to other readers) why it is a bad review.
      • Explain how you attempted to rectify the complaint and especially "scold" the reviewer for never attempting to contact in-world.
    • FLAG the review if it does not give details, category: competing merchant.
• LEAVE all reviews there, positive or negative, and never post your own review of your own product, even with an alt, EVER.
  • Bad reviews legitimize you. Always leave comments on reviews, positive or negative - 
    • Most smart shoppers who see there is a comment to a review will read the comments.
    • Most smart shoppers disregard reviews on demo items (it's a DEMO for goodness sakes).
• ALWAYS respond to inquiries, even if offline (delete quoted text in email before sending) - you DO have IMs-to-email set, right!?
  • This shows you are receptive and quick to take care of your customers; you are responsive.
    • This helps bring good word-of-mouth advertising.

I'll stop there. I should update my book and publish a third edition on how to do business in SL. LOL (Yes, really - there is a book, but needs to be updated)

This post is at least a pamphlet!

[Love Zhaoying]

7 minutes ago, Luna Bliss said:

that middle way is where we learn to exist in openness and try to be fair with another and expect them to respond in kind. In this open space we don't automatically assume one person or the other is all right or wrong, but know that both sides have validity, and that often it's simply education and awareness that needs to happen on both sides. It takes a little faith to venture into that space

I want to live in your fantasy world, too!

[Luna Bliss]

2 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:

I want to live in your fantasy world, too!

Isn't that why you follow Yoga...as an attempt to live in that space?    

What if that space is reality, and the space where we're so quick to blame others and fight is an illusion...

Edited August 21, 2019 by Luna Bliss

[Luna Bliss]

It's interesting, when someone attacks us it often feels like we must attack back to show we are strong and not weak, but the real strength is in not responding with an attack.

[Love Zhaoying]

10 minutes ago, Luna Bliss said:

What if that space is reality, and the space where we're so quick to blame others and fight is an illusion...

Well, duh!

[Love Zhaoying]

6 minutes ago, Luna Bliss said:

It's interesting, when someone attacks us it often feels like we must attack back to show we are strong and not weak, but the real strength is in not responding with an attack.

Anandamayi said, when criticized ask yourself if it bears truth. If so, thank them and change. If not, ignore it.

[Alyona Su]

20 minutes ago, Luna Bliss said:

It's interesting, when someone attacks us it often feels like we must attack back to show we are strong and not weak, but the real strength is in not responding with an attack.

This is true; and even stronger to leave no response at all because silence is argument by another means.

[Chic Aeon]

18 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:

If offering a refund, give back only what you receive (price minus LL commission).

Thought that was a very good and sound list.

 

HOWEVER, awhile back (a year maybe?) I said something about not refunding the money that LL got from a Marketplace sale and was told (I think Dakota) that was against the TOS, that you needed to refund the complete price.  You could, I think send in a support ticket and have LL refund?  Not too sure on that but there was another way rather than actually LOSING money.    

 

In general I have very few customer service issues with the biggest being on the Marketplace.  One of my best selling products had a run (over the years) of a competitor giving one star reviews with those simple "this is cr*p - don't buy" type of messages.  Eventually I had a demo inworld AND a DEMO that you could download and there were still those one star reviews to force my product "below theirs".   Eventually I put a statement at the top of the listing about what was going on -- noting that there had been demos for YEARS with still one star reviews --- well, duh!   I still sell plenty of those products. Most of the other sizes have five star reviews even though they are pretty old now :D. 

 

Finally my "competitor" has left SL or is no longer selling a competing product (and no, I did not go buy their product and leave a one star review LOL).    But it left a very bad taste in my mouth (slang for non-US folks).  There have been many threads over the years about bad Marketplace reviews and the inability to get them removed. It is a very whimsical process it seems.  The best thing you can do in my mind is to test your products carefully and make CLEAR what people are getting and any instructions needed. I almost always have a demo or I am willing to put a demo out if asked. IF people don't read and don't bother to look at the demos, I really can't feel very sorry for them.  I almost never give refunds unless it was a double purchase (which is likely where that info about the LL percentage being against the TOS came into play).  

 

 

[Luna Bliss]

6 minutes ago, Alyona Su said:

27 minutes ago, Luna Bliss said:

It's interesting, when someone attacks us it often feels like we must attack back to show we are strong and not weak, but the real strength is in not responding with an attack.

This is true; and even stronger to leave no response at all because silence is argument by another means.

Not quite sure what you mean here about silence being an argument by another means.

But what I'm saying is that it is possible for people to work out problems without one person taking power over another...shared power.

[Luna Bliss]

7 minutes ago, Chic Aeon said:

I almost never give refunds unless it was a double purchase

Same here.. I seldom give refunds but would under an exceptional circumstance....unfortunately I have encountered those who attempt to get an item for free..

[Alyona Su]

8 minutes ago, Luna Bliss said:

Not quite sure what you mean here about silence being an argument by another means.

But what I'm saying is that it is possible for people to work out problems without one person taking power over another...shared power.

When there is impasse, let them have the last word.

[Madelaine McMasters]

8 minutes ago, Luna Bliss said:

Not quite sure what you mean here about silence being an argument by another means.

Oooooh, I get to quote Wilhelm Stekel twice in one day: The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference.

Or War Games for the first time today: The only way to win the game is not to play.

Could the difference between Alyona's perspective and yours be that you want the argument to end with two winners?

;-).

Edited August 21, 2019 by Madelaine McMasters