Buyer Pick up problems

[suntap]

Hi all

I have a buyer being a bit difficult at the moment, over pick up.  Or am I being a bit rigid?

Had an auction end on Saturday, but as we both work very long hours, weve very busy that day.  I am one that does NOT check emails on my phone, as I have my own domain email hosting for our businesses.  Laptop is far more efficient for me, a   phone does not have enough functionality.  We got home late to find an email from buyer wanting to have picked up that day.  I emailed apologies and asked them to nominate another time.

Buyer said ok, will pick up next week.  I did not hear anymore, after sending invoice again, so opened an UID on Thursday.  Buyer sent rude email and paid via Paypal "seeing as I was in a hurry to receive payment".  He then said he could pick up that evening; I said that was fine.

Now have four rude emails from buyer this morning stating he tried pick up; I was obviously avoiding it, so to refund him immeditately.  He did not nominate a time for pick up (which I expected in response to my previous email) and we were home all evening.  I asked him if he had the right house and if he rung the bell.  He said "yes, no. 8 and I honked the horn"  Really???  Who honks the horn for a pick up?  It was very dark last night, raining heavily and we live in a house that is set right back from the road; kind of a battleaxe block.  I cannot see the street from my front door and certainly cannot hear it.

I am rather ticked off at his manner and not inclined to issue a refund.  I suppose this is more of a rant than a problem, but what would be the most correct way of handling this?

Thanks.

[springyzone]

I'm on suntap's side in this one in most respects.

No one can expect another person to be on the internet 24/7.

After the buyer missed his first preferred time, he should have negotiated with the seller for another day/time.

Possibly the only thing I would have done differently as a seller is I would have contacted the buyer first to outline what days I may be available for pick up and ask the buyer to nominate a preferred time range. Only if the message was ignored would I have gone on to open an unpaid item dispute.

But I have a feeling the seller did try this path & was ignored.

Now  the buyer did say he would call around one evening but did not come in and knock on the door. Sorry, but I don't accept the other boardies who feel this is understandable or acceptable. I don't care if it was raining cats and dogs, if you go to pick up something, you need to go in and knock. What did these buyers  expect? That the seller would magically know who it was and rush out to deliver the item?

How would you know who it was outside honking? Could be anyone for the neighbours.

We don't even know if the buyer is telling the truth, to be honest, he might just want his money back.

I had a similar thing to this type of pick up happen in that I had a lounge suite for sale, at a certain time. I waited, the time passed and I decided to go water the front lawn, only to see a couple sitting in their car. When they saw me they got out and the woman said she had emailed me they had arrived.

Well, my phone isn't on the internet & I was not in my own home, I was at a deceased estate, waiting inside. It was a fine day, sun shining. Why on earth would they not come and knock on the door? This is a more and more common scenario I am afraid and in my opinion, some people just lack common sense. I wondered what the woman would have done had I not gone out the front-driven away without knocking? Are people mad?

No, I would not be apologising to the buyer if i were suntap. I would be saying yes, I was inside but naturally expected them to knock on the door sincde they were collecting and that a car horn is no substitute for a knock as it could be anyone out on the road and hard to hear inside anyway.

And that a rough time frame would work better too.

Be polite but be quite forthright in laying it on the line that this was just as much the buyer's fault. If they honked their horn then drove away they have no one to blame but themselves for a slipshod effort.

[mbselections00]

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@suntap wrote:

HI mbs

I have had dozens and dozens of pickups from this address.  The house itself is not hidden from the road and most people do drive up at least some of the way and then come to the door.  All my other buyers have managed to provide a time frame and actually knock on the door, as common manners would dictate.  There was  no "Still no response" - He did not attempt to knock, or get out of his car, as stated in his email - just honk.  Our neighbours have young family with new licenses, I would say thereare a few horns honking occassionaly and I was not expecting a horn honk - I was expecting someone to TURN UP and collect goods.  So no, i am NOT embarrassed at all that I did not hear an unexpected noise outside in the street.

I had emailed this buyer 3 or 4 ties, with no response - hence the unpaid item reminder.  I cannot park myself at the front door all evening just waiting in case someone out in the street honks their horn.  How many of you exit your house every time you hear a horn sounded?  

I also stipulated Cash on Pick Up preferred - the buyer chose to do Paypal.  I also state in my listings that inspection is welcome and questions answered.  Also this buyer lives in the same suburb as myself -less than 4 km away.

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Sorry if you were offended in any way by my comments suntap, that was not my intention, so I do apologise, as clearly I have upset you.   As stated, I was merely trying to see both points of view.   I would prefer to say nothing than to upset someone.

I didn't understand from your original post that the buyer hadn't driven in and apparently I misunderstood I asked him if he had the right house and if he rung the bell.  He said "yes, no. 8 and I honked the horn"

I interpreted that to mean, yes he rang the door bell, he was at number 8 and he honked the horn, and I agree absolutely, that not to knock at all would be not only stupid, but in very poor taste & a display of lack of very basic manners.

And I totally agree he should have advised an expected time & no I would not think you would need to park yourself at the front door all evening etc

And as for the payment, which I didn't elaborate on, I (incorrectly) assumed the reason they paid via paypal instead of Cash was probably because they received an UIDispute.

Anyway, again, my apologies for the further stress I have apparently caused you and I hope you sort it all out amicably and to your satisfaction.

[phorum_junkie*]

I know a phone is pants for Internet purposes and I never use mine to check emails etc unless I don't have access to a computer and then I do check a few times through the day to make sure there are no ebay time sensitive matters to deal with, had you done so all that could have been avoided and you could probably have got rid of the item and had the money in your pocket very quickly.

I also think it is much easier to arrange pick ups over the phone and would have called the buyer as soon as I did see the email, you could then have arranged a time and have told them your property is set back from the road and you would not here them if they did not ring the doorbell. 

The buyer probably opted to use Paypal because you sent payment reminders and repeat invoices, again a phone call would probably avoided that.

Seems to me there were faults on both sides which could have been avoided with better communication.

[mbselections00]

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@phorum_junkie* wrote:

I know a phone is pants for Internet purposes and I never use mine to check emails etc unless I don't have access to a computer and then I do check a few times through the day to make sure there are no ebay time sensitive matters to deal with, had you done so all that could have been avoided and you could probably have got rid of the item and had the money in your pocket very quickly.

I also think it is much easier to arrange pick ups over the phone and would have called the buyer as soon as I did see the email, you could then have arranged a time and have told them your property is set back from the road and you would not here them if they did not ring the doorbell. 

The buyer probably opted to use Paypal because you sent payment reminders and repeat invoices, again a phone call would probably avoided that.

Seems to me there were faults on both sides which could have been avoided with better communication.

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phorum_junkie,  I don't think suntap sees it that way though

[boysstuff11]

Suntap
I've had a honker myself...drove up my driveway and honked until we came out. She didn't get out of her car and the item was placed on her back seat at her request.
It was the only such experience.
There are so many reasons as to why they behaved that way, as the other posters have mentioned.
My recommendation is to attempt to communicate with them again and if that does not yield a positive outcome, refunding them would only be fair. Perhaps have a think about how you would like to see any future pick ups occur...we all learn through experience.
Good luck.

[springyzone]

I think most people would not think to say to a buyer who was coming to collect an item-'Please knock on the door when you arrive."

You tend to sort of take it for granted that people would know this, but these days, there isn't anything common about sense, that is for sure.