Buyer is threatening legal action after dispute decided in my (seller) favour

[judiskene]

I would be very grateful if someone could advise me -

A buyer purchased a garment on 12th april 2015 and has recently contacted me to return for a refund as a button fell off the cuff- she says there were no spare buttons but there were- attached with the orig. price tags. I replied I was not willing to refund as it was over 5 months old and has been worn. The buyer then opened a case through PayPal as `item significantly not as described'. Paypal decided in my favour (took them about 15 minutes to close in my favour!)

I guess this made her angry and she has now sent an email to my personal email address saying -`this is not over - i will take legal action against you, both within and outside of eBay' etc etc.'''

I find this really intimidating- I've been really lucky in the past and have had really great honest and friendly buyers- any advice on what to do, how to deal with this???

Thanks!

Jude

[digital*ghost · Accepted solution]

To be honest, I would be very surprised if there was any action they could take.

True enough, consumers have a right to remedy if something is not as described, but there are limitations - they tend to be non-sepcific, for example in the ACCC guide, it provides very general guidelines and use phrases like "reasonable timeframe" - basically saying the more expensive and/or higher (advertised) quality the item, the longer a 'reasonable' time tends to be.

A clothing article with a button that fell off after 5 months or wear is unlikely to qualify for any kind of remedy, so I would probably advise the buyer exactly who to contact (eg their state's office of Fair Trading) for further advice, as they will more than likely be told they have no right of recourse.  

[harley_babes_hoard]

Ignore it, do not answer

[cathyjoyjoy · Accepted solution]

The situation has already been resolved and closed by Paypal.  Block this buyer now from your personal email address OR simply 'forward' the message back to sender immediately (I find this is almost as good as blocking as senders think the message has bounced somehow).

As Harley stated ..... DO NOT ANSWER ..... at all.

[springyzone]

As some others said, ignore her. Block her.

It would be intimidating and you might be tempted to send back an angry reply, which could be exactly what she wants.

So best to block and ignore.

She'll take legal action. Really? Over one button that fell off after 5 months?

I bet she wouldn't try this on any retail sore. I'm wondering if she has tried this on other ebay sellers though.

[saarzi]

1. Block her immediately so she cant buy something else to cause more trouble.

2. Ignore, she's a nutter.

5 months isnt reasonable. Theres nothing she could do even if she really wanted to, and if she thought about it for a few minutes she'd probably be embarrassed by her own response. She's just trying to bully you into giving her what she wants. Ignore.

[springyzone]

Just thinking about it and I don't think most places would do anything for you after 5 days, let alone 5 months.

Probably the most you could hope for would be they might come up with a spare button to give you.

But after 5 months, no way.

[k1ooo-slr-sales]

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@springyzone wrote:

She'll take legal action. Really? Over one button that fell off after 5 months?

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I'm prepared to bet that if she consulted a solicitor they would set her straight.  Either that, or take her for a very costly ride.  She'd be better off going to spotlight and buying enough buttons to replace the lost one and all others on the item.  At least that way they would all match, and it would be far less costly than a solicitor consult!

[padi*0409]

This is where Paypal's 180 day policy is so blardy wrong, along with eBay's wonderful MBG, the defects and the inability of eBay to look after their small/medium sellers...................

It invites buyers to scam sellers, and it will destroy the eBay as it used to be - before the big stores started to take over.

Spoiler

There goes my buyers discount yet again...............sigh.    Maybe, just maybe, they'll listen to my customer survey response next time.

Spoiler

But I do seriously doubt it.

G'day slr,      mittens on tonight..................again...................... 

[harley_babes_hoard]

I've noticed there are more and more nutcase buyers of late. They seem to be more demanding, more aggressive and threatening I wonder if this has a lot to do with the Ice problem in Oz at the moment.