Would You Expect a Return?

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  Paul Atreides on 12/08/2015 - 11:39

  yeah… bunch of crazies out there, prolly found them on the side of the road and would rather the cash

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  spackbace on 12/08/2015 - 11:44

  How much are the pants worth?

  • 

    missy sonia on 12/08/2015 - 12:53

    They were $149

    • 

      spackbace on 12/08/2015 - 12:54

      +4

      Ok yeah wouldn't expect to whinge like that so long after purchasing

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  oscargamer on 12/08/2015 - 11:49

  +9

  ignore the idiot

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  nocure on 12/08/2015 - 12:39

  Did he end up buying the jacket?

  • 

    missy sonia on 12/08/2015 - 12:53

    No, we had sold out of the matching jacket

    • 

      nocure on 12/08/2015 - 12:59

      +2

      that shows he is a return customer so maybe try a big discount off a new pair or a gift card ,something that will entice him back in to spend more money.

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  the-mal on 12/08/2015 - 14:32

  Would you have expected a return if you were in his position?

  A broken zip (fixable) after 1 year on a $150 pair of pants? Nope. Wear and tear. Customer is being unreasonable

  Do you think it's warranted to post slander online?

  It's never warranted to post slander. Slander is illegal by definition.

  He's perfectly entitled to post his opinion or the facts (eg "Zip broke after a year, store wouldn't give me refund, wouldn't recommend!").

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  endotherm on 12/08/2015 - 14:36

  +1

  Is the zip failure wear and tear, abuse or failure from inferior quality? Under the Australian Consumer Law, it has to be of acceptable quality. Normally I'd expect a zip to last years, not months. This law supersedes the 2 month manufacturer warranty. The ACL says you don't need a receipt if you can prove the purchase, obviously if you remember selling it you would morally know that he did. If it was abused or damaged intentionally, that isn't covered. These zips are usually pretty chunky and sturdy, as motorcyclists tend to exert a bit of force across their clothing naturally. If they are the reinforced abrasion-resistant style jeans like Draggin [sp?] Jeans, I'd expect them to be very sturdy, the last thing you'd want if you came off your bike is for the fly to come open — you are already embarrassed enough with the accident! There are plenty of places in most shopping centers that do sewing and alterations, I'm sure they could replace a zip relatively cheaply, certainly cheaper than replacing them. As the supplier, you have the right to repair, replace, refund the item if it isn't a major defect. If the rest of the pants is intact and still serviceable and pleasing to the customer, I'd argue it isn't a major defect and a zip replacement is a fair solution — it is a moving part and prone to breaking and wear. Replacing it wouldn't alter the appearance of the garment, so I wouldn't consider it major. Of course some people are just dicks and are prepared to try and extort people to get their way and get their money back after they have enjoyed the product for a while. Unfortunately there are generations of people with entitled attitudes who think it's fine to post whatever brain-fart of an opinion they have. It's not necessarily slander but unfortunately you need deep pockets and it's not easy to pursue someone legally in relation to opinions posted online, even if it is malicious. I'm never bothered by one or two negative opinions posted online, you always get an unhappy customer no matter what you do. I'm more put off if there is a constant trend of negatives.

  By the way it is libel, not slander, for written/published defamatory statements. You would have to prove how you were defamed. Slander is for non-permanent, spoken defamation.

  • 

    Settero on 12/08/2015 - 15:36

    regurgitating law without understanding it is rather silly.
    its been a year, the customer was happy with the product recently, its less believable that the item broken for being faulty than from being misused.
    it would be BEYOND difficult to get any reasonable person to accept that the item was faulty vs the item was broken by the dude himself in this case.
    thus consumer guarantees do not apply.

    • 

      endotherm on 12/08/2015 - 16:32

      +1

      Excuse me? Who's regurgitating law without understanding it? Assuming I don't know what I'm talking about is being silly. The items that I quoted are relevant to the issue.

      It's not about what's believable or not. The only information we have to go on is "he was very happy with the product then", which is the OP's impression/opinion. I would not find it at all difficult to accept the item was faulty if for example the stitching was now disintegrating and coming apart at multiple failure points. I have seen poor quality zips where the metal was inferior quality where the teeth pulled out from the carrier, the zip tab had cracked and crumbled etc. Not at all obvious when it was new, and defective with respect to the normal use and quality expected of said metal. Not all failures are from abuse.

      If you go back and read my comments, I'm actually siding with the seller in this case. I quoted a number of relevant clauses from the ACL for the OP's edification. I don't think it's likely that the item is defective either, but making statements like "it was broken by the dude himself therefore consumer guarantees do not apply" is just stupid. You have NO evidence for or against this instance, so you cannot make such a judgement. A reasonable person would have to be fully acquainted with the FACTS first.

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  mousie on 12/08/2015 - 18:26

  Bikies have been a solution to many of the problems raised - do you have any Bikie mates?

  No proof of purchase?

  I'd suggest to let him know that you can't help him with a credit or a refund, however you could potentially solicit a discount to keep him happy, say 10% or whatever is inside your approval / acceptable margin levels and ask if he's satisfied with that?

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  kima on 13/08/2015 - 08:29

  What are you fighting for? why is it important to you not to refund him? what have you got to gain from it. Why is $150 so important and what could you have done to compromise. $150 seems like a really bad amount to lose good will over.

  personally I don't agree with the customer doing that and don't think he is entitled to a refund but that doesn't mean your right and you should refuse. I wouldn't just dismiss him without trying to reasonably make him happy. I think he is not happy because he couldn't get the matching jacket.

  He threatened to post bad things about you because you made him angry and that's because you didn't handle it well. Your attitude seems very oppositional to him.

  • 

    spackbace on 13/08/2015 - 10:18

    Why is $150 so important and what could you have done to compromise. $150 seems like a really bad amount to lose good will over.

    It's easy to see this as a stand-alone thing, but what if more people did what this customer has done? What if he told others about it as well? Then 1 persons $150 turns into 2 turns into 4 etc etc.

    If the guy can threaten to slander and get his back up about the whole thing, then I'm betting he could've told his mates if he scored a refund after a year and after he may have intentionally damaged the trousers, just to get a new pair.

    • 

      kima on 13/08/2015 - 14:12

      its not more people its 1 customer.

      • 

        spackbace on 13/08/2015 - 14:13

        +1

        It's easy to see this as a stand-alone thing, but what if more people did what this customer has done? What if he told others about it as well? Then 1 persons $150 turns into 2 turns into 4 etc etc.

        If the guy can threaten to slander and get his back up about the whole thing, then I'm betting he could've told his mates if he scored a refund after a year and after he may have intentionally damaged the trousers, just to get a new pair.

        Figured I'd bold the key words there, you must've missed them.

      • 

        kima on 13/08/2015 - 14:16

        @Spackbace: I didn't miss anything. you can talk about variables all day but im not going too. what if this what if that what if there is asteroids that are going to hit the earth and kill us all tomorrow. the chances of it happening are not likely and your more likely to cause a problem going the way they chose - and they did.

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  kima on 13/08/2015 - 08:38

  if its worth $150, then there were other options available to you then to fight about it. offer him to keep it and reimburse him a 50% store credit. offer him to take it back and give him another jacket if he buys the rest of a new set. do you know what discretion is or do you follow the book without any thought?

  its like once you got a tiny amount of money your claws come out and you fight to the death over it without seeing the big picture. refunding that 1 customer is not going to hurt your business and if it is then its well past time your business strategy changes. you made that man your enemy and your on here trying to defend what you did trying to gain some support - so even you question what you did.

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  Densor on 13/08/2015 - 08:49

  +1

  I wouldn't offer a refund or a store credit. I'd offer to get them repaired. Surely that would be cheaper and a good result for both parties.

  • 

    EVL on 15/08/2015 - 08:31

    +1

    Definitely this would be the best solution.
    You need to make the customer your priority, work with them to find a solution that suits both of you.
    At the end of the day it's much easier to keep a customer than gain a new one, and an unhappy customer can have quite a negative impact on your business.

    Also your 2 month warranty means jack and is the sign of a poor quality item, familiarise yourself with the ACL.