Wednesday, September 20, 2006

ebay seller = bad customer service

I have almost very little patience when it comes to customer service..there I said it! my girlfriend would be the first one to agree..Sorry but If Im paying big $$$ for something I expect the best service to come along with it regardless if its an overpriced starbucks cup, a bag from coach or a high end cell phone.. so on my recent purchase -experience in getting a new cell phone has been awful, it was labeled a"sore subject" over sushi today.. and it really has been. I decided to purchase my nokia E61 from an ebay retailer rather than ordering it from a website like I have done in the past...I figured I would give the "smaller guys" some business, but it ended up causing me a headache..I checked the listings for the phone comparing mainly the sellers rating which I though was a good indicator of customer service...I chose Cellz4Less.. they had a 99.6% positive feedback and a powerseller..I couldnt go wrong I though.. I purchased it and paid for it on Friday 9/8 right before heading to Boston so that it would arrive when I came back from my trip on thursday..they were closed on the weekend which I knew so on monday I received my shipping notice and tracking number as expected..so far so good. I come back from Boston, check fedex and no activity..I called and they notified me that nothing had been shipped!! I emailed cellz4less thursday nite, no reply so I called friday PM. I was told by Alex after his lame excuse that he would overnite it for monday arrival and he refunded me $9..Monday arrived but nothing came! I called again monday and he promised (he said I had his word) for tuesday delivery and he had refunded me the other $9..all i wanted was my phone not $9..if Im paying almost $400 for a phone do you really think $9 is going to break me? Tuesday came and guess what? NOTHING! at this point all I wanted was my phone or money back! but all I got was a reply to my original email which was sent on thursday 9/14, so it took them 4 days to reply but it took them no time in taking that money from paypal! it gets better though..the email said "THank you for your email. Per your request there has been a delay on this shipment - item will be on route within this week. You may call us for update on this matter at 310.839.1818 "
Per my request? why the hell would I request to delay shipping of my phone?? LOL are these guys getting high during work hours? the only request I had at this point was to refund me my money! which he was fast to do when he found out Im a blogger in the wireless space.. maybe I should start off with that everytime!..well thats it.. I have my money back now but still phoneless, and very annoyed and disapointed that a seller with such high rating would have such poor customer service and ethics... dont sell something on ebay if you dont have it.. was my last comment on the last of the many emails sent over these past 13 days.. be smart, ask questions and choose your sellers carefully..so Im back in the market looking for one but now actually emailing to confirm they have the phone in stock and no reply so far.. whatever happened to good customer service???!!!!

UPDATED:
within a few hours of my initial posting I received an email at 10:17pm from an ebay buyer in the same situation that I was with this seller
" I purchased my phone over a week ago (with the promised 5 day shipping) and have not yet received it. However, I do have a tracking number, but its activity only says "Package data transmitted to FedEx". That was posted 5 days ago and has not changed" also note the comment from another buyer left below
save yourself some time and headaches and ask questions and pick sellers carefully

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Seems to me that that is the case that's happening with me. I also bought an LG phone from this seller and it has not been mailed, although an electronic message to Fedex was sent to expect delivery more than a week ago. He's got a 99% rating, and kept at that high level considering the amount of business he moves. But that doesn't do justice with the numbers considering that nearly 50 gave negative ratings in a 1 month period. I should have looked at that angle before bidding but it's too late. I've complained to Fedex and Paypal about this abuse and later will file one to eBay. We need to stand up against these thugs abusing the eBay society!

Sam Gonzales said...

Anonymous, email me or reference me or my posting when reporting to ebay

Anonymous said...

Sam it happened to me too. I emailed you through ebay. I left them a negative feedback now I guess they shipped the phone. They wanted me to go through square trade and rescind my negative feedback for them and I havent even received the phone. Please email me back if you want more info.
Thanks,

Donna

Anonymous said...

45 negative ratings in 1 month, 87 in six, and 100 in 12 months, plus those numerous that have rescinded their negative ratings through arm-twisting tactics are very scary numbers indeed for this dubious eBay powerseller. Despite the many positive ratings, bidding on his items will be like walking on a minefield in Baghdad.

Anonymous said...

You need to think that this person mudt get over 1,000 emails a day. He/She is not able to answer all of them in one. You are getting a get price and all this free stuff, so BE PATIENT! You could think if this person has sold over 30,000 phones, and is a powerseller he is doing something right. If you have an issue try to resolve it before leaving a negative feedback. It is not necessary!

Anonymous said...

The user above me is right. You are getting a great deal-so have some patience. They will send you the phone. They are not out to screw you over or else they would be out of business long ago. So don't leave a negative feedback-its not fair-they gave you your money back b/c you didnt want to be patient. If they ripped you off and didn't give it back-THEN leave the negative feedback. Reconsider your actions!!! I bought many phones from them and they are a great honest company- and 99.6% positive feedback is not easy to get!

Sam Gonzales said...

for those that 3 anonymous that think I did "wrong" first of all I dont care what you think,

or that the seller gets 200,000 thousand emails a day. If he is in the business of selling cell phones and hes selling that much and making $ hire some people

Free stuff? what free stuff? Im getting what comes with the phone thats it! you idiot..

they will "send me the phone" so I should just let weeks go by w\out response and just sit on my porch until it gets here? get real dude if you werent the ebay seller posting this you would get it too.

dont tell me to be patient and that Im getting a great deal. I was patient when I didnt get my phone the day promised or the two times after..and a great deal is $150-200 for this phone ok..not $350

I paid right away how bout you send it to me first and then I'll pay but not really? and keep telling you I will tomorrow?

lastly the company did me wrong by lying to me about me getting it tomorrow, and since you mention their 99.6% I would expect the best customer service.

once again I dont care your stupid little comments..I care about the other people like me that cant wait to get their new phone and are left sitting out in the cold after paying good $

Sam Gonzales said...

Thanks to all the comments/emails from the ebay seller(s) but once again I dont care what you think and if you call me a looser.anyway Im moving on and so should you..my purpose of my post was to make readers be aware..peace

Anonymous said...

If the seller states that they are going to ship something FedEx or otherwise make claims that imply a quick shipping method then they should be able to deliver. There is no excuse for slow turn around time. After all they are not supposed to accept payment until the day an item will ship. Yes I worked at an online fulfillment store and any person registered as a 'business' with ebay would probably fall within this law.

Negative comments should be left when expectations were not met and the seller was lacking in communication and not obliging by their listings. A "small" company or person could fulfill 500-1000 orders easily. It isn't that difficult, especially when products are of relatively the same dimension such as cell phones.

peace

Anonymous said...

Cellz4less is a crook. I returned a phone that was not the one I ordered and was missing parts,paid express shipping for Xmas delivery and received it in January. I could not reach him by phone or email until the 45 day for Ebay and Paypal intervention had expired. I left negative feedback, he left feedback and lied. I only received the correct phone when we said we would remove the negative feedback. I will not remove the feedback because he lies and uses Blackmail to have negative ratings removed. I too contacted people and they all are or have experienced the same scenario. Ebay is useless in assisting the buyer. STAY AWAY FROM THIS SELLER AND DO NOT REMOVE NEGATIVE RATINGS.

Anonymous said...

Cellz4less is the worst Ebayer I have ever dealt with. He does not respond unless you threaten him or leave negative feedback. The only way he is surviving is by stealing and lying.

Anonymous said...

Cell4less is a nightmare. They have sent me two defective phones and have been deceitful throughout the entire transaction. 3 months later, I'm still out the price of the phone and shipping 2x. They said they would consider giving me back my money if I take back my negative feedback. Byw, cellz4less advertise new phones, but for some reason, both defective phones I received had someone else's mailbox on them, full and locked.

Anneneggen

Anonymous said...

I've bought from companies and they've been good sometimes and bad the others. I doubt their scammers if they are selling that many phones and whenever I buy on eBay I know that I'm paying less. I expect the same product but I know customer service won't always be there.

Also, no one blogs to say how well it went. I'm only looking out for blogs because I had a hard time with one seller. But when I read these, I really don't think they are that bad. As long as the company makes right at the end of the day..that's what counts.

Anonymous said...

cellz4less is a horrible service that only sells foreign equipment. I recently bought a Motorola Rizr and the software is all foreign and will not be supported with any US company, including AT & T, Cingular, and even Motorola itself. I tried to contact cellz4less several times and suprisingly they won't respond. Don't buy the foreign junk they have to sell!!

Anonymous said...

I spent 3 weeks dealing with this horrible company also. They are not worth the trouble.

After several emails I finally got my $300 back.

They have positive feedback because if anyone leaves negative - they return the favor. Read their negative feedback - its all the same. Then read the feedback they left for the customers who got ripped off by them.

Anonymous said...

I almost bought a phone from this seller. I noticed in your posting that you bought because they were a power seller with 99.6% good feedback. The thing with ebay is you have to acutally read all the feedback. The minute you click on it they have like close to 300 BAD feedback comments. You really need to be more educated on how ebay works before you buy from anyone. Most people who know how to check sellers out would have never made this mistake with this seller. Please learn how to research ebay before you buy off it, not all sellers are good, regaurdless of their feedback score. Just an FYI & heads up for the future to anyone who is new to ebay buying.

Anonymous said...

Has anybody noticed Cellz4less has over 2000 withdrawn negative feedbacks???? This would take them to a low 96 and change percentage - enough to make the rest of us sit up and take notice before we buy from these rip-off freaks. They negatived me because I wouldn't withdraw my feedback - this after calling my house demanding I withdraw my netural feedback. Freaks - and - Alex is a liar. He'll say anything.

Anonymous said...

I was also scammed by this company. I paid for a phone and they sent me two defective phones and after I asked for a refund and then left negative feedback I havent heard from them. They wont answer their phones or emails. I did however find a posting on craigslist with this number listed
***310-945-7747**
I did recieve a call back from a woman and was told I would hear from cellz4less with in the hour.. So anyone trying to contact them with no luck, that cell phone number does get you a person to talk to.
Good Luck!

Anonymous said...

I’m a new ebay buyer. I’ve bought $5 used children’s books in total on ebay recently. The seller asked me to pay $10 for combined shipping/handling. I paid immediately. But 2 weeks later, I received a damaged, open, empty box with postal stickers indicating that they had received it in this condition and without contents. The postman delivered this in-person and explained that this was corroborated by three other postal workers. He said that in their opinion the package was insufficiently wrapped. I took pictures of the box and the post office contact information and forwarded to the seller for resolution. At first he ignored my message. He finally replied with sarcastic remarks and implied that I was trying to cheat him. I waited to submit my feedback but finally reported honestly after I got no response from the seller. ( My feedback “Paid $10shipping/handling but received a broken and empty box “is the real thing happened on me ). But after this, he retaliated by leaving negative comments on my eBay account; such as, "Beware all sellers. Wants merchandise for free. Be cautious with this person." I do feel this treatment is unfair to me. This is the worst shopping experience in my life. :-(