Stuck in the eBay help desk spider web!

[Jennifer Kirley]

Today I got a message via email that I was being levied a $15 charge for a returned $2.15 bank payment that eBay had initiated. My curiosity went up because all of my accounts have enough money to pay that. So what went wrong?

One clue was the account number included in the message. They give the last four numbers. I have a number of accounts, but those numbers matched none of them. Not even close. Besides, my seller's fee had been deducted from the proceeds of the one sale I had done in the past year. Why are they taking $2.15 out now, when they already took $1.88?

So I clicked on the little icon for customer service chat room, and the ride began. Three hours and five help "agents" later, my $15 had been credited but no one could fathom what I kept telling them: that is not my account number. I finally told one person who called herself Venus that all of this isn't about the paltry $2.15--this is about the accurate amount of money coming from the correct account for the right reason. I don't want to get assessed a $15 fee for a transaction attempted at someone else's account.

I finally get that the $1.88 is an eBay seller's fee and the $2.15 is a PayPal fee, but whose account is that with the last four digits 2996? Is it my buyer's account? (No). Suppose it was an old account I had forgotten all about. I updated my profile back in January, when I listed my item to sell. Why would they ask that bank account for money on February 15th?

I decided that these unfailingly courteous and earnest people were all in India, and do not have the expertise to trouble shoot this problem of the mystery account number (which has since been deleted, Venus said ). I decided we were suffering a language barrier problem, in that no one seemed able to respond to the question about the 2996 account withdrawal in February when I had updated my profile in January--and no 2996 was anywhere in my profile.



I asked to be given to a supervisor 5 times, reassured them that they were not in trouble, and got nowhere with that. Finally, after three hours, five agents and over 4 pages of script (I made copies of this marathon chat session's dialog as we went along, and I saved it) I had to leave. I asked the last person, Greg (back at Billing again but with a different agent, who said he could find no one at eBay with a 2996 account number) to give my email address to his supervisor and have him/her email me so I could find out about that account number. It's four hours later, and my email has no sch message.

Each time I was passed off to a new agent, I was entreated to fill out the questionnaire when done. I did. I left a smoldering report of my marathon-to-nowhere, and promised I would tell many people what happened. So here I am!

I've heard people complaining about the customer service from those remote offices full of partly trained people, but I have never had to slog through this customer service muck bath on my own.

I have a solution. I am closing my eBay account. Next time I need to sell something, I will use Uncle Henry's or Amazon.com. They haven't failed me yet.

[BradM]

Did you ever get an e-mail??

I feel your pain. I don't know if you saw my rant about trying to get information on a show (How to lose a customer...).

You know, I guess we ought to be ashamed of ourselves for having expectations about customer service and the like. In reading your post, it came across that they have a woefully inadequate tracking system. For a virtual company, you think they would invest in a state of the art information system. Too, they need to spend some time on service scripts, with the appropriate exit strategy mapped out in it. Saying, there are times you handle things, and times you punt and send it to as high of a level of management as necessary to fix the problem.

It gets so frustrating that the mere, simple fact that "You are the customer" is negated. It's like you are not worthy to be in their presence.

Also, did you ever get tired of hearing "I understand your frustration"??

[Jennifer Kirley]

Yes, I did get the follow up email--thanks for asking! It came within a few days.

It had a phone number! I dialed the number and got a real person, who confirmed there really is supposed to only be one seller's charge. Okay.

Then, today, I got another email message from eBay, telling me I was being charged $15.00--and it was dated on the same day as that ill-fated, 12 page chat session of customer disservice.

Gaaaaaa!

So I once again dialed the number I'd received in that follow up email, and the thickly accented voice told me I was talking to PayPal!

I sent a rather tersely worded message via eBay's Helpless resource email button and went to do some weight lifting to work off the angst.

So, there it is. Not even three hours with the Helpless Desk(s) --all five of them-- was enough to fix this stupid error.

In contrast, I have sold many items with Amazon.com, and had no trouble--knock on wood.

[Manix]

I am speechless about your tangled web of despair! I don't think I know anyone who has responded so poorly to a customer concern!!!

Must admit, I have never had an glitches whatsoever with Ebay. I used to earn a second income from it, and every single one of the hundreds of transactions went through the ebay and Paypal Channels without a hitch. Most trouble comes from time wasting buyers, but on the whole ebay's processes and procedures soon weed these out and I must admit I had very little in the way of headaches.

I must also congratulate ebay on there response to the scum bags trying to fish for account information and those sending spam. They are quickly onto those people as well.

There is always the argument that if a company is so poor at responding to customer concerns, it means one of two things. Their processes and training are inept OR they get so few complaints, they don't know how to deal with them (suppose that is also a bit of poor training and processes)!!! But I suspect the previous in your case!

[Jennifer Kirley]

This is becoming surreal. Here is the latest email:

Dear Jennifer,

Thank you for writing eBay in regard to your concern about the $15
charge.

I appreciate this opportunity in resolving your query.

I would like to inform you that the $15 fee was charged to your account
because the automatic monthly payment of your seller fee was declined by
the financial institution that manages your account.

Please note that we do not process your bank account information. eBay
does not make any changes to the account details that are entered by the
sellers, we charge the back account that the seller has entered while
choosing automatic payment by checking account. It is your bank that
declines the payment when it finds any error in the account or routing
numbers.

eBay would never want your payment to be declined as your selling fees
has to be paid to eBay itself. We simply initiate the payment and if it
is honored by your bank then the selling fees are taken and if it is not
then this results in returned fee. We do this because the bank charges
eBay $15 for every payment that is returned

Jennifer, however, I can understand that you were not aware about this
fee and as a one-time courtesy, I've submitted a request for a $15
credit to your account. The credit has been posted to your account and
you can verify this credit on your Account Status page.

To view your Account Status page, follow these steps:

1. Click "My eBay" at the top of most eBay pages. You may be asked to
sign in.
2. Click the "My Account" link located on the left side of the page.
3. Click the "View account status" link in the "My Seller Account
Summary" section.

***Note***
To view one of your previous invoices, click the "View invoices" link
located next to the "Previous Invoice Amount" field near the top of the
page.

We also offer Live Chat as an alternative to emailing us. If you prefer
to talk to us via Live Chat you may click the link found below. The link
will get you in touch with one of our Billing Live Chat Representatives
who will be able to assist you in a one on one environment:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/account/l...p-billing.html

Thank you for using eBay for your online trading needs.

Sincerely,
Jordy B.

eBay Customer Support

Jordy did not respond to my complaint:

The charge was an error because:

1. I did not owe the $2.15, and
2. They tried to withdraw it from someone else's account--ergo, declined and now the $15.00 charge to me.

All Jordy did was explain about banks assessing a charge for declining a request for payment. Aaaaaaahhhhh!!

I am nearly at my wits' end. Any suggestions?

[hogheavenfarm]

All I can tell you is that it is not over. I have been a seller on E-Bay for several years, Once I foolishly tried to change the billing account from my credit card to my checking account. Fair warning - "never get out of the boat", (as they said in Apocalypse Now). I have a similar documented file with Verizon DSL, I save it for use in my Quality Training classes. Another experience exactly the same occurred several years ago when I dropped AOL in favor of Verizon DSL, it took 5 months of chasing to get aol to stop billing my account, and finally, when it was over, they sent me a letter "forgiving" me for being 'late' with my payments !! They just wouldn't let go.

[Jennifer Kirley]

Originally Posted by hogheavenfarm

All I can tell you is that it is not over. I have been a seller on E-Bay for several years, Once I foolishly tried to change the billing account from my credit card to my checking account. Fair warning - "never get out of the boat", (as they said in Apocalypse Now). I have a similar documented file with Verizon DSL, I save it for use in my Quality Training classes. Another experience exactly the same occurred several years ago when I dropped AOL in favor of Verizon DSL, it took 5 months of chasing to get aol to stop billing my account, and finally, when it was over, they sent me a letter "forgiving" me for being 'late' with my payments !! They just wouldn't let go.

Now that is unfortunate, and disappointing to read. The crazy thing is that this is all over one single $20 sale made in over a year's time. However, I have made several purchases without problems.

[BradM]

Jennifer, the next thing I would do is contact your credit card company. Give them the history of dealing with this.

Now... depending on how far you want to go with this, you could complain to the Better Business Bureau. Also, I have been know to contact my representatives on a few matters here and there. Amazingly, things happened!

Your point and my rant about the Elmo show is the same. Many times, I think companies work too hard marketing over here, and sending customer satisfaction surveys and focus groups over there. If management cares to know what is going on in their business and how to make it better, they could. The best way to do that, IMHO, is pose as a customer and see how things so. I am not sure if it's Urban Legend or not, but I have heard Sam Walton was known to do that quite often.