Monday, February 20, 2006

eBay Sucks!

That's our topic today.

Long story short. Last week I tried to buy a cellphone cover for my kids' phone on eBay -- found what I wanted, bought it and tried to complete the transaction.

Got all the way to payment, when PayPal wouldn't accept my password. Funny, checked my cheatsheet to make sure I was using the right one -- it all checked out.

Hit "reset password" and waited for the response email from PayPal. Never came.

Got pinged by the seller asking me to complete payment. I explained the problem and he was all cool with it.

Tried the reset twice more -- still didn't work.

Sent an email to eBay explaining the problem -- customer service promptly responded, telling me to follow the same password reset instructions -- tried it one more time for good measure, and it still didn't work.

I pinged eBay again, explaining that the "password reset" still didn't work -- mind you, each time I email them, I get a response from a different CS person. They sent me to the PayPal site to try to resolve it -- now I'm dealing with CS at PayPal and eBay -- nice!

Problem is, you can't get into the PayPal site without logging in, and since my password doesn't work I can't get in. Guess what they ask you to do in cases like that -- yup, the same "password reset" instructions.

Sent eBay an email saying I still couldn't get it fixed, but you know what, NBD -- I'll just shop elsewhere from now on.

And they responded with the same generic email!

I just sent the following email to eBay:

"Salvador: Thanks for your note. Interesting to note that you're the third CS person at eBay to engage me on this, yet you folks continue sending me the same form letters and trying pass the buck to PayPal, without solving the problem.

In case my last note wasn't clear, I'm done.

I have contacted the seller and informed him the reason I haven't completed the transaction is because your application doesn't work. I'm sure he's as delighted as I am.

I would prefer that neither you nor anyone else at eBay or PayPal send me any further generic, useless emails that don't solve the problem. I don't need the spam clogging up my inbox

If you want to do something constructive, you could get on the phone with PayPal and figure out how to solve the problem -- you guys own them so it shouldn't be that big of a deal. Otherwise, I really don't want to hear either of you again.

Thanks and good luck.

Regards,"

Just so everyone knows who everyone is here, I've worked for an IT company for the past 13 years -- I know how this stuff is supposed to work.

See answer #1 -- eBay sucks.

5 comments:

Scott said...

So I'm guessing it wouldn't help for me to quip, "Don't sweat the small stuff..."

JBlog said...

Poor service and incompetence should not be rewarded with silence.

They should be shared so others are warned.

Scott said...

I know; and I really am sorry that you had to slog your way through the marshes of ineptitude and unresponsiveness -- that sort of thing flips my switches too.

BTW, is it terribly carnal of me to be smirking at the mental image of you with steam shooting out your ears?

JBlog said...

Actually, I never really get to the steam-pouring-out-of-the-ears point on this stuff much anymore.

I usually just take delight in torturing the incompetents until the steam pours out of Their ears.

And I have a blog.

Unknown said...

Hi, If your looking for an alternative to ebay, ItchyPig limited run its own auction site www.itchypig.co.uk. Im a co-director, we have just been backed by Northampton university. Theres no final value fees and no listing fees. we make all our money from selling advertising space on the site. And check out our charities page. You will see that just by using the site you are helping charities. We actually pay our users, if you have a myspace,facebook,bebo or even your own website, we will actually pay you just to have our link on your site (£1 for every verified sign up that comes from your unique link) If you want to know more then just email me on frank@itchypig.co.uk or check out the website www.itchypig.co.uk. Oh and to add to the ebay sux theme here, they also own www.shopping.com they pay other websites to promote affiliat's products then pay the promoters 1p-10p per sale when they receive £6-£500 per sale. They are all about the money, they have changed sooo much since they started up. you should read their book "the perfect store". more like "a quick and easy way to make a load of money, with no customer care". Cheers for reading. Frank.