Re: How to turn a positive transaction into a negative one

On 25 Mar 2006 07:36:03 -0800, "Dhakala" <NoPoliticalCalls@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

Bought some stuff about 4:00 a.m. today. Seller doesn't take PayPal. No
problem in this case. I'll pay via my bank's free bill payment service.

Bank requires a phone number as well an address, so I request contact
info via eBay and pay my bill by 4:15 a.m.

About 8:00 a.m., this bull*** starts:

Seller: "I would like to know WHY you pulled my contact information.
This is NOT a casual thing to do."

Me: "My bank's online bill payment service requires a phone number as
well as an address."

Seller: "Well, Why not just politely ASK me for this info?? "

Me: "Why not chill while this transaction is still potentially
positive?"

Seller: "Why not give me an honest answer to explain why you pulled my
contact info? I dont see why you would need to do this when you can
simply ASK me for my info? Bill Payment service?? Why would a Bill
Payment service need the phone number of an ebay seller?"

Me: "<sigh> Some people learn only the hard way. So be it."

Seller: "Hold on... What is that suppost to me?? Look, Theres not
reason to get crazy.. I just though it was strange.. Why are you flying
off the handle so quick here?? What are you going to do leave me a
Negative now just because I asked you a question?"

Me: "No, I'm going to give you a Negative because you a) took me to
task about a perfectly legitimate request for contact info, b) impugned
my honesty when I answered your impertinent question, and c) didn't
take the hint to shut up. Your Yahoo address is now on my
blocked-senders list. Use eBay's message system if any further
communications are necessary to complete this transaction."

A problem compounded by lack of tact on both sides. Had your response
been:
-------------------------------
Since you do not accept PayPal, I chose to use my bank's Bill Payment
system to provide you with payment for the item by the quickest means
possible. I thought you would appreciate that. The Bill Payment
system requires a phone number to complete the transaction. I didn't
feel it was necessary, but that's the only way the payment can be
processed.

Since I didn't want to delay the payment by waiting for you to respond
to an email, I pulled your contact information. This will not cause
you any problems, and I regret if it caused you any alarm. The
payment should reach you promptly, and I am looking forward to
receiving the item.

------------------
I don't think your Seller would have escalated the problem. The
difficulty is that we don't always know when small things trigger
large problems.

Incidently, I use Bill Payer also. A phone number is required, but
it's just a matter of providing a valid phone number; not necessarily
the right phone number. You could have entered your own phone number
and the transaction would have been processed. The system requires
digits, but can't check the validity of the digits in connection with
the destination of the payment.



--


Tony Cooper
Orlando, FL
.