Is this reasonable from a buyer?

[teap0t42]

I have had what seems like a very impatient buyer expecting far too much, but I'm not sure if it's enough to complain to eBay or just - as with most others on here - just block and move on.

Contacted me with a problem that I've had a few times before, always due to an installation issue. Said I'm happy to replace but worth doing certain checks first as this normally clears things up. Got a reply late that evening basically saying they though the checks worthless and they wanted a replacement sending.

I should mention I was away and had my autoreply set as such, I just happened to be back home for a short while when I replied to their message.

Over the next few hours I got more and more messages accusing me of ignoring them, then a threat of a neg, a return case opened and closed within a minute, then the inevitable neg. All while showing as away and late on in to the evening on a holiday weekend.

As soon as I got back I replied to their messages apologising and mentioned I was away and they've not replied at all even several days later, so it seems they don't apply the same standards of prompt reply themselves.

I feel the neg to be unfair as expecting a sole trader to reply within a few hours in the evening over a holiday weekend seems unreasonable, but I'm wondering if anyone else has experience with getting eBay to remove similar feedback?

I've of course refunded and blocked the customer as it's not worth the hassle of dealing with people like that, but the hit on sales from getting a neg is always a pain so if there is anything I can do I'd like to.

[tressygirl]

I don't think eBay will remove that neg, as they work purely on feedback rules,  if these are broken then they'll look to remove the feedback,  and no rules were broken here.  There is no mention of cases,  eBay or refunds,  the buyer wasn't rude,  just showed disappointment.

You've left a follow up feedback that's all you can do, buyers now can see that,  and the negative feedback and can judge if they wish to buy from you, sometimes even though through gritten teeth,  in follow ups, it's  just best to apologise for any disappointment caused.

[magpiecorner1]

Wasn't the threat of a neg before doing the neg a breach of eBay rules?

[tressygirl]

Yes,  that's certainly worth a shot, to bring that message to CS'  attention.

@magpiecorner1 

@teap0t42 

[teap0t42]

Thanks, worth a shot.

I'm also slightly worried why they might open and immediately close a return. Is it just to harm my account further, or could there be something more sinister? That said, if they wanted to cause harm then actually returning something would have cost me money while opening and closing just adds one to my dashboard total.

Maybe they knew that returning the item would show it wasn't faulty as they claimed? Not that eBay pay any attention - I've been told in the past that despite being the designer and manufacturer and knowing exactly how my items function, the opinion of the buyer trumps actual knowledge.