Fraud update from my store. Spill over into social media

[syscal]

You buy a gift card off kijiji or a white van in a parking lot, the blame is on you for accepting an offer that is too good to be true.

Send out your "I'm sorry for your situation" email and social media post and publicly offer them 10% off their next purchase. Don't pay them a penny on that card.

And yea, send an awareness post along the lines of "don't purchase a second hand gift card unless it's 10 days old" or something. It's social media, make an annual "Scammer awareness day" and advertise it yearly as a way to bring in business.

[Rocket1k78]

Originally posted by gwill
Fixed gear your so vocal about what should have been done but you won't mention what your family business is? Where is this place scammers will never be able to scam? Please inform us where all the Kijiji buyers buying stolen goods can come to and never expect any issues?

Oh that's right... You're not that confident in things.

You buy stolen goods and get caught doing so that's your problem. No one in their right mind would try and blame someone else for their own stupidity....

No shit, I would love to hear how he or his family run their business with the "customer is always right even if its fraud" motto

OP will be doing all business owners a favor by not giving the victims anything because if he does this kind of shit will get worse, stupid people will continue to buy GC that are too good to be true and when they realize it was a scam they cry on social media until the store caves. Its almost like extortion in a way.

[rx7boi]

+1 about not bending over just for the sake of "reputation."

Don't forget that the couples' reviews are not the only negative ones on there.

Take the good with the bad.

[GTS Jeff]

Originally posted by gwill
Fixed gear your so vocal about what should have been done but you won't mention what your family business is?

That is how pretend-internet-entrepreneurs work.

[syscal]

I don't think he needs to post personal information just to defend his opinion. Mostly he just needs to realize that there are more opinions than just his on the topic and not going with his recommendation doesn't mean all others were invalid or that his recommendation was the only one that would work.

[anarchy]

Originally posted by syscal
I don't think he needs to post personal information just to defend his opinion. Mostly he just needs to realize that there are more opinions than just his on the topic and not going with his recommendation doesn't mean all others were invalid or that his recommendation was the only one that would work.

I agree - I find it ludicrous that anyone would try to pressure FixedGear to share personal information so others that disagree with his opinion can blast his family business for "inviting scammers to scam".

Op asked for feedback an opinions, and FixedGear gave it. An opinion he feels strongly about, but I don't recall him calling anything else invalid or am I missing something?

And I get this is beating a dead horse but...why is anyone arguing over what's right or not? I think everyone agrees the Op isn't to blame, there's absolutely nothing wrong with how he reacted.

However, my personal opinion, and I believe it's FixedGear's and others as well, is that despite not owing the customer anything, it's a great opportunity to turn this potentially negative situation into a huge positive at a minimal cost. As a business owner, I would jump all over this as a low-cost way to create some great buzz about your business and how you value your customers.

Word of mouth is huge for mom and pop shops, and social media gives you the platform to exponentially expand your reach. $500 is a peanuts for advertising.

The argument that if he does this he has to bend over backwards for every scamming customer is ridiculous. Do it for this one customer, create some public goodwill, and change your policy and never do it again.


tl;dr
Don't have to do shit for the customer, but why not turn negativity into future potential business for peanuts?

[A790]

ITT: a bunch of people with little experience in marketing giving advice on marketing.

[mazdavirgin]

Caveat emptor. Buyer beware. Customer is a moron and a cheapskate. He should have been less stupid.

[rx7_turbo2]

Originally posted by anarchy
The argument that if he does this he has to bend over backwards for every scamming customer is ridiculous. Do it for this one customer

No what's ridiculous is your complete lack of understanding. "Do it for this one customer". Not how it works

[gwill]

If Fixed gear wants to take the high road on how his business would take car of a customer like this 100% of the time then isn't that good marketing? That's not sharing personal information... That's called networking. Business owners find many ways to reach out for new clients.

Since fixedgears business caters to everyone... Including scammers, thieves and cheapskates from Kijiji this is a golden opportunity for him and his business.

He seems to think his business is above all others... Unfraudable and apparently perfect as they would handle things 100% differently... So why hide the name of his business?

[gwill]

And you don't earn future business from people roaming classified ads for deals that are too good to be true... These are the type of people who load their carts at the grocery store when they see a wrong price printed. They'll stand at the till arguing forever until they get all the food they knew was too low for the incorrect price.

[GTS4tw]

Originally posted by gwill
If Fixed gear wants to take the high road on how his business would take car of a customer like this 100% of the time then isn't that good marketing? That's not sharing personal information... That's called networking. Business owners find many ways to reach out for new clients.

Since fixedgears business caters to everyone... Including scammers, thieves and cheapskates from Kijiji this is a golden opportunity for him and his business.

He seems to think his business is above all others... Unfraudable and apparently perfect as they would handle things 100% differently... So why hide the name of his business?

It is a family business, not his business, hardly his place to use it's name in an online argument. Me and FG rarely see eye-to-eye, but I see his point and understand why he doesn't want Beyond members harassing his family. By the same token, he doesn't work in retail, or marketing, or business for that matter, so his views are more black and white than those who see scammers all the time and feel their effect directly.

[Gman.45]

OP, I'd be interested to hear how your conversations are going with the party who bought the stolen/fraudulent GC. Are they in your opinion poorly off, as in this 500$ loss will hurt them badly in terms of getting necessary items for their child?

To me, this is an important issue in all of this for a couple of reasons. I realize they "played with fire" buying a 1000$ GC for 500$, but there may be a reason for that - desperation, hard times, whatever. It could also be greed and opportunism, combined with stupidity. If the OP has a take on which way this leans, I'd like to hear it. If it's a case of a hard up family or person expecting getting duped from some asshole, I'd donate 250$ to help their cause out. I'm sure it wouldn't be hard raising the other half in these parts. However if the party is still being dickish with the FB and social media posts, phone conversations, and/or is a limo liberal type driving a Range Rover and crying about getting ripped off from a kijiji scam...instead of donating, I'd print up some good ol tough shit cards, give one a punch, and send that to them instead.

[jwslam]

Originally posted by Gman.45
OP, I'd be interested to hear how your conversations are going with the party who bought the stolen/fraudulent GC. Are they in your opinion poorly off, as in this 500$ loss will hurt them badly in terms of getting necessary items for their child?

According to they guy's FB he's studying at U of C, so he's probably not doing as poorly as some foreign doctor who ended up here as a dishwasher due to credentials.

[Ed the SOHC]

Originally posted by cycosis

Some facts.

A verification did take place in the morning. It was that afternoon that we were informed that the transactions were fraudulent, thus leading us to zero the cards. There is simply no way for us to contact the potential purchasers of discounted cards. The individual who ended buying the gift card who knows where did not return to use it for over a week.

There has always been a 100% refund option to the original form of payment on our gift cards. This is why someone selling them for cheap makes no sense what so ever.

I imagine the buyer went up to the cashier and asked to verify the GC because he/she was looking to purchase it off the seller at a discounted price. Did the cashier/tech not find this odd and question it since they should have known about the 100% refund policy your store has on GCs? If not, nose-picking teenager = 1; Certified Tech = 0

Either way, I agree with FixedGear & anarchy - you're both the victims in this. Yes, you have no obligation to give the buyer anything however I think you missed a great opportunity to separate Kacz Kids from the other guys in regards to customer service since you sell the same stuff in the end.

Coincidentally today, I saw this about West Coast Kids in Van on my FB feed http://vancitymommyd.com/customer-service/ and thought of this thread because of this:

Positive word of mouth outweighs negative by a 6 to 1 margin. (Source: Keller Fay Group) or 4 out of 5 consumers reverse purchase decisions based on negative online reviews (Source: Cone Inc)

[Tik-Tok]

Originally posted by Ed the SOHC

Coincidentally today, I saw this about West Coast Kids in Van on my FB feed http://vancitymommyd.com/customer-service/ and thought of this thread because of this:

They do have atrocious customer service, lol. A crib skirt we bought was 6" too short (6" shorter than the label specified), and they refused to take it back or do anything really, except telling my wife to go to the manufacturer.

[FixedGear]

Originally posted by Tik-Tok


They do have atrocious customer service, lol. A crib skirt we bought was 6" too short (6" shorter than the label specified), and they refused to take it back or do anything really, except telling my wife to go to the manufacturer.

Ahem http://www.yelp.com/not_recommended_...z-kids-calgary (read all 27 reviews there)

[GTS4tw]

Originally posted by FixedGear


Ahem http://www.yelp.com/not_recommended_...z-kids-calgary (read all 27 reviews there)

Yeah that's the problem with the internet. Anyone can say anything on a site like Yelp, even competitors. There is no way to validate those reviews other than a couple which have specific information, most seem like the average online reviewer - IQ lower than 80 and a huge sense of self-entitlement. You can't make everyone happy and to try is a fools errand.

[sabad66]

Originally posted by GTS4tw


Yeah that's the problem with the internet. Anyone can say anything on a site like Yelp, even competitors. There is no way to validate those reviews other than a couple which have specific information, most seem like the average online reviewer - IQ lower than 80 and a huge sense of self-entitlement. You can't make everyone happy and to try is a fools errand.

lol, you think all 29 of these reviews are competitors? do you think toys r us asked their social media team to do this starting from 2009?

i actually read all of these reviews on the bus this morning. they all seemed legit with full details that only real customers could have provided unless someone has a LOT of time on their hands.

begs the question... if customer service is so shitty, prices aren't the best, return policy sucks balls... what is the advantage of going here? to be fair a lot of the reviews are from 2013 and earlier so hopefully they have improved and fired this Donna character.

[rage2]

I've bought most of my stuff from Kacz Kids with no discount. I got a discount once when I chatted with cycosis, which was nice. First couple of times there, hated it. Store was busy, it was impossible to get anyone to help. Trick is to go in during the week before or after lunch, and the experience is night and day. It's like having a personal shopper help you out, which you'll never get at a big box store. That's why I go there. I can see how lots of people would complain about service if they went there on a weekend, fair to say they're all legit.

As for prices, I've shopped around, and I'm going to guess 80% of the things I've bought have the same price as the big box stores. There are a few model of seats and strollers that are $10 more, but nothing that's going to break the bank. Yes their return policy sucks, basically all sales are final, but I'm not a returner so doesn't affect me.