A board angel smiles

We're not sure how many board angels there are, but here's a report of one of them. This is a posting to the feeback board from a Norwegian seller 27 April 2011.

Negative removed by ebay agent Valis. Read this and take heart.
Apr 27, 2011 2:16 AM
Report
Below is the follow up email + answer + answer after the neg suddenly disappeared from my profile. The history to this you can find in 3 recent posts by me (kenorric).


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Dear Keith,
>
> I'm sending this email in response to your recent discussion board
post
> regarding the negative Feedback that boeskerie0117 left for you. My
name
> is Valis and I will be happy to assist you.
>
> After reading through your posts and your numerous emails to our
> Customer Support department, I wasn't sure why the negative Feedback
was
> not removed so I decided to review your case myself. As you pointed
out
> in your email, the negative Feedback corresponds to a purchase that
was
> made almost immediately after the buyer posted a neutral Feedback
> calling you a complete fraud. Given their strong feelings towards that
> transaction, it is highly unlikely that they entered into the
successive
> purchase with any intention other than to simply leave additional poor
> Feedback. Therefore, I removed the negative rating under our Unwelcome
> and Malicious Buying policy, and took action to address this matter
with
> boeskerie0117. I'm sorry that I didn't have the opportunity to follow
up
> with you yesterday when I completed the removal as I was trying to get
> it done before I had to leave the office. I also want to apologize for
> the difficulty you've experienced in getting this matter resolved and
I
> will make sure to review the details of this case with the other
agents
> that assisted you previously so that we can hopefully avoid similar
> situations in the future.
>
> I appreciate your patience while this matter was under review and I
> would like to congratulate you on maintaining Top-Rated Seller status
> consistently for the past year. This is no small feat and certainly
> shows your dedication to providing a great experience for your
> customers. Thank you for continuing to make eBay a part of your
business
> and I wish you the best of luck in all of your future transactions.
>
> Sincerely,
> Valis

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Valis,
I have to admit that I am grateful, impressed and relieved in equal
portions.
You have handled and answered all my concerns in one simple message.
Thank you for taking responsibility for this case, my opinion of ebay has
lept back up as a direct result of your decisive action.
Are you a supervisor, senior consultant, agent or what? How did you come
across my situation, and what made you look into the case so thoroughly as
to understand the nature of the buyers actions? It would have been easy to
leave me frustrated and do nothing. The other agents did. You must be aware
of other equally bad or in some cases worse injustices on that same
'feedback discussion board'. Do you, or someone with equal courage as you,
look at all of the postings? I am intrigued to understand the mechanics of
your justice system at ebay. One hears so many conflicting opinions.
One more thing, I promised that I would post the reason for the neg removal.
May I post this message from you in full? I think it would be excellent p.r.
for ebay, but you might get some tricky cases to sort out when others read
about your competence.....
With Thanks
Keith Richardson

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Keith,

Thank you for your response.

You are welcome to post our correspondence in the discussion board if
you choose. It is unfortunate that we do not have a team dedicated to
reviewing issues that surface on the boards and that is definitely
something I wish I had the power to change (I am simply an agent). For
now, we are restricted from participating directly and can only read the
boards when our free time allows, so it was fortunate that I came across
your post. As you can imagine, there are a great many cases we never get
to see.

With regard to your situation in particular, I am not sure why it was
not addressed more accurately and resolved sooner, and I am sorry for
any frustration or confusion that we caused. It is something that I am
following up on internally, however.

I appreciate the opportunity to assist you in this matter. If you need
further assistance, please don't hesitate to reply to this email and let
us know.

Sincerely,
Valis

______________________________________________


There are some lessons to be learned from this if you are one of the many sellers with an unjust feedback.

1) not all agents act in the same way.
2) an agent has limited time to spend on any one case.
3) a carefully laid out complaint with clear information and statement of which policy has been infringed has a better chance of sucess.
4) use only actual data, provable facts and logical conclusions in your complaint. Definitely no emotion of any kind. Try to have every single bit of information on record, even if some of it might harm your case. Hide nothing - honesty has its own power.
5) if you have behaved professionally throughout and have resisted making personal comments, you improve your chances.
6) if your own conduct is even a little suspect in any way, the complaint may be compromised.
7) a case needs to be pretty solid to suceed, you can't expect an agent to read between the lines.
8) even complex cases can be explained clearly; before submitting a complaint, have someone read through it.
9) persevere until you get a full and proper answer, but recognise that it might not be the answer you want. Don't accept a general pat-on-the-head, make sure the answer shows that the agent has understood the situation properly.

Good luck to all.