Unusual customer request

Can I have his stuff?

Too late, Dekka. I have confirmations that he's accepted the items

He hasn't written back though. I think that's the end of it as far as he is concerned.

Send him a note stating you are more than happy to accept his return but need to charge him X amount (total cost of the items multiplied by whatever you fancy) as they need to be professionally cleaned and re-upholstered

And fumigated

hehe

Although I agree with what Phil did, I probably would have just refunded the purchase without bothering to look into things. I wouldn't consider it worth searching through old transactions history for the person.

I have them all in a spreadsheet, so they are easy to find with a search.

Yeah, I knew a guy in college who would have these great dinner parties at his place, and he would have all this expensive china and crystal for them, set up a top-notch stereo, nice furniture, things like that. He'd go out and buy all those items the day before the dinner party, and then return them the day after, within the time allotted by the stores' return policies.

Who knows, your customer may be the same guy.

Update (as requested):

He received the items 2 days ago (I got the acceptance messages by email). I'd also sent him the extra IM, explaining that that's not how it works in SL or in RL. When I got up today, there was an IM from him:-

"why did you return some of the things i sent you for a refund????????"

It's strange how some people's minds work.

Well you've been here long enough to know that's the norm in SL.

Hey just thinking, is this an argument against setting objects for sale to 'transfer'?

hehe.

I don't follow the "transfer" thought.

Awww he actually sounds really sweet!

I love a challenge

Please, don't let this lead to more "no transfer" stuff!!!!

Last night, I bought 3 paintings and sent to my friends. It wan't planned, it wasn't expensive stuff - I just saw it and thought "wow". To send a IM to the creator, beg for a transfer item, or him sending it to them instead of me... would just kill my impulsive buys.

Frankly, I hate stuff that's no transfer. I see why it has to be copy/no transfer for things like chairs. So much better to buy only 1 chair and copy it. Ok, that's fine.... and vendors where you can choose between copy or transfer is genious.

I don't do any no transfer stuff, and I've no intention of doing any. I also don't do any copy stuff, except for a cushion. Because my stuff is very low prim, and good quality, I get too many people wanting to furnish the multiple apartments they rent out to do copy items - no trans wouldn't deal with that. I do quantity discounts instead. Besides, my stuff is priced very low anyway, so quantity discounts are good.

And how do ears lose their virginity?

Never mind, I don't want to know.

Bill Clinton could probably help with that...

Maybe he's got a tumor like that preacher in the first season of Deadwood. I felt so bad for that guy. Not like John Travolta in...wtf...that movie where he got a tumor and all of a sudden he was a telekinetic genius.

I wonder if he's thought about it enough to figure out the answer to that question. Sometimes when people ask me a painfully stupid question, I just look at them for 30 seconds before I answer. It's amazing how often even the dumber ones come up with the answer on their own at about the 20 second mark. Saves me the trouble of trying to be polite when I answer their retarded question.

I hope he switches to cigarettes from cigars before he does that. A cigar would hurt.

Yuck that would mean I would have to wear "that dress" That style is sooo not me!

Have it dry-cleaned afterwards and ditch the beret. Unless you're in the military or France, there's no reason to ever wear a beret.

I got here too late to add anything new but that isn't going to stop me.

I agree that right is on your side, Phil.

Everything I sell in my shop is copy/no transfer and cheaper than what you sell.

I also give refunds any time I happen to notice that someone bought the same thing twice. And I give refunds to people who ask for them because they've changed their mind, if I can see that they did actually make the purchase. Actually I'm not sure anyone ever has asked for a refund and the very fact that it rarely or never happens is why I would give it.

I don't like things giving me note cards either and I think it might be better to deal with things on a case by case basis. Once you have stated rules you'll get people trying to find loop holes.

As for this amazingly clueless customer of yours, well nice try but not going to fly. Stated politely of course.

It was a bad hair day silly.

No more little fashion secrets for you

Oh noes, there goes my rating lol.

Oh believe me.... If I happened upon that dress.. it would never see a dry cleaners! It would be on eBay so damn quick and ...and..and I would wear a beret as I counted my millions..minus auction fees of course!

He's since IMed me, saying that he didn't receive my IMs. He got the first one, and replied to it (that's the one where I simply asked "Why?". He didn't get the next two - apparently. So I've sent them again in one IM. No reply as yet

I can't say that I believe he didn't get them. He was in SL and accepted the items 2 days before he IMed to ask why I'd returned them to him. I think he's just playing games - trying it on.

I post a "3-day money back guarantee for any reason" policy for all transferable items. I will often extend that to a week.

This does wonders for sales, and I am giving away a retail secret here. People love the goodwill, and realize an established resident with a store that has been around a long time and offering a money-back guarantee means they will get value for their money or they keep their money. It is great, lots of positive feedback ("I'm not sure I would have gotten it, but with the money-back guarantee I thought I'd try and and now I love it" -- a typical comment).

But I've had people try to return things outside that window. Often they are simply leaving SL or downgrading tier and want to extract every cent. I turn them down, and send them a copy of the policy. A couple of times I've had people sending nasty IM's, but it has never been more than that.

On the whole this has earned me considerable goodwill among my clients and has led to a lot of recommendations. I would encourage sellers to ease up -- some have the 'grab-anything-you-can' attitude, and it will not serve you well in the long term.

Post a refund policy, big plus, be lenient, a moderate plus, and if more than a week passes, decline. Always be respectful, don't get into arguments, just say no.