Scammer gets away with it

[MoonCat]

Some months ago a customer placed an ad to sell an item (I'm being vague here on purpose). She chose to run the ad for 30 days. At the time, she specifically asked if there was a refund if the ad was canceled early. I told her, it's a flat price, no refund.

30 days runs out. The ad is never canceled. I call for a possible renewal. No, no, I'm told, the item has been sold. Peachy.

Couple weeks later a letter arrives and customer disputes the charge, crying fraud. Accounting asks what I remember. I told them everything I put in the first paragraph above. Chargeback denied.

She tried again. And again.

Finally they wrote it off. Not a large amount of money, so not worth the time.

I'm still pissed. Pretty sure she planned it this way.

[RealUnimportant]

How is it not worth the time to keep saying "no"? Gah...

[eltf177]

No refund should have been issued, and if scammer persisted then they should have been told to have a word with legal about the definition of a contract...

[panamared]

why wasn't it sent to a collection agency?

[mjr]

why wasn't it sent to a collection agency?

My guess is that it's probably a small amount, and it's highly likely the amount due isn't worth the hassle.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Not this time, but after she's done it for the tenth time, it's a lot of money. I will never understand why people think that rewarding scammers to save hassle is the best idea ever; far better to do what the people in charge where I work do... let the scammer leave and go and cost the competition money. XD

[MoonCat]

why wasn't it sent to a collection agency?

It was paid for at the time the ad was placed; we don't bill, it's prepay only. But at some point after this, she filed a claim with her credit card company saying it was a fraudulent charge - I don't know the details, don't know whether she claimed someone else used the card or what. All I know is I told her it was non-refundable if canceled, she never canceled it, she in fact let it run the full 30 days as ordered and told me the item was sold when I called to inquire if she needed to run it again.

So she is in fact lying when she says it's a fraudulent charge.

I don't actually know what happens in a case like this: Whether we have to to refund the money, or what.

[Racket_Man]

Not this time, but after she's done it for the tenth time, it's a lot of money. I will never understand why people think that rewarding scammers to save hassle is the best idea ever; far better to do what the people in charge where I work do... let the scammer leave and go and cost the competition money. XD

Please inform my pizza company/franchise of this PERFECTLY good and reasonable logic instead of their "fear of losing a 'customer' so let's just throw free shit at them AGAIN" logic.

[earl colby pottinger]

Wrong

My guess is that it's probably a small amount, and it's highly likely the amount due isn't worth the hassle.

Not worth the hassle is the answer, until you calculate how many times you pay out money.goods over the years.

I remember when the sales people at our store kept saying it was not worth the hassle to charge good customers the dollar or two dollars for little items they asked for after a big sales - but once they got it for free then they keep coming back. Next thing we knew the accountant showed the inventory was off by thousands of dollars.

[RealUnimportant]

I don't actually know what happens in a case like this: Whether we have to to refund the money, or what.

There's no reason you'd have to refund the money, as you have a chain of evidence to prove it's a legitimate charge.

[MoonCat]

There's no reason you'd have to refund the money, as you have a chain of evidence to prove it's a legitimate charge.

Well, she wants her money back, and I was told they decided it wasn't worth fighting. I honestly don't know what that means in accounting terms but it sounds like "refund" to me. So I marked her account in our system with ALL the details as a warning to anyone here who might speak to her again.

[EricKei]

If it was on a credit card, the card vendor will simply reverse the original charge (she gets her money back and you guys have that much less coming in on your next statement).