Customer Reported Me to the Attorney General

25 replies
A customer came to my site today, purchased a product and an upsell.

Yet he was somehow double charged. I have no idea how he could have been, but he claims he was.

I talked to him on the phone, and he seemed educated and nto liek some nut.

I told him I'd return his money back, and also pay for whatever fees he sees.

He claims I am a scammer, and says hes going to report me to the attorney general.

Has this ever happened to anyone else? And what can I do?

I really didn't do anything wrong and was very kind to the guy.
#attorney #customer #general #reported
  • Profile picture of the author Raydal
    I wouldn't lose sleep over this. If you spoke to him on the
    phone he should know that you are NOT a scammer. Most
    likely he is new and nervous about shopping online in the
    first place.

    -Ray Edwards
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  • Profile picture of the author Rod Cortez
    Let him report you. You'll have proof that you refunded his monies. Also double check with your processor, whomever it is, and verify if the customer was charged twice, he might be trying to get a freebie. Sometimes this happens and then their financial institution corrects the error the next business day. When people make threats like that against me (not often but it does happen) I document everything.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mya
    When he gets his money back from you once you see he was double charged, I'm sure hes going to feel a whole lot better. He might even apologies as well.

    Some people freak out too fast, some of those refunds take a little bit, you have to recognize what went wrong and find his double payment.

    Make sure you also find out how he got charged twice as well. You don't want this happening on a regular basis.

    I don't think him threatening was the right steps to take though. I wish people would be more civil and not jump to conclusions so fast.
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  • Profile picture of the author igorb
    Another customer from hell, right?
    Well, no need to panic. Make sure refund is finalized. Make sure to notice him (officially) of successful refund. Be polite, apologize and offer further help if needed.
    Then - simply keep on going.

    Additionally, recheck your TOS regarding refund policy.

    "Show must go on"
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  • Profile picture of the author misterkailo
    Make sure you print out all the proof. As long as you did your part to not scam him, you are fine.
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  • Profile picture of the author The Oilman
    Yeah what a blow-hard.

    I verified everything with authorize.net and they said he was only charged for $15, not 30 like he said.

    IS anyone else going thru refund / angry-customer hell? Must be the holidays.
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    • Profile picture of the author richdirtygirl
      Originally Posted by The Oilman View Post

      Yeah what a blow-hard.

      I verified everything with authorize.net and they said he was only charged for $15, not 30 like he said.

      IS anyone else going thru refund / angry-customer hell? Must be the holidays.
      I would give him his money back, even if he was not double charged.

      you do have a money back policy, don't you?

      take it as a guy who didn't like the product.

      question: is this the product paypal refused to deal with? it was you? about a year ago?

      if it is the one... you want to keep your customer quiet; but I don't think he will want to make anything public. Whatever the product is...

      Laura
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    • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
      Banned
      Originally Posted by The Oilman View Post

      Yeah what a blow-hard.

      I verified everything with authorize.net and they said he was only charged for $15, not 30 like he said.

      IS anyone else going thru refund / angry-customer hell? Must be the holidays.
      I get my fair share of nutbags that purchase and then without even contacting me say they didn't receive their item, even though it's handled by DLGuard and I have a screenshot of their download and even though I resend the link to them so that they can download again.

      The Attorney General isn't going to pay any attention to this if he actually does complain to him. This is one $15 sale. In order for an Attorney General to spend time on this, he'd have to receive a lot of complaints on the same company.
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  • Profile picture of the author webcosmo
    There are some people like that, would like to get something out of nothing. Working for a e-commerce site had me experience some of those. Usually they just settle for something free.

    If they sense your fear they will make sure they get on your nerve. Just return the money and tell them if they like they can go to the court.
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  • Profile picture of the author Randy Bheites
    This happens sometimes in my e-stores. What happens is the customer's bank will put a hold on the funds until the charge clears all the way. If the customer goes online to look at his creditcard statement, he will see one legitimate charge and one phantom charge. All he has to do is call his creditcard and their customer service rep will tell him it's not a real charge.

    Next time it happens, just have the guy call the 800 number on the back of his card and talk to a service rep.

    No biggie. You did nothing wrong, the customer did nothing wrong, it's one of those computer-era glitches that pop up once in a while, on account of bank systems and credit card systems are not synced.
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  • Profile picture of the author matts5150
    It does happen, just confirm they were double charged and refund one if they were. Send them an email stating it was refunded and that they should see it within 7 days.

    I just had a customer today call in stating she never received a product we sold her a few weeks ago and she wanted a refund. My phone rep asked her who Lindsey was, she said that was her daughter. The rep then told her she needed to go ask Lindsey where her package is because she signed for it on Friday. lol Some people will try anything they think they can get by with.
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    • Profile picture of the author brettmwindmann
      Some people just like to act "bad". As long as you refunded his money and did not charge him for something he was not asking for then you have no reason to be concerned.

      Besides he was probably blowing smoke anyway.....
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  • Profile picture of the author freudianslip27
    Ugh, sorry to hear about your experience!

    Yes, I've also occurred the whole "I am showing two charges" deal. In reality, it is just one charge, the other is a hold. This happened a lot when I had my own credit card processing. I don't use them anymore.

    This reminds me of my worst customer story. I use to buy cheap after rebate electronics at Staples and sell them on the internet. I sold a router to a guy and 4 days after he paid he sent the police to my house! Can you believe that!?! Claimed he got scammed cause I hadn't sent his router yet.

    The cop laughed about it and said it was ridiculous, but still it was a bit scary. You never know what kind of crazy stuff the customer will pull. Just don't let it bother you, cause things can get blown out of proportion sometimes!

    Matt
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  • Profile picture of the author Adam Carn
    Maybe he was a newbie and thought the upsell was for free somehow and then realised it wasn't and claimed he was double charged.

    But anyway, I doubt he'd contact any attorney if you refund him.

    Adam
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  • Profile picture of the author DougBarger
    I had someone like that several months ago who claimed he didn't
    get his download. (not true)

    The way I have my system set up is
    you receive your download link immediately
    and also receive an email with your link
    to the address you just paid with so
    that it's assured you get it no matter what.

    He had filed with paypal and had also left a message with my support.

    I immediately called him back and he tried to act
    like something was going on.

    I explained to him that the instructions were clearly there
    to click the "return to merchant" link

    and also I had sent his download via his email.

    I said, "Would you like me to refund you?"

    He said, "No, I didn't just go through all this to get a refund.
    I want the new business I bought."

    So, I told him to check his email and sure enough it was there.

    He immediately dropped the dispute but before he could,
    I had already called paypal and let them know what was going on.

    My representative told me, "Oh, we're ruling in your favor because
    it's digital anyway."

    So, there's nothing to worry about.

    Hope this helps
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    • Profile picture of the author Daniel Brock
      I can't tell you how many times Ive heard the old 'I'm going to tell the attorney general on you' gag.

      Every single time its been idle threats from some customer who thinks he/she can have their way with you by holding the threat above your head.

      I'm betting that 99% of the people out there have no clue as to how to contact their states attorney general anyway.

      Do you really think the guy will waste his time investigating a $15 charge? Hell no.
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  • Profile picture of the author Neil Morgan
    You think that's bad?

    Someone once threatened to report me to Webmaster!

    It makes you wonder how some people get through life in one piece.

    Cheers,

    Neil
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    • Profile picture of the author Stevenixon
      [DELETED]
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      • Profile picture of the author Alton Hargrave
        One of my customers paid for a product 4 times one afternoon. I kept sending refunds and he kept "a buyin". After 4 times, I told him I was going to stop sending refunds and just keep the money. He stopped.

        Another customer bought a digital product, waited two weeks, and asked for a refund because "I didn't mean to click the buy button." This was an Ebay purchase. And, I offer no questions asked refunds. All you need to do is ask and ye shall receive. I responded. " I am sending you a refund today. I know what you mean about accidentally clicking on a button. I have had it happen to me. You have your finger hovering over the button as you ponder what to do. A nervous twitch comes over you and there it goes. A purchase is made without you really meaning to make one. These things happen. Of course, your case is odd. You must have had a nervous twitch moments later when you had to decide to confirm your Ebay purchase. And, another nervous twitch when you had to actually login to Paypal and click the Pay Now button there. And, from there to click on the link that came in your email from my DLGuard acct. More nervous clicks appear to have occurred at the DLGuard download page as each download button was presented. Even more as you had to decide where to save the files. I attached to this email an image of the DLGuard page and the record of all the downloads carried out. Amazing.

        Anyhow, perhaps you should see a doctor about the nervous twitching or consider wearing mittens when shopping online.

        Or, maybe you just wanted a refund. All you needed to do was ask for it. "

        Thanks,
        Alton
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    • Profile picture of the author Stevenixon
      Originally Posted by Neil Morgan View Post

      You think that's bad?

      Someone once threatened to report me to Webmaster!

      It makes you wonder how some people get through life in one piece.

      Cheers,

      Neil
      Thanks for that! This post really made me laugh. I wonder if your customer ever found "The Webmaster". Probably spent days searching google for the department of webmaster.
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  • Profile picture of the author olubaba
    Hey Oilman,

    As you heard earlier don't lose any sleep.

    You have called him and also ready to refund; the situation comes with the terrain. Don't be surprised that the upsell is his beef. Gently educate him.
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  • Profile picture of the author AnniePot
    Just about all double charges occur when the customer becomes impatient and clicks on the "Pay" button more than once. They won't usually admit to having done so because that immediately means they created the problem by doing something wrong.

    After being caught a few times I always check my Merchant Account before it actually closes out for any double charges and void any duplicates. That way they vanish as if they never even happened. You can check your PayPal account the same way and proactively refund duplicate charges.
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  • Profile picture of the author Brad Gosse
    Trust me one complaint to the Atty. Gen. is not going to make a case for you
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  • Profile picture of the author gregbanks
    Many customers claim they will do all sorts to get a refund.

    I'd take it with a pinch of salt.
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  • Profile picture of the author Stevenixon
    Welcome to the world of business. 70% of your customers will be fine 20% will have small issues and 9% will jump to conclusions. 1% are nutters. These numbers are off the top of my head but you get the idea. Most people are easy to deal with but some try to crack a nut with a sledgehammer. Stay calm, do the right thing, keep records.
    Good luck
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