A Typical eBay Customer Service Exchange???This
is an ongoing email exchange between my wife Patti (the seller -
pjburt) and eBay's "Technical Support/Customer Service". I could
have simply copy and pasted it into this page but I fixed some of the
formatting and hilighted portions to make it easier to read. I
did not fix any spelling or grammatical errors. This is an ongoing exchange so I will be adding to it as we receive additional "help".
SEPTEMBER 26, 2008
Patti's original conversation with Live Help:
Patti: The "Sell Your Item Form" "Edit" page is loading incompletely when I try to revise my items #230292130729 and #230292461396. My Browser is Firefox 2.
LIVE HELP: I
have looked at your Item pages and see you are having a problem.
"Your problem is most peculiar!" I cannot help you with
this. You will have to contact Technical Support at
(Contact email Support link).
-----------------------------------
Patti's Original Email to Tech Support - SEPTEMBER 26, 2008
The
"Sell Your Item Form" "Edit" page is loading incompletely when I
try to revise my items #230292130729 and #230292461396. My Browser is Firefox 2.
Customer Service Response #1 - Sept. 26, 2008 RE: GS%T00030 Site issue (General issues) [A97 ?01 ]
eBay Customer Support wrote: Dear Patricia, Thank you for writing eBay in regard to facing problem while revising your item. I understand your concern and I'll be glad to help you in resolving this. It
seem the issue you are experiencing is an Browser Centric. This can be
rectified by enabling JavaScript and Clearing Cache and Cookies of your
Web Browser.
(a) To enable JavaScript of your Web Browser, please follow these steps: You
may want to check the JavaScript settings for Firefox. To make sure you
are accepting JavaScript, please follow the steps below:
1. Click on the "Tools" option in the top menu. 2. Click on "Options." 3. Click the "Web Features" button located on the left-hand side. 4. Make sure that "Enable JavaScript" and "Enable Java" are checked. If they are not, click the box to the right of each option until they are checked. 5. Click on the "OK" button. Once you have completed these steps, you should be able to list your item.
(b)
Secondly, If the problem still persist please follow the below steps to
clear your browser's Cache and Cookies. To clear the cache for the
FireFox browser, please follow the steps below.
1. Go to Tools > Options. 2. Click "Privacy" in the menu on the left side of the Options window. 3. Click the "Cache" tab. 4. Click "Clear Cache Now" 5. Click the "OK" button to close the Options window.
If you are using a Macintosh, please follow the directions below:
1. Open the preferences panel. Click on "Mozilla" in the toolbar, then on "Preferences." 2. Click on the arrow next to "Advanced." 3. Click on the "Cache" subcategory, located below "Advanced." You may have to use the scroll bars to view this category. 4. Click on the "Clear Cache" button located on the main preferences panel.
To clear the cookies for the FireFox browser, please follow the steps below.
1. Go to Tools > Options. 2. Click "Privacy" in the menu on the left side of the Options window. 3. Click the "Cookies" tab. 4. Click "Clear Cookies Now" 5. Click the "OK" button to close the Options window.
If you are using a Macintosh, please follow the directions below:
1. Open the preferences panel. Click on "Mozilla" in the toolbar, then on "Preferences." 2. Click on the arrow next to "Advanced." 3. Click on the "Cache" subcategory, located below "Advanced." You may have to use the scroll bars to view this category. 4. Click on the "Clear Cookies" button located on the main preferences panel.
It is my pleasure to assist you. Thank you for choosing eBay.
Sincerely, Jason P. L. eBay Customer Support
Patti's Response #1 - October 1, 2008
Firstly: I am not listing a new item, I am trying to revise Items 230292130729 and 230292461396. I
had to end my listing for Item 230293056526 and relist it in order
for it to show correctly, but I have not yet relisted the other two
that are showing up incorrectly.
Secondly: My JavaScript is always enabled, otherwise all my other eBay pages would not be loading correctly either. I know how to clear my Cache and Cookies - that is the first thing I did but it did not solve the problem.
Something is wrong with the eBay coding on the first Revision page for
the 3 items in question. When I originally listed them there was
nothing wrong with the pages in question. The problem is eBay's -
not mine.
If an eBay Technician looks at the HTML Source on those pages they will probably be able to see the problem.
If
you can't help me then I will have to relist them and then ask Billing
to credit my listing fees for having to prematurely end Items 230292130729, 230292461396 and 230293056526.
Customer Service Response #2 - October 1, 2008
eBay Customer Support wrote:
Dear Patricia, Thank
you for writing eBay in regard to the difficulties you are facing with
revising item numbers 230292130729 and 230292461396. >> >>
I can understand how this situation can be frustrating and I regret the
inconvenience caused to you due to this. However, I realize the
importance of getting this resolved for you.
Patricia, I am
sorry for any additional delay in getting this resolved for you, but
before we can diagnose this problem, I need to ask you a few key
questions. I appreciate your patience in answering them. The more
information I can get from you, the easier it will be to solve this:
1. What operating system are you using? (Window 98, Windows XP, or Mac OS8) 2.
What type of browser and browser version do you use? (For example,
Netscape 6.0 or MSIE 5.5.) You can find this by opening your browser
window and clicking on Help > About 3. Do you have a firewall? If yes, please give further details. 4. Are you running any Antivirus software? 5. Do you have any spyware detection software on your computer? 6.
Lastly, can you please tell us what programs you have running on your
computer when you attempt to access
ebay? To find this, press Control + Alt + Delete and click on the Task Manager button.
Once
we receive this additional information, I will be happy to pass it onto
our technical department to review. We will work to get this problem
solved for you as quickly as possible.
For immediate
assistance, you also have the option of contacting our Live Chat team.
Live Help lets you chat one-on-one with an online representative who
can help you right away with most issues. Links to Live Help appear
throughout the eBay site, including the Home page and the Sell Your
Item form. Clicking one of these links will connect you to a private
chat room >> >> where you can ask an eBay
representative your question -- live. Live Help is available 24 hours a
day, seven days a week. To reach Live Help, go
to:http://pages.ebay.com/help/basics/n-livehelpemail.html 1. Click the "Get Help Now!" button. It is my pleasure to assist you. Thank you for choosing eBay.
Sincerely, Victor A. eBay Customer Support
Patti's Response #2 - October 1, 2008 Dear Victor, Thank
you for replying so quickly to me in regard to the difficulties I was
facing with revising item numbers 230292130729 and 230292461396. I can
understand how this situation can be frustrating for you, and I
regret the inconvenience caused to you due to this. However, I realize
the importance of your getting this resolved for me so that you can
fulfill your quota for the day, be a very courteous and competent
worker and not get terminated. Of course I had already spoken to Live
Help before contacting you with my first email, and
LIVE HELP is who told me I had to contact "Technical
Support". They said - and I quote - "Your problem is most
peculiar!"
So now Victor is telling me he going to refer me to
the Technical department? Ooops - I thought you WERE the
Technical Department! Please understand that I am in total sympathy
with your personal work situation and realize it is not your
fault - you are doing what your Supervisors tell you, and
that is to reply as politely as possible with a set of answers that may
have absolutely NOTHING to do with the problem.
Do you
know something Victor? Sending emails to eBay Support is like
asking how to bake a cake and getting answers that you found in a Car
Repair Manual: Like.... "How long do I whip the batter with the
eggs in it" and you answer "Remove all the spark plugs and check to be
sure they are clean".....
If Live Support had directed me
to a REAL Technical Support Department in the first place the REAL
Techie would have looked at the listings in question and would
have IMMEDIATELY seen that the reason the page was not allegedly
"loaded completely or correctly" is because I had already sold one of
of the ten items on that listing....and eBay had shut down certain
parts of the page.
Now what have we learned from this my dear Victor?
1.
I have learned to read my eBay Rules more carefully. I have also
learned to NEVER, EVER again contact "Support" because they
are no help whatsoever and only result in total frustration on my part.
2.
And YOU, Dear Victor, and everyone else in Support Services
should have learned that you should NEVER, EVER tell eBay Members
that you are referring them to "Technical Support" because
you all know there IS no Technical Support Department.....it is a
Fantasy made up by eBay.
In all the many times during
the last 10 years I have been with eBay have I ever gotten a solution
to my problem from an eBay Support Department person - or talked to an
eBay Trained Technician. Just look at how simple the solution is,
Victor.....not a Clearing of Cache, not enabling
Javascript, not my Browser, not my operating system, not my Fire
Wall, not my Antivirus software, not my spyware detection software, not
any programs I have running on your computer when you attempt to access
eBay.....etcetera, etcetera, etcetera......just a simple eBay
Rule:
"Once an item has been sold you cannot revise certain things in your listing".
Be sure to write that down in your Book of Answers - it might come in handy sometime.
I
surely hope that YOU, Victor, in what ever part of the world you are,
will someday be able find a job where you won't have to spend
your entire day reading emails like this one.
Sincerely, Patricia in California, USA
Customer Service Response #3 - October 1, 2008
eBay Customer Support wrote: Dear Patricia, Thank
you for writing eBay in regard to facing difficulty in revising your
listing. I am happy to assist you to resolve your issue.
On
reviewing you account information i see that you are using MSIE 6.0
Browser. I believe the issue you are experiencing in an browser
centric. This can be rectified by clearing your web browser Cache and
Cookies.
For clearing cache and cookies for MSIE 7.0 steps are as follows: 1. Click the Tools menu, and then click Internet Options. 2. On the Advanced tab, click Reset. 3. In the Reset Internet Explorer Settings dialog box, click Reset. 4. When Internet Explorer 7 finishes restoring the default settings, click Close, and then click OK two times. 5. Close Internet Explorer 6. The next time when you open IE 7.0 the changes will be automatically updated.
It is my pleasure to assist you. Thank you for choosing eBay.
Sincerely, Ashley Da. eBay Customer Support
Patti's Response #4 - October 1, 2008
Dear Ashley Da.
Upon just reviewing your email to me see I am sorry to see that you are completely confused - because if you reeely reeely looked you would have seen that I am not using an MSIE 6.0 browser - I am using Mozilla Firefox 2. Perhaps you looked at someone else's computer and I am sorry if now you are all mixed up....again.
It appears that the Support Services People I have been getting email from are having a problem reading English. The reason I think this is because none of the replies I get make any sense. This makes me very sad. I can understand how this situation can be frustrating and I regret the inconvenience caused to you due to this. However, I realize the importance of getting this resolved for you.
Ashley Da, I am so sorry to frustrate you even more in your attempt to help me, but as you can see by the email below that I just this morning sent to Victor A. I had to solve my problem all by myself. Nobody at Support Services understands what I am saying!
I am certain that I know what your problem is: perhaps you are using a Translator Program....this is not good, because Translator programs are totally wacked. They do not translate English correctly into other languages. Perhaps YOU are using one of these wacky translators? Oh my dear Ashley Da, This is not good.
It appears you might be having a problem understanding the email I sent to Victor A. this morning because your reply also does not have anything to do with what I described in my email.
I need to ask you a few key questions. I appreciate your patience in answering them:
1. What store system are you using? (Wal-Mart, Target, or K-Mart?)
2. What type of washing machine do you use? (For example, General Electric or Sears) You can find this by opening your kitchen door and looking at the front of your machine.
3. Do you have a pet? If yes, please give further details (cat, dog, gold fish).
4. Are you running a fever from a virus?
5. Do you watch any Spy movies on your computer?
6. Lastly, can you please tell me what running shoes you wear when you work at your computer?
Once I receive this additional information, I will be happy to pass it on to our Experts. We will work to get your translating problem solved for you as quickly as possible.
For immediate assistance, you also have the option of contacting our Live Chat team, but I doubt if that will do much good, because Live Help will just tell you to contact Technical Support, which I already did and you can see how much good THAT did.
It is my pleasure to be of assistance with your problem understanding emails. I know you are trying really hard to do your very best. I will be glad to help you in the future anyway I can.
Below is the copy of the email I sent to Victor A. this morning. It will show you what you missed the first time.
And if you get terribly stressed I sincerely recommend you go to this link and stay a while - it will solve all of your problems:
http://icanhascheezburger.com/page/2/
Sincerely, Patricia Bu.
Edit Note: Deleted Copy and Paste of previous email to Victor.
Customer Service Response #4 - October 2, 2008
Dear eBay Member,
Thank you for writing eBay.
I'm sorry, but based on the information you provided I wasn't able to determine the exact nature of the problem you're having.
If you will reply to this message with a detailed explanation of your problem, I'll be glad to help you or forward your message to the right person. If you're trying to report a member or listing, please also include the member's user ID or item number.
It is my pleasure to assist you. Thank you for choosing eBay.
Sincerely, Harry T.
eBay Customer Support.
Editor's Note: No more friendly first name greeting. It is now back to the anonnymous eBay Member
Patti's Response #5 - October 2, 2008
Dear Harry T.,
Thank you for writing to me in regard to facing the problem you are having while trying to determine the exact nature of the problem I was having but no longer have because I found a solution to the problem that I was having through no help whatsoever from eBay Technical Support.
I understand your concern and I am happy to assist you to resolve your issue.
(a) FIRSTLY: It seems the issue you are experiencing is an inability to read and understand the written English word. This can be rectified by clicking on this link:
http://www.purpleslinky.com/Humor/Life/How-To-Read-English-Instantly-in-13-Steps.89586
Going to this link will help you with your English grammar and phrasing:
http://www.say-it-in-english.com/Lessons.html
To make sure you are correctly interpreting all of the emails I sent to eBay Technical Support from September 26 to October 2, 2008, you may want to check the Translator settings for your Browser.
To check your translations please click on the link below:
http://babelfish.yahoo.com/
Enter my emails in the correct box and then enter the name of the language you wish to translate English to. Once you have completed these steps, you should be able to determine the exact nature of the problem you're having.
(b) SECONDLY: If the problem still persist please clear your browser's Cache and bake some cookies.
Here is a good recipe for Chocolate Chip cookies:
http://www.verybestbaking.com/recipes/detail.aspx?ID=18476
Once you have reviewed the information given to you at the links above, if it does not help you with your problem I'll be glad to help you some more or forward your message to the right person.
It is with great pleasure that I have included copies of all my previous emails to and from eBay Technical Support from September 26 to October 2, 2008.
It is my pleasure to assist you. Thank you for choosing Me.
Sincerely, Patricia B.
Customer Service Response #5 - October 2, 2008
Dear Patricia, Thank you for writing eBay in regard to facing difficulty while revising both your items on eBay.
I understand your question and want to quickly and responsively resolve your issue. In this case, since you are not able to revise your listings, then you may consider ending your auction early and relisting it after making the required changes.
For your convenience, I have provided below with steps on how to end your listing early and how to relist your item.
If you can't complete your listing, you can end it early in most situations. If you have bids, you'll need to cancel them first. Or you can end your listing early to sell it to the high bidder.
-- Please Note -- If there are fewer than 12 hours left in the listing and you have any bids, you won't be able to end the listing. Instead, you'll need to cancel all the bids. I recommend that you explain the problem to the bidders -- otherwise it can be very frustrating for them.
Here's how to end a listing early:
1. Go to:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/end_early.html
2. Click the "End My Listing Early form" link. You may need to sign in. 3. Type your Item number, and click the "Continue" button. 4. If there were no bids on your item, go to Step 6. 5. If there are bids on your item and less than 12 hours left in your listing, you can only choose to "Sell item to high bidder(s) and end listing early." If there are more than 12 hours left, you can choose to "Cancel bids and end listing early." 6. Select the reason that you're ending your listing early. 7. Click the "Submit" button to end your listing.
Because your listing fees aren't refundable, you may want to find a way to keep your listing on the site. It may be possible for you to revise your listing instead of ending it.
If there are at least 12 hours left before the listing ends and you don't have any bids (or all the bids have been retracted), you can edit any part of your listing. (However, you won't be able to change the format, such as changing from an auction-style listing to a Store Inventory listing. You also won't be able to remove listing features, such as Bold and List in Two Categories.)
Here's how to revise your listing:
1. Click "My eBay" at the top of most eBay pages. You may need to sign in. 2. Click the "Selling" link in the "My eBay Views" column on the left. 3. Click the listing that you want to revise. 4. Click the "Revise your listing" link. 5. Make your changes, and then click the "Submit Revisions" button.
To cancel bids, please follow these steps:
1. Click "site map" near the top of most eBay pages. 2. In the middle column, under "Selling Activities,' click "Cancel Bids on Your Listing." 3. Enter the item number, the user ID of the member whose bid you're canceling, and a reason for the cancellation. 4. Click the "cancel bid" button.
When your listing is canceled or your item doesn't sell, it's removed from the eBay site and appears in your My eBay Unsold view.
To relist: 1. Click My eBay at the top of most eBay pages. 2. Go to the Unsold view in your My eBay. 3. Select the item to relist. 4. Select Relist from the Action column pull-down menu. 5. Review your listing content, make any changes, and re-submit your listing.
Durations of longer than seven days may incur a fee and change some upgrade and Insertion Fees. Your listing fee subtotal appears in the "Your fees so far" section at the bottom of the relisting and reviewing forms.
When you relist an item for the first time and it sells, you may be credited for the Insertion Fee (for auction-style, not Fixed Price listings).
To see how to relist your item and qualify for the Insertion Fee credit, go to: http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/relist.html
We are committed to making your eBay experiences pleasant and fulfilling.
Sincerely, Priscilla K.
eBay Customer Support
Editor's Note: Back to a first name basis. Unlike
eBay's Superb Customer Support, we are not available 24/7 to deal with
eBay's issues. We were gone over the weekend so she didn't respond
until this morning.
Patti's Response #6 - October 6, 2008
Message: Dear Priscilla K.
I also understand YOUR question and want to quickly and responsively resolve this issue, so I will review with you the exceptionally succinct and most helpful correspondence from the Expert Technicians at Customer Support Service.
I have copied the quotes EXACTLY as they came to me from your Esteemed eBay Support Team Member's emails and have not altered their quirky little grammatical idiosyncrasies which I find so adorable!
1. September 26, 2008 from Live Help: "Your problem is most peculiar!"
2. September 26, 2008 from Jason P. L.: "It seem the issue you are experiencing is an Browser Centric."
3. October 1, 2008 from Victor A.: "I regret the inconvenience caused to you due to this. Do you have a firewall? For immediate assistance, you also have the option of contacting our Live Chat team."
4. October 1, 2008 from Ashley Da.: "I am happy to assist you to resolve your issue. i see that you are using MSIE 6.0 Browser. I believe the issue you are experiencing in an browser centric."
5. October 2, 2008 from Harry T.: "If you will reply to this message with a detailed explanation of your problem, I'll be glad to help you or forward your message to the right person."
I was also delighted to receive this personal message from eBay on October 1, 2008: "Valued Customer, how is eBay doing? Take a 1 minute survey and let us know." eBay is so sweet! I took the Survey and let them know how eBay is doing!
I am committed to making your eBay employment pleasant and fulfilling and am anxiously awaiting your evaluation of the above.
Sincerely,
Patricia B.
Customer Service Response #6 - October 7, 2008
Dear Patricia,
Thank you for writing eBay in regard to your concern.
I'm sorry, but based on the information you provided I wasn't able to determine the exact nature of the problem you're having.
If you will reply to this message with a detailed explanation of your problem, I'll be glad to help you or forward your message to the right person. If you're trying to report a member or listing, please also include the member's user ID or item number.
It is my pleasure to assist you. Thank you for choosing eBay.
Sincerely, Aron B.
eBay Customer Support This last email from "eBay Customer Support" pretty much finishes it. We believe we have made our point with this series of emails and it is time to move on. (We bore easily and this could probably go on forever.) If eBay hasn't put a real or intelligent person on this by now, they never will. Thank you all for your feedback and encouragement. Patti and Jerry Burt (pjburt and jburtphotos) |