Customer withdraws Amazon funded A-Z claim and expects me to refund them.

Selling on Amazon
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21

Does it feel like playing ping-pong with a buyer?

It is odd that it showed Granted and also emailed a denial. Very weird. I think @papy is correct. I may adjust my replies in the future.

When a similar situation happens to us, I just keep replying with the first template reply for INR. Even if Amazon sends the message on behalf of the buyer. I just ping-pong it back. Seems to always work and eventally the buyer stops messaging but I may adjust this process using papy’s advice above.

INR template

Hello [BUYER_NAME],

[SHIPPING_CARRIER] tracking number [SHIPPING_TRACKING_NUMBER] shows your order as delivered.

But do not worry because Amazon has insurance for each package delivery to protect both you and us.

You may request a refund under the A-to-z Guarantee if you have not received your package and tracking shows a delivery confirmation.

Note: Amazon also requires you to wait 48 hours after contacting us before you are eligible to request a refund. This gives 2 days just in case the package is found or delivered by a neighbor or the delivery company.

To request a refund on an eligible order:

  1. Go to Your Orders.
  2. Locate your order in the list and click Problem with order.
  3. Select “Package didn’t arrive” from the list.
  4. Select Request refund.
  5. Enter your comments in the text box.
  6. Select Submit
    To receive the maximum refund allowed you need to select “Package didn’t arrive”
    Note: Refund requests can take time for Amazon to investigate. Amazon will notify you of their decision via the email address associated with your account. To view the status of your request, locate your order in the list on the Your Orders page.

Thank you for shopping on Amazon.

Sincerely,
Ana B.

22

This customer has contacted Amazon customer service multiple times since the claim showed “Granted” and “Amazon funded”, all they do is bounce the messages to me.

Oooh… this is a fun game to play!

First, I agree with Papy. What I think probably happened is the automation (cause we all know how well that works) did the correct(ish) thing and granted the AtoZ with Amazon funded. That’s how it’s supposed to work for INR’s where Buy Shipping is used.

But then… someone (human or robot) took a look at the claim and realized the customer is a known scammer and reversed, or overrode, the automated decision. At this point, you got the email saying the claim was denied. Simple INR claims like this never get denied, unless the customer is a cheat, right?

The fact that it had a ‘denied’ status, even if it previously had an ‘approved’ one, says there’s something up with this customer.

As for how to respond to the latest message, I’d do something like this -

Hello again (customer),

I’m sorry you’re having such trouble, but I am unable to override Amazon’s decision regarding an A to Z claim. Perhaps their reps are having difficulty understanding the situation correctly, so I’ve summarized it below for them. Hopefully this will help, as I’m afraid it’s out of my hands at this point.

Seller

Hello Amazon support,

To summarize this customer’s issue, they first claimed non-delivery on xx/xx and were told to file an A to Z claim, as their package was shipped through Amazon Buy Shipping and any non-delivery issues are handled by Amazon.

Amazon denied their A to Z claim on xx/xx (specific denial reason not disclosed to seller to protect customer privacy)

Once the A to Z was denied, the buyer withdrew the A to Z and began reaching out to Amazon’s phone reps seeking a manual refund. This has occurred 10 times thus far:
xx/xx
xx/xx
xx/xx
xx/xx
xx/xx
xx/xx

Each time, the buyer asked Amazon’s rep for the seller to issue a refund, despite their A to Z claim having been reviewed, and denied.

This is no longer a seller issue and any further communication will need to be between the buyer and Amazon.

Thank you

Then, if you get any more messages, report them for either trying to deceive or defraud you, or harass and intimidate you.