So it seems like this is being caused by 1 complaint, as this is for a product that has almost no returns/refunds or any kind of complaints in general. I’m not sure what the best way to respond to this would be.
No, there has not been any recall
I’m inclined to say j, no root cause identified, and say that thousands of units have been sold of this product without any kind of problem. But I feel like when Amazon asks you for root cause they want some cause, not “there’s no problem.” It also says “based on investigation” but there’s no investigation here. The customer information is not provided, so possible causes g and h (misuse, or known side effect) are impossible to determine if you can’t ask the customer how they took the product.
Again, here I’m inclined to say g. none, because there’s no product issue that needs to be corrected
Supplier Approval and Monitoring Program. Is there some kind of template for how this should look? I’m assuming it should include things like obtaining COAs and GMP certificates from the manufactures
Environmental Monitoring Program. Again, any kind of template for this? I’m assuming this would include things like controlling temperature and humidity of the location the product is stored in
For this I would just respond with the manufacturer’s contact information that’s printed on the bottle.
So I don’t know if this is just some procedural thing where they need to collect this information to close out the customer complaint (basically Amazon doing their due diligence to avoid liability), or if they’ve already decided there’s a problem and it’s going to be a problem for me. This is also one reason I hate the no returns policy for consumable items, because in the past if something doesn’t sit well with someone, they’d just return it, now they need to have a “valid” reason to get a refund, so problems like this occur.
Bingo… Reason for “Product not as described” returns which can trigger an investigation a well. Just went thought one. “Defective”, and bad reviews. There’s not another retailer / e-tailer that bans returns on anything on the planet for supplements.
Is this your brand or someone else’s? If it’s yours, talk to your co-man and have them handle all of this with their documentation and GMP SOPs for their facility / testing / batch records, etc… They provide the needful to you, you respond to Amazon.
Pretty standard stuff. You also should report this as an AER to the FDA as required. Ignoring that might bite you hard in the future. The catch here is you have very limited and incomplete info and you can’t get it all bc we aren’t allowed to talk to “Their” customers…
Gotta jump on a couple calls. I’ll be back later if you need more info.
This is someone else’s brand, I do have some documentation like COAs for the lot numbers that we have from them.
So would you say the correct way to respond to questions 2 and 3 is no root cause and no action needed, and just provide documentation that shows everything was done correctly on the manufacturing side?
As for the adverse event reporting, I’ll provide the information to the brand owner and their counsel will handle it how they see fit. There really is very little information here, the Amazon case doesn’t even include so much as an order ID. Just a vague description of the customer complaint, that’s pretty much it.
Then they need to be alerted and help you handle this. The issue with this is the very very limited information you have from Amazon.
This is a brand problem at its core and the brand will have to help navigate the situation. Do you have a direct relationship with this brand and authorization to sell their brand on Amazon? Hope so.
I do, and I have contacted them about it, but ultimately I’m the one who needs to provide documentation to Amazon and if I need something from the brand I’m going to need to tell them exactly what, in detail, that’s needed.
So basically what I have from the manufacturer, is they sent me their GMP/FDA certificates, as well as COAs pertaining to the product in question. They are not Amazon sellers and do not have any Amazon specific documentation. They do have procedures about how they manufacture and test their products, but those are stated in advertising format on their website, and they also sent me a checklist of what they do internally. If I want it in documentation format I’ll have to create the document, and they will sign off on it.
Honestly, it sounds like you have a plan and a lot more than most sellers in our category. I’d pull things together and submit. I’d also get an LOA if you don’t have it and submit that too. Is this a big national brand or some fly by night knockoff brand?
Ultimately I believe you will be OK because it’s a single complaint. All Amazon cares about is money. Sales = Money.
The documentation you will submit will cover their ■■■. That’s what they are looking for from you.
Customer Feedback: 2023-10-05 : customer face the issue of stomach pain when cx is using the pills
This is why I’m not brave enough to sell anything ingestible. Unknown allergies, emergent medical conditions, co-occuring situations attributed to the product in error, etc…this complaint is too vague to even get one of my kids out of school in the morning, but now it’s shutting down an ASIN.
It’s very strange that this caused a shut down. I read reviews (which I assume this is parsed from) all the time from my competitors. Some of them have notes like “this put my in the hospital for 2 days” OR I was throwing up and on the toilet for a week after using this product, and those listings never seem to be taken down.
Read the negative reviews on this POS product that’s #7 in sleep out of 3000 and 332 out of who knows how many millions in health and household… All because Gov Huck peddles it at 3AM on Fox news (don’t ask me how I know that).
3.3 Star Rating with 4300 1 Star ratings and reviews. Based on what’s happening to the OP here, that’s crazy-cats…
Yeah, this vague complaint causing a (potential) shut down is ridiculous. They are giving me 7 days to respond before any potential action is taken though.
“My tummy hurts” is such a ridiculous complaint it’s not even funny. This is definitely some overzealous customer service rep taking a “I want a refund” complaint to the next level.
Ha! Perfect example of what I was talking about from a couple days ago. Why is it still up on Amazon? Because Amazon makes $162,000 a month in referral fees alone on this listing.
The fact the manufacturer didn’t notice a unit wasn’t labeled, and boxed it up anyway, then of course the FBA employee who does labeling (this looks like a FBA prep service label) just smacks an FNSKU sticker on a clearly defective unit.
Ordering direct from the manufacturer isn’t the solution here, this isn’t a fake product (even fakes have labels on them), it’s just a clear defect from poor QA
I checked the order ID (now that I have it), no refund has been issued. I guess the customer service rep told the customer to file a personal injury claim for his tummy ache instead of issuing a refund
As for the original case. I reviewed what they were looking for carefully and spent some time typing up the 2 plans they requested. I did not include any other documents as those are not being asked for at this time, and in my experience giving Amazon EXACTLY what they ask for usually gives the best result.
What does the brand say about this when presented to them?
If someone buys cup-o-soup from Stop and Shop and it kills them, the family would be going after the brand, not the store.
It’s the brand’s product that caused the problem (even though we both know there’s likely nothing wrong with the product). They should be notified of all of this, every step of the way which I am sure you are doing.
Amazon has to go after their point of contact for the sale which would be you but if everything is buttoned up legally with this product / relationship, the brand should be handling any damages that you need to cover for THEIR product due to this situation.
They have liability insurance for it, and I’m sure their contract manufacturer (if they use one) also has liability insurance. I’m pretty sure this is a bogus claim by a customer who just wants a refund for a customer that they can’t/are uncomfortable using steered into doing so by a customer service rep for whatever reason.
I sent a message to the buyer asking them what the issue is and asked if they want a refund for the product.
I would think that if there was a problem that warranted a claim (eg. hospital visit), the original complaint would’ve stated that instead of just a vague upset stomach problem. On the off chance there’s a real claim here I will definitely refer the issue to the brand owner’s attorneys.
This was a mistake IMO. If they are seeking damages, they could care less about the $20 or whatever it was.
You should have let the process play out. Never contact someone that’s seeking damages from you or the marketplace you are selling on without the advice of an attorney.
Also… Amazon may see this message as an attempt to get around the investigation and interpreted whatever it was that you wrote any way they want.
I’ve been in this biz since 1998. You’ve got to be really careful about what you say and do when someone claims injury / AER.
Good point. Hopefully they never receive the message then, which seems to be the case with a lot of seller to buyer messages.
I was hoping to get the issue resolved sooner, but you’re right, on the chance that they are seeking damages anything I say could potentially be damaging.
I also spoke to the brand owner, apparently the customer complained to them that they were being refused a refund/return because the product didn’t sit well with him so he didn’t want to take it. They ended up cutting him a check to make him happy. I don’t know what exactly happened, but from the details the brand owner got, it sounds like the customer contacted Amazon requesting to return it, and the rep basically said no returns, and opened the personal injury claim, which the customer did not ask them to do (hence why they didn’t respond to it and it expired).
So watch out, there’s some customer service reps that are out to get sellers or something.
Amazon buyer support filing personal injury claims on their own??? That is bad, and serious.
I recently did a test buy on a non-returnable product, prep was severely lacking and it arrived broken so I clicked ‘return or replace’ next to the order. It led me to a page that said no returns are allowed.
I totally understand and support not allowing returns but there should be options to pursue a replacement or refund when the product arrives damaged. So I requested a call from buyer support and she initially gave me the same line, I’m sorry it is not returnable. I pushed for a refund and I did get that.
This is not buyer-centric, FBA sends out a glass jar in a plastic bubble envelope (yes the seller should have prepped better) and the buyer is screwed. Most don’t know to call and press for a refund. The seller is getting paid and not suffering deserved consequences of their poor prep. Feedbacks show it’s a pattern and not a new occurrence.
