Laptop return claim due to "loud fan".

[cbsnyder87]

Hey everybody,

I recently sold a refurbished laptop through Amazon. The laptop was fully tested, cleaned, ran for 24 hours, and reset to factory settings...the usual refurb.

The customer filed a return claim stating " The laptop runs great, but the fan is too loud for home use". My first reaction is "Too bad, so sad bucko. No returns on such subjective claims. What's loud to you might be quiet to someone else." Keep in mind, this laptop ran for 24 hours as quiet as a mouse. If someone can return a refurb because it's too loud, why not allow returns because the color is off or the laptop is too heavy? Anybody could return it for literally any ridiculous reason they can find.

Here's the dilemma...if I deny the return, I am bound to get a horrible review, greatly hurting my reputation and sales chances on Amazon. If I accept the return, I'm out the shipping and fees, which is almost the entire profit. Plus I have to ship it again when someone else buys it and I may still receive a bad review anyways.

Anyone experience such a ridiculous claim and how did you handle it? I mean...its such a subjective claim and without any operational issues, I can't see this being legit...

 

[frederick]

No shipping or amazon claims here. But we have been trying to clear a lot of our stock (laptops, desktops, switches, etc.) to make room for newer models. We had 15 brand-new, still in the box Dell Inspiron 3135's, with the AMD A6-1450 processor, left over from when we were upgrading a lot of clients from XP. If you don't know, it's a quad-core 1GHz processor. We sold all but 2 so far. (If you want one, call me and we can make a deal). Anyways, a client sent us a friend who bought one. We informed our client, and this friend, that the processor is not the strongest, we've been advertising it for our clients who primarily do everything via a web-interface (cloud services). He said that wasn't a bother, he just wanted something to use for Facebook and his email. Whatever right? 2 days after he bought it, he complains that MS Word is slow on loading, he's having problems with Quickbooks, and all kinds of other installed software. We told him that we had warned him. BUT NOOOOOO!!!!! He wanted his money back. When we told him that there was a 15% re-stock fee because we would wipe and reinstall the OS, he had a conniption about it. "WHAT? I've only had it for 2 days!" When I explained why we did what we did, he said he didn't care. I told him I didn't care either, not worth him coming after me later about his information being stolen. We eventually talked it through, and he kept the laptop, and we didn't refund anything. He ended up giving it to his daughter.

My advice, talk it through with them. See if it is a legitimate claim. Fans can start to go at any time, no warning. Some fans after some use just start to make a lot of noise.

 

[coffee]

Dont take the return. How do you know that when they send it back there isnt more wrong with it. Perhaps they dropped it? thats why the fan is kinda loud now? tell them that you will not accept the return but would be glad to repair it if they paid for fan and shipping. You would forgo labor.

I would bet they dropped it or spilled on it.

 

[Markverhyden]

In today's day and age there is no reason to not tell them that if they want to do a return based on something like that they will have to send you a video clip from their smart phone. Everyone's got one. And if the machine appears to have been tampered with you will not refund anything. It may be a legit complaint and if you refuse they will ding you. But if you show that you are making an effort to defuse that situation things may change. I've had customer's complain about loud machines and when I go to the site it was a fan problem. I've also them complain about loud machines and I get there and I can't hear what they are complaining about.

 

[gadgetfixup]

My advice, suck it up and eat the claim. I know you don't want to hear it but 1 loss is better than a ton of losses caused by a bad review. These customers are out there. We have one now we're dealing with locally. Like a spoon of bad medicine, it goes down tough but in the long run you'll be happy you took it. Lucky for us these jokers are only 1 or 2 out of 100. The truth is he probably found something he'd rather have and just wants to unwind the transaction. Regardless you get your product back, can resell it and recover all but shipping fees. Hardly worth spoiling your reputation over.

I'd use the 3rd party over-ride which we do when we run into these jokers. We push our policy and explain best we can where we stand but when a customer is unreasonable and just being ignorant, we explain we called the store owner vacationing in FL and he said lets make this customer happy, do whatever it takes. So we're pleased to provide you a full refund once the product is returned and apologize for any inconvenience this transaction has caused you. We wish we had more customers as patient and understanding as you. (lay it on thick!) Thank you for your business.

 

[gadgetfixup]

We had 15 brand-new, still in the box Dell Inspiron 3135's, with the AMD A6-1450 processor, left over from when we were upgrading a lot of clients from XP. If you don't know, it's a quad-core 1GHz processor. We sold all but 2 so far. (If you want one, call me and we can make a deal).

I might have a home for those. Please message me how many you have left and what price you want for them. Thanks.

 

[Larry Sabo]

What warranty was offered with the laptop? I like Coffee's suggestion. It could have been damaged during shipment or the customer may be blocking air circulation during use, causing the fan run full speed. A video would help clarify the problem and verify there's no other damage, or whether they are just trying to scam you.

 

[gikstar]

I don't sell online, but when something goes wrong with a computer that we've sold to a client and they use it for their business we bend over backwards to make it right, providing a loaner system and sometimes upgrading them to a system that we have on hand

 

[oldtimer50]

I have sold on Amazon and other auction sites and the out come is the same take the return and live with it they will only take the claim to customer
support and they will make you take the item back anyway.
I now only sell from local papers and advertising in local magazines etc, and customers come and collect, great for repeat busniess and to build a customer bases, I have had only one return in that time and i have to say the customer was right and they ask me to repair it, but no commission chargers and the profits it's all your, It's a lot cheaper and more rewarding than those sites.

 

[Rosco]

My advice, suck it up and eat the claim. I know you don't want to hear it but 1 loss is better than a ton of losses caused by a bad review. These customers are out there. We have one now we're dealing with locally. Like a spoon of bad medicine, it goes down tough but in the long run you'll be happy you took it. Lucky for us these jokers are only 1 or 2 out of 100. The truth is he probably found something he'd rather have and just wants to unwind the transaction. Regardless you get your product back, can resell it and recover all but shipping fees. Hardly worth spoiling your reputation over.

I'd use the 3rd party over-ride which we do when we run into these jokers. We push our policy and explain best we can where we stand but when a customer is unreasonable and just being ignorant, we explain we called the store owner vacationing in FL and he said lets make this customer happy, do whatever it takes. So we're pleased to provide you a full refund once the product is returned and apologize for any inconvenience this transaction has caused you. We wish we had more customers as patient and understanding as you. (lay it on thick!) Thank you for your business.

It is better to eat something like this. I know it stinks. so you loss the profit on one thing. Amazon does let you sell if you have too many bad reviews (i think could be wrong). Is one loss worth losing many more possible and most likely probable sales that go fine? Business is not a sprint it is a marathon.

 

[acscva]

I am going to tell you that both Amazon and Ebay suck for selling stuff anymore. I stopped about 6 months ago because Amazon and Ebay will side with the buyer and not the seller. Even with both services I put sold as is and no returns allowed for the options I had several in the last month of doing business there. And all of the returns that Ebay and Amazon allowed were fine when they got back. So even if you say NO to the return the buyer will dispute and you will lose.

 

[cbsnyder87]

Thanks everybody for all of your responses. I did what my gut told me (even though I didn't want to) and what the majority of you suggested: Eat it and offer to take it back.

My warranty on refurbs is 90-day and I clearly state on the invoice: "All refurbs can be returned for store credit only with a 10% handling fee". I asked the guy a series of questions regarding the fan issue to try to help troubleshoot the problem, but he stated the fan kicks into high gear all by itself and down into quiet mode repeatedly, over and over and over, with no programs running and sitting flat on a counter-top with no obstructions. I'd have to run CPUID to really see what's going on with the temps and I'm not going to put him through the hassle of doing that. It could be something as simple as the heatsink was jarred loose or isn't fully contacting the CPU anymore...so I sent the guy a message, basically offering him:

1) I'll repair it at no cost other than shipping to me.
2) I will refund the item, even if no fault is found, for a 10% restocking fee plus the shipping to me.
3) I will apply credit towards another laptop we have in stock.

He wrote back and explained he is not tech savvy at all and apologized for being a "complainer" and said he would like to purchase one of the other laptops I have and apply the credit towards it. It turns out I will actually get more profit from this other sale, he is getting a better laptop (brand new HP Flyer Red), and everybody is happy.

Couldn't have worked out better, in this case.

Thanks again everybody! Staying calm and bending over backwards really paid off. Lesson learned. Hopefully I get a decent review out of it...