half.com & ebay SUCK [long rant]

[davetakis]

long story here it goes. i manage a cd warehouse here in sandy springs, ga. we are a retail store. last friday, after 10 years on half.com, over 30k feedback and a 98% approval rating, we get suspended for some vague reason. i will post the letter. we call custome service, BUT WAIT, you cant talk to custome service or the supervisors or the trust and safety department BECAUSE THEY DO NOT ACCEPT PHONE CALLS!!! they send me some email telling me what they need me to send them to clear this matter up:

THIS IS WHAT THEY SAID:

We regret to inform you that your Half.com account has been suspended due to concerns we have for the safety and integrity of the Half.com community.

"Abusing eBay" of the eBay User Agreement states, in part:

"...we may limit, suspend, or terminate our service and user accounts, prohibit access to our website, remove hosted content, and take technical and legal steps to keep users off the Site if we think that they are creating problems, possible legal liabilities, or acting inconsistently with the letter or spirit of our policies."

Due to the suspension of this account, please be advised you are prohibited from using Half.com or eBay in any way. This includes the registering of a new account.

*** Appealing your Half.com suspension ***

To have your account considered for reinstatement, please fax us all of the following:

1. A completed copy of the Request for Reinstatement form. This form should include your User ID and email address of the suspended account that you're appealing, as well as a working phone number. To print a copy of the Request for Reinstatement form, go to:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/community...einstform.html

2. Copy of your driver's license or other government issued ID with your name and address clearly visible.

3. One of the following documents:

- Copy of a recent credit card statement (copy of the actual credit card is not acceptable)
- Copy of a recent bank statement
- Copy of a recent utility bill

Please remove any account numbers before sending.

4. Copies of manufacturer invoices or any other documentation (such as sales receipts) showing purchase or possession of US region 1 movies released in the last 60 days that are currently in your inventory.

*** Important ***
All contact information listed on the documents that you submit with your appeal must be consistent with the contact information listed on your registered eBay/Half.com account. If any differences exist, you must provide an explanation for these discrepancies, as well as documentation that confirms your explanation.

If your eBay/Half.com contact information is your work address, please send official documentation to validate this.

Please fax all documentation to:

eBay
Attention: Half.com Appeals

SOOOOOOO: i send them everything that they requested:
this is what they said back:

,

Thank you for writing Half.com regarding your suspended account.

We received your email and fax in this matter. Your fax appeal does not
contain compelling evidence showing you are in possession of US region 1 DVDs. We find it very unlikely that you could distribute brand new
releases at 50-65% of retail list price. The CD Warehouse paperwork
appears to be purchase orders from your company. We need the
manufactures invoice, manufactures sales receipt, or the manufacturers
bill of laiding to continue with your appeal.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,
Nikolai

SO THIS IS WHAT I SENT BACK:
Nickolai,
First of all let me say thanks for contacting us. This has been a very trying and dissatisfying experience. I am extremely frustrated by the fact that after TEN YEARS that we have been selling items on half.com that it has come to this. First of all, I have no idea why it is that you suspended us in the first place. WHY WERE WE NOT CONTACTED FIRST REGARDING A SPECIFIC PROBLEM BEFORE BEING SUSPENDED? No specific items were cited so I have no idea what it is that we did to make you guys mad. Second of all, we have been here for TEN YEARS and have over 30K FEEDBACK AND A 98% APPROVAL RATING!. That is clearly obvious that we are not some fly by night organization that is posting items that we don’t have. In our ten years we have generated a lot of money for you also.
The documentation that you request IS SIMPLY NOT AVAILABLE! Cd Warehouse is a franchise operation so the individual stores are left to purchase the items that they feel will sell best in their stores. This is done by individuals bringing items in to sell. We also buy from postal auctions, individuals and stores in our area that are going out of business. For example, when TOWER RECORDS went down, we spent thousands of dollars to acquire merchandise from them, in some cases brand new release at far below cost to sell in our shop and online. When WHEREHOUSE MUSIC went down, same thing. I have a cutomer right now who is a former tour manager for CLEAR CHANNEL who is, over the next several weeks/months bringing me over 40k items for his and his partners’ collections to sell. 99% of the time, the person/organization selling TO us does not issue us a receipt for what we but from them. That would be silly for us to even expect that. The only documentation I can proved for any items that I sell is the purchase receipts generated in my store as that is the only way we can keep track of inventory. We do not buy from the same places that BEST BUY and CIRCUIT CITY buy from. Not possible or we would be going under just like they do.
Let me also tell you this, half.com’s customer service policy is terrible. Not being able to contact anyone directly to resolve this matter instead of dealing with vague emails is incredibly frustrating and makes me want to take my business elsewhere. When I call and ask if I can speak to a supervisor and I am told that they don’t accept phone calls, I have to ask what the hell are they supervising.
I would like to resolve this matter quickly. I still have no idea why we got suspended and am getting more and more angry as the days go on. If your company does not want our business anymore, please tell us ASAP so I can move on. We are a retail shop also that has a wide and varied customer base. We also have very loyal customers on half.com that we would like to keep. If you or someone would just let us know EXACTLY WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE, I’m all ears. I would greatly appreciate if someone would call my shop and speak to Dave Takis preferably or myself regarding this matter. 404-256-0057.

ANDY PATERSON-OWNER TALL STAX dba CD WAREHOUSE
DAVE TAKIS-MANAGER- TALL STAX dba CD WAREHOUSE

Also, I would like you to show me one negative feedback we have ever received stating the we have ever sold pirated dvd's. I will be more than happy to send you, nikolai, a free copy of the dvd's in question to prove what we are selling is legit. I also find it hard to understand how YOU in san jose can make an educated judgment on what we in Atlanta are selling. Please explain to me how this is possible!?!?!?!?!

these people are worse than GUITAR CENTER FOR CUSTOMER SERVICE!!!

what kind of company will not allow you to speak directly with a customer service rep, or anyone else for that matter!?!? we are getting an account ready for amazon but with over 25k items in my store, that is going to take forever to post.
i am deleting my personal account from half and ebay. if this is the way that these asses choose to do business and refuse to help their customers f*** them.

anyone know of any other online places like half.com that we can move a huge business to? we plan on emailing all of our regular customers to tell them to stop using half.com and follow us.

half.com and ebay have just lost all of my business as a company and as an individual. TIME TO BOYCOTT THOSE BASTARDS!!!!!!!!!

[NJL]

dude, keep us updated!!

bump

[casualmadness]

half.com sucks big time. I sold a gang of stuff on there a few years ago. My pament was right around $600. They sent a letter that they would be sending me a check. I never got it. I contacted them, through the email system (of course) and they informed me that I had already cashed the check. I had never seen it!
Long, long story short, someone who works for the half.com warehouse stole my check and deposited it into his account. After about eight months of constant headaches and frustration and endless emails, I finally got my check. Thing is though,. half.com refused to press charges against the employee. I was living in Seattle, WA and the thief was in Miami, FL. They said that the guy deposited the check into hsi account (and even forged my name) at a Washington Mutual bank. I did not bank with WAMU. Originally, half.com told me it was a matter for WAMU. So I went there with all of my proof and the first thing the lady asked for was my account number. When I told her that I wasn't a WAMU customer, she refues to help me any further. She said that since I wasn't a WAMU customer, she couldn't even talk to me because it would not be in the best interest of WAMU's customers.
So a lot of hassle later, I got my money. But I still don't know who actually stole the check from me as half.com refused to give me that information.
Amazon is cool but your listing will expire. So if something doesn't sell, it has to be updated, which IMHO is a pain in the @ss.

[davetakis]

I SWEAR, is it just me or has customer service in this country gone to hell in a hand basket?

[casualmadness]

Originally Posted by davetakis

I SWEAR, is it just me or has customer service in this country gone to hell in a hand basket?

Customer service?! What's that?!?! This is USA. No such thing as customer service here anymore.

[davetakis]

Originally Posted by casualmadness

Customer service?! What's that?!?! This is USA. No such thing as customer service here anymore.

sad but true. my CUSTOMER NO-SERVICE rep is nikolai. legal or not!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

[casualmadness]

Originally Posted by davetakis

sad but true. my CUSTOMER NO-SERVICE rep is nikolai. legal or not!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

I hate that whenever you're forced to deal with those jackasses, you only get the vague first name of someone with no way of contacting them other than submitting your email to the endless email queue. No last names, no phone calls to management...what the hell?!?

[tplyons]

Sounds about right, which is why I very seldom use eBay anymore. More for buying, not selling. They're not getting a cent of my money.

[Valerus]

Originally Posted by casualmadness

Customer service?! What's that?!?! This is USA. No such thing as customer service here anymore.

Sadly, agreed.

[Geddyfleaharris]

The downfall of Western Society started with voice mail. From there the slippery slope has just gotten longer. Nothing more frustrating then not being able to talk to someone to resolve an issue.

[Masher88]

Originally Posted by Geddyfleaharris

The downfall of Western Society started with voice mail. From there the slippery slope has just gotten longer. Nothing more frustrating then not being able to talk to someone to resolve an issue.

exactly...although, as we post anonymously on this message board we are fueling the fire!!! HA!

The more "anonymous" and detached customer service people are the easier it is for them to just hang up on you.

[davetakis]

the funny thing is, one of my customers who happens to be a lawyer was just laughing his ass of at all of this. they have no grounds etc. the really funny thing is, he and his business partner are in the process of starting up their own music/dvd trading sight. they want us to be the "store" of the sight. can you say:...............

buh bye ebay half.com. your loss

[XtreO]

[/i]"...we may limit, suspend, or terminate our service and user accounts, prohibit access to our website, remove hosted content, and take technical and legal steps to keep users off the Site if we think that they are creating problems, possible legal liabilities, or acting inconsistently with the letter or spirit of our policies."[i]

...this gives them the right to do whatever they want with any account. And do you really think big a establishment like eBay/half will care for the loss? They have plenty of millions of others, and more every day, even with a big seller like your company gone.

[NOLA Bass]

Unbelievable! First off, customer service has gone to crap. I was just at the grocery and walked all over looking for one of the little baskets you carry. I couldn't find them anywhere. I asked 2 clerks who had no idea. Are you kidding me???

Meanwhile, I've had some issues with ebay sellers, complained to ebay (I bought a DVD that turned out to be a burned copy with a photocopied cover. I filed a complaint - nothing. All the negs on the seller were for the same thing and his response to me was that it worked fine! What a bunch of jokers!

[syciprider]

Originally Posted by tplyons

Sounds about right, which is why I very seldom use eBay anymore. More for buying, not selling. They're not getting a cent of my money.

When you buy within eBay you're still supporting them with your money.

[Stumbo]

Originally Posted by davetakis

The CD Warehouse paperwork
appears to be purchase orders from your company. We need the
manufactures invoice, manufactures sales receipt, or the manufacturers bill of laiding to continue with your appeal.

....99% of the time, the person/organization selling TO us does not issue us a receipt for what we buy from them.

Issuing purchase receipts is not the same as getting a sales invoice from the seller(as you know).

I suggest that you change the name of your purchase receipt to sales invoice. Have the person you're buying from fill it out. Maybe that will work.

See if you can call some of your biggest clients and have them issue you a sales invoice that matches your purchase receipts.

Since you have so much inventory, it's worth a shot.

[Skeletomania]

Originally Posted by casualmadness

Customer service?! What's that?!?! This is USA. No such thing as customer service here anymore.

Well, that's because all customer services had gone to India.

[tplyons]

Originally Posted by syciprider

When you buy within eBay you're still supporting them with your money.

Not my money, the seller's money.

Unfortunately, there are just things I can't find anywhere else, leaving me with eBay as a last ditch effort.

[davetakis]

i agree with what everyone has said. problem is, we have been operating this way for 10 years almost within half.com. why is it a problem now.?.

basically, ebay/half.com has now become a really bad company to deal with. no customer service, no way to contact anyone if you have a problem, no one cares. i hope that it is only a matter of time before someone comes up with a better mousetrap and forces ebay out of business. i for one will never buy or sell anything on there again. i am closing my personal accounts today. i encourage you all to do the same. when a company gets that big and no longer cares about the customers, time to take them down a notch and go somewhere else.

[davetakis]

Dear Andrew,

Thank you for writing Half.com regarding your suspension.

As Half.com grows and expands it reach to additional venues it is
increasingly important to assure that we are not in violation of
copyright and distrubution rights.

We are uncomfortable that you would regularly make bulk purchases of 40k in product but do not obtain purchase receipts. Please review your
records as we are sure you must be obtaining some sort of record for tax and accounting purposes.

If you can not provide any documentation showing legitimate acquisition
of products recently released to the public for sale we will continue to keep your account suspended.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,
Nikolai