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Originally Posted by Elfwreck
If the first attempt didn't go through, then the double-purchase is likely an accidental double-click, and not Kobo's fault (although they still should not have deleted the card sale; they need customer service reps who can tell the difference between "I'm unhappy with this purchase" and "I demand a refund.")
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Well, I don't have to reiterate my opinions of any of the big bookstores her,e I'm sure. It's not like they're any secret.
And my opinion of customer service reps as a class is not exactly positive either. I'm trying to get AT&T to understand "I do not want to do business with you again. Ever." They don't seem to get the point. *sigh* What part of "die in a fire" do some of these people not get? (and don't get me started on Dell)
As far as the difference between unhappiness and refunds ... well, it's not all that easy to figure out which was involved from the emails the OP provided. Most people, if they accidentally make a double purchase, just want the extra canceled. It's kind of an "oops, I didn't mean to do that, could you make it go away?" kind of thing. So, despite my opinion of CSRs as a species, I'm not going to fault this one for believing that the OP wanted to do what everyone else in the same position does, which is cancel the spurious purchase. That's what a quick reading of the emails looked like to me. I don't think anyone here would expect to cancel the payment but keep the gift card, so I'm not all that surprised that it never crossed the CSR's mind.
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If, however, the first purchase hung in the system and didn't complete until the second one was made, then it's Kobo's fault, and they should eat the cost for the extra card.
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I do speak software, and I can't think of an easy or probable way for it to hang fire like that. And if it was in the habit of doing that, there would be a flurry of identical problems every time their CC clearinghouse glitched, or whatever else borked the original transaction, and they'd fix it. As a general rule, companies try to keep their customer service headaches to a minimum (which mostly involves trying to pretend they do not actually have customers, but that's another rant entirely). They're not going to put up with a script that generates irate customers on the phone when it should be generating sales in the bank, and I can't think of any way it's likely to be doing that anyway.
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I don't speak software; cannot imagine how one would resolve this. Good customer service would involve "oh, hell, just give her the damn card"--because as it stands, she's not likely to buy more cards in the future for other family members, and neither are they. $50 is generally within the range of costs for keeping a cluster of happy customers.
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Well, the question comes down to two things: one, is this person
really going to go away because they won't give her free money, and two, is she worth more as a customer or an ex-customer? For the former, one of those laws of retail along with "be-backs won't" is the fact that nearly everyone who takes their toys and stomps off home quietly sneaks back when they think you've forgotten them, or at least forgotten them throwing a tantrum in the middle of your store. The customers you have to worry about aren't the ones throwing fits; they're the ones who just quietly leave ... and never come back. And apparently she
did buy her mother a second $50 gift card, doubling what she had intended to pay, to smooth over the ruffled feelings generated by the double-click (which makes me surprisingly grateful for
my mother). For the latter ... well, I was kind of snarky in another thread about someone paying exorbitant costs to produce small runs of pbooks and ending up selling them below cost. Some things cost more than they bring in. A customer who demands free gift cards is likely to be in that same category: someone who doesn't earn out the investment. From the emails and posts we've seen, she impresses me as a liability.
This whole thing is more than a bit strange. The OP is clearly not a MR lurker -- if she was, she wouldn't have thought I worked for Kobo! This means she found this forum and registered specifically to complain that Kobo wouldn't let her keep a gift card without paying for it. Since people usually go to their friends, or at least distant online acquaintances, for sympathy, I can't see that as the reason for registering and posting here. I'm thinking we were supposed to be outraged, and bombard Kobo with emails demanding that the OP be given her free gift card. Which, of course, didn't happen, but the whole scenario doesn't make sense any other way. And there's the matter of the mother: why should it have been a secret how much the gift card cost? It costs the face value. If someone sends me a $50 gift card, I can be pretty sure it cost them $50. And why would both her parents be upset (to the point of her father calling her) because the card was accidentally sent twice (the double button press) and the erroneous one was canceled? And then the
mother apparently demanded both the real birthday gift and the accidental one, not being satisfied with what her daughter originally tried to give her. Seriously, do you know anyone who would do that? Then there's the whole response to my "word after greedy" thing. I dunno, Elf. Something here makes me itch.
By the way, Unicorn, we're hostile because of your situation, your posts, and your attitude. The people on MR are a very friendly and accepting bunch -- they put up with
me, for the love of Mike! You managed to get on their collective bad side. This is not an easy thing to do.