Mostly ranting here (and not naming names, so it isn’t even particularly sexy), so feel free to ignore:
So, in addition to PDF and direct-to-consumer stuff, I’ve done some direct-to-retailer shipping for larger stores.
A while back, one such vendor (again, not naming names) placed some orders with me — but insisted that I send them via media mail, so that it would be a cheaper rate. I do not like doing this, as media mail is non-trackable, but I went ahead and did so.
I think you can see where this is going — sure enough, after a couple of orders, the vendor now claims that his most recent order (only about $300 wholesale) never arrived. My printer tells me they shipped it, and gave me the date it was sent, etc. — but of course, since it went out via media mail, I cannot do any tracking whatsoever…. and now this vendor is huffing and puffing about “putting me on the list” and how he has “no problem letting 25,000 people know” that I’ve supposedly ripped him off.
I know, I know — first and most obvious answer: Refund or Re-ship. But I have to tell you: the fact that the vendor *insisted* on a non-trackable ship method, and then claims that he never got it? More than a little bit fishy, to me. I mean, I know that a $300 scam wouldn’t exactly make him The Napoleon of Crime…. but given the ranting threat of public humiliation, I don’t exactly rule it out, either.
It’s times like these that I wish that I worked in a business that had a few less…..”special” individuals in it.