from her:

"hi there, can i check if u can reduce the postage to $2 bucks for re-post of my lost mail? i guess it's mainly to cover the 2nd item posted. Coz it's really not my fault that the postman lost it either. N it's always better to have a repeat customer rather than to waste additional efforts to acquire one, because of trivial issues as such.Hope u see where i'm coming from. Thanks."

from me:

"Hi babe we're already absorbing part of the losses by offering a replacement piece for a top up of $4. it is inclusive of your postage too.

Pls note that we are not making additional profits by requesting u to top up the $4, in fact, we're already making a loss on your case. in addition we have clearly stated in our TnC and invoice that we are not responsible for lost mails.

In the first place, it is not fair to us as sellers to absorb the loss for lost mails since the buyer has opted for normal postage and chose to take a risk. Its precisely that we would like to retain u as a customer and hence we still offer a replacement piece to u for a bit more of a top up even though we're taking in some loss from that act.

Other blogshop owners(we keep in contact with some of the LJ owners) do not even bother to offer a replacement piece since its a loss to them.

We hope u'll understand. Thanks! :)

Tinkerspella"

from her:

"Hi there,

yes i agree that from a business perspective, u wont need to give a hoot abt lost unregistered mails.However, i had sent u and email almost immediately saying that that u should address it to jade lee, rather than lee ling.

Or else my company's courier man wont route it to me. But u had already mailed it without even confirming if the name was correct. U may have missed out that the fact that the address is a registered company and not a home address. And logically, nobody in a company would know what ur nickname is, unless the courier man is ur best friend, that is.

As much as we hope to believe that singpost has most likely delivered it to somewhere else. I think u need to factor wrong naming as a mistake on ur side.I would like to give u the beneifit of doubt that u have even put in the address correctly. Pls see that i had tried to give u some leeway and given u the benefit of the doubt initially.

But u seemingly have taken it too far. Background on my company's mail routing system: My PA always needs to bring my NRIC down to the central mailroom to collect my mail. If the name doesnt match, mailroom wont allow her to collect it. However, as additional precaution, i had gone down personally to mailroom using my authority to let them allow me to check through, in case "lee ling" mail is really stuck inside. This is to eradicate any possibility or mis-routing. Unfortunately, mailman says he did not receive any green package with "lee ling".

Apparently, it did not even reach my company at all. i think it would be more constructive if u could put urself in shoes of a consumer.I hate to bring this up but this fuss abt making a loss is just too much to bear. Is a less than $10 loss ( correct me if wrong) mean such a world to entreprenuers like u, that u can shrug off any responsibility from incorrect naming of the mail? And since u have claimed to have made a loss on the 2nd pc ( i believe u), would $4 not give better value as longterm goodwill to customer?

Do u know that afew months back, i bought the white toga dress from u, and the toga strap just tore after wearing it the 1st time? and mind u i'm a size 6 and not size 12. I brought it to the tailor to mend it and she gave the comment that the particular cotton material is not very durable and patchwork done is not very well done. I had already tried to close 1 eye. Fyi. I'm truly disappointed as this is a short term gain vs long term customer patronage issue. It might just be an ethical issue altogether.

Fyi, for lost mails that are their fault, bonito chico does refund if u are a regular/high-spending customer. . "

from me:

"Hi. For your toga dress, we're sorry that it torn after wearing once but we are not able to foreseen such cases. We did try on the clothes for the cutting and material etc and u have to agree that vivianne's material and all is ok. Its definitely not the filmsy sort of material and we already tried to refrain from bringing in lousy material. Its really hard to foresee whether the material will tear since i've bought from BC before too and their skirt torn onec after i wash it and i got my mum to mend it but i do not blame them since the skirt was alright when i received it.

Address wise is definitely correct as we always double checked before sending it out.

As for name wise, we did emailed u about it but we couldn't get a reply in time and hence we mailed it out before we leave(u do know that we'll be leaving from 11th to 15th) and if we do not mail it out u will have to wait for another 5 days..moreover we've promised that we will mail it out in the morning before we leave. In our case if the parcel did not reach your company at all then its a case of lost mail and we can't be held responsible for it.

We do try to provide good CS by replying as soon as we can when cust encounter problems(i do understand the frustration of having to wait for sellers to reply when something goes wrong and you're anxious) and try to help by calling up the post office and all and help the cust track the parcel.

We're really very upset when cust tries to push furthur for refunds or bargain in what so ever way with us and start to push the blame onto us and say we're not ethical when we had offered help and all instead of MIA-ing when its already clearly stated that we are not held responsible for it...moreover we've already stated we are not held responsible but it seems like no matter what we are still to be blamed for lost mails when the buyer choose to save $2.24 and opt for normal instead. In addition by offering a replacement piece to u with a top up we're just trying to cover our loss so it will be fair to both parties?

We forgo the profit we earned from u and don't gain, and u'll still get your piece. We would like to emphasize that we are really really not profiteering from u for the both pieces by requesting a second top up of $4.

In any case we'll just take in the top up of $2. Regarding the points u've mentioned, we just want to say that we definitely check our address and not trying to make add. profits from u..material wise we also do screening before we bring them in since we wouldn't want customers to compla

Regards,
Tinkerspella"

from her:

" have mentioned that it's always better to come from an inside-out perspective. That is to see things from a customer's point of view. If u buy sthg and have only just used it just once, knowing that it isnt ur fault that the item becomes defect after one use, anyone in the correct frame of mind would think the same way. I have moved on since until this incident happened and u become all so defensive.

Frankly, we all need to agree that ometimes trying it on and wearing it out is simply just different. The rubberized backing got looser after 1 handwash. And the material was rather sheer though it's made of cotton material. Being a manager of telco monopoly, getting supplies from vendor is just like going to the mkt to get ingredients. U cant try everything u wanna get, and u cant ensure 100% error free. Sorry about ur episode with BC but mine was quite smooth with em.

for the address: that is ur word against mine.i cant prove otherwise since i didnt receive it.I give u the benefit of doubt on that.

i dont think u emailed me about the name. I thought u should have. I was the one who instigated and reminded u abt the name. Can send u an email on that. If the parcel doesnt reach me because of the wrong name, wouldnt u be partly responsible. U may have missed out that the fact that the address is a registered company and not a home address. And logically, nobody in a company would know what ur nickname is, unless the courier man is ur buddy

I appreciate ur good CS initially but not now when u get all so worked up and defensive.

As menitioned,if the parcel doesnt reach me because of the wrong name, wouldnt u be partly responsible.Nt trying to push all the blame but just hope that u would acknowledge the name was overlooked and not be so defensive. Registered mail is itself troublesome coz although the mail can be tracked but u need to go all the way down to the PO if nobody is home. Not because i wanna save that few pennies.

I wish to stress that the main point is to get this whole episode resolved amiably by being flexible and weighing short term gains vs long term patronage. Not to get so worked up over a mere $4. That shouldnt come from entrepreneurs. Just asking for reduction coz the name was indeed overlooked.

I'm just so amused by ur defensiveness. Will email u once i IB that over."

f her.

obviously its just her fault in saving registered postage and trying to make me share the loss and she still come n lecture me on being a good entrepreneur.

I'm just so so so frustrated with all these shitty online ppl that its making me cry.

i hope she will get more lost mails in the future.


* left her thoughts here at 11:29 PM