Rant - Not Home Ed Related

I've spent my whole day dealing with an absolute nutcase. Same woman I referred to in an earlier post, who was aggressive towards us despite having received replacements for the ebay items royal mail helpfully lost. She left us negative feedback and yet another rude email. A day later, I left similar for her (the feedback, not the rude email). This morning I get an email from her demanding proof of postage of the original package so that she can report us for fraud. Huh? I can just see it now.

Chief Super: "Right lads, cancel all leave. This is a biggie. What have we got so far?"
Detective: "Well, this lovely lady is claiming fraud against a nasty old ebay seller."
Chief Super: "Ebay, eh? Will customers never learn? So, she ordered something from the seller and it didn't arrive, right?"
Detective: "That's right, it didn't get there. The seller sent immediate replacements though, and said the originals must have been lost by royal mail."
Chief Super: "Oh yes, a likely story. So this poor woman has never received anything at all."
Detective: "Er, no, she received the replacements. Immediately."
Cheif Super: "I see - and she's been charged twice for them, has she? Ebay b*stards! Let's get 'em!"
Detective: "Er, no sir. She was only charged once."
Chief Super: "So, let's get this straight. She's got the goods?"
Detective: "Yes."
Chief Super: "She's happy with the goods - they weren't misrepresented?"
Detective: "She's on record as saying they were "very effective"."
Chief Super: "And she hasn't lost any money over it?"
Detective: "No, sir. Although the seller has lost a set of CDs."
Chief Super: "So......what are we investigating again?"
Detective: "I dunno sir, I was hoping you could explain that. Can I get back to my tea break now?"

Shheesssh. She was defrauded *how*, exactly? If anyone's been defrauded here, it's us. We only have her word for it that she didn't receive both sets of items. She's neither out of pocket, nor missing the goods she paid for, and she's stated that she's perfectly happy with the actual goods. And the problem here is?? We don't have proof of postage - it's not logistically possible to obtain a proof of posting certificate for every package we send, or to send everything by recorded delivery. We rely on the customer's goodwill and honesty when royal mail lose things, and customers rely on our goodwill and honesty in sending immediate replacements. Which we do. And did in this case.

So, on learning that we don't have any proof of postage to provide her with, she's now sent a threatening email saying she's going to report us to inland revenue for not having proper business records. What the f*ck is this woman on????? Did I miss the law that was passed there? Was I asleep when they made proof of posting certificates a legal requirement?

She quite clearly doesn't understand what fraud is. She quite clearly doesn't understand the difference between a proof of posting certificate and a receipt for postage paid. As it happens, we have a franking machine, which tops up automatically by direct debit, so *of course* we have a full record of postage paid out for accounts purposes. Which has absolutely ZERO to do with a proof of posting certificate for one particular item. She quite clearly doesn't understand how to communicate politely. The woman is, quite clearly, a bozo. I've told her that I'm passing her increasingly bizarre comments on to our solicitors in the morning and that she needs to stop harrassing us. She doesn't even understand what she's complaining about, she's just patently unbalanced.

But what upets me most is not this half wit and her ramblings. What upsets me, with hindsight, is that I've let it get to me, again. And have spent the day fuming over it and wording and re-wording emails instead of just dumping her and her hangups in the bin where they belong. Why do we let this kind of moron ruin a day???

You know, I used to work as Duty Manager in one of the largest hotels on the Heathrow strip. It was my job, back then, to take all kinds of rubbish on the chin, to placate often exceptionally irate and sometimes physically aggressive guests and to generally deal with all the yukky stuff nobody else wanted to deal with. To tread the fine line between pleasing the guest, upholding the hotel's reputation and not inducing heart attacks in the accountants. And I was pretty good at it too. Even enjoyed it. After a hard shift of endless icky situations, I could just kick off my shoes and relax. It didn't bother me. But now? All this customer aggression is so much more horribly personal. :-(