Wednesday, January 29, 2014

What kind of selling site is Zibbet, anyway, Jonathan Peacock and Andrew Gray?

Let's TALK about Zibbet!
One of the reasons a huge group of us chose to join Zibbet en masse last fall was that they advertised that they automatically submitted our items to 20 million buyers via The Find.com.  A quick search the other day revealed that this advertised service was NOT being rendered.  They'd been using it as a major selling point on their "Sell" page even after owners Jonathan Peacock and Rev. Andrew Gray made the decision not to submit to the Find due to Zibbet site issues. And when confronted about that fact in their forums, the owner admitted it. Finally.

I want my money back!

I contacted Zibbet who ignored me, then  paypal, who were most sympathetic, but I learned that Paypal protection never covers services promised but not rendered even if a claim is made immediately, and that I could probably get a refund through a chargeback by my bank.  I am considering that.

I've also gotten emails from other unhappy sellers telling me about class action suits, official departments in Australia, attorneys general, lawyers and agencies here and abroad, enough to make my head spin!  Getting my $237 back could be a full time job!

Less than two months ago, I was promoting Zibbet everywhere!   Now I was thinking about making phone calls to Australia????   What?  How had it come to this?

Did so many of those of us who joined last fall just ASSUME Zibbet owners Andrew Gray and Jonathan Peacock were eager to build a huge competitive destination site with internal traffic like we did?  Were we wrong?  It's what we wanted, but did they?

Perhaps we were like the dads on the hockey team who had a kid with a spark of talent.  Dad had dreams of the NHL the kid didn't have.  Hockey camps, special foods, private instruction, weight training, ballet lessons, intensive coaching, all to turn a kid into a pro when all the kid really wanted was to have fun, hang with friends, and have something interesting to do on the weekends instead of watch t.v..

Oh, this is sad!
Maybe that's all Zibbet wanted.  And we were the hockey dads. We assumed the owners Andrew and Jonathan wanted for Zibbet what we did.

We expected more, and especially to be dealt with in a professional manner...which includes refunding unhappy customers!

From a moral perspective, it is owed us.  It's what the big boys, Etsy and Ebay, expect us individual sellers to do with our own customers even if we aren't to blame for a customer not getting what they paid for.  And we do it because it's right, it's the honest and moral thing to do.  Yes, it's the right thing to do, ethically.

But you know, from a BUSINESS perspective, it's the right thing to do, too.  It's Customer Service 101, that you work with disgruntled customers, you don't throw gasoline on a fire!  You contact them personally, try to soothe and smooth, and yes, refund if necessary.  Giving back the money to disgruntled customers asking for a refund for services promised but not rendered should be a no-brainer.

But no. 

 Bottom line, Jonathan Peacock and Rev. Andrew Gray sold me a service they weren't providing and took my money and won't give it back.  And that's why it's hard to just let it go.  Like I really, really, really would love to.  The only thread holding me to the site is my $237.  And I can sure use that money.  I could list 1,100 more items at Etsy!  And never think about Zibbet again.  Wouldn't that be loverly?  More info about ZIBBET




3 comments:

  1. Most companies would want a happy customer, not one that is going to give them bad reviews. And as a shop owner if one of my customers are unhappy with my product or something went wrong in the shipping, the first thing I would do is refund their money.

    I want to be treated like a valued customer myself and not kicked to the curb, then ridiculed while they keep my money.

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  2. This is a part time job for both of them, the owners have full time jobs elsewhere. Customer service might not be their background.

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  3. Hi Robin, I stumbled upon your blog after reading Zibbet's latest update on the "rebuild". I had a good laugh at your blog posts. Sorry! I feel for you. Honestly I do. I think you know you're not going to get your money back. Still, your energy and effort is priceless. Last year after Etsy's change in policy led to a mass hysteria cum exodus to Zibbet, I was thinking to myself, suckers. Sorry (again) you had to find out the hard way. I was part of the early wave. It was cheaper then. I gave it a few month's worth before I gave up on Zibbet - very early waay before any promise of rebuild. (it was still beta for god's sake) Btw, back then, the police dogs were already sniffing around.

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