Refund petrol costs

[lisaowe]

Hope someone can help, we are an internet retailer and recently posted out a small parcel to a customer, took it to our local post office, had it weighed and sized by the post mistress who then printed off the supposedly correct postage. A few days later the customer contacted us to inform us that he had to collect from his local sorting office as the parcel had insufficient postage applied, costing him and additional £1.10, we refunded the £1.10 to him as he provided proof of this via a photo sent via email, however he is now trying to claim £2.25 petrol costs, 32p costs for sending a letter to Trading standards regarding the refund for petrol and also another 32p for then forwarding his and Trading standards letter on to us and if we did not pay these 'out of pocket expenses' he would take us to a small claims court out of principal. I know this amount is very small, however his attitude is appalling, so we decided to send a letter back to him stating that we are prepared to refund these costs providing he send us receipts/documentation of proof of costs as he is trying to claim the 40p mile, can he actually do this??? He has since emailed us and basically his email said that we should not 'push him much more' as he will also charge us for his time. Any ideas what we should do???

 

[LicensedToTrade]

Just send him everything he has asked for. It really is such a small amount that principles shouldn't come into it. If you want to play with him a little then send the money in the form of a bag of 1p coins with a polite letter attached.

But honestly for the sake of a fiver, can you really be bothered with the hassle. Just send him the money and make it clear in the letter that you do not acknowledge responsibility for these additional costs but as a gesture of good will you have decided to pay them. Wish him all the best and then block his IP from visiting your site.

 

[arcon5]

ahaha

As LicensedToTrade said... fork out a few quid and send the bag of pennys. It would be worth it.

 

[Scott-Copywriter]

Hope someone can help, we are an internet retailer and recently posted out a small parcel to a customer, took it to our local post office, had it weighed and sized by the post mistress who then printed off the supposedly correct postage. A few days later the customer contacted us to inform us that he had to collect from his local sorting office as the parcel had insufficient postage applied, costing him and additional £1.10, we refunded the £1.10 to him as he provided proof of this via a photo sent via email, however he is now trying to claim £2.25 petrol costs, 32p costs for sending a letter to Trading standards regarding the refund for petrol and also another 32p for then forwarding his and Trading standards letter on to us and if we did not pay these 'out of pocket expenses' he would take us to a small claims court out of principal. I know this amount is very small, however his attitude is appalling, so we decided to send a letter back to him stating that we are prepared to refund these costs providing he send us receipts/documentation of proof of costs as he is trying to claim the 40p mile, can he actually do this??? He has since emailed us and basically his email said that we should not 'push him much more' as he will also charge us for his time. Any ideas what we should do???

Tell him that you'll send him the costs of £2.89 total in a padded envelope via special delivery, but you will have to deduct your out of pocket postage expenses for doing it, and then send him a penny.

Or, send him the money as a cheque so he needs to use up even more petrol taking it to the bank.

There are some truly awful people out there. I'd suspect someone who threatens you with small claims court over 3 quid probably has some unpleasant personality flaws.

 

[IANL]

I agree that he is taking the piss but I would send him the money along with a covering letter. In fact send him a fiver.

He can do more damage bad mouthing you (that fiver won't go anywhere close to reapairing any damage.)

You have to be pragmatic. You have just found one those people that will spend time and money because they have nothing better to do.

The payment you make to him is a goodwill payment.

Send it via recorded delivery and as a cheque. It will cost him time to take it to his bank ( which you will not accept any liability for any associated costs )


Smile when you write the cheque and post it and then move on.

He sounds like a right t***er

 

[dataferret]

Don't pay him even a penny. Tell him you do not acknowledge responsibility and he has had everything he is going to get from you. He is a chancer. He will not take it to the small claims court of such a small amount and it is not as if you want his custom again. Politely decline to meet his demands and tell him to go forth and multiply with himself.

 

[Drpepper]

Or..... if your Ltd close the business and start again under another Ltd company

 

[smo]

Tell him to do one!

He wouldnt win in small claims, certainly not with "time" and crap like that, they take a dim view of idiots wasting their time for things like this.

The only way you should pay is by taking his address, that of the sorting office or whatever and then calculate the mileage value from that. You shouldnt pay his postage, stamp, paper/ink etc costs for writing letters to trading standards, he did that out of choice and thus isnt an expense you should pay.

Actually i revert to point 1, tell him to do one!

 

[IANL]

Don't pay him even a penny. Tell him you do not acknowledge responsibility and he has had everything he is going to get from you. He is a chancer. He will not take it to the small claims court of such a small amount and it is not as if you want his custom again. Politely decline to meet his demands and tell him to go forth and multiply with himself.

Whilst I echo these sentiments - we do not know what the OP's business and what damage this person could attempt to inflict, by the what of bad reviews etc.


If the likelyhood of any damage is not there tell him that you have made a payment if the customer feels that strongly then by all means take it to the local court. It will cost him a few £10's of pounds to do so. If he does than make him an out of court offer of £ 5.00 to settle this once and for all. If he goes to court to try and win his costs I think a judge might look on this as a vextatious claim and strike it out. I am not a lawyer.

My view is still to pay him a £ 5.00 (depending what the sale value was of course)

He's still a complete t***er whatever you do/

 

[Dress4Less]

I agree with the last post customers can be so annoying pay him up the small amount of money he is asking for move on and forget about this idiot.

 

[arcon5]

you could donate £5 to a charity then send him one of those 'a donation has been made in your name' cards..

 

[lisaowe]

Thanks for all the comments, I have now sent a cheque, so he will need to travel to the bank to pay it in HAHA, also a polite covering letter asking that he now sends a receipt as proof of payment for our records.

 

[An Oasis]

Hope someone can help, we are an internet retailer and recently posted out a small parcel to a customer, took it to our local post office, had it weighed and sized by the post mistress who then printed off the supposedly correct postage. A few days later the customer contacted us to inform us that he had to collect from his local sorting office as the parcel had insufficient postage applied, costing him and additional £1.10, we refunded the £1.10 to him as he provided proof of this via a photo sent via email, however he is now trying to claim £2.25 petrol costs, 32p costs for sending a letter to Trading standards regarding the refund for petrol and also another 32p for then forwarding his and Trading standards letter on to us and if we did not pay these 'out of pocket expenses' he would take us to a small claims court out of principal. I know this amount is very small, however his attitude is appalling, so we decided to send a letter back to him stating that we are prepared to refund these costs providing he send us receipts/documentation of proof of costs as he is trying to claim the 40p mile, can he actually do this??? He has since emailed us and basically his email said that we should not 'push him much more' as he will also charge us for his time. Any ideas what we should do???

So you are culpable on behalf of the Post Office? I'm f**ckin stunned I've read some wonky crap on UKBF but you must be Poddles sister. And as for the replies oh dear...

 

[saxondale]

Thanks for all the comments, I have now sent a cheque, so he will need to travel to the bank to pay it in HAHA, also a polite covering letter asking that he now sends a receipt as proof of payment for our records.

so now he will send you something nasty back because you just had to poke him. How many times it`s business it`s not personal.



best advice was do nothing, zero, zilch.


when he replies, file it and forget about it.

 

[IANL]

So you are culpable on behalf of the Post Office? I'm f**ckin stunned I've read some wonky crap on UKBF but you must be Poddles sister. And as for the replies oh dear...

As the supplier you should deliver the goods to the customer, the post office is acting as your agent. Yes you are liable to get the goods to the customer. If he had called and said I have not received them then you would have to re-send themat your cost and then have to claim for lost goods from the royal mail.

Customer Service does not cost you a penny. It wins you business. You must know that being in the events business

 

[SneakSMS]

Thanks for all the comments, I have now sent a cheque, so he will need to travel to the bank to pay it in HAHA, also a polite covering letter asking that he now sends a receipt as proof of payment for our records.

Seriously?! I'd, at most, have told him politely to do one. All this is going to achieve is antagonising him further and to make you look a total fool.

And to quote you from another thread:

I also have a shop/showroom, warehouse, staff etc

Yet you're not grown up enough to deal with this professionally?

 

[popunder]

Don't forget to put his details on the "bad customer" database mentioned in an earlier thread!

 

[LicensedToTrade]

Don't forget to put his details on the "bad customer" database mentioned in an earlier thread!

What you mean add him to the illegal database that goes against data protection laws? Yeh good idea.

 

[IANL]

What you mean add him to the illegal database that goes against data protection laws? Yeh good idea.

Let alone a possible defamation of character action. There are always two sides to every story

 

[LicensedToTrade]

Let alone a possible defamation of character action. There are always two sides to every story

I think you made the mistake of overlooking the sarcasm in my post. I was suggesting it might be a bad idea...as such I described it as an illegal database.

 

[IANL]

I think you made the mistake of overlooking the sarcasm in my post. I was suggesting it might be a bad idea...as such I described it as an illegal database.

Sorry you misunderstood me. I saw the sarcasm. Just adding to your comment about the previous post that you were commenting on. Referring to your post but commenting on previous.

 

[Scott-Copywriter]

And this is why we should never attempt to use sarcasm on the web. Lesson learned.