Tea Vendor Business Ethics

[bambooforest]

I have a situation with a vendor and I would like to get other people's input.

I ordered 150 grams of a tea. It came in two separate 75 gram bags.

Toward the end of the first bag I started getting more skeptical that I received the right tea. When that happened, I sent a picture of the tea to the vendor, and he told me it was the wrong tea. He subsequently offered to send me the right tea free of charge. He offered to send me 75 grams of it. I told him I thought that was very fair.

About a day later I open the other bag to see what kind of tea it was. The second bag was the correct tea. When I informed the vendor of this he rescinded on sending me a free bag saying it 'changed the situation a bit.'

I guess the vendor assumed he sent me 150 grams of the wrong tea instead of just 75 grams. However, I think rescinding on an offer to your customer is incredibly bad manners. Especially considering I have given him a lot of business in the past.

Anyways, do you think the vendor has any obligation to compensate me for sending the wrong bag of tea? If so, what should that compensation be?

I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this. Thanks.

[chingwa]

Mistakes happen and his first response sounded like the best case scenario. I'm not sure why knowing the second package was ok changed his mind...? But regardless if he said he would send you the 75gram pack then he should just honor what he originally said in my opinion. Did he elaborate on why he thinks the situation changed?

I don't think there's any real obligation here, because you did actually drink the entire first package of tea But it would be good customer service on his part (and ultimately good business practice) to send you a new package, or perhaps to credit you the value of that first package on any future purchases.

[entropyembrace]

If you order a pizza and they send the wrong one they send a new pizza with the correct toppings and you do whatever you want with the wrong pizza.

How is this different? I think the vendor should send the full quantity of the correct tea. Since half of the original order was correct sending 75g would be fine.

I probably wouldn't buy from that vendor again if that happened to me.

[ethan]

bambooforest, I think you should name the vendor. That would be a good deed helping those of us who think the vendor is at fault. I'd thank you for that while some of us who may like the vendor may run to the defence of....
I am rather amazed that people may not care about doing right & do care about losing the cost of 75 grams of tea. I had a bad expeience w/ a vendor who is respected by many of us. I mentioned her quite a bit & annoyed people by doing so.
Don't worry about no longer being a customer of that vendor. There are probably better places to buy tea. Ones w/ ethics.

[kuánglóng]

I don't believe in "shoulds" but if this were my business, you'd have given me the chance to correct a mistake and it'd be my responsibility to fulfill my part of our agreement and I'd send you the 75g you paid for - no matter what. On top of that I'd throw in a nice sample or something as a compensation for the unnecessary trouble - but maybe that's just my idea of responsibilty down to the letter.

[pedant]

I don't think there's any real obligation here, because you did actually drink the entire first package of tea

as others have said, it would be nice for the vendor to send you the replacement tea with no expectation of getting the old tea back. they shouldn't care if you drink it, throw it away, or use it as compost.
it's not like you ordered an expensive home appliance and they sent you the wrong model... in that case, i think they would be entitled to recover the item they mistakenly sent you.

i'm thinking that the vendor is maybe thinking that the situation 'changed' because you are now able to try the tea you wanted to try without him sending you more tea. maybe that's his reasoning. but i don't really agree with it.

[jayinhk]

If the offer was made, the vendor should stick to it. Highly unprofessional IMO.

[JRS22]

I think mislabeling tea is a big deal. When we order tea online we don't get a chance to see the product before purchasing and leaving the store, so the online vendor has a different obligation than a b&m vendor. I would want to do business with a vendor who considers a mistake such as this to be a very big deal. After all, there are types of tea, such as long jing, where more and less expensive variations could look similar enough to fool the customer. The vendor shouldn't want customers to think that he/she is casual about this sort of thing.

[ethan]

I think mislabeling tea is a big deal. When we order tea online we don't get a chance to see the product before purchasing and leaving the store, so the online vendor has a different obligation than a b&m vendor. I would want to do business with a vendor who considers a mistake such as this to be a very big deal. After all, there are types of tea, such as long jing, where more and less expensive variations could look similar enough to fool the customer. The vendor shouldn't want customers to think that he/she is casual about this sort of thing.

The vendor remains unnamed. Thus, the only threat is the loss of bamboofest's business. Anonymity has no reputation.

[William]

Anonymity has no reputation.

Wise words ..