Help with what to do when given the wrong address

[XKawaiiCutieX]

Hi,

A lady has purchased one of my bracelets that I sell for £16 which is one of my high priced items on my shop (this item takes a lot of time to make and is done with swarovski crystals which I know all jewellery sellers on here will know they are not cheap :) ), When she purchased it she sent me a message saying she had just moved and gave me a new address, I confirmed I had posted to her new address, after about 2 weeks she contacted me to say that she had not received the bracelet, I asked her if she could wait 3 weeks with it being international it can sometimes take longer in customs I confirmed again that I had sent to the address she had emailed me and also let her know that I return address all my parcels, and that if she doesn't receive it after that time I will post her out a new one and assume its lost in transit, it has now been just over 3 weeks and she has sent me a message saying she still hasn't received it and given me her address again, only this time she has added an apartment number on it, I have not had the item returned back so I am assuming that it will have just been posted to the first apartment?? does anyone from America know if this is the case with apartments I am from the UK so don't really know how it would work, so I replace or refund?? I am really stuck here is it the buyers responsibility for there address??

[LeedsRadio]

Are you saying that she gave you a new address that was different than the address on the order?

Not including the apartment number is not going to cause a problem with delivery within the US.

[StuckOnSilver]

It may be returned to you on account of insufficient address if the apartment number is not included. I would definitely advise her that she did not include the apartment number when the item was shipped.

[BerkshireCollections]

I agree with the above. A similiar situation happened with one of my tote bags a month ago. The customer did not check to be sure the "ship to" address was correct. The USPS system had changed the address when she had entered it and she had not checked herself when she "clicked" that everything with the shipping address was correct. Eventually, the person who had received the package (not the one who had ordered) contacted me (my business card is enclosed with everything I ship). I had to pay to get that tote bag returned to me. I then had to re-ship again to the correct person. The person who ordered did not offer to pay the shipping again, even though she had the incorrect address. However, in the end she gave me a really nice review feedback. So I figured it was worth the extra 18.00 it cost me in shipping.

[LovgrenandDaughter]

I had a lady who had moved from her previous address. she had given us the previous/wrong address to ship to.

She initiated the lost mail and address change with the US post office. She eventually did receive the package but it took a few weeks. I would have replaced it at our expense just to keep a happy customer, though.

Recently, a package got lost in Germany and I replaced it and paid the extra International shipping tracking which for a pen in a box cost $56.00 just for the shipping. The lost package did come back after about a month to me. Sigh.

I feel it's easier to make a customer happy than find a new one. So, I do eat the costs if the shipping goes wrong. I would rather make a customer happy. Not only for feedback because if they/customers have a horror story - you just know everyone in their circle is going to hear about it.

"Let me tell you about how crappy an experience I had with this store on Etsy" I don't want to be on the end of that sentence. If I factor in all the time and energy worrying, thinking and going through the angst - it's easier and faster to make a new item.

[Former_Member]

Yes, things can get lost when there is no apartment number on it, but many apartment buildings have offices in which the mailman will leave packages sometimes if the number isn't on there. It is really weird that she would send her address without her apartment number, though. Has she requested a refund yet? You should call the post office in the city she is living in and see if it is there. Also advise her to check the apartment building office to see if they dropped it off. Use your tracking number to figure out which post office it went to.

[TheRusticHome]

Tell her to go check with her Apartment manager or her local post office. It might be sitting at the post office quite honestly. Or it might get sent back to you. If she gave the wrong address or an incomplete address, then quite honestly she should pay for the second shipping.

[XKawaiiCutieX]

Thanks for all the great advice :) I have sent her a message asking her if she knows where the mail might end up in her apartment if there is no apartment number on, I am still waiting to hear back from her, I will let you know how it turns out.

Richard yes she ordered the item and then sent me a message straight after with a different address asking me to post it to the address on the message not the address associated with her Etsy account, this is the address that had no apartment number that I sent it to.

I have also informed her that she never gave me an apartment number in her original message.

I have had this happen before in the UK where a customer give me completely the wrong house number and I never received the parcel back but I sent her out a replacement tracked delivery at no cost to her. If I get the item back I would see no problem with resending to the correct address and pay for the shipping to keep the customer happy and get good feedback which I am hoping will happen

[LeedsRadio]

Jackie -

Whenever someone does that right after they sent an order. I refund their money and ask them to place the order again with the correct address. An order that starts with a headache can only go downhill from there. If the person pays with PayPal and you send it to an non-verified address that isn't on the account you will certainly lose money

There are some sales not worth having.

I have never had a package lost or mis-routed doe to not having and apartment number. A friend of mine one received a letter address as

Name
Across the street from ConEd on 7th Avnue
New York NY

And it got there

[SpangGangDesigns]

I am plagued with incorrect addresses at least once or twice a month. Usually it's that the buyer only left a first name. Sometimes it is that they have moved and etsy had an old address. Other times, it was supposed to go to the recipient, not the buyer. I even had one who ordered 2 items and left a message to have them sent to 2 different addresses, but only paid shipping for one transaction. Ugh! It is so time consuming to fix all of these!