We often call potential buyers before capturing authorized orders—especially when something about the order doesn’t add up. Earlier this month, one stood out as unusually confused. A quick check showed the number belongs to a one-person plumbing outfit in Humble, TX.

The call that followed was one of the most unsettling we’ve had in years. It’s hard to imagine substance abuse wasn’t involved: the buyer’s answers jumped wildly, he contradicted himself constantly, and at one point it seemed clear that he could harm himself—or others—with our products. After we repeated the same information several times, he became agitated, profane, and threatening. Once he hung up we canceled the order, voided the authorization, and sent a courteous email to explain.

That didn’t end it. He kept sending increasingly hostile emails and calling repeatedly. We asked him to stop, then blocked him. His final email read:

“How did you lose this sale, your a f**ktard that’s how. Thanks for helping. I normally don’t care but I’ll be filing complaints everywhere about you, a disgrace.”

Soon after, this appeared as a one-star review on our Google Store ratings page—where sellers, of course, can’t respond:



While frustrating at first, the review definitely provides comic relief among a long line of positive feedback. I think it reassures customers that:

1. The good reviews aren’t fake.

2. Threatening the seller isn’t a great way to get your order shipped.

What’s your scariest customer horror story this year?

Share—if you dare!

Oh, I have some doosies over the years.
Let me see what I can dig up....

David

We had a customer who left a nasty voicemail recently that threatened to report us as fraud because he never received his receipt by email or any tracking info. He claimed he went to our order status page on our website and entered his email and order number (which he received on the cart page after checking out) but it didn't show up. He also said his credit card was charged, which it was, but no product was sent. He was very upset and stated if we didn't call ASAP he would report us.

I called him using a calm professional tone and asked him what the order number was so I could look it up. I found the order and advised him that it had already shipped. After verifying his shipping and order details I find out he misspelled his email address on the order, hence he never received any email confirmation of the order or shipping details. I corrected the spelling error and resent the receipt and forwarded his tracking email.

Did I get a, oh I'm sorry from him? NOPE

Oh well, we did our part.

Patrick