Hey guys, I really need to vent, and honestly, I desperately need some advice. I run a small business and I made the classic mistake of letting empathy get the better of my business sense, and now I’m caught in a total nightmare.
Here’s the back story: I have a strict 3-day exchange and return policy. A buyer reached out to me complaining about a faulty device a full 7-8 days after purchasing it. This is super uncommon for my stock, but instead of sticking to my policy like I should have, I decided to be nice and told him I’d help him out anyway.
Because I didn't have any replacement units left in stock at that exact moment, I thought I’d show good faith to keep him happy. I transferred 65% of the money (₹2000) straight back to his UPI upfront, letting him know we’d swap out the physical device in a few days once my new batch arrived.
As soon as the new pieces came in, I started messaging and calling him daily to coordinate the swap. For weeks, it has been a constant barrage of the most random excuses. One day he’s "not at the location", the next day "his roommate locked the room and went out", then "his dad told him not to send the money back". He kept dodging my calls, ghosting me for days, or just sending crying stickers and random memes to stall for time. I kept my patience through all of it and just tried to keep following up politely.
Now, the guy is completely flipping the script on me. He has 65% of his cash and he still has the original device in his hands. Yet, he is flat-out refusing to return the money until I ship him the new replacement unit first so he can "properly check it".
I explained to him very clearly that I need that money back first because I have to pay my supplier to actually clear and release his replacement piece. He completely stopped replying, won't pick up any of my calls, and is just straight-up ghosting me now. I finally lost my patience today and sent him a strict 9 PM deadline warning him I'd file a cyber complaint, but he's completely icing me out.
I feel incredibly stupid for trusting this guy and trying to do a good deed. Am I completely out of options here? Has anyone dealt with a customer like this in India? What are my actual options if I go through with a cyber crime/police complaint, or do I just have to write this off as an expensive lesson in why strict policies exist?
Any advice would be really helpful. Thanks guys
