Tent Purchase Gone Horribly Wrong

[wolverine3285]

Hi, 

We purchased a 6m bell tent at the end of February on eBay from a private seller who stated the tent was only 'one season old and needed a clean'. The pictures showed no serious or visible marks, we accepted that a used tent was not going to be perfect. The seller agreed to let us use our own courier to collect the tent. After patiently waiting a considerable amount of time for the seller to ready the tent, we eventually got the tent a couple of weeks ago. Due to the size of the tent we were unable to get it out of the bag until time to pitch. We went to pitch it at the weekend and the tent was packed away wet and it is black with mould and smells. I contacted the seller who said she told us it needed professional cleaning (she didn't, I have checked) and that it will be as good as new one cleaned; she proceeded to send over the details of a cleaning firm. I raised a case with eBay straight away but they have just closed it today as it isn't covered by their moneyback guarantee (I sort of expected this). The seller has basically admitted via messages that she knew the tent was in this condition when she sent it. I contacted the firm who she recommended and they have said the tent is ruined and unlikely to ever be clean (she kindly emailed me too). Fortunately, I paid with a credit card and have now started the procedure to claim back my money. I suppose I am asking, what are my chances? Also, will I have to pay to return the tent to them as I organised it? I have attached a picture of the condition for context.

[plpmr]

"now started the procedure to claim back my money."

started with who?

A PayPal case  you pay the return costs or your payment provider, they will tell you who pays the return cost.

[barry.110]

Seeing as they mentioned paying with their credit card I would imagine they are claiming through their credit card provider.

[m25jet]

Although this advice won't be of any help in relation to the transaction you posted about, it would be well worth remembering for the future, especially with any Collection In Person Only items.

When you purchase an item on eBay that states "Collection In Person Only" on the listing, don't rely on asking somebody else to do all the donkey work for you so that you can just sit back and let the courier collect the item on your behalf.  Make your own arrangements with the seller to collect the item in person, and ask him/her if you can pay via cash on collection.  That way when you arrive to collect the item you can ask to see it first of all, and if you then find faults with the item, whether it's got black mould on it, smells absolutely rank, has ripped canvas or bent tent poles, etc, you can just tell the seller "I've changed my mind - I'm not paying good money for something in that bad a condition" and walk away with your money still in your wallet.  That way all you've lost is the money paid in fuel costs to drive to the seller's address and you won't need to open an eBay case in order to try and get your money back, as you never parted with it in the first place.

At the end of the day the bottom line is always collect your own items - don't get somebody else to do it for you.  Another person may not be as thorough as you with regards to inspecting an item for potential faults before paying for the item, or worse still, they may not bother to check it at all and could end up just lobbing it in the back of the van after collecting and paying for it, in which case you're at a higher risk of finding yourself in the same kind of situation that prompted you to start this thread in the first place.