Spin bike not as photos described

[martilowd-0]

Hi, just recently purchased a spin bike for my wife . There were cheaper ones ,but I thought I'd get a decent one . 270 pounds . It arrived, I built it sat on it and the handles were lob sided , was noisy and felt flimsy and cheap. Repackaged it and requested a return. It was accepted. I've had to pay over 40 pounds return postage. Not heard anything yet as it was 2 days ago . The seller has a few bad reviews. There was also decrepancys in the images shown . Different pedals and bottle which I can cope with . But most of all, the welding was showing on all the joints and not on the images. Further into investigation, I've seen cheaper bikes with this build but with different brand names stuck to them .

[red_magpie · Accepted solution]

If the replies you've received don't answer your question, please ask again and give more information.

What counts is when and how you paid, exactly when you received the bike, and how you progressed your return, i.e. whether you opened a return request or a money back guarantee case through the resolution centre, and when. Also it helps to know whether the seller is in the UK or abroad (sometimes the product may be sold as UK stock, but the seller may be in China).

Without essential factual information about the transaction it's so hard for people here to advise you correctly.

[martilowd-0 · Accepted solution]

Thanks everyone. I opened a return within an hour of receiving it. Tracked delivery picked it up the next day ( friday) if I have any problems on them paying me back (PayPal by the way) should I inform ebay it was different to the one advertised.

[rusticrye]

Returns for faulty, damaged, and not-as-described items are at the seller's expense. So it seems that you went down the DIY route instead of using Ebay's returns system as you should have done.  So that you know what to do in future, read Ebay's Money Back Guarantee. It's on every listing, in various other places across the site, and on your order confirmation.

You haven't provided any dates. If you're within 30 days of the delivery estimate on the order, and have tracking to prove delivery, open an Ebay Not-as-described case (not a return request as you have nothing to return), and enter the tracking number into it.  Once it shows delivery or attempted delivery back to the seller's Ebay-registered address, the whole of your original payment will be refunded. 

If you're out of time to open an Ebay case, and have tracking to prove delivery, open one in PayPal if that's how you paid, or with your card provider.

Ebay, PayPal, or any payment processor, can't help you get the return cost back.  If the seller won't refund it voluntarily, and is in the UK, go to the CAB's website to learn what to do via the legal route.

The time to check feedback is before you buy, not afterwards. That's what it's there for.

Last but not least, you only shipped the bike back on Friday, you say.  Most carriers don't work at weekends, and the seller is unlikely to receive it back for at least a week under current circumstances, so do bear that in mind.

@martilowd-0 

[m25jet]

When the seller accepted your request to return the spin bike for a refund did you return it via a fully tracked and signed for postal service?  It's worth bearing in mind that the Royal Mail is currently trying to deal with a backlog of post caused by the usual Christmas rush of post, not to mention the fact that the backlog has also been exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, resulting in staff shortages and longer delivery times, so it may well pay to be patient to begin with.

With regards to securing a refund for the item you'll need tracking details that prove beyond all reasonable doubt that attempted or successful delivery of the item back to the seller's address has been made.  If you can prove that delivery of the spin bike back to the seller has been attempted, or better still, that the spin bike has been successful delivered back to the seller's address, then if he/she refuses to refund your money escalate the case to eBay and they will refund your money in full.  If, on the other hand, you returned the item via a means of postage that provides you with no tracking details whatsoever then the absence of any tracking information would mean that you wouldn't be able to get a refund of the money that you paid for the item, as you need to prove attempted or successful delivery of the item back to the seller's address in order to secure a forced refund via eBay if the seller refuses to refund your money voluntarily.

If you decice to buy a replacement spin bike for wife then I would suggest that the best option would be to wait until the situation with regards to the coronavirus pandemic has improved to the point whereby the current restrictions have been eased and non-essential stores have been allowed to resume trading again.  Once that happens go shopping for a spin bike somewhere where you can actually walk into the store and see the item first-hand before you even make a decision as to whether or not to purchase it.  If you were to purchase the spin bike that way then not only would you stand a better chance of getting a decent item but it should also come with a guarantee on it, in which case if the item became faulty before the guarantee ran out you could return it for repair, replacement or a refund.  Given that eBay don't deal with guarantees this is one advantage of buying the item in the shops having seen it first-hand to begin with, as opposed to buying it on eBay and going on the strength of a handful of photographs and the description of the item in the listing.

[roger_roger_over_and_nowt]

You didn't have to pay the return cost as it was not as described.

I'm taking it you opened a case to return the item and didn't just go on the sellers word ?.

Sounds to me like it was a cheaply made copy.