British Heart Foundation won't allow me to pick up the item from instore

[objects-of-intrigue]

So I won the auction of a book and as I live close by to the store where it is held, requested I come in to pay. They outright refused my request. I even said I'd pay for the book online, they waive the postage and I come in to collect. Again they refused.

What is this sorcery. This is literally a high street retail outfit. The reason I really requested this is because according to reviews they just throw items into a plastic bag without any padding which I have no intention of accepting.

She told me to call the manager tomorrow. I'm still flabergasted by this intransigence. What is going on in this country???

[dch2112011]

I suggest you forget all about it - you are far too wound up to make any logical sense of the issue that really does not exist 

[objects-of-intrigue]

'Only if it arrives in good condition'.

So I should expect it not to arrive in good condition? To expect the item to arrive in the same condition as bought shouldn't be an unreasonable request. Here's the rub. When I go to purchase they don't allow any 'special instructions regarding the order.  I was going to request a well protected parcel. That tab has to be turned off manually. That's what originally triggered my OP.

[tommystrezures]

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@objects-of-intrigue wrote:

So I won the auction of a book and as I live close by to the store where it is held, requested I come in to pay. They outright refused my request.........

And they were right to refuse your request as thats seen as an offsite sale by ebay and would get the BHF and yourself in trouble.

[objects-of-intrigue]

BHF have manually turned off the instructions regarding the postage tab. 

Again that has to have been turned off manually. Hardly best practice is it. And you only know that when you make the purchase.  I have never experienced that with a seller before.

I had to go through the main page and link to the product to send a message. I'm guessing they ultimately can't stop my messaging them about a product prior to postage. Not through a lack of trying.

Never experienced that before.

[objects-of-intrigue]

BHF have manually turned off the instructions regarding the postage tab. 

Again that has to have been turned off manually. Hardly best practice is it. And you only know that when you make the purchase.  I have never experienced that with a seller before.

I had to go through their main page and link to the product to send a message. I'm guessing they ultimately can't stop my messaging them about a product prior to postage. Not through a lack of trying.

Anyway I bit the bullet and paid up. Let's see if they do send it in a protected sleeve or just a plastic bag.

[zobth92]

I am the manager of a "high street" charity shop. Not the dreaded BHF so no disclosure of interest required.

Our charity has an eBay account and all items suitable for eBay sale are sent to our main warehouse. This is a very large warehouse, the size of a medium supermarket - with a tiny shop attached to it. The eBay listings and packing are done by a part-time paid employee, so will be packed during her working hours.

The shop itself will be run by usually just one volunteer, at most two at busy times. At no time will these volunteers be able to retrieve goods from the warehouse, and even if they could, if it was not during the online sales staff member's working hours, they would not even be able to locate it or take whatever steps necessary to check payment and confirm collection.

I fail to see why BHF would make it deliberately difficult for their customers to buy their goods, so presume they have a scheme similar to ours,

[1956glyn]

and that is basically what our local Charity does.   Most things are  sent to a warehouse and  listed and sent from there.

[*knight-rider*]

With respect, your making a bigger meal of this than it needs to be!

If the seller, any seller, doesn't offer collection of the item you buy, they are not obliged to give it, simple as that. They may feel they need to post it rather than you collect, as proof you actually got it because there would be nothing stopping you collecting it, then claiming non receipt and getting refunded, i'm not saying you would, but people do.

As far as the packaging goes, it's upto them to get it to you in good condition, so if it doesn't, you open a return and get refunded. I appreciate that isn't the point, but you can't control how sellers post their items, their the one's who lose out if they don't do it right 😉

[david198469]

I have also had problems only with BHF, I have thousands of positive feedback & don't usually have any problems with any sellers. I've been on eBay for decades & they have turned something very minor into a problem. I was spending four figures every month, with them on new items. This for some time. I still have items waiting to arrive & when I've asked them about the items, I'm completely ignored.

 I have been nothing but polite & nothing but reasonable, but they have decided to be as difficult as they can over 3 items I had to cancel. As I bought them on one night & got the sizes wrong. I have now been permanently banned from buying from them, which seems a gross overreaction, considering it's the only time it's happened. I asked them to reconsider but have been completely ignored since.

Had I been unreasonable or offensive I would understand but I still have to deal with them about orders that are ongoing

[david198469]

I've bought some folio society books which were new sealed & these were a good price, but we're originally about £150 each.

I collected them, in person from a local charity, cause I didn't want to risk them being damaged in the post.

No problem at all & this particular seller is always very helpful so have sold me a lot & made a lot because of their helpful & reasonable attitude.

When I started using BHF about 9 months ago, I bought many items at once & asked if it was possible for them to post all the items together. (To avoid anything getting lost in the post), which can happen when you buy/ have up to 20 parcels at once . Told them I was prepared to pay the same postage & wasn't asking or expecting a combined postage reduction.

I got sarcasm & a bit of contempt in return, just for asking politely, (though obviously just ignored).

I have been spending literally hundreds /month with them, every month, for 6 months, up to now, on new items & thought we had a symbiotic relationship.

Compared to other sellers (& especially charities), they are surprisingly not always as easy to deal with, as other large charity sellers  & even smaller charity organisations.

They seem very rigid in their rules & regulations, of what they require of the buyer & are prepared to do.

New rules seem to appear & come up, just as you go along & seem unique to them.

[david198469]

Just to add, everything bought off them was bought legitimately through eBay. Where the only difference was I collected & didn't pay the postage. I've done this hundreds of times with local sellers. Where it's bought through eBay & the fees are paid by the seller to eBay.

However I save on the postage & the seller saves on bothering to post it.

Theres no going behind eBay's back just because you collect an item.

It's all paid for through PayPal, legitimately. As long as it's won & bought through eBay, it's legitimate.

[thesmokingrunner]

Three posts in a row. You win this thread...

I'm not too sure what you point is exactly, david198469, but for a start I should think BHF have most probably blocked you, rightly in my opinion, on a "three-strikes-and-you're-out" policy. You made three purchases in one night and then cancelled them all -  just what did you expect to happen? An email from them saying "Oh that's ok, you carry on buying and cancelling as much as you want - we'd far rather waste our time on dealing with cancelled purchases than actually raise some funds"?

BHF is a charity, it has an account on eBay which is there to sell donated items. Goodness knows how many cancellation requests they receive for "accidental" purchases but I should think a 3-strikes policy is the most efficient way to deal with time wasters. You are not special, you're just someone BHF sees as being too much hard work for no return.

As for you spending "hundreds a month" (Message #30 - or is it "four figures every month" mentioned in Message #29?) I cannot help but think that you either live in a house packed to the rafters with charity shop bargains or you are buying to resell. You have posted on what appears to be a buy-only account, so I can only assume you have a selling account on which you list your bargain purchases. With a hefty mark-up, of course...

You've not so much been supporting a charity as using them in order to line your own pockets, haven't you? And now you've been blocked. You'll get no sympathy from me.