Faulty games console 7 weeks after purchase - help!

[born2surf18]

Hi,

I'm hoping someone can offer some guidance. Bought a second-hand Nintendo Switch for my daughter in mid-March. Last week it suddenly stopped working. Won't even turn on now. Tried lots of tutorial videos but nothing.

Question is: will ebay step in and help here? I messaged the seller 3 or 4 days ago and have chased but haven't heard back. I'm not saying the seller has acted fraudulently in any way, but with a fault so close to the 30 day window, it's hard to believe I have no recourse at all.

The seller has been a member since 2005 and sold over 3,000 items, so is very experienced it seems. 100% positive feedback too.

Any help greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[**peaseblossom**]

eBay only allow 30 days from date of delivery.   You may still be able to open a case and that could be enough to prompt action from the seller, but if not you won't be able to escalate it.    You could also contact your payment provider and see if they will help with a refund.

[tressygirl]

I'm afraid if 30 days have passed your item's last estimated date for delivery you are out of time to claim anything from eBay as they have a 30 day MBG,  Money Back Guarantee Policy.

You need to turn to your payment provider and try to claim a refund from there.

If purchased from a registered UK business, who offered a guarantee and is now not upholding this,  then turn to Citizens Advice for your next steps,  if you wish to take this further.

[papso22]

Ebay has to have a hard deadline for the money back guarantee, they can't have a subjective one that relies on 'being close to the 30 days', or no-one would know where they are! 

[born2surf18]

Thanks. Doesn't seem very likely I'll get anywhere with this from what you're saying. How do I go about opening a case? 

It's not a registered business as far as I can see, though if someone has sold 3,000+items on ebay...should they be set up as one?

There was no guarantee offered, no. Will try my bank.

[born2surf18]

Thank you. How do I go about opening a case? I've gone through "contact us" but can't see anything really related to my situation. Probably quite telling, unless I'm looking in the wrong place.

[tressygirl]

@born2surf18   wrote:    Thanks. Doesn't seem very likely I'll get anywhere with this from what you're saying. How do I go about opening a case? 

I think I wrote in  my post,  apologies If it wasn't clear,  but you can only open a case for item not as described within 30 days of the item's last estimated date for delivery.

If you purchased this item 7 weeks ago , you are way out of time to claim with eBay,  and you'll need to try and  turn to your payment provider now,  for help with your refund.

[jckl1957]

Find the item in your purchases and click on 'more actions'.  Then you need to choose 'return this item'.

It may say that the return window has closed.  Otherwise, you should choose the reason nearest to item is faulty or damaged.

Be aware that because more than 30 days have passed:

You may not even be able to open a return.

The seller is within their rights to refuse the return and it will close immediately.

The seller may simply not respond to the return request. You will not be able to ask Ebay to step in and the case will simply close.  (Personally, I don't think there is anything to gain from trying to open a return case now - just my view.)

If you start a case through your payment provider, any Ebay case would immediately close.

[geosacha007]

3000+ items might be a perfectly reasonable number for a private seller if they have been selling for many years. 

If they are a genuine private seller there is no warranty and no legal requirement for them to do anything to help you.  It would be pretty unreasonable for your payment provider to decide the seller is responsible for a warranty and force a refund.

If, on the other hand, they are a business seller trading illegally as a private seller then they should be responsible for the problem. 

But really, if you want any warranty past ebay's 30 day limit you should not buy from a private seller.

[m25jet]

Given that the thirty day cut-off point for opening an eBay case has already been and gone, there are only two other alternatives open to you:

If you paid for the item via PayPal then log into your PayPal account and open a case against the seller there.  Unlike eBay, who only give buyers thirty days to open a case, PayPal allow a total of one hundred and eighty days to open a case.  If you do decide to take this option be mindful of the fact that if the seller refuses to cooperate then you will need to escalate the case to PayPal before the twenty date deadline.  If you do not escalate the case within that timeframe the case will automatically close and you will not be able to open another one in relation to the same transaction.  If you did pay via PayPal it would be worth your while opening a PayPal case - PayPal look at cases in far more detail than eBay do, and you also stand a chance of getting your money refunded, despite the length of time that has passed since the date of purchase.

If you paid for the item via a credit or debit card you could try doing a chargeback to try and get your money back.  You had a maximum of one hundred and twenty days from the date of purchase to start a chargeback, so if this is how you paid for the item then try this route before the one hundred and twenty days runs out.

[born2surf18]

Bank won't do anything so will cut my losses I guess. Seems a tad unfair that's there's no recourse for such a short space of time on a high-value electrical item but lesson learnt I suppose. Thanks all for your input

[fassiphone]

Seven weeks is not "so close to the 30 day window" - it's almost a good two months! Such an inaccurate claim like that only puts you in a bad light.

[born2surf18]

Crikey - that is quite the take. Merely asking if - 3 weeks after ebay's guarantee expires - I have any recourse for an expensive games console that is now faulty through no fault of my own. Turns out I don't but thanks for your insightful input.

[thesmokingrunner]

Bit of a long-shot and I have no idea if it's worth trying to get it fixed but have you tried Googling "nintendo switch repair" (without the double quotes)?

[*knight-rider*]

`Seems a tad unfair that's there's no recourse for such a short space of time on a high-value electrical item`

It may appear that way, but this is the risk with anything secondhand, no matter what the price was, the item could last 7 weeks, but could have also lasted 7 years, it`s the risk you take with anything i`m afraid. i`ve bought items off here myself secondhand that have only lasted days or weeks, it happens, but equally, i`ve got stuff i`ve had years. A good example is actually a beautiful hi-fi system i bought off Ebay about 20 years ago for £50, which is still going strong and i still use because it`s so good, in fact the same system now sells for over £300 on here.

it`s the same old saying i`m afraid, if you want a guarantee, buy from a store 🙂