Seller Resisting Return - not giving up.

[jma2815]

I’ve mentioned this on other threads as I had a ‘feeling’ about it. After years of happy buying, selling and chatting on here it seems I have for the first time come across a bad apple of a seller. 

Seller sent me a designer garment (I collect one particular, now defunct brand) which to my surprise I could see immediately was a studio sample that had been mutilated to prevent resale - with filthy old labels from a completely different garment tacked over the damage (also collar covered in undisclosed makeup stains but in the circumstances that hardly matters). 

I submitted a not as described return request stating the above which the seller replied to, telling me that a return would ‘simply’ not be entertained and that they would appreciate it if I would get eBay to sort it out.  Can’t be any clearer than that, can you! Being of the opinion that messaging us usually pointless I have had no other contact with the seller. 

Three days on - I escalated the case and received a ‘closed in my favour’ with a return label within minutes. This morning I got an angry message from the seller saying how dare I continue with this, never had a return before etc, ending with a request for me to send the parcel to a different address in a town about 50 miles away to the one eBay have on file as that’s an old address. 

Now I’m not stupid. I’m obviously not going to do that and I know that the return will be logged automatically once the parcel is tracked as delivered. 

What I don’t want to happen, given the way this is panning out - is for the seller to claim that I somehow damaged or sent a different item to the one I was supplied with, thereby getting a courtesy refund or being given the opportunity to reduce or stop my refund.  The amount paid was £375.00

My question is, will the seller be given any control over the refund once it arrives back and is it worth reporting these concerns re: being asked to send to a different address, continued resistance to accepting the return - to ebay before sending the parcel? 

Thank you for reading! 

[jma2815]

Thank you. I think you’ve hit the nail on the head about my seller being someone who can usually deal with life by just dismissing anyone who displeases them. (It is a privileged person, I just couldn’t think of the word before!) The replies to the case and the forced return were very supercilious. 

I have done everything by the book so far, have told no untruths and intend to return the item as I found it, on Monday.  I fully expect non compliance of some kind with the refund or a claim that I damaged/replaced the item. It is stressful not being sure how it will go at each stage. 

[jma2815]

I left negative feedback a couple of hours ago. ‘Disappointing transaction’. 

The other (positive) feedbacks I left tonight are all there but this one is gone and they have 100% positive feedback. Not a surprise, honestly. The seller is someone influential. 

[department28]

It would be interesting to know on what grounds they were able to get your feedback removed. Maybe it is because the INAD case is still open? Is it possible to re-submit feedback after a case is closed? Perhaps someone who has had a similar experience would be able to clarify this.

They certainly didn't waste any time getting it removed, did they?!

[jma2815]

It was late at night so it did occur to me that it might be an automatic thing because the return hasn’t been processed - but then if I changed my mind now it would never be.

The button was available and the case said ‘closed’ so I thought I’d just do it with the other feedbacks. Perhaps the seller never even saw it. Or is ‘immune’ somehow…surely getting it removed by CS so quickly and so late at night is unlikely, especially since I don’t think it broke any rules and I had to escalate to get the return approved. 

I’ve read many posts by buyers who have had feedback removed and never realised how belittling it feels!. 

The parcel goes back on Monday, then eBay is over for me, it was fun but its gone downhill really badly in my category since ‘free to sell’ came in. 

[sml192]

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@jma2815 wrote:

The button was available and the case said ‘closed’ so I thought I’d just do it with the other feedbacks.

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If you are still in the process of returning the item then why does the case say 'closed'?

Always best to wait for any case to be dealt with before leaving feedback. It won't be possible to resubmit the feedback now. 

[sml192]

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@myriad*seller wrote:

If they only sell one item at a time they probably don't even qualify as a seller who can make deductions from the refund, so you should just be given an auto refund as soon as tracking shows delivered or delivery attempted/parcel refused. 

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Only business sellers can make deductions from the refund following return. 

[jma2815]

I don’t know but I think you’re right about what must have happened.  The email says we have reviewed….etc and closed the case in your favour’. I must have misunderstood the use lf the word ‘closed’? There was a label with it to be used before 21 February.

I thought that nothing more was to be done case wise other than return it for an automated refund, and that as the facility to do so was there it was an OK time to leave feedback. I’ve never left a negative or escalated a NAD. We live and learn! 

In my purchases the status now says ‘This return was escalated to customer service’. 

[vintique*violet]

If it was closed in your favour, do you have a message saying that  the refund being processed and you may keep the item or something along those lines? 

The " return was escalated to customer service" could mean the the seller has appealed their decision so that the case is looked at again? 

Not entirely convinced this is what is happening but it could be? 

[jma2815]

No message saying anything about a refund, just the ‘closed in your favour’ one that came with the return label. Then a message from the seller asking me to send it to a different address and the instantly disappearing feedback. 

I can get it to the post office tomorrow and I hope that means the end is in sight. I think you’re right that the seller probably has appealed the decision already  - although I don’t get why its so important to refuse this return. Whatever state its in now is the same state it was sent in so why not just describe it accurately, learn how to use ebay (and treat buyers), and resell it?

I suspect its because there’s no way it would sell again for anywhere near £375 with an accurate description of its condition. Especially as it was sold two days before payment holds and buyer fees were brought in, although as I’ve said, I doubt the money is needed. 

[jma2815]

Back to report that I returned the item using the label provided through the case (the otherwise totally uncommunicative seller had messaged, on seeing the escalated case, asking me to send it to another address, which of course I did not) and I was refunded by Klarna (I use Klarna to pay in full purely because I shop with a debit card) within an hour of it being delivered. The payment cleared the same day and my bank account shows no pending transactions. However….

That was a week ago tomorrow, I have had no email from eBay and in ‘purchase history’ the case is still showing as ‘pending, escalated to customer services, we’ll be in touch within 48 hours’.  Could there be a reason for this or is it just ‘stuck’? 

Should I do anything? Having a pending case for so long (even though I’ve been refunded) is quite unsettling.