item never worked & refund has yet to arrive - options?

[albafragfan]

Hi there,

I received a new item of exercise equipment that could never work, and the seller didn't want the item back but offered a refund at the beginning of December. My bank statement showed no refund, and the seller has offered a refund once again. The time for complaining has elapsed, meanwhile, and I'm not sure what my position is now.

Please note, I don't use PayPal and paid by debit card instead. Am I banjaxed?

[john1297576]

Unless you gave the seller your Debit Card details on line or over the phone then you did use paypal, as someone has to process card payments. The average seller does not have the ability to take card payments.

Therfore you never had the chance of using the Money back Guarantee which requires payment by paypal. You have to open a case with Paypal, and if seller wants item back you have to pay the return postage.

NEVER rely on Promises or do things YOUR WAY, it doesn't work, only using the proper tools can the seller be forced to deal wth problems.

[arkwebus]

There is absolutely no point in "contacting CS".  You do not need to.  You open a case in the resolution centre [link below] and escalate it after 3 business days if seller does not refund.

As I say simply now open a case with Paypal.  If by any chance CS has issued a refund then you cannot open a PP case.  If you did use a Credit Card and CS has issued a refund then it takes a while and goes back to the card.

@albafragfan 

[albafragfan]

It looks like the seller did finally send the refund to my bank account - which is great:-)

[arkwebus]

Did you actually open a case with eBay for "not as described"?  Or just some sort of do-it-yourself agreement?  If so it is a bad idea for the seller who will likely get a defect

Although you paid by card you did use Paypal who process it.  Contact them by phone and ask them to open a not as described case and escalate after 2 days and before 20.

If you actually paid only by card [unlikely unless a trade seller] then ayou are done up like a kipper.  You can use a Section 75 case if the item is over £100 but otherwise ...

@albafragfan 

[albafragfan]

I queried it with Customer Services at the time of receipt. The Customer Services person assured me that my concern had been documented and that eBay had my back, so I dealt with the seller by eBay Messages and I relied on the seller's Messaged assurance that the refund was coming. Since Customer Services don't seem to be available now, I'm not sure how to approach them over this.