EBay Customer No Service

[cc2143]

I had a buyer who bought a drone which was held up by Royal Mail. It did eventually arrive by which time I had refunded him. He then said he was out of the country for a month and would return my drone when he got back. He claims he sent it but there is no record of this being recorded. (I booked and paid for postage). E Bay have been somewhere short of useless.

I had a long conversation with a seemingly helpful member of staff who said I would be refunded and they would eeal with the buyer. He  then asked me to fill in a complaints form which I did. I then heard nothing so chased it up and was told that the peron I spoke to was notsure how long these things take to be dealt with but leave it with them. I waited another ten days and requested a call back and the person said they never answer compaints and as it was past the 30day I was not liable for compensation. Do e Bay train their customers service reps to give three different answers and thus waste another month of my time. I would have pursued legal action by now but eBay have been dreadful wasters.

[papso22]

You have been treated very badly by ebay CS.  On item not delivered claims, once a refund has been made ebay never gets involved with either getting the money repaid, or the item back.  I have no idea why you were told what you were except that they are notorious for telling you what you want to hear.

In these cases it is always for the seller to try and work with the buyer.

[cc2143]

I really object to the hours and weeks of my time they have wasted with their mock gratitude and platitudes. The one time I needed some advice and they had three different replies. I will try getting them to call me again to see if they give me a fourth answer.

[john1297576]

“I booked and paid for postage”

By that do you mean you supplied buyer with a return label, if so has the label been used, as normally you would only be charged if used.

If used what does tracking say? Depending on exactly what you and buyer have done, it is possible that you can claim off Royal Mail.

I suspect if you speak to ebay again, you will either get a 4th incorrect answer or no answer  at all.

[cc2143]

I paid and booked Special Delivery for collection from his company address. He got rather beligerent and said  his company would not allow a specific collection so I booked another service  (also Royal Mail Special Delivery) and said he now needed to drop off at a Post Office. He then says he stuck it in with the companies mail collection. I have been in touch with the CEOs office of Royal Mail and they have no record of it ever having been booked in and the company he sent it from said anything that weighs over 2Kg would not be  sent.

As I refunded him in November Ebay closed the case and said there is nothing they can do after that. (At least that is what the last peron I spoke to told me today - February) It did not seem to cross their mind in December.

[papso22]

That's interesting, you shouldn't have had to refund if tracking never showed delivery back to you, did you do so voluntarily?

[cc2143]

Yes, when I sent initially it was held up by Royal Mail for a few days and they said they would return it to me (Turns out this was nonsense). So as the person was threatening raising a case with e Bay and I assumed from Royal Mail  it would be returned to me I refunded him. It then arrived at his office a week late. I reuested he retrun it but he said he was out of the country for a month. E bay had had his claim agianst me lodged and when I refunded him it was case closed as far as they were concerned. Any attempt by me (a month later) to raise a claim or complaint was, iut seems, ignored.

Now I have the dilema of taking small claims action against him, but he is in England and I am in Scotland and there are two different legal systems.

[red_magpie]

As I refunded him in November Ebay closed the case and said there is nothing they can do after that.

From what you have told us I fear that you have finally been given the correct information.

It isn't clear whether the buyer had opened  a case for non-delivery because it hadn't arrived, or for "not as described" because it was delivered late. But this hardly matters as you had already refunded the buyer in November, before the item even arrived.

Once a refund has been given eBay regards a case as closed. They give the seller no support even when the buyer is in possession of both the item and a refund. All you can do is try if possible to agree the return of one or the other with your buyer.

[cc2143]

Sadly he made comments such as "This is your last chance"  and "I''m fed up dealing with you", when I was trying to work out the easiest way for him to return the drone . He has proven to have been a deeply unpleasant person  and will now not reply to any  correspondence, simply claiming he mailed it in the companies mailing system, which I do not believe to be the case.