Scammed

[andrewjpring]

Hi

ive been scammed but eBay haven’t honoured the buyer protection guarantee so I’m looking for advice.

ive been an eBay user for many years and I was looking for a new phone - I bought one from someone with no feedback feeling confident the buyer guarantee would protect me.  The seller didn’t send the item when they said as nothing was on the tracking, I chased and suddenly they had sent something.  However, Royal Mail “delivered” (I live in a block of flats) but the photo they left as proof of delivery was not my building.  I’ve been to the sorting office and they said they would follow up and the seller has not responded to any messages. I raised a case with eBay but they have closed it as tracking says delivered.  I strongly suspect the seller changed the delivery address for whatever they sent whilst using the correct postcode.

can anyone suggest what I can do

[jckl1957]

Try your payment provider.

Hopefully they will investigate properly and see the item was not delivered to you.

[papso22]

This is a common scam, particularly with phones.

What you need is evidence from RM that the address on the tracking was not the one you used at checkout.  You need to give them your address and they confirm in writing that the tracking address was not that one.

Then you might win a  appeal.

Failing that, try your funding source for a claim.  

[red_magpie]

It's unlikely to be the seller who is responsible for this. Delivery problems have become one of the biggest risks of buying on eBay and we regularly hear from buyers whose purchases have been incorrectly delivered,

You should still be able to appeal against eBay's decision, but it's frustrating that they don't seem to take the buyer's word for anything - not even that the photo isn't of their own building! They have asked some buyers to obtain a written admission from the carrier that it was incorrectly delivered (and rather to my surprise, some have actually done so!).

Try to appeal, if you can, otherwise as has been said your payment provider e.g. a credit or debit card issuer may be able to help.

Buying a phone from an unknown seller on eBay is always risky. Apart from the uncertainty of the money back guarantee over delivery issues,ad you considered that the guarantee only lasts for 30 days anyway? Buying from new sellers with no feedback presents a significant risk that the phone may have been stolen, but as some buyers have learned the hard way it can be over 30 days before the phone is reported and blocked. In which case there is no protection from eBay.

If you do choose to buy another phone here, give yourself as much protection as possible by buying only from an established UK business seller with plenty of good feedback, and pay by credit card. This provides the best backp-up protection as when buying from a business seller as you get the statutory card purchase protection of the consumer credit act.