Any rights in this situation?

makeorbrake

Bought an item on ebay. It broke within a month. I asked the supplier if he would send on a replacement part - and he agreed immediately. Some weeks later, no sign of this - so got back in contact. He said he was having difficulty in providing that. I responded asking if he would replace the item in it's totality - and he said he would. Some time later - still no sign of replacement - I queried this with him again. Said he no longer stocked that product but could offer an equivalent product if I was agreeable to that. Said I was. I've allowed another couple of weeks - and no sign of replacement. Emailed him and got no response.


I always thought from the outset that I was in a weak position in getting this resolved to my satisfaction. I thought it would be just down to his goodwill (if that existed) and that I wouldn't be able to force him to replace or make right. Now that it's played out that he never had a genuine intention of replacing, can anyone provide a definitive answer as to any consumer rights I have in this situation.
I don't know if it helps but the item broke in a way that rendered it useless. My view is that on the basis of the way in which the product failed, it simply wasn't fit for the purpose intended.

Morph the Cat

How long has it been? When I have issue son eBay, I usually file a Paypal complaint immediately as a formality before the 60-day window expires - then I can escalate it to a claim if I don't get satisfaction (or cancel it if I do).

makeorbrake

Morph the Cat wrote: »

How long has it been? When I have issue son eBay, I usually file a Paypal complaint immediately as a formality before the 60-day window expires - then I can escalate it to a claim if I don't get satisfaction (or cancel it if I do).

Item purchased on 09/10.
It would have been a few weeks before it was received as seller was in Israel.
28/11 - messaged the seller on ebay that item broke. Asked him for replacement part. He responded immediately with this;
"We do have spare parts and I'll be glad to resend it to you .
Could you let me know by photo what is te exact part you need ? and I'll immediately resend it to you."
I provided him with a pic - and re-confirmed my address, etc.
03/02 - followed up - saying had not received part.Again, he said he would send it on.
28/02 - followed up again. He said this;
"we dont deal with [Manufacturer] anymore as their stands are easily brakes .
However we do start to work with a similar however different patented product callled ... "
He offered this as a replacement if that was acceptable to me - and I said it was.
06/04 - followed up again asking where is replacement.


I know I have no recourse through paypal/ebay as I've left it too long. However, given that I had engaged with him, that he had admited that there were quality flaws with the product and that he had all the time promised to replace, do I have any recourse under general consumer law..?

01902

Where is the seller based? Is it a business or a private individual you purchased from?

RangeR

My purchasing "Rule Number 1". Don't buy anything from eBay unless you can afford to lose that money. It is just so unreliable. Especially from private sellers.

Hard lesson learned.

ABajaninCork

RangeR wrote: »

My purchasing "Rule Number 1". Don't buy anything from eBay unless you can afford to lose that money. It is just so unreliable. Especially from private sellers.

Hard lesson learned.

Not necessarily. That's a sweeping generalisation to make. Both my husband and I have bought successfully from eBay for years. Only once did my husband have a problem with non-receipt of items. All he did was to open a dispute with Paypal, and the problem was resolved straight away.

I did get a dodgy camera battery from there too. The seller was quick to refund once the item was returned. I've also bought garden furniture (!) from eBay with no problems whatsoever.

You need to check the seller feedback carefully before you buy. Common sense, really.

RangeR

ABajaninCork wrote: »

Not necessarily. That's a sweeping generalisation to make. Both my husband and I have bought successfully from eBay for years. Only once did my husband have a problem with non-receipt of items. All he did was to open a dispute with Paypal, and the problem was resolved straight away.

I did get a dodgy camera battery from there too. The seller was quick to refund once the item was returned. I've also bought garden furniture (!) from eBay with no problems whatsoever.

You need to check the seller feedback carefully before you buy. Common sense, really.

Of course it's a sweeping generalisation. But it's my Number 1 Rule. I've heard too many bad stories about eBay, proportionally, than any other site. It's whole being started off as an auction site. then, one by one, the "Buy Now" buttons started appearing.

You need to do much more research and perform much more due diligence on potential purchases than any other "reputable" site.

I, myself, have had no issues with eBay, but I wouldn't use them for the big things. I wouldn't use them for any "Buy Now". Only for small time private auctions. It's what they're good at.

I've never had ebay problems to be honest, I always use "buy now". Even when I bought a pair of cheap gloves not noticing the chinese seller (who I usually avoid), arrived quick and prompt and what I needed

OP you could try leaving him a bad review, and send another message saying you'll be happy to remove it once he contacts you ??
Not something I do but they seem to hate bad reviews

ABajaninCork

To answer the original question: If the item was bought in October, then AFAIK, it's far too late to open a dispute with Paypal. The limit is 45 days. Is the seller in the EU? You might have rights there.

I'd call the NCA to check.

makeorbrake

01902 wrote:

Where is the seller based? Is it a business or a private individual you purchased from?

Seller is in Israel. He has an online shop on ebay.

RangeR wrote:

My purchasing "Rule Number 1". Don't buy anything from eBay unless you can afford to lose that money. It is just so unreliable. Especially from private sellers.

Have bought more stuff than I can recall on ebay. This is the first time I've been caught.

bluewolf wrote:

I always use "buy now". Even when I bought a pair of cheap gloves not noticing the chinese seller (who I usually avoid), arrived quick and prompt and what I needed

Yes, only use "buy now" also. Couldn't be arsed with the uncertainty of trying to source stuff via auction.
I've bought from numerous chinese sellers. Around the same timeframe as ordering this item, ordered something from China. It too was not fit for purpose. I messaged them and said as much - asked them to send a replacement - and they did that immediately.

ABajaninCork wrote:

You need to check the seller feedback carefully before you buy. Common sense, really.

Seller has 99.2% positive feedback!

ABajaninCork wrote:

To answer the original question: If the item was bought in October, then AFAIK, it's far too late to open a dispute with Paypal. The limit is 45 days. Is the seller in the EU? You might have rights there.

It's not so much that I dropped the ball - but more the way things played out, I knew I had lost the greatest opportunity to get this sorted to my satisfaction. Delivery took a few weeks - and the item didn't break until a couple of weeks more. By that stage, I was already out of paypal protection territory.



Q. Can I pursue the manufacturer rather than the seller for the item not being fit for purpose?

bluewolf wrote:

OP - you could try leaving him a bad review, and send another message saying you'll be happy to remove it once he contacts you ?? Not something I do but they seem to hate bad reviews

Well, I threatened him with bad feedback - and he responded by offering a replacement product. Of course, that has not arrived - and the timeframe for leaving feedback has passed.

However, I'm thinking I could still give him an ultimatum. I guess I could email him and tell him that I will arrange for friends to purchase and leave the filthiest feedback thereafter. I know that's dirty - but his actions have been far from ethical here.

makeorbrake

A quick update.


After posting above, I emailed him - and told him I would - over the next couple of months - organise through friends to buy items off him - and leave him the most horrendous feedback and destroy that 99.2% feedback rating of his.

Woke up this morning to a full refund via paypal.


Just need to try to work within the paypal refund window in future.



Thanks to you all for posting.

TheBandicoot

Blackmailing the seller with the threat of negative feedback is a major breach of eBay's policies:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/feedback-extortion.html

I have contacted eBay with a link to this thread and an eBay profile sharing your username here on boards.ie.

Buyers like you ruin eBay for buyers and sellers alike.

Oryx

TheBandicoot wrote: »

Blackmailing the seller with the threat of negative feedback is a major breach of eBay's policies:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/feedback-extortion.html

I have contacted eBay with a link to this thread and an eBay profile sharing your username here on boards.ie.

Buyers like you ruin eBay for buyers and sellers alike.

In spite of the fact that this particular seller was playing silly buggers?

Great.

TheBandicoot

Two wrongs don't make a right. Maybe both the seller and buyer need to be punished here. You can't defend OP, he is very clearly in breach of eBay's policies and I were the seller I'd report him.

gnfnrhead

TheBandicoot wrote: »

Two wrongs don't make a right. Maybe both the seller and buyer need to be punished here. You can't defend OP, he is very clearly in breach of eBay's policies and I were the seller I'd report him.

Had the seller done what he claimed he would do, it wouldnt have gone this far.

makeorbrake

TheBandicoot wrote: »

Two wrongs don't make a right. Maybe both the seller and buyer need to be punished here. You can't defend OP, he is very clearly in breach of eBay's policies and I were the seller I'd report him.

Ok, clever clogs. Answer me this - WHY didn't he?


When I considered that option, I acknowledged that it was getting down n dirty (and I stated that up front on this very thread). However, you're quick to come on with " two wrongs don't make a right". They may not but I'll be damned if I'm going to be out of pocket so that all is as it should be in YOUR world order! I paid in good faith for an item that wasnt fit for purpose. I've pondered as to whether it was a substandard counterfeit. Im undecided on that and as a consequence, i've ordered up a replacement thats totally different in design - the hope being that this has minimised the potential for failure.

I welcome ebay contacting me - but you know what? - there's not a snowballs chance in hell of them doing that! They don't exactly cover themselves in glory in this regard. When I went searching for a customer service email address to try and get some support with this issue...guess what? ...they have removed them. As part of that info search, I found that they had (some time ago) removed all contact channels for queries of this nature - simply because they either dont want to deal with them or were snowed under dealing with them. I would wager both.

So......if ebay have any difficulty finding my details - let me know. I have NO ISSUE providing them with same. They start that and they - ebay - would fall by the wayside.

pleasant Co.

TheBandicoot wrote: »

Blackmailing the seller with the threat of negative feedback is a major breach of eBay's policies:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/feedback-extortion.html

I have contacted eBay with a link to this thread and an eBay profile sharing your username here on boards.ie.

Buyers like you ruin eBay for buyers and sellers alike.

That really wasn't a very nice thing to do.

TheBandicoot

The hypocrisy of mods(whose role it is to enforce rules on a website) pushing for someone to be allowed break the rules on a website is astounding.

makeorbrake wrote: »

I paid in good faith for an item that wasnt fit for purpose.

All OP had to so was open an Item Not as Described case with eBay. He has 45 days after sale to do so(the seller was trying to stall so the deadline would pass). eBay would take his side and he would get his money back, plus the seller would have a mark against him and might be prevented from scamming other buyers. This is why Paypal exists, it can hold your money in escrow(which is exactly what happens when you open a case) so that the seller can't just take your money and run. Posters on this thread have said it is the seller's fault for 'playing silly buggers'. I agree, and the solution is to open a case and thus get both a refund and the seller punished in one go. That's why you use eBay instead of just sending money to random people- it protects you from dodgy sellers, but you need to help it do so by reporting and taking cases against any dogy sellers you find, or nothing gets better.

Extorting the seller and breaking the policies of the site he signed up for is not on and is not defendable in any way.

BGozIE

TheBandicoot wrote: »

All OP had to so was open an Item Not as Described case with eBay. He has 45 days after sale to do so(the seller was trying to stall so the deadline would pass). eBay would take his side and he would get his money back, plus the seller would have a mark against him and might be prevented from scamming other buyers. This is why Paypal exists, it can hold your money in escrow(which is exactly what happens when you open a case) so that the seller can't just take your money and run. Posters on this thread have said it is the seller's fault for 'playing silly buggers'. I agree, and the solution is to open a case and thus get both a refund and the seller punished in one go. That's why you use eBay instead of just sending money to random people- it protects you from dodgy sellers, but you need to help it do so by reporting and taking cases against any dogy sellers you find, or nothing gets better.

Extorting the seller and breaking the policies of the site he signed up for is not on and is not defendable in any way.

I agree with what you are saying, but its not your responsibility to report him, the same way you didn't take it upon yourself to do something about the seller, who was also acting the bollox. Buyer got hassle, seller was a bollox, its now as it should be. Hopefully the OP learned a lesson. I dont think what he done will send ebay crashing down, the same way having sellers act that way since it started wont, so settle down...

That's the fundamental thing about ebay, you have to use common sense, OP was incredible naive and hopefully wont do it again...same way the seller was a right see you next tues

Equilibrium has been restored :pac:

DeltaWhite

TheBandicoot wrote: »

Two wrongs don't make a right. Maybe both the seller and buyer need to be punished here. You can't defend OP, he is very clearly in breach of eBay's policies and I were the seller I'd report him.

Petty much?? The seller was treating OP like a mug and you stuck your nose in! Didn't realise there was such thing as the eBay police!!

pleasant Co.

TheBandicoot wrote: »

...

I didn't say I condoned what the OP has done, I haven't commented on it. What you did to the OP was not nice, no matter what your beliefs are or how you condone your own actions it still wasn't a nice thing to do.


Anyway, I can't very well let you to call my character into question by labelling me a hypocrite (or of having shown hypocrisy) since I still haven't said anything about the OP's actions. It is my belief that an apology (and retraction) would be a sporting thing to do in this instance.

Kristopherus

TheBandicoot wrote: »

Blackmailing the seller with the threat of negative feedback is a major breach of eBay's policies:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/feedback-extortion.html

I have contacted eBay with a link to this thread and an eBay profile sharing your username here on boards.ie.

Buyers like you ruin eBay for buyers and sellers alike.

Dear Gawd, There's always one:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

rock22

Kristopherus wrote: »

Dear Gawd, There's always one:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

well said

dudara

This thread has gone far enough.

dudara