Ripped off on ebay :( - What to do now?

[Jay]

Item described as

"3 alloys are in good condition 1 wheel has scuffing on it. 2 of the alloys - as per pictures have slight surface bubbling on the inner of the spokes - hardly noticeable"

Pictures provided









I bid in good faith and won.

Actual pictures - Click them for a larger picture.





















I was horrified! There where chunks of alloy missing, the bubbles where so bad that if you run your fingerover then they would move up and down and a mechanic looked at them and said 2 need a full refurb, one is starting to go and may as well be done at the same time. In reality only 1 wheel was in good condition, one was in fair condition and 2 where in pretty bad condition.

Needless to say I called up the seller who said they where as honest as they could be and its only an opinion as to how bad they where. I have complained to ebay but what else can I actually do to get my money back? P&P was £60 alone! and now I know why they only accepted cash or cheque.

[Clunk]

Ebay will charge you £15 or more to look into it, and I think they cover you for a small amount, not sure how much it is nowadays, and then they will send you an email receipt which you have to print out and return to the US at a cost of around £10 for signed for postage.

About 6 weeks after that, you get a cheque for your money, less the £15 (or so) charges.

The lesson here is don't use ebay if possible, and never pay by cash or cheque if you do.

[Jay]

yes, I do have their address though so I could always drop the wheels off with them and see what they think.

these wheels where about £300

[Noxvayl]

Purchasing off ebay is a not something I'd do often. People selling are very devious and will post false pictures to get people to purchase there items. Besides the fact that ebay themselves scam you big time the buyers(not all but a fair few) are even worse.

TBH I would only ever spend £50 on ebay because if a problem arises its not the end of the world. Private sellers are best where you actually view the item before purchase, specially when purchasing equipment as expensive and important as you did.

My opinion would be to write a formal complaint and do your best(at no cost to you) to tarnish his reputation. Other than that save the money it would cost for investigation and use it to repair them, its the only thing you can do imo.

[Jay]

I am lucky that my g/f works in a solicitor's office and said if ebay do not do anything then she will write up a letter to tell them I am looking into taking it to small claims. She says most people give in at this point.

Its pretty bad for them to do this really, What a week I have had. Friend's funeral, two break ins, broke my filling, these wheels are a mess and its not even Friday yet.

[danroyle]

I am lucky that my g/f works in a solicitor's office and said if ebay do not do anything then she will write up a letter to tell them I am looking into taking it to small claims. She says most people give in at this point.

Its pretty bad for them to do this really, What a week I have had. Friend's funeral, two break ins, broke my filling, these wheels are a mess and its not even Friday yet.

small claims is the best way.
i've done it a couple of times and usually someone will coff up rather than lose out on court costs and refund.

if you have reported it to ebay you will win on the grounds you can prove the item is significantly different to description.

good luck either way man

[sammyc]

Jay is it just me, or do those 4 pics the seller provided look similar enough to (possibly) be the same 'good' tyre shot 4 times diff backgrounds..?

..looking at this bubble in particular which looks to be in the same place each time
edit: i see you already thought it, bit fishy eh.

[Jay]

I agree sammy, thought that myself as well.

[GoNz0]

well its at least 2 wheels as the last is kerbed to death, low res small pics should have warned you into asking for high res close ups in hind sight.

fill in the ebay dispute and get the lads round

[Jay]

I think the fact that I have a Solicitor at arms reach most of the time should help me if they do try and hold out on me. I will not let them get away with this one, if I do I am simply condoning their actions.

I expected the kerbing, thats an easy fix but not a full refurb!

[GoNz0]

well your looking at £200 to get em all done, and new wheels can be brought for a litte more than that :|

[Jay]

The problem I have is that these wheels are super rare 16" Mazda Sport super light alloys, its not that often you see them for sale.

[TAKTAK]

Jay is it just me, or do those 4 pics the seller provided look similar enough to (possibly) be the same 'good' tyre shot 4 times diff backgrounds..?

..looking at this bubble in particular which looks to be in the same place each time
edit: i see you already thought it, bit fishy eh.

i dont think that mark is actually a "bubble" i think its more of a makers mark sort of thing.

and as for the pictures being of the same wheel... unless he went to the hassle of rotating the type around the rim then i dont think it's plausable.

But it does seem that the pictures are taken at angle to hide the flaws, and the flaws arn't highlighted properly (i.e. the whole "not noticable" business) in the description and arn't visible (from what i can see) in the pictures that the ebay user upped.

[Jay]

Do you think I have a case here or not? It looks to me that they have really tried to hide the truth.

[TAKTAK]

Do you think I have a case here or not? It looks to me that they have really tried to hide the truth.

i think you do have a case, and it is obvious at the state of the wheels that the ebayer has tried to hide the truth because i'm sorry but the only that the bubbleing is not noticable is if your are blind.....

the only trouble is... i'm not sure if your able to recoup postage fees which is a bit of a bummer considering it was £90

but i think saracen may be of help here with all his legal baffley-ness

[Stringent]

I'd never buy second hand alloys unless I saw them first. I sold some on eBay, guy came and picked them up though.