Bought phone from ebay, not posted

[mrt9888]

I bought a phone from ebay, the seller was in Canada, they posted the phone to the UK, where it went to customs and was the collected by Parcel Force. I collected the package from their depot yesterday, the phone was not in the box but everything else was.

I made a dispute with ebay and contacted the seller, who has escalated the dispute to a claim.

When I made the dispute I requested a refund plus fees as I did not know if the seller was trying to scam me or if someone opened the package. The package did not look opened so I just made a dispute. The seller states that the phone was definitely posted. So its possible that someone took the phone out of the package and put the phone back but the sellotape was intact.

Now I need some advice on how to proceed.

Since I payed with paypal will their buyer protection do anything.

I am going to send a message to the seller claim compensation from parcelforce.

[Anastie]

Difficult one to call as its each ones word against the other.

[Barney]

its down to the seller to claim off the postage company, you should get an instant refund as its not your problem.

[Pingu2003]

tbh its very unlikely that the package was opened and phone taken out

whats the feedback of the seller like?

i dont think he will need to claim from parcelforce, he would need to claim from the courier he used in canada

at the moment its his word against yours, he will dispute your trying to pull a fast one (or carriers did something dodgy), whilst you will be doing the same

also try calling ebay customer support:

02080802105 and press 6

Monday - Friday: 8:00AM - 9:00PM
Saturday - Sunday: 9:00AM - 6:00PM

dont tell them i gave you the number

good luck

[mrt9888]

Thanks Pingu, I phoned that number but was put on hold this Friday evening so I just left for now, the seller had 100% feedback and no negatives. Its going to be difficult, I'll try phoning ebay on Monday.

[Crossbow]

As you paid with PayPal (PP), it's more appropriate you deal with them directly as they will be refunding you eventually. I suppose as it's been escalated to a claim already, the claim is being dealt with by PP?

In my experience 90% of PayPal (PP) cases these days are won by the buyer. So here's wishing, hoping & praying that you'll win the case (assuming you are in the right of course).

[harrystone]

sorry to hear that. Did you solve the problem?

[mrt9888]

I sent a message to the seller but got no reply then phoned ebay. They said to send contact and if there is no reply after trying a few times then phone ebay. So two messages later and still no reply.

First message told the seller that the phone was not in the box, second message told seller about Parcel Force letter (offered to send a scanned copy), see if is going to sort it out with postage company and if he could block the phone with IMEI number.

But I received a letter from Parcel Force addressed to seller with a questionnaire about value of parcel, contents, parcel condition etc. This means that the seller has already contacted the Canadian postage company to get a refund but did not want to contact me.

Thinking of either sending of the Parcel Force questionnaire on behalf of the seller or leaving it and getting ebay to refund me as I payed by Paypal.

[Flash477]

It would probably be best just to try and get the refund from Paypal/ebay rather than trying to get involved with the couriers, as that is his problem

[aeonf242]

As you paid with PayPal (PP), it's more appropriate you deal with them directly as they will be refunding you eventually. I suppose as it's been escalated to a claim already, the claim is being dealt with by PP?

In my experience 90% of PayPal (PP) cases these days are won by the buyer. So here's wishing, hoping & praying that you'll win the case (assuming you are in the right of course).

Ebay are taking the dispute process back 'in house' from Paypal or soemthing like that....just FYI
I know they are the same company...

[mrt9888]

I just got of the phone from ebay and they have refunded me the amount I payed and the postage. They asked me to close the dispute I raised in ebay/ Paypal. I still feel worried that this is not over with the seller.

Thanks for the help and advice.

[aeonf242]

I still feel worried that this is not over with the seller.

If he starts getting abusive make sure you report him to ebay and keep copies, etc.
He should be OK, you can't argue with the might of ebay! And if you want to continue using ebay you have to tread carefully..

[Pingu2003]

well im glad its sorted, theres not much more he can do tbh, its not as he can dispute or chargeback or anything silly like that, (as you paid)

now he knows its his fault for not replying to you

at least it shows that you can get somewhere with ebays phone system, rather than standard scripted email replies.

[Saracen]

I hope this all works out for you, mrt9888.

But this tale is typical of the reason why, personally, I won't use eBay for this type of thing - if it goes wrong, it's just too much hassle dealing with it. It's a personal judgement rather than a general recommendation, but I'd rather buy retail as you have much less chance of this type of hassle. It might cost more that way, but to me, it's worth it for the easy life. Even if it does get sorted out in the end, I'd rather just avoid the nuisance in the first place.

[Rob_B]

To some extent I agree Saracen but for smaller items i think ebay is usually the best solution. I would never buy a phone/laptop/PC/ipod etc from there though!

[Saracen]

To some extent I agree Saracen but for smaller items i think ebay is usually the best solution. I would never buy a phone/laptop/PC/ipod etc from there though!

My attitude is that unless I either trust the seller because they're a known and reputable quantity, or I'm prepared to just write if off if the transaction goes belly up, I won't use eBay.

For instance, I bought an expensive lens but it was from a manufacturer's own site. I bought a moderately expensive watch, because it was from someone with a LOT of very good feedback. I bought a laser printer cartridge because it was cheap enough that (under £10, in that case) that I'd have just written it off if it had gone bad ..... but it didn't and I ended up with a brand-new sealed cartridge for about £13 (inc postage) instead of £80.

But .... I wanted a particular flashgun and ended up paying about £60 more for it locally compared to what it was up for on ebay because I wasn't prepared to take a chance on an firm I didn't know and couldn't do much about (in Hong Kong) if I had problems, either with the transaction or, in the future, with the product.

Mind you, there's a fair few UK-based companies I won't deal with either, and for much the same reason - I don't trust them. I haven't bought anything in Tesco for several years, having had an issue with my local branch, reported it to Customer Service at Head Office to be told "we'll investigate and get back to you", and they never did. It wasn't even over a significant amount - it was a point of principle. I rather doubt that the lack of my business is exactly giving Tesco board members sleepless nights, but they've lost out on a couple of grand in petrol alone due to that, and I used to do most of my grocery shopping there too, because it's convenient, but haven't bought so much as a newspaper in there since.

I take my custom where it suits me. In eBay case, it's usually elsewhere because of avoiding the hassle factor which is usually an inherent risk. In Tesco case, it's because I've got the hump with them, and especially with a "customer service" team that just fobbed you off. Am I surprised at that? Not much, no. But will I still shop there after that. Hell, no.