Advice Please On Item Thats Arrived Damaged

TigerLillie · 13 January 2009 at 2:47PM

I purchased a second hand rear light cluster for my VW Golf (after the car slid down a hill on the ice with handbrake on and smashed my one!!!)
The seller has been top class with communication thanking me for instant payment and early posting as knew I was desparate for it.

The box arrived today very well packed in a box and lots of newspaper and bubble wrap.
However the item is damaged and therefore no real use to me:
The cluster is attached using three built in screws on the cluster and one has completely snapped off and is missing. I have checked the box for the snapped off part but nothing so the item must have been sent in that condition.

I have checked the listing and it states "good condition". I appreciate second hand but to me having an essential part snapped off is not "good condition".
I am not sure what to do as I have never had this problem with an item before??

If the seller agrees to refund me my initial postage and winning bid ( £20 ) I believe I will have to send back at my expense ( between £6-£7 if recorded ). Seems a bit unfair that I end up out of pocket when its the seller that has mis described the item.

I have not contacted the seller yet as wanted to ask the more experienced ebayers what I should do??

My worry is the seller may argue it was damaged by me- which is untrue as still sat in the box as useless.

Would really appreciate some guidance please
Thank you all in advance

zenseeker · 13 January 2009 at 2:55PM

Did you pay by PayPal? If so you can open a dispute, but unfortunately that will result in you being asked to return the item to the seller at your own expense, but they will then have to refund you the price and original postage.

bluebell13 · 13 January 2009 at 2:59PM

Was there anything in the description to state any damage? I would contact the seller stating you are puzzled as although the light was packaged very well the screw has snapped off the cluster and you can't find it in the box. Await their response, and then you can either continue to communicate and hopefully resolve in some way, or if they are unhelpful raise a dispute. However, you are right in thinking you will have to return the item tracked so it may pay off to be polite but firm before going to dispute.

Hintza · 13 January 2009 at 3:58PM

Agree with bluebell. No point jumping straight in with a claim be straight and non aggressive and hopefully seller will sort it out for you.

chja · 13 January 2009 at 5:11PM

Was it a business or private seller ?

If business, then they are responsible for paying your return postage under distance selling regulations.

If private, it comes down to goodwill and even a Paypal dispute will not force them to pay your return postage.

TigerLillie · 13 January 2009 at 6:06PM

Thank you and in answer to some of the questions:

Private seller and damage was not mentioned in listing.I paid by Pay Pal via a Buy It Now

I have attempted to send a message to sellers email with photos of damage but keep being returned stating mailbox unavailable

If the seller does not help am I right in saying that I have a cooling off period as purchased with buy it now or is this just business sellers?

If I need to and can exercise this ruling how would i go about doing this?

Thank you

soolin · 13 January 2009 at 6:18PM

If you bought on auction from a private buyer then you have no automatic 'rights' I'm afraid. Have you contacted the seller yet, what have they said?

If seller is uncoperative then all you can do is open a paypal chargeback as per earlier posts and if you win that you will have to return the item at your own expense fully tracked and signed for to protect yourself against seller saying item not returned.

TigerLillie · 13 January 2009 at 6:55PM

soolin wrote: »

If you bought on auction from a private buyer then you have no automatic 'rights' I'm afraid. Have you contacted the seller yet, what have they said?

If seller is uncoperative then all you can do is open a paypal chargeback as per earlier posts and if you win that you will have to return the item at your own expense fully tracked and signed for to protect yourself against seller saying item not returned.

Thank you soolin

I have sent a brief message via EBay messages and attempted to send a more detailed message with photos to email address. However the latter keeps being returned stating " mailbox unavailable". I have requested contact info and the email im having problems is definetely correct. I cannot undertand why the message would go through via ebay but not direct to email account??

I thought it may be th esize of the attached photos so removed a couple but still no success.

Thank you everyone for help and fingers crossed the seller is helpful

pinkshoes · 13 January 2009 at 7:33PM

If the seller found this missing piece at their house and sent it to you, would you be able to glue it back on and fix it? Is there no way of repairing it?

Brooker_Dave · 13 January 2009 at 8:14PM

TigerLillie wrote: »

The cluster is attached using three built in screws on the cluster and one has completely snapped off and is missing. I have checked the box for the snapped off part but nothing so the item must have been sent in that condition.

Have you tried fitting it anyway?

You might get away with just the 2 bolts?

Saves the messing around of sending it back...

ArmitageShanks · 13 January 2009 at 8:20PM

chja wrote: »

Was it a business or private seller ?

If business, then they are responsible for paying your return postage under distance selling regulations.

If private, it comes down to goodwill and even a Paypal dispute will not force them to pay your return postage.

Unless terms and conditions say otherwise.

Advice Please On Item Thats Arrived Damaged

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