Ahhhh, think Ive been had over!

kprigg

The other day I contacted a seller regarding something they were selling that I needed 24 of. As they lived in my area I contacted them before bidding to ask if I could collect to save on the postage.
The e-mailed back & said fine & that if I gave them my e-mail address they would invoice me & asked me to pay via Paypal (ie we did not go through e-bay). I didnt see a problem with this at the time - seller has 800+ feedback & assumed this was OK.
Anyway, I have just got back from a 1 hour trek to an address where no one has heard of the seller & am obviously not happy.
Now Im stuck. I know Im stupid for not going via ebay, & now I need my money back. I take it I can raise a Paypal dispute? I have tried contacting buyer - but only have e-mail address so no reply as yet.
Im so angry. If they didnt want me to collect then they should have just said so. I would have been fine if they had said they would combine postage. I thought I did the right thing by contacting them before bidding & then when they said to go straight through paypal & not via ebay I actually thought it was a good idea as they would be saved the ebay fees. Now I feel like a fool!

custardy

you could 'win;' one of their items and then get theri contact details from ebay

catmiaow

If you pay through Paypal direct, you can still open an item not received claim. You just can not open an item not described claim. So open it straight away.

You could ring them if you can get their telephone number, but I think its obvious their trying to scam you.

kprigg

Thanks for your replies.

She has replied to my e-mail & said I insulted her in the e-mail I sent, do you think this is insulting?

I have just returned from trying to collect these & the address you have given me is incorrect. No one had heard of the road ***** & the post code you gave is for a completely different street.
I dont know why you gave me an incorrect address, if you did not wish me to come & collect then you should have said, I would have been fine with combined postage.
I have opened a dispute with Paypal to get my money back, obviously it would be much simpler if you could refund me before the dispute is escalated.


Her reply said:

Please do not insult me before you know the full facts, ****** does exist it is a brand new development that has been built on what used to be ****** School hence the name!!!!

please follow the link below which is a map and directions from your house to mine.


Now on the map she has put a completely different post code to that she gave me!

I have sent another e-mail advising that Im not having another trip & I want a full refund. Maybe I jumped the gun by thinking she was a scammer - but I didnt think she would get her own address wrong!

soolin

You do have the opportunity to do a paypal 'item not received claim' but only if the items you were expecting are clearly shown on the paypal invoice, if you have paid generally for 'goods' or services you may find no claim is possible.

Also as this is not through ebay there is no full paypal protection so you would need th emoney available to get it back, paypal will not repay 'off ebay' sales where the seller has cleared their paypal account.

Before you trudge over and try to collect again do a google search on the address, see if you can do an advanced look up to see if she is on the electorol roll there and things like that.

kprigg

It states on the invoice what it is for (Thank Goodness!). The seller is pretty active on e-bay so I would hope that even f they have withdrawn my money, there should be money going in from other sources (fingers crossed!)
I have had a quick look for the electoral roll, but alot of them you have to pay a subscription so its not that obvious if she is there. The original ebay listing said she was in one place, but then in the emial she sent it said to go to another - it may be that she isnt even resident at this new address & maybe that is where her stock is????
I am waiting for a reply & a refund, I have raised a dispute & can escalate it in a few days, but hopefully she is a decent person who will refund before I have to escalate.
I just wish I had gone through e-bay, it would have been so much simpler. Lesson learnt.

pinkshoes

kprigg wrote: »

She has replied to my e-mail & said I insulted her in the e-mail I sent, do you think this is insulting?

It's not insulting, but it wasn't particularly polite and helpful either. You come across as being accusational, when you could have just written a polite message saying you couldn't find the property and could they double check the address and show you on a map where it is.

It's always best to be polite when issues first arise.

kprigg

Yes, your right pinkshoes. I was just so wound up when I came back - it took me 3/4 hour to get there, then I had to go around asking people if they knew where it was & then had to come home again.

I did send this reply to her earlier:
....... For the record, I did not insult you, I admit I was angry & upset as I felt like I had been deliberately mislead. But if you feel like I insulted you then I apologise for that.

I usually keep a cool head & am overly polite, but this time I just didnt. I just want to get it sorted now.