Ebay item not as described GRRrrrr

thearchitect

I think you have to clarify what you mean by "courier" here; was this a profesional courier service, in which case the pursuer/seller will have invoices and the like, or was it a member of the seller's family who delivered it in how own car/van/whatever in a private capacity?

Premier_2

bifda wrote: »

... I didn't need to open a SNAD dispute as I hadn't paid for the item. A dispute was opened against me by the seller as a nonpaying bidder. I responded and the seller closed the case.

How did you respond? Hopefully by declaring the item was not as described so refused to accept delivery thereof.

How did the seller close the dispute? Was it just closed (i.e. no further action, mutual agreement reached, etc) or did the buyer escalate the dispute to a claim? If the latter what did ebay decide?

bifda wrote: »

Then he threatend legal action and when I refused to pay the courier I then received a letter from the courts. I sent in my side of events and requested it be sorted by mediation, but for that to work both sides have to agree, he wouldn't.

That could go in your favour as the claimant could be considered not to have acted reasonably in trying to resolve the issue before bringing the matter to court.

bifda wrote: »

I have now filled out the allocation questionaire etc and have a date for a months time. I was told by the courts that if it goes in my favour then I can counter claim for my expenses as I have to take a day off of work, fuel parking etc etc. All in all a bloody nuisance!

That's correct. When you win the case, you can ask the judge to consider awarding you costs. (Costs are nearly always awarded to the winning side in a small claims dispute, but even if you lose, you may not have to pay the claimant's costs as the claimant may be considered not to have acted reasonably by trying to resolve the matter out of court - as above)
The matter should have been transferred to a court local to you (if that's what you requested) so your travelling time/cost and lost working time should be minimal. However you can claim for loss of earnings (up to £50) plus travel costs to and from the court, etc.

bifda

Will let you all know how I get on tomorrow.

bifda

How did I get on??

Well was in the court for approx 1 hr, the judge decided that excellent condition was an ambiguous statement but the fact that it was described as ready to be used, when it wasn't, meant it was wrongly described. Therefore the judge decided in my favor.
So for a £40 claim the seller ended up with £150 in total expenses.

A total waste of time and day off work, but overall it can be marked up as one of lifes little excercises that are sent to try us.

montyrebel

congrats on winning the case