This cant be right... ebay case support... asking to send item back to USA!!!

neas

Hi all

Bought a camera from a UK seller placed in brighton UK.... about 3 weeks ago.. item arrived next day by royal mail special delivery.... item was new as described EXCEPT the charger was a foreign (american) charger. Obviously this was annoying and i didnt have a converter... and was unsure if i could double convert charger when on holiday so asked seller to replace charger with a UK equivaeltn.

I was met with the following:

This is a US import ZS3 model and if you see the listing it is very clear that this is zs3 model. However if you are not satisfied You can return the item for refund. ZS3 model is superior to TZ7 because TZ7 has 15 minutes video recording limitation and zs3 does not have any limitations "

so i go through the escaltion process... and ebay finds in my favour.. asking me to send item back... but wait... the address is no longer 'brighton england' but a USA address.

Im supposed to send the entire camera back registered delivery (will cost £15) so i can get my £180 back!!..... i may as well just buy another charger for the hassle.

Feel like i've been diddled.

Seller id is:http://feedback.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&userid=digigood&iid=-1&de=off&items=25&which=negative&interval=30

Now i feel like im over a barrel... send it to a bogus USA address (as clearly the item was sent from UK (next day delivery) and lose entire camera... and my money or just pay for another charger...or risk using two converters (USA->UK -> Foreign) when on holiday.

Anyone else been diddled this way being asked to return to a foreign address when item was shipped from a uk one? shame i didnt keep packaing....

Btw this is all with ebay customer support.. not sure how its tied into paypal.

soolin

Phone paypal and be persistent. Explain to them that whilst this is a US seller the item location is shown as UK and you will therefore need a UK address to return camera.

neas

Im prob not going to send it back... because i used a 10% ebay voucher (saving £18) on camera. If i bought one again (A UK version) i'd lose that £18.. and the £5-10 its going to cost me sending it to get delivered.

So i may as well bite the bullet and just buy another UK charger and try and sell the US charger... also i love the camera.. just annoyed charger is wrong outlet.

I think this is why also seller puts US address to put you off returning it. Feels a bit cheap i guess but oh well

DrScotsman

Check the voltage and frequency on the camera charger.

Probably most US devices are "110V 60Hz" and hence you'd need a new charger, but a lot of devices especially ones you're likely to take on holiday are "110-230V 50-60Hz", meaning that all you would need is a cheapo US to UK travel adapter.

...although wait until someone confirms my advice first

(Apologies if you already knew this)

arriva

I assume you are talking about the battery charger. I had the same inconvenience when I bought an (at the time) expensive 350D from the US when they first came out a few years back (called DigitalRebel over there) but I was lucky as the battery charger had a detachable cable I replaced with the one from my kitchen stereo. Like this one:


when I travel to Europe I carry a Eu one like this one:


they are just 99p in some shops here and almost the same in Europe or look on eBay.
If it's the fixed type you can just replace the plug, no need soldering for things like this.

arriva

DrScotsman wrote: »

Check the voltage and frequency on the camera charger.

Probably most US devices are "110V 60Hz" and hence you'd need a new charger, but a lot of devices especially ones you're likely to take on holiday are "110-230V 50-60Hz", meaning that all you would need is a cheapo US to UK travel adapter.

...although wait until someone confirms my advice first

(Apologies if you already knew this)

As DrScotsman points out most, if not all, are 100-240V.
They are made in China and exported worldwide.

soolin

As the seller is not displaying a UK address it might be worth reporting them to ebay as not complying with the business seller regs.

DrScotsman

arriva wrote: »

I assume you are talking about the battery charger. I had the same inconvenience when I bought an (at the time) expensive 350D from the US when they first came out a few years back (called DigitalRebel over there) but I was lucky as the battery charger had a detachable cable I replaced with the one from my kitchen stereo. Like this one:
...

If the battery charger is a separate device then this scenario is possible, but if the camera charges the battery itself then the cable will less likely be standard as the transformer will be in the cable itself, whereas a battery charger would have the transformer internally.

arriva

DrScotsman wrote: »

If the battery charger is a separate device then this scenario is possible, but if the camera charges the battery itself then the cable will less likely be standard as the transformer will be in the cable itself, whereas a battery charger would have the transformer internally.

I see what you mean but if the charger is a "laptop style" one chances are that the cable that goes into the mains is detachable... I have the feeling that it will be "mobile phone" style though.
By the way, off topic, a friend has the same camera and he told me that models with firmware 1.1 onwards don't like aftermarket batteries, (like printers nowadays), sad.

neas

Thanks all for the input.

Battery charger is a seperate unit (not a plug into camera), you detach battery from camera and plug into outside charger. The UK model has a kettle plug extension (like one shown above) whereas the version I have (looks to be USA two pin type) are just 'popping' out of the charger.

I've already used an adaptor i had from work and it seemed to charge... so it appears to eb 110-220 i hope... i will definately confirm tonight.

I was more concerned with using a US->UK converter to use it in UK... thats ok i guess... but is it ok to use a US->UK ontop of a UK-> Spanish or any country for that matter converter.

Ideally i need to get a US to any converter so i can just have one plug.

The ebay listing is as follows:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=380209687605&ru=http%3A%2F%2Fshop.ebay.co.uk%3A80%2Fi.html%3F_nkw%3D380209687605%26_sacat%3D0%26_trksid%3Dm270%26_odkw%3D80209687605%26_osacat%3D0%26_fvi%3D1&_rdc=1

Seller is located in brighton, doesn't mention camera is a US import (i was supposed to realise this because it said ZS3/TZ-7 in title). Btw ZS3 is the US version and TZ-7 the UK version (i figured they were one and the same and pointed thi sout in case).

Either way its bad practice from seller if you ask me.

Charger is as shown below:



Whereas this completed UK TZ-7 listing shows a kettle lead for UK version.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Panasonic-DE-A66-Charger-cables-DMW-BCG10E-TZ6-TZ7_W0QQitemZ120538167481QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_3?hash=item1c10a278b9

Also the TZ-7/ZS-3 models dont like diff batteries but the new batteries have updated chipsets so you can buy a decent 1000 mah spare battery for 12 quid instead of 30-40 quid from panasonic.

I dont want to give camera back i just wanted the proper charger, but seems like i'll just leave it (due to 18 quid discount and fact i've already got case, memory card, extra battery and my trip is in 3 weeks)

arriva

the worst case scenario..!!

you will also need elastic bands and sellotape..! I am not joking, in Spain this "adaptors-castle" will fall off the plug. I indeed used sellotape while in Spain as my PDA charger kept getting unplugged and falling off, they don't have the chunky connectors we have here.