eBay Seller sold me wrong item and now taking me to court

delirious

Looking for some urgent advice please.

An ebay seller sold me some software on 22nd February 2012 which turned out to be wrong (he sent me an upgrade version as appose to a full retail version). The item cost £160 plus postage.

I contacted the seller and we agreed a refund/return on the 29th February 2012. The seller refunded me £170 on 29th February to include the cost of return postage. The parcel was returned the same day by First class post.

Following a series of emails where the seller informed me that the parcel hadn't arrived, and giving me links to the royal mail claim form, etc, the last contact I had from the seller was on 3rd April 2012 saying that he had not received the item still but sorry for wasting my time, got really snotty and said "Don't worry I won't bother you or waste your precious time any further!"

Fast forward to this morning and I get a letter through the post from small claims saying that he has filed a claim against me. I've not received any warning of this or any further contact since 3rd April and this court claim has appeared from nowhere. If the guy had contacted me, we could've come to some sort of agreement about us splitting the loss or something. However, now he is claiming for the full refund to be returned which is outrageous.

Where do I stand legally given the fact that I never received a letter of intention to take me to court or anything like that?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

theonlywayisup

Do you have proof of returns, i.e. a certificate of posting or receipt?

For something of that value you should have been using an adequately insured method (special delivery).

cocopops21

First class will only let you claim for (I think) £46 so it seems like you'll have to pay the seller the full money back and claim off of royal mail to recover some of the money.

custardy

how much of the refund amount was allocated for return postage?
Is it a business seller?

antrobus

delirious wrote: »

...Where do I stand legally given the fact that I never received a letter of intention to take me to court or anything like that? ..

You need to file a defence.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/ManagingDebt/Respondingtoacourtclaimformoney/DG_195919

It would probably also be a good idea to apply to change the venue of the hearing to your local county court.

Was the "eBay seller" in question a business?

hermum

http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/making-a-complaint/taking-a-dispute-to-the-small-claims-court/sample-letter/
I don't know if this will help.
Can I ask why you didn't post it using the correct method? It should have gone special delivery, not first class.

antrobus

hermum wrote: »

http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/making-a-complaint/taking-a-dispute-to-the-small-claims-court/sample-letter/
I don't know if this will help.

Well the fact that the claimant has not sent a letter before action will count in the OP's favour.

hermum wrote: »

Can I ask why you didn't post it using the correct method? It should have gone special delivery, not first class.

Doesn't really matter that much. This dispute has gone legal. I don't think that the law specifies a 'correct method' for a return. Or not that I'm aware of at least.

spike241

The seller sent you £10 for return postage, that should have easily covered Special Delivery.

As asked above do you have proof of postage?

I believe (let me know if I'm wrong) that if you're returning an item to a business seller then you are no longer responsible for it once it has been posted. You would need proof of postage though.

antrobus

spike241 wrote: »

The seller sent you £10 for return postage, that should have easily covered Special Delivery.

"The item cost £160 plus postage.... The seller refunded me £170 ... to include the cost of return postage.."

So that's £10 to cover the postage there and back

spike241 wrote: »

...I believe (let me know if I'm wrong) that if you're returning an item to a business seller then you are no longer responsible for it once it has been posted. ..

If you're a consumer that does appear to be the case. Or at least that's the way I read regulation 17 of the DSRs.

spike241 wrote: »

..You would need proof of postage though.

That would certainly help in court.

spike241

Sorry, misread that first part.
How much postage did they originally charge?

Strapped

spike241 wrote: »

The seller sent you £10 for return postage, that should have easily covered Special Delivery.

As asked above do you have proof of postage?

I believe (let me know if I'm wrong) that if you're returning an item to a business seller then you are no longer responsible for it once it has been posted. You would need proof of postage though.

Nope, you're responsible for ensuring the seller gets it back. If the OP can't provide proof of delivery then he will lose, although he can then claim against Royal Mail for the loss (although he will lose as he did not use the correct delivery service and also maybe if it has been more than 1 month since he posted it as RM have shortened their claim timeframes)