eBay dispute

ryan92

Hello there
Hoping to get some advice from you all!

I purchased a tablet computer from eBay on the 25th November for a christmas gift. The cost was £50 or so and I used my credit card. It turns out the buyer was located in the US which was a fault on my part but the tablet arrived within a few days so I wasn't too concerned.

However, 3 weeks after christmas day, the tablet started being unresponsive and I contacted the seller. They were very quick at responding and were helpful. However, when it came to the stage where a return would be needed they went unresponsive and began ignoring my messages.

Last night, I sent them a final message stating that if I did not receive a reply within a sufficient enough time, I would need to explore taking further action... low and behold, they replied this morning ;

"Thank you for your kind and patience all the way.
I'm sorry to tell that your order had over our refund time limit,as you know we just offer 60 days money back.

So I just can arrange a return for replacement for you now,You are still in one-year warranty, but your order is over one month. According to our policy that is specified on advertisement, could you please pay the restocking fee (15%, not repair fee) and shipping & handling fee for the replacement? it's abt $35 in total"

What annoys me, is I contacted them on January 16th 2013, which I make as 53 days after the transaction and before their 60 days cut off date. It was an email sent to them on the 23rd which they became unresponsive.

I can't help but feel they were winding out their responses to me, trying to make me install drivers etc to try and push it towards the 60 days where I could do nothing.

In a nutshell, they say I've a one year warranty, but need to fork out about £20 to send it back and have it repaired or whatever they will do.

Where do you think I currently stand with this, do I have a right to be as annoyed as I am with the current situation?

Thanks

wealdroam

Yes, you have every right to be annoyed.

Seems like the goods lasted long enough so that ebay and paypal will no longer help.

See if Better Business Bureau can help you, or send it back under the warranty.

bris

This will be a Chinese seller not US, so your options are limited. It's always better to pay a little bit more to buy from the UK and get all your rights under soga than saving a few quid and suffering like this.

Anselm

You might get more and better responses here:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=40

techspec

The date that counts is the date you INFORMED them. So thats crap they are feeding you.

That said - good luck trying to sort out a warranty overeseas. You could return it and end up with nothing.

I only buy cheap goods overseas - never seen the attraction of risking real money - especially on electrical goods.

wealdroam

techspec wrote: »

The date that counts is the date you INFORMED them.

That may be what counts in the UK, but are you sure the same is true in the US of A?

What about China? Is that what counts there too?

arcon5

Also the 60 day money back goes well past what would be required under UK law so the date is dictated by them.

ryan92

This whole experience has definitely been a wake up call to double check where the item is coming from ; usually I do that so somehow I let this one slip!

I'm not ranting at them to give me back my money in case it comes across like that ; I'd happily have it replaced but can't understand why they're asking for money despite saying it's under warranty

shaun_from_Africa

but can't understand why they're asking for money despite saying it's under warranty

As a warranty isn't a legal right and no retailer or manufacture is obliged to provide one, they are entitled to state terms and conditions for a warranty which may be illegal if you were trying to get a problem resolved under the Sale of Goods act.

It's no different with UK based firms.
If you are claiming for faulty goods under the SOGA, the company is normally required to cover the costs incurred in returning the item, but if you are claiming on a warranty then providing it is stated in the warranty documentation, they can ask the customer to pay to return the item to them.

pinkshoes

Did the auction clearly say location as USA?

ryan92

I was pretty sure it was from the UK to start with but obviously I was wrong with that one

The listings now say the item comes from HK while the company is registered in the USA (Ohio). However, when I enquired about the delivery time being quite long, they told me that ;

"We are a professoinal seller both on Ebay and Amzon for more than 10 years. We have several warehouses in worldwide, like USA warehouse, UK warehouse, AU warehouse, HK warehouase..... And we will have Canada and Germany Warehouse very soon. "

So I'd take from that that they trade in the UK too?