Seller won't refund. Ebay ruled not in favour. Any options left?

jc292

Good morning! I wondered if anyone on here had some advice as after 11 years buying on ebay this is my only bad experience (maybe I have been lucky).

I bought a wing mirror cover on ebay from a guy, for a Peugeot 308 advertised as fitting 2007 onwards. Turns out that it doesn't fit my 2008 model. Unfortunately I didn't realise this until after painting the item. On this basis the seller is refusing a refund even though the part, in my view, is defective since it doesn't fit the model he claims it to. He is instead advising I "use a bit of glue".

The seller says that under Distance Selling regs me painting it implies I accepted it. Ebay have agreed and refused a refund when I escalated it to their customer service

Now, you may say I should have checked first but once these things clip on to the car they are a total b*gger to get off again and on first impressions the unit is the right shape, just the little connectors and in completely the wrong place. I have since bought the right part from a Peugeot garage, and the guy on the parts desk confirmed that the ebay one was useless. In fact he went further to say that gluing it on would be dangerous e.g. to passers by when the vehicle was moving at speed which I kind of agree with.

So, where can I go from here? I can see ebay's point re: accepting the goods but surely if a product doesn't actually do what it is meant to i.e. fit a Peugeot 308 then I must be covered under some kind of consumer protection regarding goods fit for purpose.

I know it is my fault for painting it but these units are actually near impossible to get off once they're snapped into place (though my wife managed to clipping a lorry lol hence the problem) , and painting it on the car was not an option as the spray gets on all the black trim.

I am wondering if I should ask for a charge back on the credit card or something like that. I think working it out with the seller is not an option now, he is really agressive and using this technicality to get out of the fact he supplied a duff product. I think ebay siding with him is just going to entrench that position.

Any ideas or should I just leave it (it's "only" 16 quid)?

notanewuser

Leave it. Legally you accepted it when you altered it.

Funky_Bold_Ribena

Sell it on.

zzzLazyDaisy

notanewuser wrote: »

Leave it. Legally you accepted it when you altered it.

This ^^^^^^

RFW

notanewuser wrote: »

Leave it. Legally you accepted it when you altered it.

As above, your only hope was getting the seller to maybe give you a credit against the right one, once you went to Ebay you probably blew any chance of that.

It's an interesting tale for those who say that Ebay always side with the buyer.

jc292

Okay I'll leave it then thanks for the advice. It's kind of frustrating as the guy blatantly knows it doesn't fit a 308 but is using this distance selling rule to get around it. They have even removed the negative feedback I left so he will keep doing it! :mad:

I'm trying to think of analogous situation on the high street (without distance selling) eg. if I started building some Ikea furniture like some Ikea drawers that claimed they would attach into an Ikea wardrobe but upon construction found they didn't fit.. I would be in a similar position but intuition would be I'd be refunded.

Anyway thanks for the advice I think you are right nothing I can do and more important things in life!

notanewuser

jc292 wrote: »

Okay I'll leave it then thanks for the advice. It's kind of frustrating as the guy blatantly knows it doesn't fit a 308 but is using this distance selling rule to get around it. They have even removed the negative feedback I left so he will keep doing it! :mad:

I'm trying to think of analogous situation on the high street (without distance selling) eg. if I started building some Ikea furniture like some Ikea drawers that claimed they would attach into an Ikea wardrobe but upon construction found they didn't fit.. I would be in a similar position but intuition would be I'd be refunded.

Anyway thanks for the advice I think you are right nothing I can do and more important things in life!

It's more like you buying a pair of jeans on eBay that were advertised as being your size, you cutting them down into tiny hot pants and then trying them on, only to find they don't fit. Do you think the seller would take them back?

Your ikea analogy would be right if you spray painted the drawers before building them. Ikea wouldn't take them back then regardless of them not fitting to the wardrobe.

There is no scenario, either high street or distance selling, where you can alter an item and then return it for a refund.

System

No if you built the drawers, painted them and then found they didn't fit is a closer analogy and in that case you would not be refunded.

jc292

lol fair enough, if several impartial people on this board can't be persuaded to my pov then I would definitely leave it. Cheers.

Re: the above examples I think a distinction would be you're meant to paint this item prior to fitting it (it is sold primed ready to paint).

RFW

jc292 wrote: »

lol fair enough, if several impartial people on this board can't be persuaded to my pov then I would definitely leave it. Cheers.

Re: the above examples I think a distinction would be you're meant to paint this item prior to fitting it (it is sold primed ready to paint).

I guess it would depend on if the only way of checking it didn't fit was to actually fit it, no markings or packaging. Also, possibly on how it was painted, if you've totally customised it or just painted it a plain colour. I think most of us would do the same as you so you may have a case. Whether it's worth pursuing is another matter. You probably haven't anything to lose, other than time, pursuing it. I'd give Trading Standards a call and see what they say.

The problem is with a small seller, if it was Halfords or similar they'd probably exchange and bin the one you gave them back.

zzzLazyDaisy

jc292 wrote: »

Re: the above examples I think a distinction would be you're meant to paint this item prior to fitting it (it is sold primed ready to paint).

The point is that by painting it you have 'treated it as your own property' ie you have accepted it.

You should have checked that it was the correct model and fitted the vehicle before altering it or changing its appearance.

D