item not received

notanewuser

Over the past few years I have purchased a number of made-to-measure blinds for my house from an eBay seller (business, very busy etc). Have always been very happy with them.

Earlier this year a white silk one got stained, and my attempts to clean it wrecked the blind. I messaged the seller through e-bay and she agreed to make a new one for me and to send me a PayPal invoice. This was eventually received and paid at the end of July.

The replacement arrived in early September, and was beautifully made. Unfortunately it was yellow/gold, not white. I contacted the seller and she agreed to remake it if I sent it back. I did that (tracked) immediately.

Since then all correspondence has gone unanswered, and eBay messages have been answered by (apparently) her sister in law. The story keeps changing but the long shot is I seemingly have no way to contact this woman (assuming the SIL is a different person). I'm out just under £100.

Is my only option to issue a small claims case?

Hammockthing

It looks like you bought it directly off her, and not through an ebay listing, is that right? You only used ebay for communication but the payment was via a money request she sent through Paypal. She'd made the wrong item and you sent it back and now you've got nothing to show? Just want to make sure I understand.
Well, if the seller is being evasive and you've acted all in good faith then if it's not too late, you can go through Paypal and raise a claim. I'm not sure, but you might be out of time if you paid in July.

notanewuser

Thanks. You've understood correctly. Had a day of digging yesterday.

Am too late for Paypal to do anything, but have lodged a dispute anyway. At £98 the transaction isn't covered by section 75, but my credit card company will do a chargeback from PayPal, who will then chase the seller.

Have had an amazing and ever changing story from the woman ice managed to speak to. There were 2 of them apparently, both with the same first name, both related. All published e-mail addresses and phone numbers lead back to her, and it was her that the faulty blind was returned to (I have her signature). She threatened to have me done for stalking when I mentioned court papers. :rotfl:

Have told her very clearly that I won't leave this be.

Just wondered whether I had any other options.

notanewuser

So credit card couldn't do anything because of Paypal being the intermediary. Paypal won't do anything because it was more than 45 days from purchase to wrong goods being received.

I'm cross because the goods were returned to me from the "wrong" person and the credit card company told me I had to send it back to the other person before they could go any further. I did that, and then they came back and said they never could have helped anyway because of Paypal (which they had known from the start).

So I'm out now by about £120 and I don't have even the wrong blind to attempt to resell. I'm getting no response from e-mails to the other person. Small claims will cost me £25 to lodge a claim, with potentially further costs if it drags on. No guarantee that the story I've been sold is true, or that the person I'm told to sue lives at the address I have.

It's the principle though. Is it worth lodging a claim in court?

wealdroam

Send a letter before action.

State exactly, and succinctly what the problem is.
State what you want to happen, e.g. a full refund of monies paid plus extra postage cost.
State when this must happen, e.g. within 14 days.
State what you will do next if the above doesn't happen, i.e. you'll go to court.

Further info and a sample lba can be found here:

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/england/consumer_e/consumer_taking_action_e/consumer_legal_actions_e/consumer_going_to_court_e/consumer_taking_court_action_e/step_one_write_a_letter_before_action.htm

You will need to decide just who to address that letter to though.

notanewuser

Was going to leave this be, but have just noticed that the woman who told me it was nothing to do with her has listed the wrongly coloured blind on ebay as a "sample blind" at the "reduced cost" of £77.99. She's blocked me, so I can't message her or buy the blind. I'm furious.

I'm tempted to skip the LBA and just to go to MCOL now.

unholyangel

notanewuser wrote: »

Was going to leave this be, but have just noticed that the woman who told me it was nothing to do with her has listed the wrongly coloured blind on ebay as a "sample blind" at the "reduced cost" of £77.99. She's blocked me, so I can't message her or buy the blind. I'm furious.

I'm tempted to skip the LBA and just to go to MCOL now.

You wouldnt be able to recover your costs if you did (ie the costs of filing your claim and the hearing fee if it went that far).

It would likely be seen as unreasonable behaviour by the courts.

I know its hard but take your feelings out of it. This is a business transaction. Feelings dont come into it.

notanewuser

unholyangel wrote: »

You wouldnt be able to recover your costs if you did (ie the costs of filing your claim and the hearing fee if it went that far).

It would likely be seen as unreasonable behaviour by the courts.

I know its hard but take your feelings out of it. This is a business transaction. Feelings dont come into it.

She's responded to my email giving me even more proof that she lied about her "sister in law" and that the blind is mine. I've summarised the situation and given her the option to settle by a deadline before I issue court proceedings. Can this be the letter before action?

DevCoder

Just write the LBA with the help you've already been given as to what it should include and post it to the other party...

Its the cost of a stamp and less than an hour of your time.

notanewuser

More advice needed now.

LBA went on 31/8 giving 14 days to respond. Heard nothing by yesterday so filed court papers for the full amount stated in the LBA which included:

1. original cost
2. cost of returning the blind
3. my time trying to sort this out
4. interest
5. court fee (if above not paid before 14/9)

Heard nothing so I registered the case on MCOL yesterday (cost £25). Tonight I've received a refund of 1 "in view of correspondence received".

I'm still out of pocket by around £20 for postage and now the £25 court fee. What do I do? Do I leave the court case run for the remainder?

hollydays

Others will give you good advice here, only thing I know is that you can refund the paypal payment back then block her if need be at any point.