Ebuyer partial refund on 6 months old TV

Paggy66

Hi,

My son started Uni in October and bought a TV for £190 off EBuyer, 6 months and 1 week later it packed in. Ebuyer asked him to return the TV and sent email agreeing it was faulty beyond repair and they would replace it. A few days later they said it was no longer in stock and because of the age of the TV they would only offer a partial refund of 50% of the original purchase price. Obviously it is still under warranty. I am aware that partial refunds are allowed, but 50% for a 6 months old TV seems a con!

Any advice on how I deal with this would be appreciated.

bod1467

Get him to write back to them (update his RMA "chat") to advise that 50% refund is not acceptable. Minimum acceptable refund will be 90% ... in fact, for under 12 months a buyer should expect 100% refund. If they refuse then he should write them a Letter Before Action to demand a minimum 90% refund else he'll commence small claims action for it ... and then follow up with such action via MCOL.

This is a well-known Ebuyer tactic, and is why many people will no longer buy from them.

Zandoni

bod1467 wrote: »

Get him to write back to them (update his RMA "chat") to advise that 50% refund is not acceptable. Minimum acceptable refund will be 90% ... in fact, for under 12 months a buyer should expect 100% refund. If they refuse then he should write them a Letter Before Action to demand a minimum 90% refund else he'll commence small claims action for it ... and then follow up with such action via MCOL.

This is a well-known Ebuyer tactic, and is why many people will no longer buy from them.

Ditto this, I stopped buying from them because of this practice.

bod1467

Zandoni wrote: »

Ditto this, I stopped buying from them because of this practice.

And the kicker? Ebuyer use the manufacturer warranties as part of their advertising, yet rarely (if ever) allow a consumer to make use of said warranties if the consumer contacts Ebuyer first. (Whilst [allegedly] using it themselves to recover their own costs).

Moral of the story? If you happen to have bought from Ebuyer and a manufacturer warranty is offered, try the manufacturer first. (Unless the warranty T&Cs would be punitive, such as costing a lot to return the faulty goods to the manufacturer).

chickendipperbabe

This is the norm for Ebuyer returns after the magic six months mark. You get the "yes no problem sir, you'll 100% be receiving a replacement or repair" treatment but once they have your return its the "erm sorry all you're entitled to is a partial refund as per our T&C's" bombshell in almost EVERY case.

There are a number of recent threads on here about this. Quite a shocker though this one, 50% refund after six months? The TV was obviously not fit for purpose lasting for just six months and one week. The sad thing is Ebuyer will now return your TV back to the manufacturer for a replacement they can then sell on at full price, basically selling the same item at full price twice.

A lot of manufactures now use retailers now for RMA requests so you're snookered, even worse Ebuyer have been known to buy grey import stock or stock on the cheap, the likes of TV's for example that have no UK manufacturer warranty at all.

Shaka_Zulu

chickendipperbabe wrote: »

even worse Ebuyer have been known to buy grey import stock or stock on the cheap, the likes of TV's for example that have no UK manufacturer warranty at all.

EBuyer could also be advertising manufacturers warranty when in fact they have bought the goods cheaper by waiving the manufacturer warranty.

(I suppose that doesn't fit in to their business model as described above)

chickendipperbabe

Basically every item they sell is suspect when it comes to warranty status.

You buy a component or electrical item with a three year repair or replace warranty and that's what you expect to receive not a snotty email and an insult of a partial refund should you require service.

When arranging an RMA they wont disclose the fact that you'll be hit with a partial refund. As the OP found out they'll say the item will be repaired or replaced when they know fine well it wont be. This is what I have a problem with, I know they're allowed to deduct money for use but I don't understand how they're allowed to get away with tricking and lying to customers.

agrinnall

bod1467 wrote: »

Get him to write back to them (update his RMA "chat") to advise that 50% refund is not acceptable. Minimum acceptable refund will be 90% ... in fact, for under 12 months a buyer should expect 100% refund. If they refuse then he should write them a Letter Before Action to demand a minimum 90% refund else he'll commence small claims action for it ... and then follow up with such action via MCOL.

This is a well-known Ebuyer tactic, and is why many people will no longer buy from them.

While your reply might be good advice for dealing with Ebuyer I don't believe there is anything in SOGA to back up your suggestion that either 90% or 100% refund would be a reasonable expectation. In fact, 50% back on a carp [STRIKE]£170[/STRIKE] £190 telly might not be that bad.

shaun_from_Africa

agrinnall wrote: »

In fact, 50% back on a carp £170 telly might not be that bad.

Whatever the quality of a TV might be, I would expect it to last longer that 1 year which is the life that ebuyer seem to think is reasonable.

vuvuzela

agrinnall wrote: »

While your reply might be good advice for dealing with Ebuyer I don't believe there is anything in SOGA to back up your suggestion that either 90% or 100% refund would be a reasonable expectation. In fact, 50% back on a carp £170 telly might not be that bad.

50% back is an insult to the intelligence of the purchaser and utterly disgraceful from ebuyer.

agrinnall

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

Whatever the quality of a TV might be, I would expect it to last longer that 1 year which is the life that ebuyer seem to think is reasonable.

vuvuzela wrote: »

50% back is an insult to the intelligence of the purchaser and utterly disgraceful from ebuyer.

I'm sure you're right that ebuyer are not acting in the spirit of SOGA, and given the difficulty I had getting myself removed from their mailing list I have nothing to do with them, but you have to ask yourself how much you would pay for a 6 month old no-name TV that has been in student accommodation, if anything.