Messed about by Ebay for a refund - no empathy

MollyMutkin

Ill try and keep this brief.

In July I purchased a used cd/sat nav replacement for my car, asking the buyer specifically if the CD player worked as that was what I needed to replace. It turned out the cd did not work and I had to start up a dispute with the seller.

My father passed away on 11 August and we had our holiday booked that coming weekend (15th). I was told to go anyway and make all the arrangements for the funeral (on Fri 28th) on my return.

While on holiday I received an email from ebay on 16th stating to get my refund I had to return the item to Ebay (following their postage procedure, download forms, take to collection point, register on system, etc. within 9 days (I guess that meant by 25th). I did not see/read the email until the 19th as I was not looking at my emails and we also had limited wifi connection or emails were not downloading unless we were somewhere with a connection.

I immediately replied to ebay that I was not returning from holiday until 23 August and on my return I would be busy organising my fathers funeral would be unlikely to find the time to return the item until after 30 Aug and I could send a copy of the death certificate, funeral booking to them as proof.

They replied on 20th to say they would put my case 'on hold' for 9 days. I replied I was not sure exactly what that meant and as I understood it, it wold not be of any help, if I understood correctly that would mean 9 days from the date of that email would be up to Sat 29th, (still not really help, I had family staying over the weekend.)

I then on 22nd received another email back from ebay stating they understood my situation and not to worry about returning the item until after the 30th august. I thought this was reasonable so I no longer had to worry about the return until the week after the funeral.

Then on 27th I received an email from Ebay stating my case had been closed.

I contacted them again (very stressed as it was just the day before the funeral) I explain again about m fathers funeral, etc. and that I had been told not to return it until after 30th

I then received an email from them basically stating that 9 days is given to the benefit of both parties and my case was closed and refund no longer valid and to take that into account next time I start a dispute blah blah...

I'm really upset at all this, not only have I lost my +£50 refund, but it was very stressful to have this happen at this time.

I am now considering just returning the item any way. Any advice please?

foxtrotoscar_2

Might be better to post your problem on the ebay forum here:-


http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=40


MSE member soolin is worth listening to if she replies!

soolin

Ebay do not arbitrate in disputes- there is a system in place to ensure some measure of fairness for both buyers and sellers (although many sellers would argue that it is heavily weighted towards buyers). You have a fairly generous time frame to return an item, after that the chance for an easy refund closes.

There can't be any empathy as the mechanics to have people sit and decide on a case by case basis for the probably thousands of disputes a week would cost millions and would be unworkable.

I sympathise for your loss, but the return would have taken a few minutes from your day, that's all. I understand that you needed to give your grieving and your holiday priority but that does unfortunately mean you missed the boat with ebay. You could still try appealing to the seller, but they are not obliged to do anything now you allowed the open case to close.

Empathy can go both ways, as a seller when my mother died I couldn't risk not posting all my sold items as no buyer would have accepted that as an excuse to wait an extra day for their item- that's just how things are nowadays.

arcon5

You had a month to return, I appreciate you went through a difficult period, but this should have been sufficient in a day and age where collections are very easy or even dropping off at parcel shops or going to a post office

Le_Kirk

Notwithstanding what posters have said about the mechanics being exactly that - fixed events happening within a timescale without external influence of real people - who sent the e-mails from e-bay saying not to worry until after 30th August and then not honouring that commitment? Or is that also mechanical?

mattyprice4004

The only issue would be if eBay promised you could extend, and then blatently went back on that promise - unfortunately with most businesses your personal problems are none of their concern.

While I appreciate you've had a bereavement, that alone isn't going to sway eBay. They're usually very robotic in their CS.

philatio

As arcon5 said... you should have sent it back.
Sorry to sound harsh, but you had time to pack and go on holiday... which I assume was more stressful than just nipping to the post office for 10 mins.

Takeaway_Addict

Sell it on ebay...you are in the wrong albeit unfortunate circumstances.

Le_Kirk

MollyMutkin wrote: »

I then on 22nd received another email back from ebay stating they understood my situation and not to worry about returning the item until after the 30th august. I thought this was reasonable so I no longer had to worry about the return until the week after the funeral.

Maybe I have misunderstood what the above meant. It did say not to worry about returning it until after 30th, although admittedly it did not say it would be on hold until then.

unholyangel

Le_Kirk wrote: »

Maybe I have misunderstood what the above meant. It did say not to worry about returning it until after 30th, although admittedly it did not say it would be on hold until then.

I take it you missed this bit of the OP?

They replied on 20th to say they would put my case 'on hold' for 9 days. I replied I was not sure exactly what that meant and as I understood it, it wold not be of any help, if I understood correctly that would mean 9 days from the date of that email would be up to Sat 29th, (still not really help, I had family staying over the weekend.)

I then on 22nd received another email back from ebay stating they understood my situation and not to worry about returning the item until after the 30th august. I thought this was reasonable so I no longer had to worry about the return until the week after the funeral.

marliepanda

Op can you post the email from eBay saying 'don't worry about sending it back until the 30th' this seems quite colloquial and non committal which obviously isn't helpful to the seller in this situation. As I am sure you can imagine if they told the seller 'not to worry about refunding until' and not giving a specific date that could be problematic...