Barclays unable to help with website purchase issue

King_Mustard

I bought a product from a seller on AliExpress.com on March 27, 2018, using my Barclays debit card.

The product was shipped from inside the EU (Germany).

There were several issues and eventually, it stopped working completely.

I was in contact with the seller from May 18, 2018.

The seller eventually simply stopped replying to me without any solution.

I've been in contact with AliExpress' support team every 10 days or so (they always asked me to wait 10 working days for decisions) since June 2018 and they have done nothing to help.

I finally had enough and a friend suggested I contact Barclays for help.

I hadn't contacted my bank before now because I wasn't aware I could have done and I also wouldn't feel it was the banks fault.

I contacted them today but I was told they can only log a case for up to 180 days. It has been 203 days.

I understand why they have limits but I have been trying to resolve this in, what I thought, was the best way possible.

What are my next steps? (if there are any)

If it's a loss, it's a loss. Just a shame.

DoaM

Chargeback is a scheme offered by Visa and Mastercard for debit card purchases, it is not a legal right (like Section 75 for credit cards). Therefore the scheme can have whatever reasonable terms it wishes ... in this case a time limit of 180 days* from purchase in which to raise a claim. Unfortunately for you you're timed out.

* 180 is generous - I thought most chargeback schemes were 120 days.

King_Mustard

DoaM wrote: »

Chargeback is a scheme offered by Visa and Mastercard for debit card purchases, it is not a legal right (like Section 75 for credit cards). Therefore the scheme can have whatever reasonable terms it wishes ... in this case a time limit of 180 days* from purchase in which to raise a claim. Unfortunately for you you're timed out.

* 180 is generous - I thought most chargeback schemes were 120 days.

I definitely don't expect anything from the bank.

I was just wondering, now that my bank can't help, if I have any further options.

DoaM

I was addressing the inferred question ... "I started trying to resolve this with the seller way before 180 days , does that allow me to make a chargeback claim?"

I have no experience with Aliexpress (other than seeing them mentioned here on MSE as not being the best place to buy from). If they're based overseas (Far East?) then you're bound by whatever laws apply to the transaction - these would not be UK or EU laws. Accordingly you wouldn't be able to raise a small claim in the County Court (MCOL) against them.

marcarm

That's the problem with buying from overseas, yes it may be cheaper but what price if it goes wrong?

Sometimes it's worth paying extra so you know you have some comeback if the worst happens, or be prepared to write off the item if it turns out to be rubbish and faulty.

FTR, I've bought from Aliexpress before, but only consumables such as football socks and for less than £5. Never something that is expensive or possible to go wrong.

King_Mustard

marcarm wrote: »

That's the problem with buying from overseas, yes it may be cheaper but what price if it goes wrong?

Sometimes it's worth paying extra so you know you have some comeback if the worst happens, or be prepared to write off the item if it turns out to be rubbish and faulty.

FTR, I've bought from Aliexpress before, but only consumables such as football socks and for less than £5. Never something that is expensive or possible to go wrong.

This was an Android head unit designed specifically for my Peugeot 308.

It wasn't available within the UK, or even within the EU.

However, since it was shipped from the EU (Germany), I thought/was hoping I still retained some form of legal consumer rights.

JJ_Egan

German Consumer rights maybe.
But shipping is not the purchase adress .

bris

Ali express is Chinese, they hold items in warehouses all over Europe but it's for speeding up the shipping progress only. You are bound by Chinese law.

King_Mustard

bris wrote: »

Ali express is Chinese, they hold items in warehouses all over Europe but it's for speeding up the shipping progress only. You are bound by Chinese law.

I see. That's a shame.

Thank you.

unholyangel

When was the item actually delivered?

The time limits for chargeback all vary depending on what type of card, whether the transaction was face to face or online, whether it was overseas etc. So you could always ask for a letter of deadlock and refer the complaint to the financial ombudsman to check whether they've applied the right limit but in this instance I wouldn't hold out much hope unfortunately.

King_Mustard

unholyangel wrote: »

When was the item actually delivered?

The time limits for chargeback all vary depending on what type of card, whether the transaction was face to face or online, whether it was overseas etc. So you could always ask for a letter of deadlock and refer the complaint to the financial ombudsman to check whether they've applied the right limit but in this instance I wouldn't hold out much hope unfortunately.

Unfortunately, I don't remember when it was delivered. It was too long ago.