grrrr! bought U2 tickets on ebay, wrong date on tickets!!

jellyhead

grrr! my sister doesn't have the internet and wanted U2 tickets so i got a pair for her, from a seller who seemed genuine, wasn't selling any other tickets and as far as i could tell wasn't a tout. 5 days before the concert the tickets have arrived - for another date!! sister and boyfriend have booked time off work, booked and paid for a hotel room, arranged and paid for childcare based on going to the tuesday concert as listed in the ebay listing but the tickets are for wednesday night :-(

it's too late to book more time off work or re-arrange it. it means them driving back after the concert instead of staying over. this isn't ideal for the boyfriend, he says it's not the same if they have to stay sober and drive home after the gig. they can't afford to get tickets for the correct day though and i have no idea how the paypal thing works, i don't know if i can get a refund anyhow. i think their best bet is to just use the tickets anyway, they don't want to end up in a situation where they have no tickets at all and can't buy from touts.

ho hum ... just wanted to moan really, and warn other buyers. if the tickets don't arrive until a few days before the gig it's too late to arrange something else if the tickets are wrong (or don't turn up at all).

soolin

What a pain.

Yes you can start the 'item not as described' process but you are rather limited by time as it can take ages.

Maybe it is worth starting the process anyway both through ebay and through paypal and try to get some sort of partial refund from the seller for the inconvenience? I'm not usually a vindictive person but I think I would want to cause the seller some inconvenience here (i'll probably edit this when I feel better!). Contact the seller by phone and tell them you want an immediate refund prior to sending the tickets back, I would think he would say no, but then use that as a bargaining point for a partial refund. We all make mistakes in listings but how hard can it be to get a date right on such high cost items?

Sorry I can't think what else to suggest, but I'm sure there will be some suggestions from others in a moment.

Soo

jellyhead

thanks soo, that's a good idea, a partial refund would be great. they don't want a full refund because they will use the tickets, it's just a real pain that the listing was for tuesday and the tickets are for wednesday. i emailed the seller saying they are for the wrong date, no reply yet. i'm not sure what to do about the refund, can i start a paypal dispute if the tickets have been used?

xela_17

I bought a tv/dvd off ebay and when I got it the dvd part didn't work. After a LONG wrangle with the seller I started the 'item not as described' process on ebay. About three months later I got about 75% of my money back through ebay and still got to keep the tv! Thought I would have to send it back to seller and that ebay would ask for proof of this but they didn't.

jellyhead

tickets were bought in march so i can't use the ebay dispute thing, it's been over 60 days. paypal say the same, they closed the case as i tried to open it. seller isn't replying. can i get paypal to look into it? i didn't know the goods weren't as described, she didn't post them until this week, it's not as if i've had them sitting here for more than 60 days and could have started the dispute earlier ...

soolin

jellyhead wrote:

tickets were bought in march so i can't use the ebay dispute thing, it's been over 60 days. paypal say the same, they closed the case as i tried to open it. seller isn't replying. can i get paypal to look into it? i didn't know the goods weren't as described, she didn't post them until this week, it's not as if i've had them sitting here for more than 60 days and could have started the dispute earlier ...

Unfortunately there are no ways round the paypal 45 day limit for making a claim. This is a good reason why buying things that are not in hand is a bad idea, there are some sellers who use this loophole as a way to scam people, not that I am suggesting your seller did it in this case.

Apart from being able to leave negative feedback you don't now have any options through ebay or paypal to resolve this dispute. Your only hope is that the seller will be sympathetic.

Soo

xela_17

If the seller won't budge, can't your friends put the tickets up for sale themselves and at the same time look for tickets for the day they wanted?

flea72

but cant ebay be involved, because the person selling the tickets, didnt have them at the point of sale either (im assuming they didnt have the tickets back in march, to be able to send them straight away?) - i thought you had to have items in your possession to be able to sell them - in other words they broke ebay rules by listing them in the first place?

tbh i wouldnt be suprised if the tickets are duds anyway, seeing as the person hasnt sent them out til the last minute - gives you less chance to complain, and they knew it took you over the 60day time limit

Bargainbabe_2

Whats the seller's feedback like?

soolin

flea72 wrote:

but cant ebay be involved, because the person selling the tickets, didnt have them at the point of sale either (im assuming they didnt have the tickets back in march, to be able to send them straight away?) - i thought you had to have items in your possession to be able to sell them - in other words they broke ebay rules by listing them in the first place?

tbh i wouldnt be suprised if the tickets are duds anyway, seeing as the person hasnt sent them out til the last minute - gives you less chance to complain, and they knew it took you over the 60day time limit

Ebay warn against buying items that are not in hand, but they don't monitor the auctions so I don't think they will listen to a complaint made a couple of months later. Even if they did listen to the complaint against the seller all they would do is remove the listing from their data base and give the seller a slap on the wrist, they won't help to get money back as their own process for doing so has now passed.

Soo

jellyhead

the seller says the tickets weren't posted out to the buyers until ten days before the gig, i saw the same thing mentioned on the other U2 auctions, i assume it's true? maybe the seller was wrong to list them, i'll look into that if she doesn't reply to my email today. i don't think there's time to resell the tickets and buy more, the gig is in 5 days time, i haven't fully looked into it yet though, i had a quick look at scarlet mist website and people had tickets on there, i think they are sold at face value so maybe she could sell hers and buy more for roughly the same cost. i will talk to ebay because i don't think it's fair to have a 60 day rule if the seller couldn't get the item to me within 60 days of the auction closing. it's daft of my sister to buy them i admit, i did tell her i wouldn't do it no matter how much i wanted to see a band, and i warned her that it could be a complete scam, so i suppose she should look on the bright side - at least she got some tickets lol!