Ebay seller refusing full refund for faulty phone

CYRUSWH

4 months ago I bought a 'brand new iPhone 7 in original packaging' from a big seller on eBay for £300. Around 2 months ago I started experiencing no service on my phone at all and the phone cannot call, text or use cellular data. I initially thought that the SIM in the phone was faulty, I replaced the SIM and the problem still persists (the SIM works fine in other phones). I contacted the seller and described my problems, they gave me lots of troubleshooting points to try to fix the problem myself and none of it worked. I then said that I want a full refund as the phone is faulty. They said that it would be fine to return the phone for refund. I posted the phone back to them with the original packaging and everything that it came with. Now they are saying that they will only be able refund me £200. They gave me this response:

'As you may know, these electronic items, especially for the cell phones, can lose value very rapidly and each return causes a great loss on our side. Not to mention the test cost and the depreciation cost of these second-hand electronic products.
And ususlly we offer 30 days money back policy. We're unable to issue full refund since you've used the phone for such a long time. Some parts of the phone would probably be replaced or damaged during the fixing. We can only refund you £200. Hope you could understand.'

I then explained that there was a 1 year seller warranty on the phone and that the phone is not performing to standard. The phone is simply not working to a basic standard within 6 months, these phones are surely expected to last much longer. They responded with:

'According to eBay policy, there is only 30 days money back to return item for full refund. Your order was placed on Dec 22, it is over 4 months. It is much out of 30 days. After confirming with our boss, we will refund £230 to you, hope you understand that we are doing our best to help.'

This has been a very long winded post but I feel this is an unfair, inconvenient outcome for myself (been without a working phone for months) and I don't know how to go about getting a full refund. Can anybody help?, thanks.

theonlywayisup

Ebay and Paypal for that matter, do not offer warranties, their money back returns are for faulty items which are faulty on first use/delivery.

Did you buy from an individual or a company. If it's a company where are they based?

CYRUSWH

It was the seller that offered a 12 month seller warranty and its from a company. It says on their ebay profile that they are based in malaysia. Thanks for the reply

theonlywayisup

CYRUSWH wrote: »

It was the seller that offered a 12 month seller warranty and its from a company. It says on their ebay profile that they are based in malaysia. Thanks for the reply

That's a shame.

You don't have any UK consumer rights if they are in Malaysia. Therefore you are reliant on Malaysia consumer laws and/or the warranty given. If they are offering you £230, I would be inclined to accept it and put it down to experience, you are very lucky to be getting anything back as you cannot force them to refund you anything. Next time buy from a UK seller

Matty36

Just open a case against the seller. Ebay find in the buyers favor 99% of the time. However, as its past the 30 days, you may be in the 1%.

They have your phone and your money so you got nothing to lose in trying. Also, I can imagine the return postage cost was not cheap to Malaysia. As it was faulty and the seller agreed... You should get these costs back too

Aylesbury_Duck

Take the money offered and run. There's a reason many overseas sellers offer "bargains", as you've found out. If you can afford to lose the money in question, buying from overseas can be worth the gamble. If you want to have some sort of consumer protection, pay a bit more and buy from a U.K.-based seller.

mattyprice4004

Matty36 wrote: »

Just open a case against the seller. Ebay find in the buyers favor 99% of the time. However, as its past the 30 days, you may be in the 1%.

They have your phone and your money so you got nothing to lose in trying. Also, I can imagine the return postage cost was not cheap to Malaysia. As it was faulty and the seller agreed... You should get these costs back too

After 4 months eBay won't let you open a case.

mattyprice4004

Unfortunately you opted to save a few quid by buying from an unknown seller halfway across the world - this is the other half of the coin - you're likely to lose money if things go wrong.

I'd take the refund and run - I'd also use it as a valuable lesson to only buy from decent UK companies so you have some comeback. I've been there myself and that few quid you save is soon gone, while you have no backup when things go awry

dj1471

I wonder if the phone has been reported as lost or stolen and blocked? That might explain the "no service" problem.

Easiest way to check is to phone your mobile provider and ask, otherwise you could use CheckMEND:
https://www.checkmend.com/uk/

If that is what's happened then you'd have a much stronger case for a full refund.

CYRUSWH

The thing is that the phone was sent to me from a location in manchester and returned the phone to the same location so surely they must be under some uk consumer law?

Aylesbury_Duck

CYRUSWH wrote: »

The thing is that the phone was sent to me from a location in manchester and returned the phone to the same location so surely they must be under some uk consumer law?

No. If the registered office is in Malaysia, it's that country's consumer laws that apply. The address in Manchester is just storage.