Ebay seller sent wrong phone... twice!

Uhkbaehjgeqfivub

I’d be grateful for any advice re an eBay seller and terms of the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

After a protracted battle with phone insurer who took some weeks to completely fail to fix my iPhone, I was eventually given a payout to purchase a replacement.

I paid for a specific model, specification, condition grade (perfect/pristine Grade A), and colour of phone on eBay from a professional seller on 14th April. It was delivered nearly a week later. It was the wrong colour.

The seller prevaricated and obfuscated - they wanted me to send them the IMEI number for reasons which were unclear, although I still did so - and I eventually got them to provide a return label after I initiated the return process - this arrived on 25th April and I returned the handset.
The seller received the return on 29th April, and despatched another, which arrived on 1st May.

Unfortunately the new handset is the right colour, but not in pristine condition - there is a single deep scratch on the screen. It seems to me that they didn’t have any pristine phones left in that colour and memory spec so they sent a B-grade and were hoping that I wouldn’t notice. The particular spec has been out of stock for the duration so this seems to back up my cynicism.

The seller asked me to send a picture - I did have a go but screen scratches are extremely difficult to photograph. I was getting annoyed by now and really didn’t want to be without a phone again - and to have to reinstall all of my banking details and apps, and sort all the settings again.

The seller wanted to call me on the phone. I declined this contact and they then failed to message me back until I asked Ebay to step in.

Ebay decided that I had to send the phone back for a full refund. This would effectively put me right back at the start of the process again, and without a phone. Again.

Some important background: I’m in remission and have some other health problems, and have a very old and unreliable car - I believe the head gasket has now failed and it will eventually stop going - so as you might imagine I simply have to have a mobile phone with me!

Having absorbed some of the Consumer Rights Act 2015, I decided to let ebay know that I wished to exercise my legal right to a proportional price reduction while keeping the item.
Ebay did not want to know - it doesn’t fit within the terms of their Money Back Guarantee - therefore I had to take it up with the seller. However they did increase the time available for the return process.

The seller responded to my request with an offer of a reduction of £10 - I replied that I felt this to be derisory. They justified this with my failure to send them a photo of the scratch, and reiterated their preference for me to return it to them.
Note that in the meantime I’d spend some time getting photos of the screen from all kinds of angles, and eventually managed to get two which did show the scratch. I’ve now forwarded these to the seller.

I’m not sure where to go from here. The choices seem to be to take legal action - which I’m not keen on because of the stress.
Alternatively is it reasonable for me to approach my credit card company? I believe I paid directly on my card rather than through PayPal.

Sorry for the long complex post. Thank you in advance for any advice you can offer.

Mr.Generous

Do yourself a favor avoid the stress, just take the refund and buy elsewhere.

Aylesbury_Duck

Just go and buy a cheap phone to tide you over, return the current one for a full refund and buy a proper replacement when you have the time.

knightstyle

Have a look on a seller like Giffgaff they do decent deals on second hand phones and have good customer service.

Carrot007

Sorry, but forcing any seller to do what you think it right and fair is never going to happen.


They are well within their right to just refund so are only going to take other options if it advatages them.


I do not understand why people want to force bed sellers to be good. Bad sellers are ones you should avoid not fight with to give them business.


Why would anyone want to take the hard option, especially if they have other problems to deal with.


If it's the only thing keeping you going go for it, otherwise get your money back and go to a decent seller. Are you wanting to fight becuase it was the cheapest option? If so you now know why it was.

Matty36

You are making this more difficult than it should be. Just return the phone, and you will get a full refund as stated by ebay. What's the issue? That you will have no phone? Go to tesco or somewhere like cex and buy the cheapest piece of crap you can find so you will always have a spare on the go for emergencies etc. Or just ask friends or family if they have a spare/old phone you can borrow until you get round to buying a new one

theonlywayisup

Uhkbaehjgeqfivub wrote: »

Some important background: I’m in remission and have some other health problems, and have a very old and unreliable car - I believe the head gasket has now failed and it will eventually stop going - so as you might imagine I simply have to have a mobile phone with me!

This is not important and not relevant.

Ebay have a returns process in place and you either adhere to it or not. You can't have it both ways.

Uhkbaehjgeqfivub wrote: »

Having absorbed some of the Consumer Rights Act 2015, I decided to let ebay know that I wished to exercise my legal right to a proportional price reduction while keeping the item.

Ebay did not want to know - it doesn’t fit within the terms of their Money Back Guarantee - therefore I had to take it up with the seller. However they did increase the time available for the return process.

The seller responded to my request with an offer of a reduction of £10 - I replied that I felt this to be derisory. They justified this with my failure to send them a photo of the scratch, and reiterated their preference for me to return it to them.
Note that in the meantime I’d spend some time getting photos of the screen from all kinds of angles, and eventually managed to get two which did show the scratch. I’ve now forwarded these to the seller.

I’m not sure where to go from here. The choices seem to be to take legal action - which I’m not keen on because of the stress.
Alternatively is it reasonable for me to approach my credit card company? I believe I paid directly on my card rather than through PayPal.

Sorry for the long complex post. Thank you in advance for any advice you can offer.

What are you trying to achieve? You cannot force the seller to give you a partial refund via ebay.

Is the case still open? If it is return the phone and take your refund and go elsewhere. ebay have been very gracious in extending their returns period for you, they don't do this normally.

warby68

Some of the posts are blunt OP and as your posts are quite long and detailed I'm guessing you are mixing up your personal difficulties and the purely commercial purchase of a phone quite a lot.

Take the refund and look elsewhere - forget trying to win with a less than perfect seller. Phones sold in secondary markets are very prone to fraud/cons etc from both buyers and sellers and people trying it on so that's why the vendor probably will only offer refunds not price reductions.

If you need a phone at all times, then the type and colour are secondary. We all want what we want and we all want a bargain but saying you need continuous urgent phone availability but also that it has to be that particular phone in that particular colour and condition isn't going to wash really. You can get an emergency phone in an instant and then take your time sourcing your perfect phone elsewhere. It really is a much better option than all this stress.

You can't trying a credit card claim when you've actually been offered a refund.

DCFC79

Get your refund and buy elsewhere.
Why are you wanting a certain colour, just get a case in the colour you like and job done.

DoaM

knightstyle wrote: »

Have a look on a seller like Giffgaff they do decent deals on second hand phones and have good customer service.

GG also often have decent deals on new phones as well. I got my Huawei P9 Lite from them a few years ago and they were as cheap as anywhere else. (I'm with GG for my network).

BTW - the phone is still going strong.

Jumblebumble

Uhkbaehjgeqfivub wrote: »

I’d be grateful for any advice re an eBay seller and terms of the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

After a protracted battle with phone insurer who took some weeks to completely fail to fix my iPhone, I was eventually given a payout to purchase a replacement.

I paid for a specific model, specification, condition grade (perfect/pristine Grade A), and colour of phone on eBay from a professional seller on 14th April. It was delivered nearly a week later. It was the wrong colour.

The seller prevaricated and obfuscated - they wanted me to send them the IMEI number for reasons which were unclear, although I still did so - and I eventually got them to provide a return label after I initiated the return process - this arrived on 25th April and I returned the handset.
The seller received the return on 29th April, and despatched another, which arrived on 1st May.

Unfortunately the new handset is the right colour, but not in pristine condition - there is a single deep scratch on the screen. It seems to me that they didn’t have any pristine phones left in that colour and memory spec so they sent a B-grade and were hoping that I wouldn’t notice. The particular spec has been out of stock for the duration so this seems to back up my cynicism.

The seller asked me to send a picture - I did have a go but screen scratches are extremely difficult to photograph. I was getting annoyed by now and really didn’t want to be without a phone again - and to have to reinstall all of my banking details and apps, and sort all the settings again.

The seller wanted to call me on the phone. I declined this contact and they then failed to message me back until I asked Ebay to step in.

Ebay decided that I had to send the phone back for a full refund. This would effectively put me right back at the start of the process again, and without a phone. Again.

Some important background: I’m in remission and have some other health problems, and have a very old and unreliable car - I believe the head gasket has now failed and it will eventually stop going - so as you might imagine I simply have to have a mobile phone with me!

Having absorbed some of the Consumer Rights Act 2015, I decided to let ebay know that I wished to exercise my legal right to a proportional price reduction while keeping the item.
Ebay did not want to know - it doesn’t fit within the terms of their Money Back Guarantee - therefore I had to take it up with the seller. However they did increase the time available for the return process.

The seller responded to my request with an offer of a reduction of £10 - I replied that I felt this to be derisory. They justified this with my failure to send them a photo of the scratch, and reiterated their preference for me to return it to them.
Note that in the meantime I’d spend some time getting photos of the screen from all kinds of angles, and eventually managed to get two which did show the scratch. I’ve now forwarded these to the seller.

I’m not sure where to go from here. The choices seem to be to take legal action - which I’m not keen on because of the stress.
Alternatively is it reasonable for me to approach my credit card company? I believe I paid directly on my card rather than through PayPal.

Sorry for the long complex post. Thank you in advance for any advice you can offer.[/QUOTE

I sympathise with your health issues but I am sorry to say you do sound like an absolute nightmare to deal with.
If the phone is so important to you and your car and you must have it from this supplier why does the colour make any difference?
JumbleBumble