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Ebay - item not as described
cogito
Posts: 4,898 Forumite
Cross posted on the eBay forum.
Two years ago, I purchased an Optoma projector from an eBay seller which was described as 'Opened - never used'. This was for outdoor use at my holiday home and has had no more than 150 hours use. I bought it because of Optoma's reputation for quality and reliability and was also influenced by that fact that the seller had over 20,000 reviews with 99.5% satisfaction.
After a year, the projector refused to start and was sent to the local Optoma service centre for testing. They reported that the could find no fault and returned it to me. Altogether, I paid around €80 for shipping and the service centre's inspection charges. It was indeed working correctly and I continued to use it.
A few weeks ago, the fault recurred and rather than send it to the service centre for testing, I contacted Optoma directly for advice. They have replied to me and an extract of their response is below.
'Im afraid this could be caused by a number of potential reasons as the unit is in fact 4 years old and does have a repair history with Optoma.
This means it has been owned by somebody before you and anything could have happened whilst the previous owner had the projector.'
Clearly, the item was not as represented to me and had I known the history, I would not have purchased it.
Despite the passage of time, it seems to me that I should be entitled to a full refund of the purchase price and the additional costs whic I incurred.
Could anyone clarify what my rights may be?
Two years ago, I purchased an Optoma projector from an eBay seller which was described as 'Opened - never used'. This was for outdoor use at my holiday home and has had no more than 150 hours use. I bought it because of Optoma's reputation for quality and reliability and was also influenced by that fact that the seller had over 20,000 reviews with 99.5% satisfaction.
After a year, the projector refused to start and was sent to the local Optoma service centre for testing. They reported that the could find no fault and returned it to me. Altogether, I paid around €80 for shipping and the service centre's inspection charges. It was indeed working correctly and I continued to use it.
A few weeks ago, the fault recurred and rather than send it to the service centre for testing, I contacted Optoma directly for advice. They have replied to me and an extract of their response is below.
'Im afraid this could be caused by a number of potential reasons as the unit is in fact 4 years old and does have a repair history with Optoma.
This means it has been owned by somebody before you and anything could have happened whilst the previous owner had the projector.'
Clearly, the item was not as represented to me and had I known the history, I would not have purchased it.
Despite the passage of time, it seems to me that I should be entitled to a full refund of the purchase price and the additional costs whic I incurred.
Could anyone clarify what my rights may be?
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Comments
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Have you contacted the person you purchased from to query this?
If they aren't willing to resolve you'd be looking at small claims but would need to demonstrate the goods were not as described.
Do you still have a copy of the advert?
Business seller or private?In the game of chess you can never let your adversary see your pieces0 -
You in fact bought a second hand projector two years ago I thinkyou will struggle.0
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You're not entitled to a full refund if you've had two years of use out of it.0
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the_lunatic_is_in_my_head wrote: »Have you contacted the person you purchased from to query this?
If they aren't willing to resolve you'd be looking at small claims but would need to demonstrate the goods were not as described.
Do you still have a copy of the advert?
Business seller or private?
I haven’t contacted them yet as I wanted to get my head round my rights first. It’s a business seller and I do have a copy of the listing in my eBay history.0 -
It was represented to me as being never used which is clearly untrue.
Never used by them perhaps, but did it come with a receipt showing they were the original purchaser?
Perhaps someone used it before them?Should've = Should HAVE (not 'of')
Would've = Would HAVE (not 'of')
No, I am not perfect, but yes I do judge people on their use of basic English language. If you didn't know the above, then learn it! (If English is your second language, then you are forgiven!)0 -
I haven’t contacted them yet as I wanted to get my head round my rights first. It’s a business seller and I do have a copy of the listing in my eBay history.
If you have a copy of the advert then you may have a claim.
As above a refund would likely be reduced to take into account the 2 years of use.
I don't think you can claim the cost of sending to the repair centre as they didn't find a fault and you (presumably as it wasn't mentioned) didn't contact the seller to offer them a chance to resolve the fault.
You'd need something solid to back up your claim of the unit not matching the original description, like the full repair history from Optoma, to prove the item had been used before you purchased it.
Without this you'd be looking at the standard for a fault developing with the seller offering a repair, replacement or (reduced) refund but as we are past 6 months you'd need to be able to demonstrate the fault, usually with an independent inspection report.In the game of chess you can never let your adversary see your pieces0 -
Never used by them perhaps, but did it come with a receipt showing they were the original purchaser?
Perhaps someone used it before them?
Opened - never used is different to opened - I never used it.
As this was eBay and I assume OP has the View Purchased Item details in their history showing the full listing at the point of purchase so the item specifics used on the ad should be there and state new or used.
If the item specifics said new then the unit certainly shouldn't have been used before.In the game of chess you can never let your adversary see your pieces0 -
How do arrive at "clearly untrue"?It was represented to me as being never used which is clearly untrue.
There must be plenty other reasons it could fail.
After a year and 150 hrs use, think you'll struggle to get any refund at all, certainly not a full refund along with "additional costs".
How much was it, is it designed for outdoor use?0 -
societys_child wrote: »How do arrive at "clearly untrue"?
OP is pointing out the unit was sold as never used but the manufacturer is starting it has a repair history.In the game of chess you can never let your adversary see your pieces0
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