eBuyer return Hell - Denied refund

Quecky

bris said:

Hate to say it but there is something very wrong with that tracking.

Loaded 13.49

With driver 13.50

Delivered 14.00

I could be wrong if you live practically in the same street as the depot but that is a quick delivery from loaded onto the van.

Being an Ebuyer product staff would know this is an expensive item so it could be an inside job.

Just saying, it looks fishy.

Only just saw this, I didn't even bother to checking the full progress of it. I just looked at the "delivered" as that was my main focus. 

I did ask them about why eBuyer is claiming it was delivered 8.13 miles away (At the salby depot) 

Manxman_in_exile

Quecky said:

Jenni_D said:

Quecky said:

Jenni_D said:

The chargeback will probably happen very quickly ... but the seller has 45 days to challenge it.

If they do so - and succeed - then your course of last resort is a Letter Before Claim to eBuyer followed by a small claim via MCOL.

Okay. RE Letter Before claim and small claim via MCOL. 

Is it worth getting a solicitor to do this process? 

No - that's the point of MCOL / small claims. You can't claim any legal expenses, and employing a solicitor to do this would wipe out anything you won in the claim. eBuyer may well simply cave in on receipt of the LBC. If an actual claim is filed then they may ignore it and you get a default judgment. A claim value of £700 (plus court fees) is eligible for escalation to High Court Enforcement (the cost of which would be added to the amount recovered) so an HCEO could attend their place of business and recover goods to service your claim amount.

There are plenty of guides online on how to use MCOL.

Could I use "The law is in s34(4), (5) and (6) here. The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 (legislation"  to get a refund? Or would that not be applicable here and I should go straight to MCOL 

That looks suspiciously like a quote from something I would have posted.        Well done!

But yes.  Quote that to them because it is a statement of the law that applies here.  Keep a record of quoting it to them so that if it ends up with you suing them and it gets to court, you can demonstrate that you put the relevant legal points to them about your statutory consumer rights, but they chose to ignore the law.  It all adds weight to your argument. 

(In fact you might as well tell them that when you quote the law to them and suggest that they could save themselves a lot of wasted time and effort by just refunding you now.)

NB -  I have no idea what or who eBuyer is, but I assume it is some sort of retailer?  If it isn't, and it's some sort of marketplace or "clearing house", then my suggestion might be utter rubbish...

deannagone

Ebuyer is quite a large online supplier of computers/ computer parts and accessories and electrical items.

longjohnjohnson

Quecky said:

Jenni_D said:

Quecky said:

Jenni_D said:

The chargeback will probably happen very quickly ... but the seller has 45 days to challenge it.

If they do so - and succeed - then your course of last resort is a Letter Before Claim to eBuyer followed by a small claim via MCOL.

Okay. RE Letter Before claim and small claim via MCOL. 

Is it worth getting a solicitor to do this process? 

No - that's the point of MCOL / small claims. You can't claim any legal expenses, and employing a solicitor to do this would wipe out anything you won in the claim. eBuyer may well simply cave in on receipt of the LBC. If an actual claim is filed then they may ignore it and you get a default judgment. A claim value of £700 (plus court fees) is eligible for escalation to High Court Enforcement (the cost of which would be added to the amount recovered) so an HCEO could attend their place of business and recover goods to service your claim amount.

There are plenty of guides online on how to use MCOL.

Could I use "The law is in s34(4), (5) and (6) here. The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 (legislation"  to get a refund? Or would that not be applicable here and I should go straight to MCOL 

Not really because they reimburse you, and then sue you.

But it's easier for them to not reimburse you and just let you sue them.

They have your money, they're not going to dance to your tune.

Your claim is that they breached the contract by not supplying you with the goods you ordered.  Don't overcomplicate this.

Manxman_in_exile

longjohnjohnson said:

Quecky said:

Jenni_D said:

Quecky said:

Jenni_D said:

The chargeback will probably happen very quickly ... but the seller has 45 days to challenge it.

If they do so - and succeed - then your course of last resort is a Letter Before Claim to eBuyer followed by a small claim via MCOL.

Okay. RE Letter Before claim and small claim via MCOL. 

Is it worth getting a solicitor to do this process? 

No - that's the point of MCOL / small claims. You can't claim any legal expenses, and employing a solicitor to do this would wipe out anything you won in the claim. eBuyer may well simply cave in on receipt of the LBC. If an actual claim is filed then they may ignore it and you get a default judgment. A claim value of £700 (plus court fees) is eligible for escalation to High Court Enforcement (the cost of which would be added to the amount recovered) so an HCEO could attend their place of business and recover goods to service your claim amount.

There are plenty of guides online on how to use MCOL.

Could I use "The law is in s34(4), (5) and (6) here. The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 (legislation"  to get a refund? Or would that not be applicable here and I should go straight to MCOL 

Not really because they reimburse you, and then sue you...

I realise it's nearly 2am and I might be a bit slow on the uptake, but why would "they reimburse" the OP and then sue the OP?

Quecky

Manxman_in_exile said:

Quecky said:

Jenni_D said:

Quecky said:

Jenni_D said:

The chargeback will probably happen very quickly ... but the seller has 45 days to challenge it.

If they do so - and succeed - then your course of last resort is a Letter Before Claim to eBuyer followed by a small claim via MCOL.

Okay. RE Letter Before claim and small claim via MCOL. 

Is it worth getting a solicitor to do this process? 

No - that's the point of MCOL / small claims. You can't claim any legal expenses, and employing a solicitor to do this would wipe out anything you won in the claim. eBuyer may well simply cave in on receipt of the LBC. If an actual claim is filed then they may ignore it and you get a default judgment. A claim value of £700 (plus court fees) is eligible for escalation to High Court Enforcement (the cost of which would be added to the amount recovered) so an HCEO could attend their place of business and recover goods to service your claim amount.

There are plenty of guides online on how to use MCOL.

Could I use "The law is in s34(4), (5) and (6) here. The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 (legislation"  to get a refund? Or would that not be applicable here and I should go straight to MCOL 

That looks suspiciously like a quote from something I would have posted.        Well done!

But yes.  Quote that to them because it is a statement of the law that applies here.  Keep a record of quoting it to them so that if it ends up with you suing them and it gets to court, you can demonstrate that you put the relevant legal points to them about your statutory consumer rights, but they chose to ignore the law.  It all adds weight to your argument. 

(In fact you might as well tell them that when you quote the law to them and suggest that they could save themselves a lot of wasted time and effort by just refunding you now.)

NB -  I have no idea what or who eBuyer is, but I assume it is some sort of retailer?  If it isn't, and it's some sort of marketplace or "clearing house", then my suggestion might be utter rubbish...

I have mentioned the legislation and that it would save both myself and eBuyer time and money in the long run.  I wonder if they'll just ignore me or finally decide to refund me 

Manxman_in_exile

Quecky said:

Manxman_in_exile said:

Quecky said:

Jenni_D said:

Quecky said:

Jenni_D said:

The chargeback will probably happen very quickly ... but the seller has 45 days to challenge it.

If they do so - and succeed - then your course of last resort is a Letter Before Claim to eBuyer followed by a small claim via MCOL.

Okay. RE Letter Before claim and small claim via MCOL. 

Is it worth getting a solicitor to do this process? 

No - that's the point of MCOL / small claims. You can't claim any legal expenses, and employing a solicitor to do this would wipe out anything you won in the claim. eBuyer may well simply cave in on receipt of the LBC. If an actual claim is filed then they may ignore it and you get a default judgment. A claim value of £700 (plus court fees) is eligible for escalation to High Court Enforcement (the cost of which would be added to the amount recovered) so an HCEO could attend their place of business and recover goods to service your claim amount.

There are plenty of guides online on how to use MCOL.

Could I use "The law is in s34(4), (5) and (6) here. The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 (legislation"  to get a refund? Or would that not be applicable here and I should go straight to MCOL 

That looks suspiciously like a quote from something I would have posted.        Well done!

But yes.  Quote that to them because it is a statement of the law that applies here.  Keep a record of quoting it to them so that if it ends up with you suing them and it gets to court, you can demonstrate that you put the relevant legal points to them about your statutory consumer rights, but they chose to ignore the law.  It all adds weight to your argument. 

(In fact you might as well tell them that when you quote the law to them and suggest that they could save themselves a lot of wasted time and effort by just refunding you now.)

NB -  I have no idea what or who eBuyer is, but I assume it is some sort of retailer?  If it isn't, and it's some sort of marketplace or "clearing house", then my suggestion might be utter rubbish...

I have mentioned the legislation and that it would save both myself and eBuyer time and money in the long run.  I wonder if they'll just ignore me or finally decide to refund me 

I think you'll just have to wait to see how they respond.



I admit I'm still puzzling over @longjohnjohnson's earlier post?  I don't see how eBuyer didn't supply you with the goods you ordered - rather that they supplied you with goods that were faulty.

He or she might be arguing that instead of treating it as a cancellation of a distance sale, you should instead be treating it as a rejection of faulty goods and that you should be entitled to a refund no later than 14 days after eBuyer have agreed that you are entitled to a refund.  See s20(15)  Consumer Rights Act 2015 (legislation.gov.uk).

I'm not sure why either approach shouldn't apply, except that it's not clear to me whether eBuyer have actually agreed yet that you are due a refund.  But what does seem clear to me is that if you are asking for a refund then you are in effect cancelling a distance sale and you should be paid your refund within 14 days of providing proof to eBuyer that you sent the item back.

I'm not sure why referencing the relevant law would be overcomplicating this?

Quecky

Well, they don't care about the legislation.

Could someone point me in the direction of a decent template for the the 'Letter before claim/action'? 

Jenni_D

Google ... a LBC just needs to state the facts (goods have been returned, by their appointed agent so liability for the goods fell to them once their agent received them), what you require (a full refund of all monies paid, as per the legislation), by when (14 days is typical), and what the consequences will be by their failure to act (a county court claim filed via MCOL. You could even download the claim form and fill it in - excepting the claim number of course - and attach it to your LBC).

Manxman_in_exile

Quecky said:

...On may 4th, I brought a product for around £700GBP, this product arrived on the may 6th; after testing it was found to be faulty. On may 9th I contacted eBuyer asking to return and get an RMA for a refund, which they provided me a link to create one of their prepaid Yodel labels on the 11th of May.

@Quecky -  when you contacted eBuyer on 9th May, what did you tell them and what did they say?

So, for instance, did you tell them the item was faulty and you wanted a refund, or did you say you were cancelling the contract and wanted your money back, or what?  And did they say anything other than "OK.  Here's a prepaid label"?  Did they at any stage agree you were entitled to a refund?

I ask because I suspect that the people at eBuyer either don't know the law or aren't prepared to just rollover and pay you £700.  In either case you will quite likely find yourself actually having to issue a claim and put up a fight to get your money back, so it might be helpful to get as much info at this stage about what you and they have actually said to each other.

I think I'd wait a couple of days before sending them a Letter Before Claim (unless you've already sent one) just in case anyone else here has any other ideas about how to approach this.

When you do send it, head it up Letter Before Claim and include the sort of information @Jenni_D suggests or google for examples.

eg "On 4th May I bought...blah blah... It was delivered on...blah blah... it was faulty... blah... On 9th May ebuyer authorised and paid for a return via their chosen courier Yodel for a refund... I left it in the custody of Yodel on... the parcel has been lost and eBuyer are refusing to refund me despite being reminded several times of their legal obligations under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and/or The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013.  If I have not received a full refund by (give them at least 14 clear days) I am informing you that I will issue a court claim to recover the amount of £nnn without further notice"  [Edit:  Or express it just like in @Jenni_D's post.  That's just as good if not better]

Then it becomes a question of who blinks first.  Hopefully they will.

NB - remember if it gets to court it all becomes a bit of a lottery.  If you read through some of the threads on this board you'll see that opinion is divided when it comes to retailers being obliged to refund for returns that have gone missing.  Some people think the law is clear and that the retailer has to refund - some people think the law isn't clear and that they don't have to.  But other than writing off £700 I don't see what option you have but to give it a shot