eBuyer return Hell - Denied refund

Quecky

longjohnjohnson said:

FWIW, eBuyer are well known for doing nothing more or less than the law allows and I've avoided them as far as possible when making PC parts purchases for this reason.

I'm going to be avoiding them from now on.. as you could had guessed aha

Manxman_in_exile

longjohnjohnson said:

Quecky said:

Manxman_in_exile said:

Quecky said:

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'? 

@Quecky _  I suggest you wait for other responses before sending a letter.  (Although I don't see a problem if you've already sent one). 

Wait to see if there's any consensus as to how best to approach this and whether it makes any difference if you are returning faulty goods or trying to cancel the contract.  and whether it makes any difference whose responsibility it is when the goods go missing.  As you'll appreciate from some of the replies, there may be a difference of opinion as to how best to proceed or if you are entitled to a refund at all.  (Seems clear to me that you are entitled to one, but at least one poster is suggesting that you aren't, or that eBuyer could sue you to recover the refund).

Having said that, unless the goods turn up somewhere, I don't see how you are going to get your money back without suing them if they refuse to cough up your £700.  The only alternative is a chargeback, but I suspect eBuyer would challenge a chargeback with your bank so you'd still end up having exactly the same argument.

I did sent one today, I would also agree that returning a product within the 14 day period would be considered a cancellation of contract based upon the fact they were faulty goods.  I have filed a chargeback in addition to this. I'm just hoping that one way or another I get my money back.

Personally this is the approach I would take.  The stuff above was somewhat of a seperate discussion of the technicalities...

longjohnjohnson said:

Manxman_in_exile said:

OK.  It's just possible you may have jumped the gun a bit if you've sent them a Letter Before Claim and you've raised a chargeback with your bank.

The problem is your bank will take a while to process the chargeback, and if they grant it eBuyer has a window of 30 or 45 days (I'm not sure what the exact number of days is) to challenge the chargeback.  The issue then is that if you've given them (for example) 14 days in your Letter Before Claim, then you can't really do anything when those 14 days expire because you probably won't know at that point whether (a) the chargeback has been granted and (b) whether or not eBuyer has challenged it.  Do you see what I mean?

Another possible problem with a chargeback is that it isn't strictly part of the "legal" process - it's just an agreement between card providers.  There have been instances on here where consumers have apparently won a chargeback and the retailer has not challenged it, but then the retailer has sued the consumer for return of the chargeback.

Also, if you do a chargeback and a Letter Before Claim at the same time, there is always the possibility that you might end up getting refunded twice (once by your bank and once by eBuyer) and then having to sort out the mess.  It can all get a bit complicated...

But whichever route this ends up going down, the key facts you need to emphasise to your bank (for the chargeback) or to the court (if you end up having to sue eBuyer) are:

• you bought an item of equipment online that was faulty;
• within 14 days of receipt you notified ebuyer of the fault and told them you wanted a refund;
• eBuyer authorised the return and provided you with a pre-paid returns label for use with their chosen courier, Yodel;
• you delivered the item to be returned into the custody of Yodel;
• Yodel subsequently lost the item and eBuyer have refused to refund you despite you providing evidence that it has been sent back (ie that you handed it in to Yodel, eBuyer's agent)

Your claim would be that (1) you have returned faulty goods for a refund and/or (2) you have cancelled a distance sale and have returned goods for a refund.

In either (1) or (2) you handed the goods for return over to the courier selected by and paid for by eBuyer.  As such you had fulfilled your obligations in respect of returning the goods and getting a refund.  If eBuyer's agent subsequently lost the goods, that has nothing to do with you.  That's a matter between eBuyer and Yodel.

Additionally in respect of (2), if it's accepted that, by telling eBuyer that you wanted to return the item for a refund, you were in effect cancelling a distance contract, then you are entitled to a refund within 14 days of supplying to eBuyer proof that you had sent the item back.

I suspect (1) might be a sounder argument than (2).  You'll have noted that some people are of the view that if you cancel a distance contract that you are only eligible for a refund if the retailer actually receives the goods back, and not if the goods are lost.  I suspect the point has never been decided in court, so it might be less risky to confine your argument to (1) the return of faulty goods for a refund.

In any case I think all you can do now (unless your bank asks for evidence in support of your chargeback claim) is to sit back and see whether eBuyer respond to your Letter Before Claim or your bank grants you the chargeback.

If neither happens you'll need to decide whether to sue them or not.  There's always a risk involved if you go to court as no court result is ever guaranteed, but for the sake of £700 you may have to take that risk.

An LBA is just that, a letter before action.  It doesn't require the OP to do anything, it's just a polite letter before they take action.

Arguably hitting them with that and a chargeback will make them less likely to contest a chargeback because they know what will come next.

Ok.  That's a very good point.  I hadn't considered that doing both might make them less likely to challenge.

Jumblebumble

longjohnjohnson said:

Quecky said:

Manxman_in_exile said:

Quecky said:

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'? 

@Quecky _  I suggest you wait for other responses before sending a letter.  (Although I don't see a problem if you've already sent one). 

Wait to see if there's any consensus as to how best to approach this and whether it makes any difference if you are returning faulty goods or trying to cancel the contract.  and whether it makes any difference whose responsibility it is when the goods go missing.  As you'll appreciate from some of the replies, there may be a difference of opinion as to how best to proceed or if you are entitled to a refund at all.  (Seems clear to me that you are entitled to one, but at least one poster is suggesting that you aren't, or that eBuyer could sue you to recover the refund).

Having said that, unless the goods turn up somewhere, I don't see how you are going to get your money back without suing them if they refuse to cough up your £700.  The only alternative is a chargeback, but I suspect eBuyer would challenge a chargeback with your bank so you'd still end up having exactly the same argument.

I did sent one today, I would also agree that returning a product within the 14 day period would be considered a cancellation of contract based upon the fact they were faulty goods.  I have filed a chargeback in addition to this. I'm just hoping that one way or another I get my money back.

Personally this is the approach I would take.  The stuff above was somewhat of a seperate discussion of the technicalities.

FWIW, eBuyer are well known for doing nothing more or less than the law allows and I've avoided them as far as possible when making PC parts purchases for this reason.

Having had the fun experience of Ebuyer selling us some kit and charging us for next day delivery and then when it did not come telling us 
"Tough Yodel have lost it and you will have to wait till they find it"
We made the decision never to spend a penny with them again. The item turned up a week later
The sort of idiocy described here has done nothing to convince me I was wrong.