Returned a parcel, retailer saying it wasn’t in the box when it arrived.

Robbie965

I recently bought a graphics card from ebuyer (£720 or so) it came on the 10th of January but had an intermittent fault after around a week of use. I raised this with the seller who advised to send it back. I packaged it in the original boxes it came in, stuffed the box with paper to reduce movement and it was collected by Yodel on the 20th, arranged by eBuyer through their website. 

My yodel tracking info tells me the parcel was delivered to them on the 23rd. But only today have I received a message from ebuyer, closing my return request stating the box was empty. I queried why it had been a week since delivery to respond only to get that, “That’s a normal timescale for the department” or something along those lines. They are also saying the box arrived to them sealed, had the scrunched up paper, but not the graphics card box. I have asked for pictures of the box but have not received them yet and unfortunately have no pictures from my end of sending the item.

I have also contacted yodel but all they have said is that the retailer will have to contact their dedicated department

Where do I go from here? I can’t afford to lose £720. But as of right now I feel like I’m getting nowhere.

MikeJXE

More and more of threads like this.

Item not in the box etc 

Robbie965

MikeJXE said:

More and more of threads like this.

Item not in the box etc 

I have looked through the forum but unable to find something close enough to my problem. 

TadleyBaggie

Was it weighed when you gave it to the Yodel agent?

Robbie965

TadleyBaggie said:

Was it weighed when you gave it to the Yodel agent?

It wasn’t, it was picked up from my front door as they delivered another item to me. 

km1500

did ebuyer provide the return label and postage or did you pay

Robbie965

km1500 said:

did ebuyer provide the return label and postage or did you pay

They provided the label but it was just a “Generate returns label” which was then a barcode and address I printed. But also “Arrange a collection date”, for which I chose the 20th. I didn’t pay for anything regarding collection though. 

Robbie965

This is the collection confirmation email I received from the retailer. 

Undervalued

MikeJXE said:

More and more of threads like this.

Item not in the box etc 

Maybe but realistically it only affects a tiny fraction of one percent of distance purchases. We seldom hear about the vast majority that are trouble free. Obviously it is very disturbing if you are one of the unlucky few.

If it comes to court, which given the value in this case it may well, it will be up to a judge to decide "on the balance of probabilities" who to believe.

Any evidence can help, such as photos of the box being packed and it being weighed once sealed. Ultimately though they don't prove anything as the item could have been removed again after the photos were taken and the weight fiddled in some way.

Obviously, assuming the OP is honest, then it must have either been tampered with in transit or there was either a mistake or something dishonest going on in the supplier's returns department.

The OP has no contract with the courier if the supplier booked the return so there is only one company to argue with.

OP, have you reported this to the police and got a crime number?

Robbie965

Undervalued said:

MikeJXE said:

More and more of threads like this.

Item not in the box etc 

Maybe but realistically it only affects a tiny fraction of one percent of distance purchases. We seldom hear about the vast majority that are trouble free. Obviously it is very disturbing if you are one of the unlucky few.

If it comes to court, which given the value in this case it may well, it will be up to a judge to decide "on the balance of probabilities" who to believe.

Any evidence can help, such as photos of the box being packed and it being weighed once sealed. Ultimately though they don't prove anything as the item could have been removed again after the photos were taken and the weight fiddled in some way.

Obviously, assuming the OP is honest, then it must have either been tampered with in transit or there was either a mistake or something dishonest going on in the supplier's returns department.

The OP has no contract with the courier if the supplier booked the return so there is only one company to argue with.

OP, have you reported this to the police and got a crime number?

I haven’t yet reported it as this only came about yesterday and I’m still waiting on ebuyer to send me images. I didn’t take photos or weigh the item before it was collected and the only thing I can see that would possibly be helpful is messages to a friend saying I was returning it and would order a different branded card, from the same place. Which I also said in my initial return request, that I would like to return to then try a different one. 

Undervalued

Robbie965 said:

Undervalued said:

MikeJXE said:

More and more of threads like this.

Item not in the box etc 

Maybe but realistically it only affects a tiny fraction of one percent of distance purchases. We seldom hear about the vast majority that are trouble free. Obviously it is very disturbing if you are one of the unlucky few.

If it comes to court, which given the value in this case it may well, it will be up to a judge to decide "on the balance of probabilities" who to believe.

Any evidence can help, such as photos of the box being packed and it being weighed once sealed. Ultimately though they don't prove anything as the item could have been removed again after the photos were taken and the weight fiddled in some way.

Obviously, assuming the OP is honest, then it must have either been tampered with in transit or there was either a mistake or something dishonest going on in the supplier's returns department.

The OP has no contract with the courier if the supplier booked the return so there is only one company to argue with.

OP, have you reported this to the police and got a crime number?

I haven’t yet reported it as this only came about yesterday and I’m still waiting on ebuyer to send me images. I didn’t take photos or weigh the item before it was collected and the only thing I can see that would possibly be helpful is messages to a friend saying I was returning it and would order a different branded card, from the same place. Which I also said in my initial return request, that I would like to return to then try a different one. 

Do you have any physical evidence of the "intermittent fault" mentioned in your OP? Proof of that would obviously make it less likely that you would want to hang on to it.

How did you pay? If by credit card you have the same rights against the CC company as you do against eBuyer.