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

CardinalWolsey

As the courier was contracted by the company, then the liability for the goods passed back to them at the point the courier - acting as their agent - picked up the parcel. It is now up to the company to make a claim against the courier, or if they disbelieve the OP to contact the police. The OP should initiate a chargeback through their card provider before that option times out. 

sheramber

Has it been caught up in   the scrunched paper and disposed of with it?

Grumpy_chap

Undervalued said:

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.

Yes, but the one's we do hear about are enough to make one nervous. 

I was absolutely paranoid when I had to return a £250 jacket before Christmas.
There was no prior notification required, no returns number, just to return from a specific local shop which acted as courier collection point, with the returns form inside.
I took photos of every step of the repacking and sealing
The shop was reluctant to provide a receipt of the parcel / tracking information and only did so with a lot of fuss after I insisted.
Perhaps I should have taken a photo of handing over the parcel in the shop?
I was relieved when I received the money back in the CC account.

born_again

Undervalued said:

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.

Except that CC will just echo what the retailer has said. No item returned. 

Undervalued

Grumpy_chap said:

Undervalued said:

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.

Yes, but the one's we do hear about are enough to make one nervous. 

I was absolutely paranoid when I had to return a £250 jacket before Christmas.
There was no prior notification required, no returns number, just to return from a specific local shop which acted as courier collection point, with the returns form inside.
I took photos of every step of the repacking and sealing
The shop was reluctant to provide a receipt of the parcel / tracking information and only did so with a lot of fuss after I insisted.
Perhaps I should have taken a photo of handing over the parcel in the shop?
I was relieved when I received the money back in the CC account.

I understand that but all you can do is take sensible precautions (as you did) and try to remind yourself that the chances of being caught up in one of these situations are very slim indeed.

Also, buying remotely does give you some additional legal rights that you don't have with an over the counter purchase.

km1500

CardinalWolsey said:

As the courier was contracted by the company, then the liability for the goods passed back to them at the point the courier - acting as their agent - picked up the parcel. It is now up to the company to make a claim against the courier, or if they disbelieve the OP to contact the police. The OP should initiate a chargeback through their card provider before that option times out. 

this is exactly true which is why I asked the question

your responsibility ceased once you handed it to the courier

ask for the full refund or try small claims procedure

Jonboy_1984

sheramber said:

Has it been caught up in   the scrunched paper and disposed of with it?

A £720 graphics card (RTX or similar) is likely to be around  10” x 6” x 2” and weigh around 2lbs.


Might be worth asking ebuyer if they have cctv in the unpacking area to prove their claim.

Undervalued

km1500 said:

CardinalWolsey said:

As the courier was contracted by the company, then the liability for the goods passed back to them at the point the courier - acting as their agent - picked up the parcel. It is now up to the company to make a claim against the courier, or if they disbelieve the OP to contact the police. The OP should initiate a chargeback through their card provider before that option times out. 

this is exactly true which is why I asked the question

your responsibility ceased once you handed it to the courier

ask for the full refund or try small claims procedure

Yes, but the suggestion is that the OP didn't hand "it" to the courier but only an empty box.

The OP says it was in the box but has no proof to back that up.

eBuyer says it wasn't in the box when it got to them (and may or may not have multiple witnesses and / or photos and video).

If both of the above are true then "it" was removed in transit which is eBuyer's problem to pursue as the courier was their subcontractor.

The problem is that eBuyer have the OP's money so unless they change their minds he will have to take them to court.

km1500

yes agreed, small claims procedure and let the judge decide

Exodi

CardinalWolsey said:

As the courier was contracted by the company, then the liability for the goods passed back to them at the point the courier - acting as their agent - picked up the parcel. It is now up to the company to make a claim against the courier, or if they disbelieve the OP to contact the police. The OP should initiate a chargeback through their card provider before that option times out. 

km1500 said:

CardinalWolsey said:

As the courier was contracted by the company, then the liability for the goods passed back to them at the point the courier - acting as their agent - picked up the parcel. It is now up to the company to make a claim against the courier, or if they disbelieve the OP to contact the police. The OP should initiate a chargeback through their card provider before that option times out. 

this is exactly true which is why I asked the question

your responsibility ceased once you handed it to the courier

ask for the full refund or try small claims procedure

Sorry but I completely disagree with you both.

If it was the case that the courier lost the parcel or did not deliver it for some reason, you (well technically the other party since company since they hold the contract) could absolutely claim against the courier.

It is not the case that you can claim against the courier because the item received (or not) was unexpected. The courier does not package the parcel, nor should they open it. It's nothing to do with the courier, they've fulfilled their purpose.

Respectfully, the courier would laugh their claim out the door. The OP also mentions that "They (the company) are also saying the box arrived to them sealed".

So either we are alledging the company is acting fraudulently, or that the courier has stolen the item and meticulously repackaged the item for it to be unnoticeable.

I won't suggest the OP is lying, as it doesn't make sense lying on an anonymous forum.

If I was a betting man, I'd wager the company doesn't want to refund him.