Maliciously Suspended - What Are My Rights ?

RSV2212

I believe I have been maliciously suspended by EBay’s Authentication Team to prevent me from making a complaint regarding their conduct. I have been a member for almost 15 years w/ an exemplary record as both a seller & buyer. In January they removed a jewellery cleaning kit from my buyer’s parcel without any prior communication. The kit was returned to me without any paperwork or explanation. I called to ascertain what the problem was & I was advised that while their “experts” had authenticated the piece of jewellery, they had failed to authenticate the cleaning kit ?! Anyone who is familiar with Cartier jewellery knows that they provide their own cleaning kit with every purchase, however not the EBay Authentication Team it would seem. I requested a manager call back as I was advised no one was available at that time. During the following week I spoke with various agents on the team, all of which provided a different reason why the kit had been removed. “You didn’t mention it in your listing info” (yes I did), “We always remove cleaning kits” (no, you don’t, not in my experience), “It may have damaged the item during transit” (It’s sealed in a box, wrapped separately from the other items, just as Cartier themselves send it to customers), “We reached out to the buyer & they asked us to remove it” (no, you didn’t, my buyer hasn’t heard from anyone at EBay, & he wants the kit!). Once again I asked to speak with a manager & this time I was advised “We don’t have a Manager, just someone who deals with HR admin for the team. So who can I write to if I have concerns ? I asked “No one really” was the reply. The following day I found myself suspended. I didn’t receive an email, I just found out when I couldn’t log in. I requested a call back from their Trust & Safety department, who placed me on hold for an eternity & then advised “Your account has been suspended permanently, as much as we would like to, we are unable to discuss the reasons why”. I then made an SAR, the info they sent me (late) consisted of the call recordings but no notes, emails etc. relating to my complaint or my suspension. In the section relating to “Customer Service Interactions” there is “no data available” ?! 

Can I do anything about this ? Is it worth writing to their head office or would that just be another waste of time ?

Ayr_Rage

@RSV2212 please edit into some paragraphs, that wall of text is very hard to read.

FlorayG

Probably none. They have so many millions of user their default is just to close accounts of anyone who gives them the slightest amount of grief

pinkshoes

RSV2212 said:

I believe I have been maliciously suspended by EBay’s Authentication Team to prevent me from making a complaint regarding their conduct. I have been a member for almost 15 years w/ an exemplary record as both a seller & buyer. In January they removed a jewellery cleaning kit from my buyer’s parcel without any prior communication. The kit was returned to me without any paperwork or explanation. I called to ascertain what the problem was & I was advised that while their “experts” had authenticated the piece of jewellery, they had failed to authenticate the cleaning kit ?! Anyone who is familiar with Cartier jewellery knows that they provide their own cleaning kit with every purchase, however not the EBay Authentication Team it would seem. I requested a manager call back as I was advised no one was available at that time. During the following week I spoke with various agents on the team, all of which provided a different reason why the kit had been removed. “You didn’t mention it in your listing info” (yes I did), “We always remove cleaning kits” (no, you don’t, not in my experience), “It may have damaged the item during transit” (It’s sealed in a box, wrapped separately from the other items, just as Cartier themselves send it to customers), “We reached out to the buyer & they asked us to remove it” (no, you didn’t, my buyer hasn’t heard from anyone at EBay, & he wants the kit!). Once again I asked to speak with a manager & this time I was advised “We don’t have a Manager, just someone who deals with HR admin for the team. So who can I write to if I have concerns ? I asked “No one really” was the reply. The following day I found myself suspended. I didn’t receive an email, I just found out when I couldn’t log in. I requested a call back from their Trust & Safety department, who placed me on hold for an eternity & then advised “Your account has been suspended permanently, as much as we would like to, we are unable to discuss the reasons why”. I then made an SAR, the info they sent me (late) consisted of the call recordings but no notes, emails etc. relating to my complaint or my suspension. In the section relating to “Customer Service Interactions” there is “no data available” ?! 

Can I do anything about this ? Is it worth writing to their head office or would that just be another waste of time ?

In short, no.

As above, they have millions of sellers and buyers, and by repeatedly emailing them you were probably racking up black marks, so they struck you off as you were deemed a nuisance.

It's a private business so they can choose to do business with whoever they like as long as they are not discriminating against protected characteristics (which they are not).

Surely if you had the buyers address, you could have just sent it in the post separately?

RSV2212

Lol pinkshoes are you on their AT ? 

RFW

RSV2212 said:

Is it worth writing to their head office or would that just be another waste of time ?

It may well be. Try contacting them on social media, I think Twitter is still the best route.
You want to be less verbose, just say you feel your account has been wrongly deleted after 15 years without a problem (presuming there wasn't). Don't even mention the specific case, just that you believe you have done nothing intentionally wrong.

martindow

RSV2212 said:

Lol pinkshoes are you on their AT ? 

What does this mean?  I can't see why pinkshoes' comments seem to have upset you.

soolin

martindow said:

RSV2212 said:

Lol pinkshoes are you on their AT ? 

What does this mean?  I can't see why pinkshoes' comments seem to have upset you.

I’m glad you asked, I can’t think what AT stands for. 

red_boots2

soolin said:

martindow said:

RSV2212 said:

Lol pinkshoes are you on their AT ? 

What does this mean?  I can't see why pinkshoes' comments seem to have upset you.

I’m glad you asked, I can’t think what AT stands for. 

I would guess Authentication Team, which she referenced in her first post? 

RSV2212

I’m afraid I’m rather more concerned about the AT’s conduct than me being considered a nuisance. I didn’t actually email them at all so your assumption is quite wrong. After all, their role is based on trust & they obviously think nothing of lying to cover up their own mistakes & suspending members to avoid getting caught.

GadgetGuru

Could you contact the ICO considering the data you received from the SAR was incomplete?