Getting a refund/Damaged in transit.

LeeLeeLoo

Hi all.

About 10 days ago, my sister bought her son an entry level gaming PC through Amazon for his birthday. Looked like a bargain, and a lot of bang for her buck, which should have been the first red flag.

The internal box was torn at the handle, but she thought nothing of it. Unboxed it, plugged it in to check it was all present and correct, hoping to install everything for him so it was ready to rock on his birthday the following week.

Fan sounds like a pebble in a tin can the second it was turned on, and the hard drive disk that was supposed to be in it clearly isn't.

She contacted the seller, in the hopes of sorting it before the birthday came. Seller wanted various pictures to try and sort it remotely. Claimed the HDD was working fine on the checks they did and must have come unplugged during transit.

On taking the pictures she also found the bottom of the tower to be absolutely thick with dust. She sent the seller photos of everything, but they have ignored the fan issue and the concerns about the amount of dirt in the unit, and keep insisting she does this, that and the other to access the HDD.

My sister isn't prepared to go dismantling the PC as advised, as she's concerned if there's an issue in the future the seller will claim it's her liability, or that she'll void the warranty in some way. So she asked for a return and refund.

The PC is clearly faulty, both with the missing HDD and the clattering fan. It also appears it isn't new, as advertised, due to the dirt inside. (I've bought refurbished PCs before now which were cleaner!)

Seller is now being funny about a refund and seemingly wants to avoid it. 

They're said their willing to collect it and fix the issues and return it, or provide a replacement, but the trust in them is long gone now, and she's getting worried and wants her money back ASAP.

I'd like to put her mind at ease about a few things, so any advice/insight would be a big help.

1) Is she entitled to a full refund? And would these issues class the PC as "faulty" or "not as advertised".

2) If she returns the PC and it's damaged in transit, who is liable?

The seller has sent her a bunch of terms and conditions about replacement and also how the PC is expected to be sent back to them (original packaging) and stating they are not liable if there's damage in transit. 

She's very worried about this, as there's a glass panel on the side of the PC, and she is afraid it could actually be damaged on its journey back to them, or that the seller will claim it has been returned damaged in some way. 

It's especially concerning as the seller has claimed the HDD came unplugged during transit. The connections don't just "come loose", especially as the HDD is connected in a bottom compartment where it couldn't of been knocked during packaging, and it would require some significant force to be shaken loose in transit too. 

For her safety, she's taking video/photos of the packaging process, to show she's used the original packaging and added additional bubble wrap and padding to make it more secure. She's also adding "handle with care" tape and additional stickers to ensure it gets back to them in the same condition she received it.

Any advice on how to handle this would be a big help. Thanks all.

MattMattMattUK

LeeLeeLoo said:

Hi all.

About 10 days ago, my sister bought her son an entry level gaming PC through Amazon for his birthday. Looked like a bargain, and a lot of bang for her buck, which should have been the first red flag.

The internal box was torn at the handle, but she thought nothing of it. Unboxed it, plugged it in to check it was all present and correct, hoping to install everything for him so it was ready to rock on his birthday the following week.

Fan sounds like a pebble in a tin can the second it was turned on, and the hard drive disk that was supposed to be in it clearly isn't.

She contacted the seller, in the hopes of sorting it before the birthday came. Seller wanted various pictures to try and sort it remotely. Claimed the HDD was working fine on the checks they did and must have come unplugged during transit.

On taking the pictures she also found the bottom of the tower to be absolutely thick with dust. She sent the seller photos of everything, but they have ignored the fan issue and the concerns about the amount of dirt in the unit, and keep insisting she does this, that and the other to access the HDD.

My sister isn't prepared to go dismantling the PC as advised, as she's concerned if there's an issue in the future the seller will claim it's her liability, or that she'll void the warranty in some way. So she asked for a return and refund.

The PC is clearly faulty, both with the missing HDD and the clattering fan. It also appears it isn't new, as advertised, due to the dirt inside. (I've bought refurbished PCs before now which were cleaner!)

Seller is now being funny about a refund and seemingly wants to avoid it. 

They're said their willing to collect it and fix the issues and return it, or provide a replacement, but the trust in them is long gone now, and she's getting worried and wants her money back ASAP.

I'd like to put her mind at ease about a few things, so any advice/insight would be a big help.

1) Is she entitled to a full refund? And would these issues class the PC as "faulty" or "not as advertised".

2) If she returns the PC and it's damaged in transit, who is liable?

The seller has sent her a bunch of terms and conditions about replacement and also how the PC is expected to be sent back to them (original packaging) and stating they are not liable if there's damage in transit. 

She's very worried about this, as there's a glass panel on the side of the PC, and she is afraid it could actually be damaged on its journey back to them, or that the seller will claim it has been returned damaged in some way. 

It's especially concerning as the seller has claimed the HDD came unplugged during transit. The connections don't just "come loose", especially as the HDD is connected in a bottom compartment where it couldn't of been knocked during packaging, and it would require some significant force to be shaken loose in transit too. 

For her safety, she's taking video/photos of the packaging process, to show she's used the original packaging and added additional bubble wrap and padding to make it more secure. She's also adding "handle with care" tape and additional stickers to ensure it gets back to them in the same condition she received it.

Any advice on how to handle this would be a big help. Thanks all.

Ignore everything else, just return it under Amazon's returns process for third party sellers (A to Z). 

LeeLeeLoo

MattMattMattUK said:

Ignore everything else, just return it under Amazon's returns process for third party sellers (A to Z). 

She's tried. It says to contact seller to arrange a return. There's no options to do it through Amazon. 

sheramber

Sounds like it is a market place seller. 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=GV38326YW5JX9V9X#GUID-8823B0CA-D239-4048-8461-B7D5066A5071__SECTION_3E197E48AC0C4C73BFE498CF94E70A9C

born_again

Or a member of the public selling via Amazon platform.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

You usually have to contact the seller and give them some time (48 hours?) to reply, if you can’t see the option for A-Z use Amazon chat for help.

If the item was fulfilled by Amazon (I.e seller sold it but Amazon posted it) Amazon should sort the return.

A-Z is 90 days cover IIRC, not sure about faulty items via FBA.

Again use Amazon customer service, that’s what they are there for