You yourself may have experienced something similar to this. Transaction goes south, forcing you to filing claim on eBay. Seller might have sent you a wrong item, maybe had inaccurate description, or the item was damaged in transit because seller stuffed it in a bubble pack mailer(rolleyes), etc. Good news about this though: When any of these things happen, eBay got your back.
eBay will go to bat for you. Seller is being flaky & won't respond? This happens to me from time to time. At the batting average of one hundred, at least for me, eBay money back guarantee has come through 100% of the time. So, what is up with the ranty title? It's after this eBay buyer protection expires in 30 days. My relationship with eBay went from having 100% faith in this company to "don't trust large corporations".
Normally, 30 days of protection period is more than plenty. I got screwed this time, because it was a preorder.
eBay preorder was placed on August 4th, and the item was supposed to ship October 5th. I wasn't too worried about this eBay seller fxaudiofred956. It could be that he's a fraud, but he also could be dead, or in some kind of medical emergency. Anything's possible. I already got another one of these cars from the Toy Peddler($125 shipped, posted here), so I'm just trying to get my money back.
For the consumer, at least in my opinion, little gray area exist with a case like this:
- Seller sells preorder on eBay.
- Seller fails to ship the item.
- Seller is not responding to the buyer, or eBay, with why he failed to fulfill the order.
Instead of trying to get me a refund, or telling that I'm on my own, eBay has their website geared to run you, the already frustrated customer, through their well designed online maze. It took me a few days, but what I gathered is that their "after 30 days" claim procedure wants you to send another futile plead to the non-responsive seller for refund, then they leave you hanging until the claim window closes completely.
For nearly two weeks, eBay just hinted that they will take over the case when the seller refuses to respond. My thought on this is, they don't really care if the seller responded at all. For over a week, they lock you up in a dead end dispute/resolution page with the message: "Hang tight, you should hear back from the seller soon". Let me tell you where it went from there.
After over a week of this hang tight message, I grew skeptical, as the page was designed to keep you there with no timeline of how long you are supposed to be stuck there, and they made 100% sure that you could not seek assistance from eBay from the said page.
Approximately two weeks after asking eBay to help, I finally picked up the phone & asked for assistance through their customer service. As expected, they were pleasant & cordial, but the bottom line was somewhat surprising "File a claim with PayPal, we are closing your claim with eBay." I'm not gonna lie, it's not like I was expecting an apology for their system leaving me hanging for two weeks, but naively, I thought they'd at least finally get me my refund. All of that song & dance, so you can let the claim expire, or if I cry, you can just pass the buck?
Wow. Not at all necessary. You could have just told me to fuck off & go cry about it to PayPal. At least that would have saved me two weeks & playing your lame online "customer service" maze. Sorry, got little excited there for a second. ;)
So my call was transferred to PayPal. I was told by eBay rep to have the item number ready, but as half-expected, PayPal side had no idea what I was calling them, so start all over from the beginning. lol
**When calling any customer service, have all the information on-hand. I had eBay item number, resolution claim number, PayPal transaction ID, etc. all ready in front of me. This saves their time & yours.
Anywho, with PayPal, their representative asks me if I want to file a dispute, or escalate it to a "claim". A claim will give the seller basically ten days to make it right, or PayPal will refund me when seller fails to make it right. Since the seller has failed to respond to any of my messages so far, I requested that they escalate this to a claim immediately.
***To be continued*** Wish me luck!
**********UPDATE**********
Good news on the original dispute. eBay Customer Service did more harm by pretending to be helping me, but PayPal did get me my money back. Lesson learned.
Unfortunately, I'm updating this post, because eBay is screwing me again. *smh*
Another preorder, but this time, I actually received..... something. Seller had shipped me a wrong item. No problem, let us just initiate eBay return, I will get a prepaid USPS label, I will get my money back when the seller get their item back(that they shipped wrong), right? Not if you are as unlucky as me.
I received notification to print the return label on 11/8, I did. Package went in mail 11/9. Because USPS is a well oiled machine & highly reliable(this is 1000% sarcasm), they didn't even bother scanning from Oregon, where I was sending this from. Instead, first scan shows up in L.A. on 11/13(god bless them).
It gets better:
It is 11/26 today. Tracking has gone dead after 11/14. It didn't come back here & seller says they don't have it. What happens when U.S. Postal Service loses your eBay return on their prepaid label? It's back to the eBay online maze in the dungeon of eBay Customer (No)Service.
After spending what feels like an hour or more over several days, I finally coax the eBay Customer (No)Service phone number & a "one time passcode". I call the number, get a automated message telling me to, and I shit you not, "work it out with the seller".
This was a Johnny Lightning Ghostbusters Diorama. $24.99. Seller sent me the "Christine" set instead. I will contact the seller again, but seriously, this honest little mistake has cost me so much more than a $25..... and I don't even have anything to show for it! *tear*
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