Fraudulent transaction? But 16 months later... What are my options?

[ideate_tech]

Hi,

Summary: I purchased a 20,000mAh GPS tracker in August 2020. It was sent out and received as normal but today I discovered it was actually 10,000mAh (Nov 2021 - over a year later).

Firstly, this whole thing seems petty on my side and I'd usually let something like this go.. BUT I hate being lied to especially when I was suspicions from day 1.

Long story:
I purchased the GPS tracker and it arrived as normal. Great!
I questioned the seller after the item arrived to confirm if it was actually the 20,000mAh.
The seller replied and guaranteed it was the 20,000mAh model.
I was tempted to crack the case open to inspect but didn't as I believed the seller.
After just over 12 months of use the device stopped working (couldn't track online but SMS still worked)
I asked for support but was told the device no longer operates as originally sold.
I then purchased a new GPS tracker and decided to crack the case open to finally see if it was actually 20,000mAh.
Turns out I was right to be suspicious! The seller sent me a 10,000mAh!


So what are my options now? It seems like the consensus will be "you should have checked it as soon as you received it!" But I didn't want to break the case and had belief in the seller doing the right thing.

PayPal have wiped their hands of this and said it's outside of the 180 days.
I haven't tried eBay but I assume it'll be a similar story.
I've messaged the seller but he hasn't replied yet and I doubt anything will come of it. He's not selling the trackers anymore (not surprisingly).

Do I have a case with some type of ombudsman or similar?
Should I waste my time with VicPol?

Any advice will be much appreciated. Cheers,

[padi*0409]

This is where their registration country shows.

                                  

[ideate_tech]

Yeah, it says Australia.

As suggested previously, it looks like this will be a civil matter as no one will be interested. If that's the case and the seller refuses to respond then I will list their name and business to warn others and call it a day.

[padi*0409]

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@ideate_tech wrote:

If that's the case and the seller refuses to respond then I will list their name and business to warn others and call it a day.

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Board policy says that you can't "name and shame" on the boards so that would be removed pretty quickly.

[jellybirddesigns]

I think that most people would be unaware of the difference  a 20,000mAh and the lesser version. Personally I have no idea what the difference equates to.

It's also plausible that the seller was unaware that they were shipping the lesser model. As you say, you only found out it was the lower item once you cracked the case. The seller has no reason to crack the item open to check it - they are going on good faith from their own supplier. You would be hard pressed to bring a case against the seller for negligence.

You would not necessarily have gotten a better outcome even if the unit had been the higher model as it too could have failed.

The seller appears to have good feedback all round - if they had a pattern of deliberate deception, it would be showing in their feedback.

Finally, you could have cracked the case when you first got it and dealt with it back then, but you chose not to and you got 16 months of use out of it, regardless.

[sugar249]

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@ideate_tech wrote:

Do I have a case with some type of ombudsman or similar?
Should I waste my time with VicPol?

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Seriously you are thinking about the Ombudsman or Vic Pol,  get a life and stop wasting the time of our professional services.

[ideate_tech]

I'm not sure how this is my fault exactly.

The physical size of a 10,000 and 20,000 is easily noticeable and questionable as the pictures in the description are scaled differently between the two. If I were selling both models (which this seller was) then you would be hard pressed NOT to know the difference. 

It'd be like me selling you 1.2v AAA batteries and saying they're 9v. 

I didn't crack the case open because I would have had to damage the item. I was hesitant because then I would have potentially opened another can of worms. Having faith in people, I believed the word of the seller.

If the seller has such good feedback and is so noble then I'm sure he'll propose a positive outcome or at least get back to me.

[ideate_tech]

Get a life? Wow. Your parents must be proud.

I'm not sure what your problem is but the reason I'm here is to find out what options I have. So far there's been no alternative suggestions (unless you have a better one than "get a life"). This is why I've mentioned the Ombudsman and VicPol. VicPol probably won't help as they'll see it as a civil matter but I'm not sure about the Ombudsman.

We'll see.

[ideate_tech]

I wouldn't do it here obviously. That's why I've covered his profile in the images.

[sugar249]

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@ideate_tech wrote:

It'd be like me selling you 1.2v AAA batteries and saying they're 9v. 

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Nothing the same, you obviously have no idea.

[papermoon.lady]

If you go to the Ombudsman I think that because you bought the device so long ago they might ask you to prove the device is actually the one you bought from that seller. It is just red tape, but does the device has some sort of serial number that was on the invoice?