on 25-04-2022 11:50 AM
I purchased a Bluetooth headset in January this year. It arrived on time and as described. A few weeks after I started using it, it stopped working. I contacted the seller, requesting a refund. Seller asked me to upload a video showing the headset not working! I explained that there was no point in making a video, as the video would prove nothing.
I offered to send a video of myself destroying the item. Seller said that would not be necessary.
Seller then offered me a discount on my next purchase, which I declined. After several more messages on the subject, seller finally agreed to make the refund into my PayPal account. Since then, I've had several more messages, with the seller giving me various reasons why the refund has not materialised.
I've had two online chats with eBay agents, with no result.
Can somebody please advise me what further steps I can take?
TIA.
Solved! Go to Solution.
on 25-04-2022 04:33 PM
As many suspected, the seller is registered in China, which makes returns difficult.
In my opinion, the seller is just trying to delay the whole process until you can't open any case, not even in PayPal, so you should open a PP as soon as possible. I am not sure how it is with returns if the seller is in China, but someone will advise.
on 25-04-2022 05:33 PM
@david8searle wrote:
So this is not about an item that has not been received; it's about a seller who is not keeping a commitment.
Give them a neg to add to their collection, then when they contact you tell them you will consider a feedback revision AFTER they've refunded you.
Just be factual and truthful in the neg so they can't have it removed.
on 25-04-2022 05:49 PM
@david8searle wrote:I purchased a Bluetooth headset in January this year. It arrived on time and as described. A few weeks after I started using it, it stopped working. I contacted the seller, requesting a refund. Seller asked me to upload a video showing the headset not working! I explained that there was no point in making a video, as the video would prove nothing.
I offered to send a video of myself destroying the item. Seller said that would not be necessary.
Seller then offered me a discount on my next purchase, which I declined. After several more messages on the subject, seller finally agreed to make the refund into my PayPal account. Since then, I've had several more messages, with the seller giving me various reasons why the refund has not materialised.
I've had two online chats with eBay agents, with no result.
Can somebody please advise me what further steps I can take?
TIA.
Just curious about this bit.
25-04-2022 05:57 PM - edited 25-04-2022 06:00 PM
@david8searle,
Item specifics state: Brand: Unbranded
There is no way in a bucket of eels that I'd be buying such an item that's marked as unbranded. That is telling you that the item's been churned out in a Chinese (or other low-wage country) factory at the cheapest possible price, without components of the necessary quality/standard.
It's a cheap headset even if you paid, say, $10 more for it.
However, if it stopped working "a few weeks" after being received, that's an indication that the components are not up to standard.
(By the way, no one is suggesting INR (Item Not Received); we are saying it's NOT AS DESCRIBED. You must formally make a claim for a refund on the grounds of INAD/SNAD, not just rely on the seller saying they will refund in this sort of situation.)
I'm a little on the fence with this... If you were to buy a genuine headset - wireless/Bluetooth, connects to TV - with a warranty, you'd certainly be looking at more than $100, and in most cases more than $200. You cannot expect the same durability and quality with a $25-$35 pair of Chinese-made headphones.
On the other hand, what you received is clearly rubbish. The seller has also, as you say, messed you around. If you haven't actually opened a formal claim through eBay, under its MBG, then the seller is just telling you whatever will keep you from opening a formal claim through PayPal (presumably, as it's too late to make a formal claim through eBay). The seller is lying. There is no refund on the way. It's a well-known tactic.
If you'd looked through the seller's feedback, specifically by clicking onto the negative feedback ratings over the last 12 months (from the seller's feedback profile page), you would have seen meaningless soothing comments by the seller in reply to upset buyer comments. Repeatedly the seller says things like "customer's satisfaction is our NO.1 goal, communication is important" or "sorry,we keep trying to solve problem for you, but you didn't respond" - all of which are clearly the seller's attempts to mitigate the bad feedback by appearing to be a reasonable and responsive seller.
NOW is the time to open a PayPal claim.
As I said, I'm in two minds about this... but if we assume that the headphones stopped working about 3 weeks after they arrived, that's clearly not good enough and would in my view constitute INAD. (Item Not As Described, which is the same thing as SNAD - Item Significantly Not As Described.) In that case they were NOT as described upon arrival; you merely assumed they were by looking at them. I'll bet that the sound quality wasn't as promised, either.
So... open the claim/dispute. Either before or after you open the claim, you should contact PayPal and ask for their help, explaining the following:
To contact PayPal, go to https://www.paypal.com/au/smarthelp/contact-us (and if you're not logged in, you'll have to do so), then scroll to the bottom of the page. You'll see something similar to this:
To call them, click onto the "Call us" link between the hours of 8 am and 8 pm AEST (Mon-Fri), and you'll get a one-off code and the phone number to call.
Good luck - and... if I were you, I would probably head down to a few audio shops - JB Hi-Fi, just as example - to get some advice about what headset would best suit your needs. You may need to brace yourself for about $160-odd or more, but it's possible that you could get a recommendation for one that's not going to hit your wallet with quite such a thwack. I would never purchase this sort of item from a Chinese eBay seller... NEVER.
on 25-04-2022 05:59 PM
@padi*0409 wrote:
@david8searle wrote:
So this is not about an item that has not been received; it's about a seller who is not keeping a commitment.
Give them a neg to add to their collection, then when they contact you tell them you will consider a feedback revision AFTER they've refunded you.
Just be factual and truthful in the neg so they can't have it removed.
That ship may have sailed... purchased in January.