What a great day,

[x321654]

I'm going to shorten all this so here goes.

Wife wanted a folable trailer, I said they were way too expensive compaired to a normal one.

I decide if I use a coupon code I can probably get her the stupid thing.
I want to be sure a code works, but seller only offers buy it now.

So I contact support and ask if the code will work if I click buy it now as I don't want to pay for it if I can't get it cheaper.
They say yes so I click.
No coupon code box.  Told it will appear after I commit to buy.
No box
He says it will appear whe I get the total (including frieght) from the seller.
End chat.

I request total.

Wife rings, I tell her the good news and she's over the moon.

Seller sends total.  No box.

I contact support again.
Am told "Voucher code box is always available on checkout."
I say there is no box.
Blah blah blah....then he goes to check more info.
He tells me "the voucher code is only applied on online payments."  Gives me a link to read on vouchers, I complain about the advice I was given and he tells me to ask the seller if I can cancel the sale.
Blah blah blah (a lot of talking) He repeats "Voucher box is always available on checkout." which I asked hom to stop saysing as it's not true.
I ask if I can contact someone to complain about this and I have the transcipt and he tells me "I will forward this to our concerned team and strong feedback will be shared with the representative."
Blah blah blah, I'm still not happy he repeats what he's already said and gives me the link on vouchers again. Blah blah blah. He ends chat.


So I'm left without any recourse, and in doubt any complaint will be made anyway.
I can now choose to cancel the order (if the seller lets me) and see my wife cry or flip out on me - I'm guessing both - or pay the extra, missing some other bill.  And I get to complain to a message board or to the people I'm complaing about...

Anyhoo, I'm tired - even the short version is long - and stressed out.  And best of all this is the second time I've typed this becuase I just got some kind of java error (?) and lost it all.  Sorry about the spelling, my head hurts and I don't really care.

[lyndal1838]

There is usually a limit on the amount of discount you can get on an item.....did you check the Terms of your voucher.

There are also certain items that you cannot apply the voucher to....have you checked if your item is eligible for a discount?

[kopenhagen5]

Items in vehicles usually don't qualify for discount vouchers.

[x321654]

So I've since read after doing my own research.  Silly of me to check with ebay's online chat/help first and think they would provide me with guidence.

I just feel like there's no accountability.

[lyndal1838]

It is hardly fair to blame ebay if you don't read the Terms and Conditions that come with every discount offer.

There are a few Terms that are common to all offers but many of them can and do change regularly.   You need to read them all on every offer so you will not be disappointed.

[countessalmirena]

@x321654,

I hope your head had stopped hurting.

For future purchases, I'd recommend that you read the terms and conditions first (which I know can be a bit of a pain, but it will save you tears in the long run). In particular when making a substantial purchase, the discount amount might also be the "make or break" of whether or not you can afford the purchase - so it makes sense that you check beforehand to be certain that the discount will apply to your prospective purchase.

Secondly, if you need advice from eBay customer service, eBay's "Have us call you" option is by far the best way to get in touch with eBay. (Emails are useless, for a number of reasons, but primarily because the responses, when they are finally sent, are bot-generated. As you have experienced, the chat facility is also not to be relied on.)

eBay say: We'll call you at the phone number registered to your account, or you can enter a different number.

We’re available from 8am to 10pm AET, 7 days a week.

[x321654]

Sigh.  I think it's quite fair to blame ebay if it's an ebay support member telling me to do it.

And It wasall done over ebay support chat - in real time - so ringing wouldn't have made any difference.  I said I wasn't sure and didn't want to commit, but I was assured it would work.

I'm sure you all read the terms and conditions before clicking anything - I chose to trust the experts like an idiot.

[lyndal1838]

If you are going to trust the experts then you certainly would not trust the ebay staff members.

Would you really expect them to know the Terms and Conditions of every Offer......the Offers change regularly.....there are sometimes 2 or 3 new ones in a week.

That is why you need to read every offer to see if you qualify, or if the item you want to buy is covered by an offer, and even if the seller is included in the offer.

As an example....there has been a 5% discount offer running for several months now.  Basically it is for 5% discount site wide and can be used 3 times.   Every time it rolls over there is a minor change.   A member came here asking if they could use it for second hand goods and was assured that they could...several of us had done so.   It turned out that in that reincarnation the rules had changed and it was only for new and unused goods.

The only thing you can trust with these offers is what is written down in black and white.

[kopenhagen5]

---

@x321654 wrote:

Sigh.  I think it's quite fair to blame ebay if it's an ebay support member telling me to do it.

And It wasall done over ebay support chat - in real time - so ringing wouldn't have made any difference.  I said I wasn't sure and didn't want to commit, but I was assured it would work.

I'm sure you all read the terms and conditions before clicking anything - I chose to trust the experts like an idiot.

---

That's where you are misguided.

The call centre people in Phillipines are not eBay staff and are not experts.

They are an outsourced outfit similar to a message centre designed to deal with basic queries.

eBay is predominantly a computer program with very few staff members.

Most things can be searched by selecting help at the top of eBay pages.

Or come here to community as you will get advice from other members whom have already jumped through most of the hoops.

[papermoon.lady]

I hope your wife had some understanding if you cancelled.

Usually it is advisable to add items to the cart if you want to see if a voucher is going to work. When you add items to your cart you don't commit yourself to buy yet and you can see the box at checkout.

PS: I am not sure why some threads that are not the most recent are catapulted to the top sometimes. I guess it is either a glitch or it happens when somebody for example posts a reply and then decides to delete it?