Hi all
I am in Australia and someone from UK bought an item that was promptly shipped. That was in Nov. Tracking shows item in UK in about 2 weeks, then stuck. Customer opened a case. At that time postal services are overloaded and UK had postal worker strikes, so all deliveries were delayed. This was communicated to the buyer as well as I engaged Australia Post to try and find parcel. At this point customer was very much active, replying to messages, etc.
Long story short, eBay closed the case, refunding buyer. No problem, I understand. However item was finally delivered a week later. Now customer has $220 item for free, which I am not happy about.
Here is what I did so far: (this was going on for the last 3 weeks)
1. Contacted e-mail and appealed case. Decision held and eBay suggested I contact buyer directly
2. Sent multiple messages to buyer asking for payment or return item (at our expense). Silience
3. Multiple complaints to eBay eventually resulted in their promise to look into it and, possibly, suspend buyer. I have a feeling they just told me that to get rid of me
4. Tried to call customer multiple time. Always get voicemail. Of course, no actions on my message. Tried SMS multiple times too
5. Yesterday I contacted their local police station and filed a "theft" and/or "fraud" case. Also added buyer to BadBuyersList
Anything else I can do?
It is not that much matter of money, but principle. Being a buyer myself on different platforms, I understand post, especially international, can be slow at times. Yes, I would open case, occasionally getting refund. But if item finally arrives, I would contact seller, offering to pay (if I still need the item) or asking them to organise return (if I do not need it anymore). Had buyers do same with me. This is normal, ethical action. First time I got a thief like that.
