BULKY items, buyers beware

[fcosenti]

Hi folks,

be aware that (too) many sellers have illegal terms & conditions, yet they are adamant about those.

I am in the middle of bathroom renovations, and I purchased a freestanding SPA from a seller in Adelaide. He had positive feedback of over 900, ABN, the works. I paid with Paypal, including a hefty $260 for delivery.

Trouble started when I received the item. This is a MASSIVE 95 Kg box, wrapped in wood packaging. The courier arrives - driver only (a classic nowadays). I had to unload it and move it to the house with the help of 2 friends, a real ordeal.

A couple of weeks later the plumbers open the box and find that 2 panels are broken. Seller starts his "T&C" charade (You should not have signed for the courier - YEAH like the courier would wait for 1 hour for us opening a box with hammer and cutters, removing all internal SPA panels, and finding the cracks). Some discussions, and I agree to pay $55 for delivery of 2 replacement side panels.

Few more weeks pass and the plumbers install the SPA and test it (amongst other things, it needed 20 amps power NOT MENTIONED IN AD so I had to arrange for new electrical circuit). They find that the Pop&waste AND flexible tubing leaks water.

I contact seller who sends the replacement part, BUT strongly refuses to pay for part installation by my plumber (charging $100 + gst per hour!!!). I call back the plumber, he comes to install the part, and finds that the replacement part IS CRACKED. Seller offers yet another part replacement but again, no labour refund.

I am now waiting for this replacement part and I am collecting all repair-only bills from plumber. I opened a case with ACCC since their website states clearly "if the item is large, heavy or bulky or needed to be delivered, the seller should arrange for this to be returned." and that's why many companies selling whitegoods and similar have conventions with repair centres to offer on site service (much cheaper than take the item back to service centre, repair it and then deliver it back including installation).

In summary - a buyer should NEVER end up out of pocket for *any* manufacturer or transportation defects/damages to the goods that he/she purchased. It is ALWAYS, UNCONDITIONALLY 100% seller responsibility. IT IS THE LAW.

If any seller of bulky items is reading this, now you know what you can do with your Terms & Conditions :-))

[davewil1964]

6.EBAY WILL START CHASING BUYERS FOR MONEY IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE SALE,AS IT GETS COMMISSION ONLY AFTER SELLER GET PAID.ONCE YOU HAVE PAID,EBAY IS JOB IS OVER AS IT HAS GOT ITS COMMISSION.

Rubbish. Seller's are charged as soon as the item is bought. Paid for or not.

As buyer protection in Australia is provided by PayPal naturally disputes are mediated by PayPal. And PayPal's buyer protection is not contingent on the seller having funds in their account. If you win a case, you get your money back. If the seller has insufficient funds, PayPal chase them up. It's different on other sites, where the buyer will only be refunded if the seller has funds that PayPal can access, but we're talking eBay here, presumably.

[polocross58]

We purchased a 'bulky item' recently.  Seller also had near perfect Feedback

PO chose to get me to collect it at the post office.  My knees literally sagged under the weight when I tried to haul it across the counter

When box (two halves, taped together) was opened, it was to discover there was NIL - as in NO packaging whatsoever.  Instead, the item, described as 'engineer designed' or whatever was all on its lonesome.  Not a skerrick of bubble wrap, or foam or even newspaper to save its delicate, exposed components

not one word of communication from the seller, either -  zero

As a rule, I leave no feedback when a  transaction fails to meet the basics

but the seller in question will be very lucky if that's how it works out this time

and of course, we're very curious as to how that seller is credited with near-perfect feedback.  As others said not so long ago, some sellers appear to have buddies within ebay who undertake to remove negative feedback

all of which would a long way to explaining why less and less people are electing to even bother buying on ebay

[austeam]

and of course, we're very curious as to how that seller is credited with near-perfect feedback.  As others said not so long ago, some sellers appear to have buddies within ebay who undertake to remove negative feedback

Have you checked the seller's revised feedback count?