Hopeless Customer Service - How much longer would it take to recover my $1800??

jnk86
Community Member

I have had a deeply disappointing experience with eBay customer service after being a loyal user for 13 years and an eBay Plus member. I placed an order containing three items with a seller, but the seller never shipped the order. Despite messaging the seller multiple times for updates and a tracking number, I received no response. When I contacted eBay customer service, I was repeatedly told to wait until the delivery date had passed. However, the seller had not updated the tracking number within the required timeframe for shipping. Even after this period expired, eBay was unwilling to help and continued to ask me to wait.

Nearly three weeks after placing my order, I finally reached a customer service agent willing to assist, but they only opened a case for one of the three items in the order. I had to repeatedly contact customer service to have separate cases opened for the other two items, as all three items were part of the same order that was never received. When the cases were opened, the seller provided tracking numbers for each item. However, these tracking numbers did not correspond to my order.

To explain further, I used two accounts: Account 1 and Account 2. Account 1 placed an order for three items, which were never shipped. Account 2 purchased the same items, but they were split into three separate orders, each with its own tracking number. The seller provided the tracking numbers for the Account 2 orders to claim that the Account 1 order had been delivered. I submitted clear evidence to eBay showing that the tracking numbers provided by the seller belonged to Account 2 and not Account 1. Despite this, eBay customer service ignored my evidence and insisted that the seller claimed the Account 1 order had been delivered. However, the order placed under Account 1 was never received.

For weeks now, I have been contacting eBay almost daily about this issue. One of the cases is now past the seller's response period, yet it has been placed on hold for an additional five days. When I contacted customer service today, they could not explain why the case was on hold, nor did they issue a refund. I am left with no choice but to escalate the matter to the ACCC to recover my money, as this order alone is worth approximately $900. Despite their repeated assurances that they are here to help, eBay’s customer service has done nothing but cause frustration and leave me feeling hopeless.

In addition to the above case, there is another order from the same seller. The seller messaged me, stating that the order was cancelled, but I never received a refund. When I contacted eBay customer service about this, they claimed the order was still processing. Despite pointing out that there was no update or tracking information, I was again told to wait until the expected delivery date had passed before opening a case. This order, like the first, is also worth $900. I guess I probably need to report to ACCC for this order as well. I have now been waiting over four weeks to recover a total of $1,800.

Beyond these two unresolved orders, I also had two additional orders cancelled by the seller without any notification. The seller falsely claimed that I had requested the cancellations, but I never made such a request. I had been expecting those orders to be fulfilled.

Overall, my experience with eBay customer service has been nothing short of appalling. Their failure to address these issues promptly and their unwillingness to process refunds despite clear evidence has left me with no confidence in their support system.

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Hopeless Customer Service - How much longer would it take to recover my $1800??

You may have confused the ebay agents. They are usually not very good, or so most people report.

 

What I am gathering from your report here is that with account 1, your 3 items were all bundled within the same order. So maybe you placed them in the cart then paid the total in full to the seller.

 

But under a different account, you bought the same 3 items separately so each should come with a separate tracking order. And they arrived okay.

 

Plus you also ordered something else (from which account?), which is supposedly going to be cancelled but you have received no refund.

 

There has indeed been some incompetence on ebay's part if they accepted tracking numbers from a completely different account as proof that your first order had been sent. In fact, there should only have been one tracking number for the order from account 1.

 

If you opened a proper ebay claim, which you say you have, you need to appeal the finding. Keep your details simple as possible and clear, that the tracking numbers are not for this account. They do not match.

 

You need to open a completely separate claim for the other purchase that the seller said he was cancelling. It sounds as if he may not have done. Someone here said if a seller cancels an order, ebay automatically processes a refund. That being the case, the evidence suggests the seller has only said they are cancelling.

Forget all that, open a proper claim on the basis that order has not been received.

The seller will need to respond to that.

 

I hope you received the refund on the 2 additional orders you also had (which account?)

 

I fear that unless you can follow through carefully on this, you will lose all your money. The ACCC does not have the power to  retrieve the money from an overseas seller, as far as I can make out.

Did you pay by paypal at all?

Always go through ebay first to retrieve your money but if appeals get nowhere you may be able to claim via paypal if you paid that way. Or make a bank charge back.

Whatever you do, when you make a claim, only talk about that account.

 

That seller you bought from sells a lot of expensive things and has a poor feedback score. People here often say a volume seller needs about 99.5% to be considered reasonably safe. Always read the negative and neutral feedback. This seller has a steady track record of sending fakes and items with defects or of low quality and is often slow to respond to messages or refund. They don't follow process. They might ask a persosn to return an item but it seems they don't provide the return postage. 

It was probably not wise of you to buy so much from them, especially all at once, without waiting to see how a first purchase went. 

Not much you can do about that now but remember it for the future. Always check out the feedback and be wary of big dollar purchases from overseas.

 

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Hopeless Customer Service - How much longer would it take to recover my $1800??

The red dots you have left provide a very real possibility of getting you in trouble.

 

If eBay say the item was "delivered", then you're actually breaching Feedback misuse policy. Not only will you be seen as an abusive buyer, but the feedback will also be removed immediately upon the seller's request.

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Hopeless Customer Service - How much longer would it take to recover my $1800??

I presume it's the seller you left the negs for, if that is correct the ACCC will do nothing about it because the seller is registered in Japan.

______________________________________________________

"Start me up I'll never stop......"
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Hopeless Customer Service - How much longer would it take to recover my $1800??

eBay will process refunds when and if you open an applicable case and follow through with it within the stated timelines.

 

Toing and froing with a seller will not advance your refund. Use the tools eBay give you.

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Hopeless Customer Service - How much longer would it take to recover my $1800??

All seems a bit sus, why use 2 accounts to purchase the same items from the same seller?

If the seller cancelled 1 lot of orders, the refund is automatically processed by ebay.

One thing is for certain, the ACCC is not going to help you get your money back.

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Hopeless Customer Service - How much longer would it take to recover my $1800??

Using eBay for 13 years and you still do not know the buying basics or feedback rules

 

Why did you choose not to open a dispute yourself in the first place?

 

A in ACCC stands for Australia

 

The seller you neg is in Japan

 

Had your used the tools you were given there would have been no issue

 

If you ignore those tools and choose to do your own thing, you are not covered 

Message 6 of 21
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Hopeless Customer Service - How much longer would it take to recover my $1800??

You may have confused the ebay agents. They are usually not very good, or so most people report.

 

What I am gathering from your report here is that with account 1, your 3 items were all bundled within the same order. So maybe you placed them in the cart then paid the total in full to the seller.

 

But under a different account, you bought the same 3 items separately so each should come with a separate tracking order. And they arrived okay.

 

Plus you also ordered something else (from which account?), which is supposedly going to be cancelled but you have received no refund.

 

There has indeed been some incompetence on ebay's part if they accepted tracking numbers from a completely different account as proof that your first order had been sent. In fact, there should only have been one tracking number for the order from account 1.

 

If you opened a proper ebay claim, which you say you have, you need to appeal the finding. Keep your details simple as possible and clear, that the tracking numbers are not for this account. They do not match.

 

You need to open a completely separate claim for the other purchase that the seller said he was cancelling. It sounds as if he may not have done. Someone here said if a seller cancels an order, ebay automatically processes a refund. That being the case, the evidence suggests the seller has only said they are cancelling.

Forget all that, open a proper claim on the basis that order has not been received.

The seller will need to respond to that.

 

I hope you received the refund on the 2 additional orders you also had (which account?)

 

I fear that unless you can follow through carefully on this, you will lose all your money. The ACCC does not have the power to  retrieve the money from an overseas seller, as far as I can make out.

Did you pay by paypal at all?

Always go through ebay first to retrieve your money but if appeals get nowhere you may be able to claim via paypal if you paid that way. Or make a bank charge back.

Whatever you do, when you make a claim, only talk about that account.

 

That seller you bought from sells a lot of expensive things and has a poor feedback score. People here often say a volume seller needs about 99.5% to be considered reasonably safe. Always read the negative and neutral feedback. This seller has a steady track record of sending fakes and items with defects or of low quality and is often slow to respond to messages or refund. They don't follow process. They might ask a persosn to return an item but it seems they don't provide the return postage. 

It was probably not wise of you to buy so much from them, especially all at once, without waiting to see how a first purchase went. 

Not much you can do about that now but remember it for the future. Always check out the feedback and be wary of big dollar purchases from overseas.

 

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Hopeless Customer Service - How much longer would it take to recover my $1800??

*casey*
Community Member

 As far as I can see, there's been some kind of HUGE misunderstanding  between everyone involved in this which I hope can be sorted through some kind of communication between all 3 parties involved, you, the seller and eBay.

 

The 3 items were sold twice, presumably purchased once each  by your two accounts... and each listing was ended by the seller.

 

Two of the items were used so unlikely the seller would have had 2 of them.

 

Why did you use another account to buy the same 3 items  when you've previously purchased from this seller  (who has sold 8K items)  using your jnk86 ID ,  and  you've given them at least 15 positive feedbacks  for previous transactions ?

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Hopeless Customer Service - How much longer would it take to recover my $1800??

Did anyone else notice the estimated delivery timeframe for those items, approx 16 - 38 days.  So it would seem the OP has been a bit impatient.

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Hopeless Customer Service - How much longer would it take to recover my $1800??

G P, I've got a feeling there's going to be no winners in this debacle - time will tell I guess................

______________________________________________________

"Start me up I'll never stop......"
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