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.
