I bought an item which was described as being able to be dismantled for transport purposes.

[6764terry]

I purchased a wardrobe & dresser from eBay and after speaking to the seller & owner who was the mother of the seller, I arranged a courier to organise 2 men to collect the items tonight.
Part of the description of the wardrobe stated "THIS WARDROBE IS ABLE TO BE DISMANTLED INTO 2 SECTIONS FOR TRANSPORT.
I didn't go to the owner's address & was waiting at the delivery address. When the courier arrived at the owner's house this evening, he found that the wardrobe couldn't be dismantled. He phone me to explain & I then asked to speak to the owner. I spoke to the seller's mother & then offered to take only the dresser & leave the wardrobe so they could sell it on eBay again & I wouldn't ask for a refund. The owner wouldn't let the courier take it.
I have to pay $140 to the courier.
I've received an email from the seller this evening in which he stated the following: Message from merchant: " Hi.  I have refunded your purchase due to being incorrect in stating that the wardrobe was able to be dismantled in 2 pieces.  An honest mistake". 
This is extremely disappointing. I believed the description is inaccurate which has resulted in me not receiving the items. I thought I was being very reasonable when I offered to only take the dresser. 
I have $140 courier costs & no items. This is extremely disappointing.
I have been purchasing from eBay & paying through PayPal for many years without anything like this occurring. It is paramount to ensure that description of items is totally accurate to ensure that there is a clear understanding of what the buyer agreed to when an item is purchased.

I believe that I shouldn't have to pay the courier costs as this was due to the inaccuracy of the seller's description & the seller should reimburse me for the costs..

[*crikey*mate*]

I'm sorry that this has happened to you. I can understand your disappointment.

However, any costs aquired in taking possession of and/or inspecting the goods are yours.

Why would you allow a third party to collect goods on your behalf when you have no buyer protection for a pick up item?

Unfortunately, because you couldn't/wouldn't inspect and collect the items yourself, you have paid a third party to do so on your behalf. The items were not as described. You did not take possession of them and chose not to proceed with the sale.

Yes the seller made an error (but why was that an issue for the courier anyway?) The items were not as described. So you chose to walk away from the sale.

You asked the seller would they split the auction, something they were not obliged to do, and they declined. You chose not to take posession of your goods after making the seller wait 10 days for you to collect them.

You bought them, it is up to you to remove them, perhaps the seller feels they will have a greater chance of selling them to someone else if they are a set. Perhaps they don't care about the price, they just want the items gone.

You have been given the refund to which you are entitled. To expect any more from the seller is unreasonable.

[cq_tech]

I'll play the devil's advocate here and ask if the outcome would have been any different had the buyer accompanied the courier to pick up the wardrobe?

After all, until they arrived to dismantle it, neither of them were aware that the listing was incorrect yet regardless of that fact, as a 3rd party sub-contractor the courier still has to be paid for his time whether he takes the item or not.

Perhaps not legally, but I believe the seller has at the very least a moral and ethical obligation to pay half the cost of the unnecessary courier, although I can't see that happening, and I think the OP is well justified in feeling a bit put out.

[*crikey*mate*]

hey devil's advocate!

would the scenario have been different? probably not. But then this is the same for anyone who collects a pick up item. If they get there and it isn't as described or not as expected etc, you walk away without paying.

The cost to the seller or what arrangements have been made to get the item are really irrelevant.

Let me play reciprocal devil's advocate.

If I had hired a baby sitter specifically so that i could go in person to inspect and collect the goods, and upon getting thee decided that the description was wrong and the items didn't suit my needs, would it be reasonable for me to expect the seller to reimburse me those baby sitting costs?

Yes the listing said "could be split in two" but did you see the pictures?

a) I can't see hpow that cupbard could be split in two to begin with, and surely if a courier's van was size restricted as is obviously the case (or some other restrictions were at play where the size of the thing was important) then at some point, wouldn't it have been relevant to ask, the measurements of the two seperate pieces?

Even if only the headboard or the legs came off, redicing the cupboard by a few inches, then the sellers description would have been accurate but the buyer would still have had size issues to contend with.

Nope, in the absence of the buyer asking specific questions as to how the cupboard could be split and the relevant sizes etc, I can't see how they could have had enough information to engage a courier in the first place (don't couriers usually want to know wheight and dimensions?) then I suspect that not enough questions were asked and too much was just assumed.

If anyone is possibly at fault here, it would be the courier, as surely he knows the limitations of his trauck and would need to know the size and weight of what he was agreeing to carry.

Hence, until I am corrected, i smell a rat and suspect we may possibly not really know all of the information. At least how it all actually happened.

I can't see how the buyer or the courier didn't need to know the dimensions of the pieces, even if it were able to be broken down. so if the seller had questioned this, they and the seller may have realized that it couldn't be broken down at all.

from memory, there were no measurements given in the description at all, surely if size were an issue, then at some stage those questions would need to be asked, before bidding and making a committment to buy.

[*crikey*mate*]

WARDROBE HAS CLOTHES HANGERS INSIDE LEFT AND RIGHT HAND DOORS WHICH STRETCH BEHIND THE FIXED MIRRORS BESIDE THEM.

THE CENTRE MIRROR OPENS TO REVEAL A FEW SHELVES FOR FOLDED CLOTHES, JEWELLERY ETC ETC.

THIS WARDROBE IS ABLE TO BE DISMANTLED INTO 2 SECTIONS FOR TRANSPORT.

that and the picture which shows 5 sections kind of indicates that this thing could not be able to be split into two even pieces and if you look at the picture, the thing is HUGE with no obvious indication of where the split it.

I don't believe the OP made an informed purchase, and IMO, a lot of the fault lies with them as it seems that they did not ask the relevant and necessary questions to facilitate their collection of the goods.

The auction ran for 7 days, in which questions could have been asked before bidding (which happened in the final 15 minutes of the auction) and then there were a final 10 days between auction end and attempted collection.

[*crikey*mate*]

THIS WARDROBE IS ABLE TO BE DISMANTLED INTO 2 SECTIONS FOR TRANSPORT.

at no time did the seller say, "for transport in what"

so how does the buyer or the courier know what kind of transport was required?

because I'm willing to bet all the money in my pocket that the cupboard would have fitted into a regular removal van, so at what point did the buyer know what sized vehicle they needed to collect the item?

Every courier I have ever engaged has wanted to know the weight and dimensions of the article/s they were transporting.

[lyndal1838]

Crikey, not all couriers have 1 ton vans.  Many of them have huge trucks and from the quoted amount of money I would say a rather large vehicle was involved.

If you are booking a pickup through a company switchboard you are asked for sizes and weights so they know how large a vehicle is needed....and also how much to quote for the pickup.  The larger the vehicle the higher the quote.

I am guessing the OP has looked up local people/businesses who are prepared to do out of hours private work as no business would allow the courier to ring and negotiate with the customer.....they go to the job, if the item is not ready for pickup the driver leaves....and they do not do any dismantling of furniture.

[lyndal1838]

I have just had a good look at the listing.

There is no way that the wordrobe could be taken apart....both the base board and the top board are in one piece and there is a leg in the middle.  I can not imagine why the seller would say it could be taken apart.

[*crikey*mate*]

so doesn't that kind of support my reasoning even more?

"When the courier arrived at the owner's house this evening, he found that the wardrobe couldn't be dismantled."

this implies that the courier was expecting to dismantle the cupboard.

"If you are booking a pickup through a company switchboard you are asked for sizes and weights so they know how large a vehicle is needed"

So how did they know what size vehicle was required?

[*crikey*mate*]

---

@lyndal1838 wrote:

I have just had a good look at the listing.

There is no way that the wordrobe could be taken apart....both the base board and the top board are in one piece and there is a leg in the middle.  I can not imagine why the seller would say it could be taken apart.

---

I said that LOL

so if you and I can see that in a picture, why couldn't the buyer or the courier people (if they were shown what they were collecting)?

The listing does not say how the cupboard can be "dismantled into two pieces" so even if only the base board came off, reducing the height by a couple of inches, or the mirrors, that still would have been a size issue

So unless the seller actually said how the thing could be dismantled, and provided sizes and weight etc - I cannot see why the seller is responsible or morally obligated for transport costs.

Sheesh, if the seller thought quickly enough, all he did have to do was whip out a screw driver, remove a cupboard door, and voila - you have one cupbord, dismantled into two pieces ready for transport.

apart from which, the contract did not include any mention of transport costs.

If it had have been any other not as described scenario, for a pick up item, it is exactly the same. The buyer ninspects the goods, decides if they are suitable, pays and removes them if suitable. If not you walk away, and whatever costs involved to that point are the buyers.

how do you turn up to pick up an item like that without knowing the size of what it is you are transporting?