Item not as described

[audistarelectronics]

Hi all, just like a bit  of advise on this one. Purchased a power invertor from a large seller which has damaged some of our appliances. We are setting up a small solar system just to help the electric account a little. On the sellers listing it claims it will operate houshold appliances with no exceptions listed, however on researching the subject, I learn that some items such as fan motors can be burnt out by using the particular invertor, which is what happened us. I contacted the seller, who has two types of unit for sale, and requested them to exchange the unit and I was willing to pay the extra (almost double the cost) to get the invertor that can operate fan motors etc. They refused saying that it was my problem that it wouldn't run my particular appliances.

If the listing had described the limitations of the unit, I could understand that, and say buyer beware, as I would have been forwarned that I would require the more expensive unit. Maybe my next step is to open a paypal case under item not as described, as it will not operate the appliances that the seller claims it will.  Any help would be great.

[*crikey*mate*]

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@j*oono wrote:

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@crikey*mate wrote:

unfortunately, the seller's description is vague enough to prevent you from claiming "significantly not as described". He did not state that it operated ALL appliances, only that it did operate appliances.

The time to research the product is before you commit to buy it, so you needed to do this and confirm with the seller which appliances it did operate.

You needed to do your research and you needed to ask questions, there's a saying about what happens when people assume things.

In a court, you would lose, for you I hope that you don't, with PayPal but this woiuld be very unfair on the seller.

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Fortunately this is not a court of law and ebay needs to have a look at how the seller has guidelines on whether this electrical piece of equipment can be used with your appliances and whether it is safe to do so.  I would look into that and I would report the seller (not to ebay) if their appliances did not meet safety standards.

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Unfortunately, PayPal has to follow the law, so realistically, regardless of if this is a court or not, the courts and the law are pretty much in everybody's face.

Unfortunately, it is not eBay who issues refunds and decides cases, even if their policies could override the law.

The seller does NOT specify which appliances the item works with.

Just as different batteries operate different items, this is no different.

Batteries operate appliances, but without knowing what appliances a person has, how could a seller know if the battery he sells operates that one. In the absence of seeking qualified advice/recommendations, (recall the buyer asked no questions), It is up to the consumer to determine what they need.

[audistarelectronics]

Point taken, but with invertors, the consumer would be entitled to believe that as they supply ''electricity'', that it should operate any electrical appliance up to the wattage rating of the invertor. Batteries are a different thing because as we all know, there are hundreds of different batteries to suit hundreds of different appliances, so we must choose the correct one, voltage, size, contact points all come into play. But with electricity, as far as I'm aware, there is only one type in Aust, 240volts ac, at a frequency of 50 hertz..

This is  where an invertor with a poor quality output causes trouble, the 50 hz is not accurate enough in a ''modified inverter, so any induction motors can be damaged as they use the ac frequency to operate the magnetic field changes. I will put this to rest anyway, and buy from decent suppliers in future. Thanks for all help given.