eBay seller still continuing to operate despite failing to send item

[wylywyld]

I bought a $411 bronze statue from Spain back in June 27th. The seller told me they mailed it out on July 2nd and provided a tracking number.

I trusted the seller as I had previously purchased the same item from them in March - but it arrived in May. It came late but wow, the quality of the statue was utterly amazing.

On this occasion however, I was unfortunately lax in chasing after the item when it had gone pass the 30 day and 45 day period due to a serious health problem in my family; someone suffered a stroke.

When the parcel had not arrived after 90 days. I contacted the seller again but after an initial "hello, let me recheck the order" - I received absolutely no further emails from the seller. I rechecked the tracking number email which was in Spanish and found out through Auspost that it was for another person - but same country. I contacted the seller about this but nada. No response.

I contacted ebay and paypal but both have effectively told me they don't want to help because its gone pass the 45 day period.

Even after I told them that the tracking number was (later) confirmed by Auspost to be for another person - they just shrugged their shoulders.

Paypal did on my behalf attempt to contact the seller too but they ignored Paypal messages. This and the fact that the tracking number was incorrect should have raised a couple of red flags.

The irritating thing is that Paypal has told me they will continue to let the seller operate and there is nothing they can do - but can they help me with anything else ?

[thesoulyearns]

I'm sorry this happened. It really sounds like an unfortunate mistake but one that the seller doesn't want to have repurcussions for.

Maybe you could find some phone number that goes to an eBay/PP/Visa call centre within Australia. With all due respect to the overseas ones, odds are you'll be able to better connect if the person dealing with you is from the same country and possibly find some empathy from them. $411 is alot of money and most people would understand that, so it's worth it to keep trying.

[lyndal1838]

Try going in to a Westpac branch to lodge the chargeback.

[wylywyld]

Yes I got a feeling the seller made a mistake - but maybe not - he had been mailing parcels to Australia in that month - and the statue was also sold to another buyer. I was the second bidder and he told me he had a spare and asked whether I would buy that. He actually offered to sell it to me outside of ebay to avoid the fees but I told him to put it through the proper channels (so that i could also get full protection from the ebay/paypal system)

[a_beautiful_room]

You need to go into a Westpac branch to the inquiries counter and lodge the chargeback. I assure you that they will not want to help you either but if you want to get somewhere then complaining here, while it will give you a direction, won't help you any further than that. You have to be firm and insistent - the person at the inquiries counter may not be familiar with the procedure, but they can ring the merchant chargeback division while you are there and you will be able to speak to them. Get a case number, the name of the person, and a receipt number for the call. Then you have a reference when you have to call them back.

Collate your printout of the ebay page, the tracking information showing it has gone to a different person, and all supporting documentary proof. You will need this for the 6 pages of blah-blah that the bank will make you fill out to make a claim.

It will happen if you are methodical and determined and prepared to wait about 3 months. Otherwise, you'll have to chalk it up to experience, as this is now your only way forward.

[wylywyld]

I have already called back the Westpac card division and they have given me a dispute number - a month back but they've lost it - opened a new one- closed it - reopened it - closed it again. Its bizarre.

I spoke to one of the "senior" bankers and he told me its gone pass the complaint date and he told me to contact the bank ombudsman to complain if I was not happy about it.

[phorum_junkie*]

If you used a credit card and made the initial complaint within the limit of the bank's policy then you certainly should complain to the Ombudsman.

The on-line form is very easy to use and I would be very surprised if the bank even tried to defend it's behaviour if you have dates and times of all your phone calls and complaint dates.

[cq_tech]

I just want to reiterate what PJ said above regarding complaining to the Financial Services Ombudsman.

Absolutely lodge a dispute on the following link... https://forms.fos.org.au/OnlineDispute because the FOS wields a very big stick and the banks tend to fold very quickly indeed once the FOS becomes involved.