Ebay Advice

[sanaxe1]

Hello, so just got off the phone with my mate and he has abit of a ebay problem.

He ordered a 4 piece furniture set which consists of wardrobe , chest of draws and 2 bed side tables. He started to build them and then realized that there was a box mixing which was the chest of draws. He contacted the seller and they stated that the courier must have lost the box as there should have been 5 pieces of the consignment. However my friend contacted the courier and the courier provided a copy of the delivery slip which states 4 pieces on the paperwork. He then contacts the seller again and the seller says sorry about the inconvenience we will get it delivered to you in 2 days time. Happy with this my friend continues to build all of the furniture and then throws the boxes away ( They are huge ) as in 2 days time the remaining items are to be delivered. Anyway skip to 2 days time and the seller messages saying unfortunately the items have now been discontinued and they can only offer the following. A £50 refund for the lost chest of draws which is a lot less than they are worth given the total set cost or he can return the items as long as they have not been assembled.


I personally think this was done on purpose. They were aware that he had started to assemble them and they also told him that the missing piece was on its way. I have since checked the sellers other items and while the 4 piece is out of stock they have 3 of the 3 piece in stock which has the exact same chest of draws. So this is another lie they have told as regardless of it being a 3 piece or 4 piece they would have had to take the chest of draws from another set. I think they had no intention of doing this as it would cost them the sale of another set.

So what do you guys think? Yes he has thrown the boxes away and assembled them but do you think he has the right to return them for a full refund given the situation? Ideally my friend would prefer to receive the draws as he is happy with what he has but without them the set is incomplete and any amount of refund wouldn't help as he wouldn't have a matching set which was the whole point in the first place.

 

[sanaxe1]

I'd say no, if they're flat pack and not faulty by building them he's accepted their condition and use so has completed and fulfilled the terms of his contract. TBH I'd take the £50. He might find a matching set elsewhere. Can the seller advise where they got the set from or the manufacturer? They may be able to tell him of alternative sellers where he might get the chest of drawers.

Looking online at the cost of the 4 piece and the 3 piece i would say that the value of the draws is more £150. Which i think makes the £50 unfair and while you might be right that by building them he has fulfilled the terms of the original contract wouldn't the seller then saying he would send the missing item constitute a new contract which he has now failed to fulfill?

I've told him to contact ebay/paypal regardless but im just thinking what the best angle is to approach it.

 

[sanaxe1]

So my friend opened a claim with eBay. Asked for them to send the missing set of drawers ( thanks Dirk ). They refused and eBay gave my mate a full refund and the bonus is he can keep the furniture he received.

 

[sanaxe1]

Gees.
That's brutal on the seller. OK, this one is probably fair. But let's say the seller did offer a fair 150 refund.

You could just go 'nope' and ebay refund the lot?
Let's now say that's a 2k speaker set with a stand missing? You could get 2k set for free?

That's one of the worst 'side with the buyer' I've ever seen

I think it will be down to the way the seller handled the situation.

To use your example of the speakers we would need the speakers and stand to be sent in separate boxes. The sellers would then need to claim the courier has lost the item. But you would then provide proof that they were never sent. Then the seller would say, No worries i will send out a replacement item and then 3 days later they then turn around and say infact I will give you a refund at around 1/3 of the value of the missing item as we no longer have the item in stock. Only for you to then find that the item is in stock.

If you were Ebay and you saw this you would be worried about the impression this seller gives to the buyer on the entire ebay platform. So they need to "punish" the seller. I'm sure if they had attempted to handle it better they wouldn't of been penalized as much and they would have just been forced to pay return postage and give a full refund.