Item arrived damaged in Denmark

[Merlin5]

If I had seen it then, I would have said something

Never mind. The pertinent question you suggested would in fact have been very good. I just wasn't smart enough to think of that

If I get to keep my money (unlikely) I'll genuinely ask everyone in this thread that has helped up to this point to trust me their email so I can send them some of my own Haribo sweets.

If I don't get to keep my money (likely) you can all give me the "I told you so!"

 

[Merlin5]

Here's the latest guys. He's only gone ahead and started the repair assuming the courier is going to pay out! He doesn't know yet that the courier washed their hands of it. I think I'm ready to close my paypal account. It asks me if I'm sure I want to close it. Will that disconnect my bank account from paypal or is there a separate thing I have to do in paypal before closing the account? This is what he said..

"Hi,

The unit is with my tech now who is waiting on shipment of new "spring attachments". I thought you had given up on the case as I hadn't heard from you.
He just wrote me 4 lines and sent a picture of the inside to show where the spring had fallen off.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/hgk44u8896iz63o/12355860_10153617147751293_403889429_o.jpg?dl=0
You are right about that I had freed the cables to see if it was merely cosmetic damage or if I could get the unit to power up. I guess I didn't want to be blamed for the damage myself so decided it was a good idea to put the pieces as they were, after no success of plugging it. I should have been up front with you on that, Im sorry. I was worried that as soon as I say that I had touched the unit, I would be held liable for the damage. I definitely didn't take a hammer to the unit or opened and unhooked the springs and pulled out the "holder". I don't even think I could if I wanted to...
It definitely seems strange that the unit is in such bad shape, considering how well you wrapped it. My only explanation is that the post must have opened it, checked the inside and damaged it in the process.

Either way it's a waiting game with insurance companies, so I decided to go forward with the repair now. "

Now the thing is, the original quote he sent converts to £400. There's no way I'm going to pay him most of what he paid for the unit AND let him keep it. no one authorised him to do the repair yet so he;s jumping the gun. To be honest, if I offered him £150 I'd still be £300 in profit. If he sends it back to me, I'm losing. What should I do now? He even admits himself how well wrapped it was.

 

[Merlin5]

If you can get PayPal to listen this latest message might work in your favour. I can't see you can reasonably be expected to refund the guy now he's admitted to tampering and has gone ahead with a repair.

On the other hand he could be genuine and perhaps a partial refund is the best way to go, especially if you can still come out of this with some profit.

What do you think about me sending this to him?

"Hi Xxxx,

I appreciate this has been long winded, and apologise for the delays. But all I could do was wait for responses from the courier and I've shown you all the email correspondence. As it happens, I've now heard from them again and they've refused to pay out saying that packaging guidelines weren't followed. This is typical insurance company ******** because I'd checked several times with the courier service about the way I'd packaged it before I sent it and they said it was fine. So they've washed their hands of it.

You've now gone ahead and authorised repairs on the assumption that the insurers would pay out, so this is a mistake I'm afraid. The quotation you sent me amounts to £400. This would mean sending you back most of what you paid me and keeping the unit. That's like me giving the unit away for free. I think you have to agree that I have no real proof of the extent of damage. Technically speaking, the unit should be returned to me and then I reimburse you the full amount. Alternatively, I'm quite happy to offer you money for the repair, but not the amount in your quotation as I don't believe it would cost anything like that. I think you should be looking for a cheaper quotation and I'm prepared to send you £150 to cover the repair costs."

 

[Merlin5]

PayPal will side with him regardless

I understand what you're saying. I'm torn between cancelling my paypal account and risking debt collection, never being able to open a new paypal account and then even if I did, they'd take back the money that they paid him out. Or, making him an offer that he might accept, where I'm still in profit and it avoids the aforementioned inconvenience and risk.

 

[Merlin5]

Well regardless if I'm seen as a fool or not, I'm trying to be decent about it and give him some benefit of the doubt. If he refuses my offer, I can use evidence against him as mentioned in the thread of tampering and generally suspicious behaviour. This is what I sent him last night and am now waiting on a response:

Hi Xxxx,

I appreciate this has been long winded, and apologise for the delays. But all I could do was wait for responses from the courier and I've shown you all the email correspondences between us. As it happens, I've now heard from them again and they've refused to pay out saying that packaging guidelines weren't followed. This is typical insurance company bull**** because I'd checked several times with the courier service about the way I'd packaged it before I sent it and they said it was fine. You even said yourself how well it was packaged. So they've washed their hands of it and it's now between us to sort out.

Thing is, you've gone ahead and authorised repairs on the assumption that the insurers would pay out, so this is a mistake I'm afraid. The quotation you sent me a few weeks ago amounts to £400 which is very high. This would mean sending you back pretty much everything you paid me while also keeping the unit. That's like me giving the unit away for free. I think you have to agree that I truly have no real proof of the extent of damage. Technically speaking, the unit should just be returned to me and then I reimburse you the full amount. Alternatively however, I'm quite happy to offer money for the repair, but not the amount in your quotation as I don't believe it would cost anything like that. I think you should be looking for a cheaper quotation and I'm prepared to send you £150 for the repair costs. It comes down to either that or sending the unit back.

Cheers, "

 

[Merlin5]

Very very foolish of you!

Even telling him that the couriers say that you did not follow the packaging guidelines is foolish! Why give him any ammo?

Send him £150!!! Waw, that is so mad.

Wash your hands of it. You know how it was sent. You know he has tampered with it!

/thread

With all due respect, it's easy to be a backseat driver and tell me that everything I'm doing is wrong. If I wash my hands of it and paypal gets involved, I could be worse off than just offering him some money where I'm still £300 in profit.

 

[Merlin5]

Well, well, well, well, well. Take a look at this reply. Subbed my real name for Merlin.

"Hi Merlin,

Thanks for your reply. I don't blame you to any extent, Merlin. I really appreciate how patient you were with the whole process and agree that you did a good job packaging the thing. It's definitely bull**** from their part.
As you said, given that I have gone forward with the repair means that I'm willing to cover the cost myself. If you want to contribute to it with a symbolic 50 quid you are welcome to do so but I don't hold you responsible and don't expect anything.

Have a great weekend

Best

Xxxx "

Well now, I AM going to offer him something just because he's being so good about it. Maybe £100. What do you think? I know he's saying I can pay nothing, but well, it's xmas, and I'd feel like a real **** if I didn't pay something and it's still less than my original offer. What do you reckon I should offer guys as a nice gesture?

 

[Merlin5]

Yes as a gesture of goodwill i would send him £100, i know lots will say give him nothing but he seems a nice guy to me and the delivery company are mainly to blame, he was just abit naive in fiddling with it.

This, and thank you for saying that, mate. I think it proves he wasn't trying to scam me. In fact when he first received it he asked if he could just return it to me. Ok, even if he might have dropped it himself and was hoping I'd think it was the courier service at fault so he could get his money back, it doesn't look like he was trying a scam by trying to keep it and getting his money back.

So this is a result and I've not had to close my paypal account. Also, the courier has refunded me the £63 shipping and insurance, so if I send him £100, I'm only actually giving £37 of my profit.

 

[Merlin5]

You got very lucky.

Be more careful in future!

I don't see how I wasn't careful. I did everything I could to make sure I was sending a parcel packaged to the best of my ability. I've been very courteous in all my correspondence with the buyer, never rude, and kept him in the loop with progress. I was careful not to jump at suggestions to close my account and my instinct has worked out good. How much more careful could I have been?


Right another question chaps. It appears my bank account attached to my paypal account needs verifying. I don't want to send money using my debit card with paypal as it seems the fees are higher.

It wants me to complete my bank account setup by setting up a direct debit. What do they do if I set up a direct debit? I only want to send a one off payment to this guy. Also, fees. They just take 0.5% of what I send, is that right?

I should send using the friends and family tab instead of the pay for goods and services tab, right?

 

[Merlin5]

friends and family will be free. just the conversion rate might suck

I think F&F is only free if sending within UK? Not sure what the conversion fee is for sending pound sterling to Denmark.


Edit: Just sent him the money, and only 50 pence fee to me. Sorted. Finally, I can put this behind me now.

 

[Merlin5]

God you people are so bloody negative. The eternal bringers of doom

No, it's not going to come back and bite me on the bum. I have it in writing from him. Twice. All this has cost me is £37 of my profit. So instead of £385 profit I get £348 profit. Hardly a big loss for something that had been given to me for free in the 1980s and has just been sitting in my shed for years.

"As you said, given that I have gone forward with the repair means that I'm willing to cover the cost myself. If you want to contribute to it with a symbolic 50 quid you are welcome to do so but I don't hold you responsible and don't expect anything.

Have a great weekend

Best

Xxxx "

Thanks Merlin,

Payment received. I'm very happy we could end this on a positive note and look forward to finally using the reverb, hopefully some time next week.

Best
Xxxx"

 

[Merlin5]

Lol, he has had the item from you and a free meal with the money you sent him!! Probably didnt cost him anything to fix it. Thats if it was the original item from your case!

Was he Nigerien

So what? He still bought the item direct from me without it costing me any fees on places like ebay, he's made me almost £400 profit for something that cost me nothing and all I've surrendered is £37. He doesn't even know that I got my shipping back. He wins and I win. I've not really lost anything. You're coming across as a bit of a twit to be honest.