Hi
I had purchased 26 pieces of an item "3 in 1 designer metal look ball point pen/ Stylus pen & Mobile stand/ holder-B33, Brand - Power Plus" (Item Code - ***) on 8th October, 2014 from ebay to gift to my colleagues during Diwali. Ebay seller sent me items which didnot match the items brand specification on Ebay site. The items were functionally unfit to hold a mobile phone. Even after providing sufficient evidences as snaps of the items from all angles showing that its not of power plus brand and screen shot of the item specifications from my purchase history proving that the item was indeed specified as belonging to power plus brand while placing the order, ebay rejected my claim and has not yet processed my refund. Ebay asked me to send the items back to the seller. Item was shipped back to the seller and courier bill and proof of delivery sent to ebay but still ebay is not ready to refund my amount.
The details for this ebay purchase are provided below :
Seller - ***
Item Code - ***
Pay Paisa Id - ***
Transaction value - Rs.3076/-
Courier Charges to ship back the item - Rs.300/-
Ebay Guarantee Claim - 69530
Please find below the complete details of my interaction with the seller and ebay on this and story of my endless follow up with ebay to resolve this issue.
Attaching proofs to prove that item was not as described and details of interaction with ebay. Please help resolving this issue and take due action to protect consumer interests.
Complete Details
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I had placed an order on EBAY India for 26 pieces of item "3 in 1 designer metal look ball point pen/ Stylus pen & Mobile stand/ holder-B33" (Item Code - ***) on 8th October and made payment for it. The item description put by the seller mentioned brand as "Power Plus". Pay Paisa Id for this transaction was - 37557610130. The transaction value was Rs.3076/-.
On 16th October, when I received the items, to my disgust, it was not of power plus brand. It was a weak mobile/pen stand on which mobile phone couldn't rest due to its low weight and also the pen provided with the item was not a "stylus" pen. It was an ordinary ball point pen.
I raised the concerns with Ebay on Ebay gaurantee. The claim id is 695302.
On the same day, I received call from the seller stating that the item was defintely specified as "power plus" brand on the site but you won't have the brand name embossed or engraved on the item. I asked him if there was anything which could make me believe that the item is indeed of that brand. He then said "powerplus" is just a brand name by which he sells his items. I also told him that it cannot support a mobile phone on it to which he said he would try to place his Samsung Note-2 on it and check. He never got back on this.
The very next day seller updated the item specifications for item purchased by me (Item Code - ***) and removed the brand specifications from it.
Ebay asked me for proofs and I provided them snaps of the item from all angles to show that it doesn't belong to powerplus brand.
Also, even though the buyer had removed the item brand specification from the ebay product listing, my ebay history page showed the brand specification of the item when I had purchased it. I provided a screen shot of the same to ebay.
Meanwhile, seller called me and was ready to refund the amount excluding shipping charges. I agreed to it.
Then, ebay rejected my claim even though I had provided them sufficient evidences to prove that the item was not as described.
I fail to understand the reasons for rejecting my claim. Can a seller advertise to sell say a "NoKIA smart phone" and deliver the buyer "Micromax smart phone" ? Would that not be cheating the buyer and playing unfair. Why is ebay not understanding this ? Ebay asked me to work with seller for the refund.
I called up the seller again and this time his tone was completely changed. He was not ready to refund the money. He asked me to reach out to ebay and also mentioned that "anyways ebay is going to support me". His words were true here. Ebay was indeed supporting the interest of the seller even though all evidences were pointing to unfair play by the seller.
I tried to reach out to ebay several times on chat regarding this issue. I was told that it is escalated and I will receive call from ebay with 24-48 hours. I waited for 2 days and again reached out to ebay. The chat customer care executive again said the same thing of issue being escalated and asking me to wait for 24-48 hours. Third time when I reached out to chat customer care executive, I was again told the same thing. I asked her to send me a mail confirming me of issue escalation. She provided me a Service Request number *** and said she didnot have the authority to send mail.
After waiting for another 2 days, I called up ebay. I spoke to escalation customer care executive, who was humble and took all inputs from me, verified the snaps of the item and all other evidences I had attached on ebay guarantee page, to prove that "Item was not as described" and asked me to ship the items back to the seller and confirmed me of refund processing. She provide me with service Request no: ***.
I received a mail from ebay with the address of the seller and was asked to ship the items back to the seller and send a scan copy of the courier bill. I shipped the items back to the seller, sent the courier bill to ebay and waited until the item was delivered to the seller.
After the item was delivered to the seller, I sent the proof of delivery provided by the courier company by mail to ebay and asked them to refund my amount. As there was no response from ebay and neither refund was received, I called up ebay and asked them for refund.
I spoke to escalation customer care executive, who informed me that the claim has been closed. This was disgusting. I told him that ebay had asked me to send the items back to the seller. How could the claim be closed without refunding my amount, in a case when I no longer have the items with me. It’s with the seller now and has been sent to him based on the mail from ebay asking to ship the items back to the seller. He informed me that the claim has been closed as the claim adjuster believed that "Item was as described". I asked him that he could check the evidences provided by me, which undoubtedly prove that item was not as described, to which he replied asking me to send the snaps of the item taken from all angles. I told him that it was already sent before and check that on ebay gaurantee page. He provided me with Service Request No: *** and said he with escalate the matter and asked me to wait for 24-48 hours.
After waiting for 2 days, I again called ebay. This time I spoke to Customer Care escalation executive .He said that as the claim is closed, he would process offline refund. I would not receive any mails from ebay but the refund money would get credited to my account within 8 working days. He provided me with Service Request No: ***.
After waiting for 8 working days, I called up ebay again and just asked the customer care executive the status of the Service Request *** which was provided to me by last customer care executive 8 working days back. The customer care executive told me that "product purchased by me is not listed" and "my claim has been closed". Based on the information she retrieved from ebay system going by the Service Request No:, she did not tell me anything about refund. I wonder if the promise of refund was something just made by escalation customer care executive orally and never recorded on systems.
I insisted on speaking to senior executives. I was connected to a senior executive and I told me the entire story and asked that I wanted to speak to previous customer care executive, who has promised me refund 8 working days back. The executive told me that "***" works in Mumbai office and is not available and he cannot connect my call. He said he would escalate the matter to mumbai team and I would receive call from ebay within 24 hours.
I have waited for 24 hours and today - 22nd November, 2014, lost all faith in Ebay and believe that both ebay and seller have cheated me and played unfair with me. I had raised Ebay Gaurantee Claim on 16th October and have been following up with ebay sincerely believing that dumb ears would listen to my concerns and deliver justice. But now I want to take the issue to consumer courts and forums, so that due action is taken against ebay and the seller for cheating the buyer and playing unfair with customers.
I am attaching all the evidences to prove that items delivered to me was not of "power plus" brand and hence not as per description by the seller.
I am also attaching all the mail conversations between ebay and me.
Please help looking into this matter and taking due action again Ebay to protect the interests of buyers.
4 Service Requests Numbers were created by Ebay but complain raised has not been resolved.
Thanks
