Dear Ebay team,
Here is what happened to me recently, and kindly go through it patiently. I have been a ebay buyer for 10 years now with an impeccable record (sreedharshenoy).
I wanted to buy power cords (low cost items) from Ebay and browsed on my ebay iPAD application with the option of buying it from a nearby seller. Here is what I got: A seller in my city, Bangalore with Item ID (151309110039), offering it at Rs 79, and a local courier of Rs 25 for any number of items. I pick up 2 items, and commit to buy on my iPAD app. The price at the Commit to Buy stage is Rs 183(79*2 + 25) , and I commit to buy it. PICTURE ATTACHED.
I switch to my browser to complete my transaction, and to my surprise, the price is now Rs 258!! I am being charged National courier for both items and a clear cost escalation of Rs 75/- . NOTE THAT AT THIS POINT I cant back off without my record getting tarnished. So I am forced to complete the transaction AT A HIGHER COST Note that you commit me to buy at a lower price, and force me to pay a higher price -- MALPRACTICE(?). Kindly refund the difference amount.
Resolution mechanisms - Completely inadequate
As a corporate citizen myself, I believe in resolution and necessary escalation. I go through your Customer Support tab, find Call us inside Contact Ebay (for Returns). Nice system with a pre-generated ID.
However, the staff at call center are completely inadequate to handle my call. The first person I talked to (Xavier kanchan?) repeatedly says that the system chooses to put me under a National courier, and I have to fork out Rs 258(which is what I had done). My version of Rs 183 is the commit to buy price was not even accomodated.
I tell the person, look, I am not happy with the answer provided, I want to escalate -- so I am put on to a "manager" (Aamir Khan?). The manager insists the national courier is the right way to charge me. I do get angry and ask whether my religion or caste decide my entitlement for national courier? After all both buyer and seller are in the same city
The second person is smarter -- after a while he asks me not to use abusive language. I immediately ask him to replay the part where I was abusive, and he immediately gets even more evasive. I believe this is a favortie tactic to get rid of persistent customers whose problems are not solved.
SPECIFIC COMPLAINT: I ask Mr Khan to keep my complaint open and he explicitly refuses to do so on the call. Apparently you dont have a system to keep calls open. Wow!!
