I ordered a phone for my mother on ebay and when I went to meet her on the weekend I charged the phone (for 4 hours as recommended) and tried to turn it on but it didn't come on. Then I tried calling the seller but no one answered that number. I called Ebay customer care and told them about the seller not picking up. They said in that case my only option is that I need to go to a micromax service center and get a letter from them saying phone was 'dead on arrival' and then send that to ebay and only then can I get a replacement/refund. Anyway the customer service executive I spoke to gave me the phone numbers of the micromax centre and when I called those numbers it was either a non-existent number or no one picked up. My wife then called back ebay and reported this to customer service executive Akash Agarwal, and he said 'Oh if they are not picking then you need to go to the shop'. When my wife asked him waht if the shop is not there he said we can't help it that's the only way. Then the next day my father-in-law (a senior citizen) went looking for that shop because my wife and I had to go to work, and found out the shop is not there.
So basically we buy a product from Ebay! The seller is a fraud who doesn't answer his calls, yet Ebay allows him to sell stuff on their site. The authorised micromax centres in bangalore are non-existent and until we get a 'DOA' from them we can't get a preplacement/refund from EBay. Does that make any sense??? I've really been wondering if this ebay gaurantee is just a farce? I have lost all confidence in Ebay and will be advising all my family and friends not to buy from their site coz things like this can happen. I shop a lot online and have never faced this problem. Have always got good quality stuff delivered home. Looks like Ebay cannot keep up its promises.
