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Thanks for taking the time to read this - I would be welcome of any advice.
I am having protracted dispute with an eBay buyer, and I'll try to keep the details as concise as possible for you all:
- I sold an iPhone in May and in the listing description said that the phone had a fault, the microphone wasn't functioning and could be repaired for about £40 by most phone shops
- buyer bought the phone, didn't read the description (she has admitted this in eBay messages)
- she asks for a refund, we settle on a partial refund of £40, she accepts, repairs the phone at her local phone shop
- then demands a full refund (£210) and a return
- return and full refund actioned by eBay, I comply
- she willingly sends the phone back to an incorrect address (this is my fault for not updating my registered address with eBay as have just moved)
- I deal with the address issue as soon as I'm made aware (after speaking to eBay), update my account and tell her
- I have the tracking details of her original return and she has the phone back with her
- she is now refusing to send the phone back unless I pay her the money that she spend herself having the microphone repaired, (originally for the cost of a screen protector at £10, too) and for the postage... The postage is my responsibility.
We have gone round the houses with communication, and I have at all times kept it polite and decent. eBay have been their usual difficult, robotic and often misguided selves but I have made some progress. They have told me not to pay the money, and to report to the Police. Police quite rightly say it's for eBay to advise and not for them. The matter has gone to eBay's Manual Correction Department for a possible refund, but this is still not guaranteed.
The CAB has said I could initiate a Small Claims Court case to recover the value of the sold device but best I exhaust all other avenues first.
The buyer is now claiming that she is refusing to send it back for a second time because:
"... the reason I sent it back willingly before is that I expected the full refund to include the £35 I spent on the repair, as well as the £7.55 postage. This turned out not to be the case, and that is why I don't want to send it again until I have received the rest of the money that I consider is owed to me." She is also claiming that the listing description text is a contract between buyer and seller, and that me referring to the approximate cost of the repair is my obligation to pay her back. I'm bemused by this as she has stated in previous messages that she bought the phone having not read the description very clearly highlighting the fault.
Any help on the idea of an advert description being a contract would be welcome. And also any advice in general.
This is now very much 2 individuals digging their heels in over a small amount of money, but the fact I have refunded her fully and she returned the phone, but is now holding it to ransom and asking for money for products I didn't sell her is maddening.
With thanks.
I am having protracted dispute with an eBay buyer, and I'll try to keep the details as concise as possible for you all:
- I sold an iPhone in May and in the listing description said that the phone had a fault, the microphone wasn't functioning and could be repaired for about £40 by most phone shops
- buyer bought the phone, didn't read the description (she has admitted this in eBay messages)
- she asks for a refund, we settle on a partial refund of £40, she accepts, repairs the phone at her local phone shop
- then demands a full refund (£210) and a return
- return and full refund actioned by eBay, I comply
- she willingly sends the phone back to an incorrect address (this is my fault for not updating my registered address with eBay as have just moved)
- I deal with the address issue as soon as I'm made aware (after speaking to eBay), update my account and tell her
- I have the tracking details of her original return and she has the phone back with her
- she is now refusing to send the phone back unless I pay her the money that she spend herself having the microphone repaired, (originally for the cost of a screen protector at £10, too) and for the postage... The postage is my responsibility.
We have gone round the houses with communication, and I have at all times kept it polite and decent. eBay have been their usual difficult, robotic and often misguided selves but I have made some progress. They have told me not to pay the money, and to report to the Police. Police quite rightly say it's for eBay to advise and not for them. The matter has gone to eBay's Manual Correction Department for a possible refund, but this is still not guaranteed.
The CAB has said I could initiate a Small Claims Court case to recover the value of the sold device but best I exhaust all other avenues first.
The buyer is now claiming that she is refusing to send it back for a second time because:
"... the reason I sent it back willingly before is that I expected the full refund to include the £35 I spent on the repair, as well as the £7.55 postage. This turned out not to be the case, and that is why I don't want to send it again until I have received the rest of the money that I consider is owed to me." She is also claiming that the listing description text is a contract between buyer and seller, and that me referring to the approximate cost of the repair is my obligation to pay her back. I'm bemused by this as she has stated in previous messages that she bought the phone having not read the description very clearly highlighting the fault.
Any help on the idea of an advert description being a contract would be welcome. And also any advice in general.
This is now very much 2 individuals digging their heels in over a small amount of money, but the fact I have refunded her fully and she returned the phone, but is now holding it to ransom and asking for money for products I didn't sell her is maddening.
With thanks.
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