Expert: Rob James - 12/18/2007

Question
Hello,

I have been a loyal customer with this particular seller for about a year.  They have a store but allow local pick up in the area I live in.  A few weeks ago, we purchased some items off ebay.  When we arrived by appointment to pick up our items, they only had 5 out of 9 items that we had won available for pickup.  We paid for all the items and were told that they would ship out the other items the following day.  After a week passed we called back to find out that they still could not locate the items.  The end result was to either issue us a refund or allow us to exchange the ones they could not find for other items listed on their ebay site.  That problem was rectified but it seemed to leave them with an attitude towards us.

Last week we purchased another 2 items from them.  We scheduled a pickup for Saturday.  When we arrived to pick up the items we realized that one of the items was too big to fit in the truck with the children in the backseat.  My husband decided to take us home and return to pick up the item.  When he arrived, the warehouse employees loaded the item into his truck.  During load he item damaged our car DVD play LCD screen.  However, my husband did not make a big deal about it.  As he inspected the noticed that it was chipped and cracked.  This item was advertised NIB.  When he tried to get the employee to view the damaged item the employee refused.  Finally the employee instructed him to open is vehicle so he can remove the table.  My husband was under the impression that he was taking back the item in order to issue us a refund.  After the item was back in their possession he told my husband that he was not going to issue the refund and we could not shop with them anymore because they would block us and then started swearing at my husband.  He even threatened to call the police.  My husband left.  He was told that the manager would be back in the office on Monday.  Well, Monday came and he called about 5 times to speak with the manager but was not allowed to speak with him.  To date we have not received our refund nor the merchandise.  What can we do.  We did not pay for the item through paypal, we used our credit card.  

Thank you

Answer
Hello Tina,

That's quite the question! It's never good when a business seems to place customer service on the back burner. I have no knowledge of what this company does but I would imagine that their feedback in eBay would be an indicator of how well they take care of their customers.

In your case there are a couple of things you should do. The first would be to contact eBay Trust and Safety and see what they think about the situation. The best way to get to the right people would be to go to the eBay main page and click on the Live Help link near the top of the page. Ask the rep who you need to be in touch with and they will get you where you need to be. You will probably need to email an account of the situation. The information you sent me would be perfect.

Next you should contact your credit card company and place a hold on the charges. You will need to provide them with the same information to validate your claim. They will give you instructions when you call them as to what you need to do. They will place a temporary hold on the charge until their investigation is complete.

Last, but certainly not least, leave appropriate feedback for the seller on eBay. They may be tempted to leave retaliatory feedback toward you but you can always respond to it and/or ask eBay to remove it if they find the situation was the fault of the seller.

That pretty much covers the steps you should take. It may seem like a hassle but in the end you should prevail.

Thanks for your question.

Rob