Ebay: Rant!! :(

hmasalia

Adept
My troublesome experience with eBay and its seller sky.way


I had purchased Samsung S3 Mini White Color phone, for my wife from EBay seller sky.way on 2nd June- Brand New for Rs.15500.00

Payment was made using paisa pay and the seller shipped the product within 2-4 days,

All was fine till then.

Opened the package, set up the phone, used it for 2 hours all was fine,

After which battery was low used the charger and when it was plugged it, realized it was not working,

Contacted the seller on phone the next day and asked him that I ship the phone back to him for replacement or will he arrange a replacement charger, he said He will replace the charger.

Waited for 4-5 days, didn’t received and then emailed him about it, he said you send back the defective charger and he will arrange replacement, I said fine and shipped it thru courier, but for unknown reason after around 7 days it came back to me saying that the address was not there.

In the meantime the phone was having some software issues and used to hang a lot which was brought to the notice of the seller and then subsequently after around 20 days of imperfect usage, the phone just died,


Now here is where the story starts.


1. On closer examination of the phone, they had supplied me a tampered/refurburished phone

there was a red color sticker at the back with the Sr No.144, checked with a friend he said that

is normally done at the service center to mark the service sheet/phone.


2. The Seal of the box was tampered, there is another sticker stuck on top of the original do not

open seal.


3. I had ordered a White phone, which was packed in a box meant for a black phone.


4. Had received black color headset along with the while phone.


I informed the seller about the above defects and subsequently open a eBay guarantee claim,

As eBay allows paisa pay claim if dispute is opened within 30 days.


The seller contacted me and told me that he will replace the phone if I withdraw the claim, I told him I will do so, once my phone is replaced, after which he told me either you withdraw the case or I will have to go thru eBay for the entire replacement during and frankly nothing is going to come out of it. I told him I will try my luck and hung up.


I had clicked the photos, and emailed both eBay and the seller, and later eBay customer care called and asked me to ship the item back to the seller and they will refund me the courier cost of the shipment, after two days the seller emails asking me why I shipped the phone back to him, and I explained to him that eBay had asked me to do so, shortly he emails back saying that the phone is water damaged and posted a pic of the battery saying that water damage indicator had turned red, which I clearly remember I had checked before sending to him that there was no water mark on the battery and plus the phone had not come in contact with water all the period with was with my wife, when I asked him to show me picture of the battery with different angle he said that I am clearly trying to con him, and blame my mismanagement of the phone on him


The next day he messages back stating that the phone has been repaired and he will be sending it back to me, I told him I don’t need that phone back and either you replace my phone with a new one or give me a full refund, for which he replied back he will replace the internal circuit and I will need to pay him Rs.3500.00, and it was during this conversation on email I finally closed the despute with phone on conversation and reverted with ebay to solve the case,


In this meantime I had called up eBay number of times asking them to expedite the case and solve it basing on the evidence I have provided, and each time I was promised my claim adjuster will revert back to me, and in this process they called me once during which my battery was on 3% I asked the claim adjuster to call me back in 10 minutes so that I can go near a phone charger and talk to him, that also never happened, and later I again made many calls to eBay and each time I was told my claim adjuster will revert back to me and each time I had called I had specific request not to call me between 5-8 PM as being the month of Ramzan I will be in Masjid and will not be in a position to take his calls, it was during this conversation I lost my cool and posted a negative feedback on the sellers profile, and within 2 hours he calls back asking me If I remove the feedback he will replace with new phone, I told him replace my phone and I will do so and as usual he refused, stating that my 20 days of claim addressal are up and he will win the case and I will be the loser,

On 23rd July Blue Dart came with a parcel for me, I called up the seller asking him if he has send a new phone or a repaired he replied back it’s a repaired phone, I then told him I am not in a position to accept the parcel and will be returning back to him, he said it was your wish he will not be responsible for it, same day I call up ebay once again and they said they will ask the claim adjuster to get back to me and I had left instruction not to call me after 5.00 then on the same day in the evening at 6:59 PM, I receive a email stating that they had tried calling me @ 6:29 PM on993825001# and since I didn’t pick up the phone and the seller had shipped the phone back me and they could see it online that I had refused to accept the phone they are closing the case in the sellers favour.


I call up ebay the next day, to explain that the phone number they had tried to reach me didn’t belong to me and to tell them the claim adjuster gave a call to a totally different number to talk to me, and then I told them about the photos they said they havnt received it, which was brought to their notice they told me to make the file within 5 MB else it will be junked and that was then I split the files and send it to them again.


Each time I call up ebay, I have to explain to they executive the whole matter and each time I am promised that they will verify and revert back to me which they never do, now I see ebay has send me a coupon for the cost of the shipment back to the seller and they have also removed the –ve feedback and when I quested them about it this is their reply.


Hello Hussain,

Thank you for writing to ebay's Trust and Safety Team. My name is Minal and I appreciate the opportunity to assist you further with your concern.

Firstly we apologise for the delay in replying this mail. We would like to inform you that feedback forum is independent for the buyers and sellers and we don't normally interfere unless the feedback meets the feedback removal policy's found at: http://pages.ebay.ph/help/policies/feedback-abuse-withdrawal.html

After reviewing the feedback in concern, which you have left for the member 'sky.way' we see that the feedback was eligible for removal under feedback removal policies. Hence the feedback left by you was removed from the seller's account. We would also like to inform you that, once the feedback is removed it cannot be reinstated.

We trust the information provided is useful. Do let us know, if you have any questions.

We hope that we have been able to answer your query up to your satisfaction. If you need any more assistance, please feel free to contact us again by simply replying to this email.

Regards,
Minal N.
ebay India Trust and Safety Team.


So I am the loser at the end of the day, I have taken up the matter further at ebay, but looking at the current state of things I doubt I will get a positive action from their side, request you to please avoid buying from this fake seller sky.way and at worst ebay,

Picture of the phone attached for your reference.

https://www.dropbox.com/sc/519p8p8f1rgd77o/zck-cOVOpF
 
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I too have been conned by the same seller sky.way. He's a protected seller on ebay and he's definitely a con man.

Bought a used blackberry curve and the listing stated with 6 months manufacturer warranty. Got the phone but the bill said 6 months dealer warranty. I mailed him and he said bill sent by mistake , would send the proper bill. Didn't get the bill and it was 25 days since purchase , so I filed ebay guarantee. The seller mailed he has shipped the bill and gave ebay the courier details.

I got the bill and to my horror, it was same company which had issued earlier bill. I called him and he said he print and make bills at our house only. He then says let me know what kind of bill u require and I will send it. I was shocked beyond words.

Ebay closed the claim saying u got the bill and I am stuck with the heavily used blackberry and that too without warranty.

It's disgusting and ebay protects such sellers.
 
OP link Ebay to this thread. Find people who have given him a bad rating and ask them to post here too. I'm sure most would like to get back at him.[DOUBLEPOST=1375263090][/DOUBLEPOST]Ebay is not bad as such, its great for laptop parts.
 
I was lucky. Ordered Canon 55-250mm from a seller called dealzown (2800+ ratings) . After 10 days the item was not shipped. The guy did not pick up the phone, whenever called nor replied to mails. Eventually I gave him negative ratings and escalated matter with ebay. I am not aware how and why, but same evening seller initiated a refund.

Later on I searched google and found that dealzown aka gizmotree does not have a good reputation.. and has been accused in past for forging POD to get money from paisapay. I would say I was lucky.

OP should try Akosha in case no respite from ebay.
 
OP... You ordered a brand new phone or a used piece. If it was brand new then did you get a bill. If eBay doesn't help you then file a complaint in the consumer court. I know it sounds too much but somebody among us has to take a step to stop crooks like the one you mentioned.

Also mail eBay that since they have turned deaf you will be going to consumer court and would be dragging them too along with the seller.

My close friend was having trouble with similar situation. He filed a complaint in the consumer court and seller was on his feet after that point. He got the compensation and a brand new phone just with the complaint. I should state here that he is a practicing lawyer but still its not very difficult to file a complaint. If you need help I can ask him for the complete procedure.
 
eBay India, seems like a murky cesspool now. It is ones luck who they land up with, and the ratings are pure rubbish.
 
Ebay customer care and feedback ratings are BS. People tend to project an image that ebay protects it's buyers a lot, but the fact is that it is only the sellers who are very protected. The call from the claims adjuster never happens; it never happened in my case anyway. (I was lucky that the dispute was about an item worth less than Rs.200). The only way one can be absolutely sure is by buying from sellers about whose reliability you have first hand info. Maybe we can have a thread here in TE that discusses about the Ebay sellers/shops specifically.

BTW, in your case, customer court seems to be the only solution left. Do let us know if the listing was for a new phone in the first place; and why did it take so long for you to identify so many irregularities in the package. If the listing was for a used phone, I don't think there is much you can do.
 
Dear,

I ordered for a Brand new phone Samsung S3 Mini Rs.15500.00
with seller warranty, for 1 Year.
This phone was for my wife, had it been for me I would have seen it much ahead,

@ mk76, registered and posted my above letter on Akosha
their team called up immediately, seemed sympathetic but at the end asked me to pay Rs.999.00 and register they will follow up my case immediately.
 
Hmmmm, I have used ebay.in many times and never had any issue really. I remember the 2 cases happened with me.

One with sony headphones - of about 700 INR , the listing said it is of sony and when I got the, there was no brand on them, so I gave seller the -ve feedback. I didn't call ebay ( as I didn't knew abt ebay guarntee claim or such ) , after 20 days, I get back a call from the seller saying, please remove the feedback and he will give a refund. He said, don't even ship the product back, just delete the rating and he will give the refund and he did :) so that was an awesome experience.

2nd one - was with xBox wired controllers - seller said, it's of microsoft original controllers, I checked with google results and many pics and It was not original at all. I called the seller saying, hey they are not original, he said "they are imported and are equally as good as the original ones." - well complete BS ;) and this time I knew abt ebay claim and stuff, so I called them up, there representative got me and seller in conference call and asked him " are they original" he kept replying they are imported ... happened 4 times and he kept saying that. Next thing ebay representative said to me " you will get the refund in 15 days \o/ and ship the item back to seller and you will get the shipping charges as a coupon , which I did got in under 15 days too. So if you ask me, I trust ebay.in completely. :)

I don't much shop online and when I do, it's mostly for things which are less than 3k , except once for a HDD , which I bought for 8.4k and that too from ebay.in and never had any problems with it whatsoever till date ( it's been 4 months I guess I bought it ). My parents/bro don't buy online as they don't trust online sellers ( how would they know? they never tried ;) )

Only complain I had once was with snapdeal ( bought 4 different shoes and 4 different eye glasses ) and they did sent both but only 2 pairs. I was told after 10 days that they are not in stock now. wtf? if they weren't in stock, how come they were available to buy then >.< anyways, atleast I got refunded for that ;)[DOUBLEPOST=1375267994][/DOUBLEPOST]
their team called up immediately, seemed sympathetic but at the end asked me to pay Rs.999.00 and register they will follow up my case immediately.

999 INR for what :/
 
Dear,

I ordered for a Brand new phone Samsung S3 Mini Rs.15500.00
with seller warranty, for 1 Year.
This phone was for my wife, had it been for me I would have seen it much ahead,

@ mk76, registered and posted my above letter on Akosha
their team called up immediately, seemed sympathetic but at the end asked me to pay Rs.999.00 and register they will follow up my case immediately.

Ebay CC and buyer protection currently are a hit and miss. Rs. 999/- is Akosha's fees to settle the case?
 
While I constantly (used to) buy from Flipkart, ebay has been pretty rare. Reason if somehting goes wrong, you end up playing russian roulette. Still there was a time when I ran into issue. The seller wrote to me that "if I remove my -ve feedback, he will ship the correct item." I copied the same mail to ebay. Got my refund without hassle.

Edit: Just checked this seller has 100% feedback :eek:
 
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While I constantly (used to) buy from Flipkart, ebay has been pretty rare. Reason if somehting goes wrong, you end up playing russian roulette. Still there was a time when I ran into issue. The seller wrote to me that "if I remove my -ve feedback, he will ship the correct item." I copied the same mail to ebay. Got my refund without hassle.

Edit: Just checked this seller has 100% feedback :eek:
Hahaha pure genius.
 
@ mk76, registered and posted my above letter on Akosha
their team called up immediately, seemed sympathetic but at the end asked me to pay Rs.999.00 and register they will follow up my case immediately.

From what I have read, they charge for their service and have a high success rate in getting legit cases solved; only thing I read they charge 599.
Anyways I suggest you read more about them and then decide.
 
After reviewing the feedback in concern, which you have left for the member 'sky.way' we see that the feedback was eligible for removal under feedback removal policies. Hence the feedback left by you was removed from the seller's account. We would also like to inform you that, once the feedback is removed it cannot be reinstated.

They removed the feedback?! What the heck! If the can remove the feedback and rating, what the hell the meaning of it!
 
Wow, 100% feedback for such a shitty seller? And eBay not helping too? Never shopped with eBay, but will be wary from now on.
 
They removed the feedback?! What the heck! If the can remove the feedback and rating, what the hell the meaning of it!

Basically jack-s***.

Ebay India: is like a lottery. Better to wage on it with less money. Maximum: routers, cables, special tool sets (screwdrivers, Hex keys); lubricants, mantle pieces. For big purchases avoid them, cause it is full of fraudulent vendors, and the seller lobby is strong. Their grievance center is a kangaroo court -just- that the buyer always ends up in boot-hill.
 
OP... You ordered a brand new phone or a used piece. If it was brand new then did you get a bill. If eBay doesn't help you then file a complaint in the consumer court. I know it sounds too much but somebody among us has to take a step to stop crooks like the one you mentioned.

Also mail eBay that since they have turned deaf you will be going to consumer court and would be dragging them too along with the seller.

My close friend was having trouble with similar situation. He filed a complaint in the consumer court and seller was on his feet after that point. He got the compensation and a brand new phone just with the complaint. I should state here that he is a practicing lawyer but still its not very difficult to file a complaint. If you need help I can ask him for the complete procedure.


I will wait for couple of more days for the claim to come thru, in an event it does not, can you ask your friend to file a claim on my behalf will pay for the necessary charges and if required his fees ofcourse if thats nominal else plan to ask the seller to send back the defective phone and sell it off locally and buy a new more locally, my blood boils each time I think of a S3 phone.
Got a Nexus 4 and trust me its the best phone out there,
Ebay is ignoring the fact about the pics I had emailed them, they are saying they will entertain request only once an official claim has been open any defect found earlier and any conversation the seller and I had regarding the phone will under normal circumstance is not entertained, so in future if any of you guys have an issue with a seller first open a case and then look into the conversation as ebay policy states that, and use email as a mode of conversation and avoid phone calls to the seller even if it means a longer duration while expecting a reply.
 
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