(no subject)
Ebay gripe. Bah.
I got, at M's instruction, a desk lamp for her on Ebay which arrived today. It has a weighted base and it came via DHL because it was heavy.
The seller, apart from lying about the condition of the item, had failed to package the lamp properly. During transit, the lamp, which has a bendy arm, rubbed and scraped in on itself, to quite a significant degree. It now needs a respray, and even that may not cover the gauging to the metal.
So I contacted the seller and asked for a full refund to include the £10 cost of returning the item as well. This would be covered by the DHL insurance under a damage claim. The seller refused and said told me to talk to DHL. I have said as gently as possible that the contract is between him and DHL for the insurance, and as I am not the customer, I can't make the claim.
Part of me wants to write this off as too much hassle but part of me is bloody furious and trying to take a stand. So I went out onto the Ebay support forums and sure enough, this situation (why should I pay for negligence of seller re postage) is a topic of discussion . The advice there is to launch an HMCS Money Claim Online dispute - you win with proof, seller becomes liable for the refund, the £30 HMCS fee and then, and this is the enjoyable bit, is responsible for collecting the item, so circumventing your loss of postage.
So, I can send it back and be a tenner out of pocket, keep the lamp and write off £25 cost, or fill out some forms online and drag this a-hole into what looks like a very easy version of small claims court, for the sake of principle and a tenner.
Thoughts?
I got, at M's instruction, a desk lamp for her on Ebay which arrived today. It has a weighted base and it came via DHL because it was heavy.
The seller, apart from lying about the condition of the item, had failed to package the lamp properly. During transit, the lamp, which has a bendy arm, rubbed and scraped in on itself, to quite a significant degree. It now needs a respray, and even that may not cover the gauging to the metal.
So I contacted the seller and asked for a full refund to include the £10 cost of returning the item as well. This would be covered by the DHL insurance under a damage claim. The seller refused and said told me to talk to DHL. I have said as gently as possible that the contract is between him and DHL for the insurance, and as I am not the customer, I can't make the claim.
Part of me wants to write this off as too much hassle but part of me is bloody furious and trying to take a stand. So I went out onto the Ebay support forums and sure enough, this situation (why should I pay for negligence of seller re postage) is a topic of discussion . The advice there is to launch an HMCS Money Claim Online dispute - you win with proof, seller becomes liable for the refund, the £30 HMCS fee and then, and this is the enjoyable bit, is responsible for collecting the item, so circumventing your loss of postage.
So, I can send it back and be a tenner out of pocket, keep the lamp and write off £25 cost, or fill out some forms online and drag this a-hole into what looks like a very easy version of small claims court, for the sake of principle and a tenner.
Thoughts?