Grrr....please tell me whether this is in new condition (EBay related)

[Mycarsmellsoflavender]

DS (13) wants a grey fluffy fleece dressing gown. Trawled through Amazon and eBay and found one I thought would fit the bill. New with tags - they had several in different sizes. Below are 2 close up photos from the eBay listing. What I received looks very different. The fleece is clumped and looks as though it has been through the wash 20 times. There are threadbare patches in several places. It looks like it's fit for the fabric recycling bin in the local charity shop. Suspect someone previously has bought it, used it, had a change of heart, washed it and retied the tag back on and returned to seller without disclosing that it has been used. I contacted the seller with some photos and have just received the reply "it's just how the material is".
I'll attach some more photos of the item i received in the following post. Do you think I am justified in saying this looks used and doesn't match the photos in the listing?

Are there any reviews on Amazon that suggest it doesn’t wash well? Definitely looks used to me!

Got my nephew one from m&m direct. Penguin brand. It's plain navy and looks lovely on the pic, sent it straight to him via the website though so haven't seen it in real life!

Open up a item not as described case. You can't loose. Buyer will be forced to refund. If he doesn't ebay will on his behalf. Ebay will be in your favour. I saw what I thought seemed to be some kind of small burn of the material on the 1st post, 3rd pic. It does not look new, it looks tatty and worn.

It doesn't look like the photos but not sure whether it's been worn or not as it looks to me like that teddy bear fleece you can get and that does have a clumpy texture. If you're not happy with it return it as item not as described as it definitely doesn't look like the soft fleecy material in the photos.
Dunelm do grey fleece dressing gowns, and I got a very soft furry grey one from Asda

The pictures of the dressing gown advert or not representative of the actual product you received.
IMO what you have received is a cheap teddy bear fleece which bears no resemblance to the dressing gown advert and 'item is not as described'

I have received an item(fleece blanket) made from this cheap fabric and it feels cheap and wierd to touch.
I have also bought another teddy bear fleece blanket and it is a lovely quality.

Is it definitely not just a different type of fleece? These are the wrists round my brand new dressing gown. A clumpy fleece rather than smooth.

Just received the following reply:

^"we have had a look at our others and they are similiar in material and look"
^
That's the entire content of the message. This was after I pointed out the the fleece does not match the quality and condition of the fleece in the listing photos, along with additional close up photos of the fleece including bare patches taken in daylight. I have to wait until Dec 5th to go through the eBay resolution centre as it says I have to work things out with the seller first. But the seller isn't interested in working things out, judging by his / her one sentence replies. Hasn't offered a refund or return even if I pay for return postage myself. So I guess I just have to hang on to it for another week or so before going through eBay resolution centre and in the meantime follow up some of the good suggestions on here for a replacement. Frustrating.

To the PP who said it looked like a burn on the 3rd pic of the OP, that is one of the bare patches. There are several of them on the light grey material. Nothing like it in the stock photo!

Some fleece is more clumpy ceebs but the clumps on your dressing gown arm are evenly distributed and the same size. The one I have has bald batches in between the clumps.

Just wait and go through the resolution centre. I hope you’ve sent your messages through eBay as well (and have been polite!) so they have a record of what was said and by whom.

Yes, I'm always polite in my messages! Does the eBay resolution centre have automatic access to the emails exchanged between buyer and seller then ( provided they're sent through eBay)?

Yes they do.

If you ask eBay to get involved through the resolution centre, they will send you a link to a page showing the emails that have been exchanged between you and the seller to try to resolve things.

You could email the seller saying you’re disappointed they aren’t willing to refund you and your next step is that you’ll escalate the case. That’s giving them a last chance to refund you.

Thanks, SuburbanRhonda.

Just to update: I asked eBay to step in to help resolve the case and within 10 minutes, they had decided in my favour. As suburbanRhonda said, they sent me a link to a prepaid address label so I don't have to pay return postage.

Fantastic:)