Can anyone who knows ebay help please (think I've been baited and switched)

[Poochypaws]

Having a horrible experience on ebay. Ordered 12 bags of compost from a seller. Had to pay an expensive price as out of stock everywhere in shops (product being phased out). 12 wrapped parcels arrived by EVRI courier at weekend. Water dripping through packaging as compost bags were wet and then wrapped up. Opened up 3 of them. Different product has been sent. This product is freely available in shops for about £6-£7. I paid £11 each.

Contacted seller on day of receipt (saturday). He came back Monday and agreed wrong product had been sent due to "inventory issues". He offered me discount to keep them but I said no. I asked to have correct product sent out and wrong ones collected. I said if he could not supply correct product I would need a refund and a collection.

Next day email arrived to say send back product and get refund. Now I bought the 12 bags as two orders. One containing 8 bags and one containing 4 bags. This was just because it was sold out after 8 bags but then I found another listing from same supplier for another 4. So.......I get 2 emails to return wrong products. They were delivered by EVRI courier but I've been sent returns by royal mail. You know the print the label or take your phone and show them the QR code.

I wrap up the 3 parcels I've opened and put all 12 seperate parcels into car. (Each parcel contains one bag of compost). Get to post office and they tell me due to weight I can only send one parcel per QR code. I explain I have 12 to send and they say sorry they are too heavy you can only send two as you have two QR codes.

I sent back two parcels and take the rest back home. Have contacted seller twice to explain problem and ask him to either send me 10 more QR codes or have EVRI collect them since they delivered them.

No response now.

Have tried to call ebay but can't get to a real person to explain. I can load the tracking number from the post office but then it looks like I have returned 12 bags when in fact only 2 are on their way.

Pretty sure seller never had the correct product and was banking on me keeping the wrong ones with a discount (which would only make them probably same price as shops or more). Feeling pretty angry at moment and with 10 wet bags of compost in my car.

Any sellers here who can help? Or buyers who have been through the same? Am I being daft. Am I supposed to print the label 12 times and stick one on each parcel? Surely then I could use the QR code 12 times but post office said no - one code for each parcel. (I don't have a printer anyway).

HELP!

Can you open a case with eBay? Or if you paid by PayPal raise a dispute?

I’ve not had to send anything back for a long while but just wanted to bump in case someone else could help. That’s very frustrating for you.

Hi thanks for replying. I actually managed to find a way to contact ebay via email yesterday so the return has now been escalated. It's a horrible feeling that someone has deliberately tried to rip you off. Worse he is still advertising the product for sale even though it seems he does not actually have it to sell. The product he sent me also smells really weird (like poo) so I think it is actually rotting as well as being the wrong product (compost)

Hopefully it will all be sorted now Ebay have got involved but it really makes you feel vunerable to know others are out there deliberately misleading you to part you from your hard earned cash.

Thankfully I got the right product from another supplier and have happily potted up my fruit plants yesterday as they were all bursting out of their wee starter pots.

And still no message from seller even though I have emailed him 4 times in total since his silence. Obviously a waste of time. His silence is obviously deliberate as if he was genuine he would surely be in touch to sort out. Even if I was being daft and not understanding the system of returns or something I would imagine a genuine seller would want to make sure it all got sorted and so would get in touch to explain what I need to do next.

Puts you off using ebay to be honest although the response from the customer service team was very quick (less than half an hour)

It's fairly common on eBay, but it's super easy to raise a complaint, and eBay always finds in the favour in the customer, so you'll get your money back quickly.

have you got refund, yet?

Hi thanks for your replies. No ebay have given the seller 5 days to arrange a return. Then it gets refunded hopefully. How horrible to hear this goes on alot. What is wrong with people?

I have bought other things from ebay where I was not happy with them but it was subjective. For example I bought a sofa without seeing it and then it was too saggy so I just disposed of it and ate the loss of money.

This however is just out and out deception. AND he's still offering it for sale!!!

I actually had a dispute a few years ago where I was the seller and it was found in my favour. I sold a coat that I had bought and never slimmed into. Buyer said they had not received it even though tracking said it had been delivered. Ebay closed it in my favour. Maybe I was just lucky then if you are saying they normally find in favour of buyer. Or maybe the buyer was a well know repeat offender!

Make sure you leave feedback especially as he's still advertising the same product!
Definitely think he's banking on you not being arsed to return such an unwieldy product.

Happened to me with a ridiculous replacement. Had paid by PayPal so getting my money back was easy and I got to keep the original item.

You won the coat one because you had tracking that said delivered. Hope you win this one too. Lots of scammers on eBay.

I think it is fairly common for sellers to assume that buyers will not return goods and accept a discount. I was mis-sold a waterproof dog bed mattress that was anything but as it was very absobent foam under a fabric cover. They offered a discount that I refused. They insisted I returned it so I wrapped up a soggy peed on dog bed and sent it back! I hope they enjoyed opening that one! I am not sorry to say that I got my money back and felt some satisfaction in sending the proof back to them!

Jellyheadbang - agree that he thought it would be a complete hassle to lug 12 bags of compost each weighting about 3kg to the post office. It was! However when people are try to rip me off I become really angry and bloody minded that they are not getting away with it. It becomes the principal rather than the money even. I think most people would have accepted the discount rather than the hassle but I can't use the wrong product especially since it smells "off" like it has been stored wrong. His first email sounded almost like it was a standard email that he reels off all the time offering quite cheerily a "substantial discount". That also makes me think it was all planned and not an error.

Tiredalwaystired - good name (know how you feel!). Lucky. Does that mean though that the seller gets to keep your money or does paypal claim it back from him? It's the principal of these people 'getting away with it' that makes me furious.

Eastereggbunny - the worry that I have here is that he sent 2 QR codes and I returned 2 bags. I just don't have any way to return the other 10 bags. Slightly worried that if a human doesn't read it properly they will take the QR codes as meaning he gave me means to return it (rather than only a small part of it). Fingers crossed. It will not be fair if he gets to keep my money and I have no product to use. Also would have hassle of disposing of 10 bags of stinky (rotting) compost. Yuk!

Lilyofthevalley - good for you. It's the deception that hacks me off. If they contacted me and said we've run out of what you've ordered would you be interested in this instead. Fine. Course they rely on you not wanting to return it and they don't really care if you are happy or not. I bet you did get satisfaction sending that back.

Oh well roll on the 10th when the decision gets made. I think if they rule against me I will never use Ebay again as it will be just so unfair. Hard to believe some people actually make their living ripping off others. What kind of moral compass must they have.

I get a fair few items not received, @Poochypaws , when the tracking details show that they've been signed for. I report the buyer, and leave feedback. Ebay doesn't enforce a refund.

There's a certain type of item that seems to attract this sort of buyer. It is usually a brand that will be searched for and sold at a lowish price.

How annoying for you. I hope most of your customers are decent and honest. At least you don't let them get away with it.

If tracking shows delivery you usually get refunded. Buyer would have to prove non receipt.

Wait until the case is closed/resolved, and leave feedback explaining it honestly.
If you do not get your money back then go to small claims court.

It is possible that if you do not get a refund automatically you will need to contact EBay customer services, they do not make this easy but if you can find the way around all the obstacles and get live chat (if it is working) of phone someone (try early morning) and explain very carefully if you get someone from the Phillipines as they use a script but are very friendly which helps, if you get an Irish voice it is easier. If you get no resolution, try again and ask them to escalate to their manager.

If this doesn't work then small claims court.

You may not know this but there are actually forums on EBay for help with these things, answered by experienced Ebayers. (I was one of them for a while). You can find them by scrolling to the bottom of the page and clicking on Community.

No. I put in the feedback that they raised an item not received on an item they'd signed for. It registers as a positive feedback, but the message is far from positive.
It happens a lot and it's always a certain type of item. I word my listing to avoid returns, but I still get some. And if the case is 'not as described' ebay will usually side with the buyer.
Most of the buyers are fine, and most of the people I buy from are fine.

Was it a special type of compost?

Thank you Tinykitty. I have already got ebay customer services involved. You are right it was not easy to find out how but I managed to email them. They replied within half an hour escalating the return.

That's really interesting about the community forum on the bottom of the page. If I don't get success via customer services or on appeal, I will try the community page. Thanks for the tip

Not really. It was just a compost for fruit and vegetables which contained peat. It was freely available until recently when of course shops have stopped stocking it and started stocking the peat free stuff. There are still a few places with it but nowhere that would send it to me.

So I bit the bullet and paid a premium price just to have peat compost for my fruit and veg for one more year before the big switchover to peat free next year. Thus why I am so annoyed that he sent me 30 litre growbags of peat free compost rather than the 40 litre bags of Peat compost. Worse the bags smell bad as if it has gone rotten and to complete the picture he wrapped up soaking wet bags of compost inside packaging which has leaked in my car when I took it back to the post office.

Dobies had the peat free grow bags for £6-7 and I contemplated just using them this year but the reviews were poor. Thus paying £11 for each bag of peat compost only to get the cheaper peat free ones which are rotten too. The guy is still advertising the original product even though he does not have it. Just a scam artist. If I had bought 1 or 2 bags I probably would have just chucked them - but 12 bags!

Oh well. I hear horror stories of people losing hundreds selling phones and apple watches etc. I should be grateful that we are only talking £120 ish. I can afford to lose it but that is really not the point.

The same situation happened to me lat August, but on Amazon: l needed particular soil for hydrangas but was sent normal soil. The seller insisted l pay for a return to get a refund. I refused and took it up with Amazon in my case. Amazon refunded in full, and l kept the soil.

Good for you. Maybe it's the same guy? Look out for my next post in AIBU as the seller lives less than an hour away from me and I have his address.

AIBU to post rotten wrong compost through sellers door and then run away and hide.

YABU - you should not hide after you do it
YANBU - that sounds fine

Thanks to everyone who has commented and tried to help. Got all excited today as got email from seller with 10 labels attached. Ebay customer services have obviously been in touch with him. Went to EVRI shop today with 10 compost bags and labels he has sent need to be printed off. EVRI shop couldn't print them for me and they can't be scanned. Back home with bags of compost. I don't own a printer. Emailed him and asked him to print and post them to me or send me scannable codes. That's twice I've been out with 10-12 heavy bags of compost to try and return them. Bearing in mind I never ordered these in the first place.

Imagine I didn't have a car. I mean I assume lots of people who get things like this delivered don't have a car (thus the delivery) or don't want to (or can't ) carry heavy bags of compost.

I really feel he is being as difficult as possible. I asked him to get them collected from my house which he ignored.

These bags will be returned to this fucker if it's the last thing I do!!

And hopefully he will think twice before he sends any customer the wrong product accidently on purpose.

Why are you emailing customer services. FGS woman open a dispute, properly.

I emailed ebay customer services on Tuesday past and they escalated the return which gave him till the 10th to provide me with a way to return parcels. Trouble is he has - I just can't print them.

Are you saying I need to open a dispute too? Or have I done that already with the return being escalated by ebay?

Do you think I am reasonable to ask him to print and send me the labels? Surely ebay don't expect me to go out and buy a printer to send back goods I didn't order! Never again.