Please help liability for returned item

[keepingbees]

Hi, I'm not sure I'm posting in the right place here but I'm looking for some help. Sorry if it's long:

We bought a fireplace from an online retailer. They said they had a 30 day returns policy, which we checked and they confirmed saying we would just liable for postage costs. Fine.

The fireplace wasn't suitable and the quality was poor for the money. We contacted them to arrange a return. To cut a long story short they were very slow to return messages and difficult to contact over the phone, it's taken almost 3 months of pestering to get them to agree a return and give us the details etc. Felt they didn't really want it back.

We packaged it up really well, took photographs as advised, of it in perfect condition before and after packaging it. We used their own courier at our own expense (we thought this might be the wisest option) Fine.

But now they are refusing to refund us as they are saying it arrived severely damaged and has had to be disposed of. They sent a photo of it smashed to smithereens, I find it hard to believe how his happened considering we packed it probably better than they did originally! We did everything they asked and there was certainly no damage when it left us.

Does anyone know where we stand and who is liable for the item in transit?
It cost a lot of money we can't afford to lose. We've now opened a PayPal case but they are arguing through that saying they only refund if it's returned in re-sellable condition.

I'd be contacting the courier that you used and putting a claim in there (I know you said it's the same one that you used) as it was fine when it left you and the company are saying it arrived damaged so the blame is with the courier there IMO. See what PayPal say first though (I am not legally qualified BTW so this is just personal opinion).

It does sound a bit dodgy tbh, it arriving unsaleable after so long.

Thank you. Do you think it's up to us to put a claim in or the company?
I think it's very dodgy, the damage wasn't a few 'back of a lorry' knocks it was properly smashed up. We packed it tightly in thick cardboard, polystyrene and bubble wrap!

You need to claim from the courier, as you are the sender.

Does that still stand even though the company arranged and paid for the courier (they were going to deduct the cost from our refund)?

Whoever organised the courier would need to speak to them, as that is who the courier has a contract with.

How did you pay for the original purchase and how much?

The courier has just confirmed that, thank you

It was paid through PayPal

If you paid through PayPal then you should be able to put in a claim through them - the company can then claim off the courier for the damaged fireplace. Make sure you explain to PayPal that the company organised the courier (so that they don’t tell you to claim direct from the couriers) and paypal should reimburse you and claim the money back from the company.

Thanks, we have opened a PayPal case. We wrote the details out and PayPal sent it to the retailer who have replied saying that they only refund if it's returned in resellable condition etc etc. They offered a partial refund as a 'gesture of goodwill' but we won't be accepting this. We now have the option to accept or decline, or send another message. We will reply saying that they need to claim through the courier but I don't want all this faffing, i would like PayPal to just intervene to be honest. The retailer has had both the money and the product for long enough now. We aren't sure how it works, if we just press decline what's the likelihood of PayPal finding in our favour?