Buyer Beware

Picked up a vintage Colecovision game system on EBay with power cord and 10 games, the buyer lives in Texas and so does my brother-in-law whom we planned on visiting any ways. So I bought it back in February and had it shipped to Texas. I finally got to pick it up last week. I get home and plug it in and it doesn't work at all. The quality of the machine was even not so great because there was dust in all the connections and even a dead spider in the expansion port. I was pretty ticked off. I also screwed myself over because the 45 days was well over so I couldn't receive compensation that way. I thought I would save money by having it shipped to Texas but it just was a rip off. I am going to be contacting the seller (who surprisingly is a Top rated Seller) to see if they can help me, otherwise I will be determined to change their top rated seller status to  " terrible seller". I find it hard to believe because the guy claimed to have played the machine and I find that hard to fathom. I even took it apart and used canned air to blow out all the dust and the thing still doesn't work. I found EBays customer service to be inept. I called once and then they were going to transfer me after I explained the special circumstance and then I got disconnected. I called back again and had to explain the situation all over to a completely different person! They had no information about the transferring and basically told me the most they could do is give me his phone number! What a crock. I have always had good experiences with Ebay purchases but this really makes me angry.

 

 

Message 1 of 6
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Re: Buyer Beware

 

Hello 'shawnestyles',

 

<< the 45 days was well over so I couldn't receive compensation that way>>

 

Quite so.  If the payment came off your credit card there is a slight chance you could call the

1-800 number for customer service and inquire about a chargeback, but at this late date it would

be unlikely any card company would be amiable to your plight.  Still, it's free to call and find out.

 

I'm sure you already know that the real problem was in purchasing the item too far in advance of

being able to inspect it.  That's always inadvisable when buying used goods.

 

 

<< EBays customer service   ...   basically told me the most they could do is give me his phone number!>>

 

I know how infuriated you must feel, but ebay has policies and outside of that there is simply nothing

anyone from ebay can do.  You will have seen this info page about procedures and deadlines:

http://pages.ebay.ca/help/buy/paypal-buyer-protection.html

 

 

<< I will be determined to change their top rated seller status to  " terrible seller".>>

 

I'm not sure how you anticipate doing this, but in my view you will do yourself a favour by learning to

let it go.  Read these message boards, -- every week there are oodles of people who have lost money

to cheats, and at bottom is the same sad explanation:  they waited too long to seek compensation.

 

You don't want to do anything that will get you punted off ebay.  No matter how foully loathsome you

believe that seller to be, the crux of the problem was that you assumed the item would be in excellent shape

and did not afford yourself the opportunity to verify this.

Everyone, - and I mean everyone, - makes mistakes.  You can send a kindly worded message to the seller

explaining your great disappointment, but the seller cannot be forced to reimburse you.

You can reply to any feedback you received, & add a comment to any you may have left.

 

Sometimes we have to cut our losses and move on. 

 

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Message 2 of 6
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Re: Buyer Beware

 

Hello 'shawnestyles',

 

<< the 45 days was well over so I couldn't receive compensation that way>>

 

Quite so.  If the payment came off your credit card there is a slight chance you could call the

1-800 number for customer service and inquire about a chargeback, but at this late date it would

be unlikely any card company would be amiable to your plight.  Still, it's free to call and find out.

 

I'm sure you already know that the real problem was in purchasing the item too far in advance of

being able to inspect it.  That's always inadvisable when buying used goods.

 

 

<< EBays customer service   ...   basically told me the most they could do is give me his phone number!>>

 

I know how infuriated you must feel, but ebay has policies and outside of that there is simply nothing

anyone from ebay can do.  You will have seen this info page about procedures and deadlines:

http://pages.ebay.ca/help/buy/paypal-buyer-protection.html

 

 

<< I will be determined to change their top rated seller status to  " terrible seller".>>

 

I'm not sure how you anticipate doing this, but in my view you will do yourself a favour by learning to

let it go.  Read these message boards, -- every week there are oodles of people who have lost money

to cheats, and at bottom is the same sad explanation:  they waited too long to seek compensation.

 

You don't want to do anything that will get you punted off ebay.  No matter how foully loathsome you

believe that seller to be, the crux of the problem was that you assumed the item would be in excellent shape

and did not afford yourself the opportunity to verify this.

Everyone, - and I mean everyone, - makes mistakes.  You can send a kindly worded message to the seller

explaining your great disappointment, but the seller cannot be forced to reimburse you.

You can reply to any feedback you received, & add a comment to any you may have left.

 

Sometimes we have to cut our losses and move on. 

 

Message 2 of 6
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Re: Buyer Beware

Too bad you didn't allow your BIL to open and inspect your purchase.

Ah well, hindsight.

Message 3 of 6
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Re: Buyer Beware

Thanks for your reply. I agree with you. I am not going yo put bad feedback because the seller got back to me. He was very nice but insisted that it was working 5 months before when he first sent it. I am sure he is right. I don't know why it doesn't now, unless something got jiggled up in shipping. I have been dialogued with him a bit and he's offered solutions but I am just going to let it go. I will try to fix it on my own or with someone else who can do it. I've learned from this experience. In hindsight, I probably won't send it to someone far away again because the time lapse is crucial. And I've always had great experiences in the past on Ebay. Thanks again for the input!
Message 4 of 6
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Re: Buyer Beware

Not sure who you bought from but unfortunately this happens some times. So far I've been lucky for the most part buying items on eBay. I've bought about 1000 now, mostly small stuff. Never had anything defective or not as advertised, but had some stuff go missing in the mail. A number of items all at the same time (different vendors) so I assume a container fell off a ship (coming from China) or something.

 

Not really trying to defend the buyer, but old electronic stuff doesn't "age" well. Capacitors dry out, boards crack during shipping, etc. It *could* be that it actually was working (but dirty) before shipping and something happened during transit or the storage after.

 

Sucks in any case. Sorry you had trouble.

Message 5 of 6
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Re: Buyer Beware

Very well explained in simple terms kudos to the eBay staffer that wrote this
Message 6 of 6
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