ripped off by seller and ebay lets them get away with it...

[dkeyes1960]

Last year, in June... my then soon to be wife (I have since married her) bought me a Slush machine as a wedding present, it was not something I expected and it wasn't inexpensive... When I opened the crate there was a little damage from shipping, we reported it to the seller and they did ship us the part which was broken in transit... used the machine for a short time and found that it was making some noise and it turns out that the ice scrapper inside the side one of the slush machine had a crack, so we took a picture of the scrapper and sent it to the seller... once we got a new scrapper, I put it on the unit and started up the machine, and the number 1 side now will not run... we reported it to the seller and sent the seller a video as they requested, and were told they would get with the manufacturer, after a month, we contacted the seller and they said they were in the process of getting us a refund... and this happened several times as each month went by, after 4 months we contacted eBay and they said they could not do anything except take a complaint but was told there was nothing else they could do, so we contacted PayPal and they said report it to eBay, we explained to them we had, and pay pal said they closed our complaint with them since we had filed a complaint with eBay.... since then the seller has stopped responding to our request for status or resolution of the issue... she will not respond, I even bought a little something from her again so I could post a comment on her sales practices, and the negative comment has been removed by eBay.... I have even contacted the manufacturer of the Slush Machine, and they say they won't warranty anything not bought directly from them, so now we are out a 1000 dollars, she gets the money and I get the shaft.... I have been a member of eBay for many years, and have been careful when buying from them and have gotten some nice things, but they aren't the same company they use to be.... they allow sellers to get away with not living up to the warranty they state on the sale page... its been over 9 months now, and no closer to resolution, and no one talking... the warranty would expire in June, 3 months from now... but I don't plan on just giving up on this and let the seller get away with this.... this has been totally unacceptable; I'm not trying to rip anyone off nor take advantage of a seller.... but buying off eBay won't happen again until something is done about this....  

[kensgiftshop]

@dkeyes1960 

Sorry, but this could have been taken care of last June or July, if you had used the MBG and filed an INAD.

If you paid with a credit card, you might be able to file a claim with them.

As far as Ebay and Pay Pal, there's nothing they will do.

[soh.maryl]

You appear to be an experienced eBayer.  Why would you not simply open an item not as described case within 30 days? 

[dkeyes1960]

we did file a claim with the credit card company, the seller told them they were going to give us a refund and so the credit card company closed the complaint, and once we reported to them that we had yet to receive the refund, the credit card company said too much time had gone by.... so file a complaint with ebay....

[downunder-61]

I would be fighting this out with your card provider, they can not close a credit card chargeback simply on a sellers word that they will pay you back. The only way this could ever happen would be if a refund had already been made to you and the seller provided the proof of that refund to the CCP.

This is out of eBay/Paypal hands now, so absolutely nothing you can do here, but your card provider has some explaining to do.

Good luck, don't just call them, go and see them if you can.

[soh.maryl]

Go and see your credit card provider? 

[dkeyes1960]

Because the unit stopped functioning 3 months after we bought it, we reported it then... but this is well within the year warranty stated on the sellers page... 

[dkeyes1960]

we got the run around by eBay and PayPal and our bank, we reported the issue to each one of them and each one claimed that since someone else was handling the issue they weren't going to do anything... and since the money came out of our account the credit card company said there was no way to get it back through them since it was a bebit card.... 

[aeparts1]

Contact the manufacturer & see if there is a local vendor of the machine. Contact the local vendor & see if they repair the machines, or can recommend someone that does. Take the machine to them & pay to have it repaired.

If there isn't a local vendor, search for a local party supply rental store. They probably rent a similar style of machine. Contact the rental store & see if they could repair the machine, or know of someone that could.

Not what you want to hear, & not how you should have to handle it, but paying possibly a couple hundred $$ to get it working is better than having a $1000 useless boat anchor.

When you get it working, tell your bride every day how much you love it.

[dkeyes1960]

thanks for the response, I have contacted the vendor, they have offices here in the states, and they notified the main offices for them in China... but they won't do anything since my wife bought it from a vendor and not directly from their company.... so s.o.l. on that....

I have contacted multiple companies all around the US, no one will work on their units because its almost impossible to get replacement parts from the Chinese company.... so looking more like an expensive anchor then a good purchase.... my wife now knows not to buy from Chinese companies if at all possible.... 

[mudshark61369]

@dkeyes1960,

It helps if you use paragraph breaks when posting long topics.

I'm sorry you had the problem you did and  do not want to sound mean, but there are so many things you did wrong about the slush machine problems, that may not have happened if you had read and followed the terms and time frames of the Money Back Guarantee (MBG). 

When you received the machine you had 30 days, to be able to file a dispute w/ ebay.  I'm sure the seller was willing to replace the broken part and scraper if those things happened within that time frame, to avoid having to pay the return shipping and refund you.  However, if the #1 side stopped working close to or after the 30 days was up, the seller knew you were close to or had lost your ebay protections, which is why they made you wait even longer while they "contacted the Mfr." to arrange a refund. 

They knew full well that the Mfr. was not going to issue a refund, because 99% of new items sold on ebay or elsewhere online, are not covered by Manufacturer's warranties, unless the seller is the Mfr's. authorized dealer. Even if you had filed an MBG dispute, the seller is responsible for issuing a refund, then try to get compensation from a Mfr.

Then they strung you along until you were close to or past losing your PayPal's (180 days from the date of payment) or card provider's (varying time frames)  protections. eBay cannot force any seller to honor a "store" warranty once the MBG lime limits have passed.  Unfortunately, most "seller warranties" aren't worth the time it takes to read them.

When you contacted PayPal, if you did not make it clear that the dispute you tried to file with ebay had already been closed or denied because of the time involved,  that is why they closed out your claim. You cannot have more than one open claim going on at one time. Both PayPal and Card provider would probably have required returning the machine back to the seller with tracking, before issuing a refund.

[dkeyes1960]

Thank you for the response, yes you are correct... they waited out the eBay MBG, I'm sure.... since it took over 90 days for it to have the initial locking up....

I guess besides feeling like I'm now ripped off, companies here state side tend to want to make things right, especially when it has their name on it, but the Mfr doesn't seem to care... and they have many many products for sale especially here on eBay, but also they sell on Amazon... so people who have issues with the seller or company have no way of warning others... I tried and my comment was removed by eBay.... talk about slap in the face.... 

[myescape]

An important lesson is warranties are rarely honored if product is not sold by a manufacturer authorized vendor

[mudshark61369]

@dkeyes1960,

  "I guess besides feeling like I'm now ripped off, companies here state side tend to want to make things right, especially when it has their name on it, but the Mfr doesn't seem to care... and they have many many products for sale especially here on eBay".

Well you did say your fiance' bought the machine for you. However, in these days of chinese counterfeit and knock off items, one has to do some product research before buying online. 

I'm also guessing that you did not know before today that most manufacturer's warranties are not valid if an item is not sold by one of their authorized dealers.  Many times new items sold online were purchased at overstock, discontinued, Close out sales/auctions, which automatically cancels a Mfr's warranty.

  Items that do not have a recognizable brand name rarely come with warranties and those that do require returning the item to the Mfr. usually located in China, at your own cost which with tracking is very expensive, for them to inspect it for a manufacture defect. Of course they will not find one. Then you are out your original payment, the return shipping cost and they have the item as well.

You say you will not use ebay again until they fix a problem that is not of their making. They cannot possibly vet each of the millions of new listings posted on the site daily.  They also do not control how Mfrs. control their warranty policies. The rule of thumb for me is, never to believe a seller's claim of having a store warranty  policy, that goes outside of ebay's, PayPal's or your card provider's dispute time frames. Especially, if you do not receive a written warranty along with your item. 

FYI.

You buying another item to leave feedback, for another item you purchased, is a feedback abuse policy violation, which is why the feedback was removed.  Do not do that again. 

[dkeyes1960]

I do my research and make sure what I  am buying, always have and won't buy from someone who has negitive comments, my wife didn't know to look at the buyers comments so yeah, we got the shaft...

Just accepting it, and saying I learned my lesson is just giving up and say ok shame on me for dealing with dishonest people... again, I'm done with eBay.... it just gets easier and easier for crooks to get away with these types of sale practices.... and makes it worse is that people just accept it.... oh well, you learned your lesson... yup I did.... and going to complain till its fixed or until I have had enough... but I don't just give up.... which is basically what you are saying.... or at least is how I am reading it.... and yes, leaving a comment on a seller from purchasing a different product to have my say might be underhanded, but its an honest feeling and certainly not as bad as what they are doing to me....

and yes, I am angry.... I treat people with respect, I deal with people honestly.... but oh so tired of just letting things slide because they don't know better... they know exactly what they are doing and eBay makes it possible...