This is a long post. Please bear with me. I placed a Sony CD changer on my watchlist. Shortly thereafter, I received an offer from the seller. There were several negative feedbacks left for this seller, so I first messaged him to see how he would respond. He answered promptly and said he would ship the unit -- well packed and double boxed -- the day following payment. I felt reassured, so I accepted his offer and immediately paid. I noticed that the seller did not ship when promised, so I messaged him. He then shipped. Unboxing revealed serious problems. (1) The seller listed the unit as a particular model number. I looked up a manual for that model before purchasing, so my purchase was based on that model number. But the seller had transposed numbers, and this was a completely different model, though the front of both units looked similar. (2) Normally, that would not be an issue, but this Sony changer was made to be part of a particular system. It can ONLY be used with one Sony receiver, a receiver I don't own. It has no power cord attached and gets its power from the receiver via a weird proprietary cord. This cord was NOT included in the sale. (3) The seller did NOT disclose any of this information in his description. Further, I could not determine the model number mistake from his photos because they were not clear enough to show the model number. So this Sony CD changer is basically a giant paperweight for me. I messaged the seller to explain the issues (not all of which were immediately clear to me until later). He replied that he was on his way out of town to a funeral and would not be back for another week. He would message me as soon as he returned to "explain." I chose to give him the benefit of the doubt and said I would wait and expressed my condolences. It was after this that I discovered the story behind this model and the necessity for a specific receiver and special cord, so I messaged him again to explain everything, showing pictures, in case he was in the dark. He messaged me the following: "I have matching receiver." Well, this shed a whole new light on the situation! I knew then that I was not dealing with someone who was operating in good faith. I waited until the week had passed, since I already said I would. But the following day came and went with no message from the seller. So the next day I tried to file a report with ebay. However, the only pertinent option I found was to return the item, so I clicked through that and explained my reasons. In my twenty years on ebay, I've never done this, so I didn't know what to expect. However, I was told to return the item by a certain date; then I could get my refund. But here's my problem -- I don't want to incur the cost of shipping this unit back to the seller, and I don't believe I should have to. I would only be returning it because the seller did not describe the item accurately and was deceptive with me. I've already been cheated out of getting the unit that I purchased. Must I be cheated out of the cost of shipping just to get my refund? This seems grossly unfair. I have looked and looked and can find no other way to contact ebay to resolve this problem. I apologize for the detailed post, but I wanted to tell the whole story. Can anyone help me or point me in a better direction? TIA!!
albertabrightalberta
