Return in "out for delivery" for third day - cannot get refund or assistance due to AI/bot loop?

[stumcneil]

Used to be you could get an agent through chat for a question/issue.

Now, apparently, you only get stuck in a continual loop.
Type "agent", "get agent", "call"  - all shoot me back to picking the item.
Pick the item, and it states "cannot assist until return is received by seller".
This seller (huge bookseller/hpb) has a history of not having a deliverable location, they will sometimes go pick up their returns/sometimes not. 

All that to say - how in the heck do I get my $24 back if hpb decides to never pick up their returns and one can no longer get a person/ebay to do anything because the stupid return is in limbo? (I do not use PayPal or credit cards on here - just a debit card due to the identitiy theft debacle of T-Mobile customers in 2021. Also, not an eBay tracking glitch because USPS dashboard reports same status).

Thank you for any wisdom!

[kensgiftshop]

Return to the case and see if the option to ask Ebay to step in is there.

[stumcneil]

There wasn't, unfortunately. The case itself had nothing, the chat resulted in the aforementioned nightmare loop.

In case someone has this issue....

I had to track down the post office by zip (city has several), it's phone number, get them to answer (no easy task!). The post office employee took all the info (including track number) to investigate. He did so (very appreciative of his follow through).

Post office marked it picked up three days prior and so now, hopefully, this week I will get a refund. Once the post office did the work, eBay finally answered my message through facebook, with "You are in luck! It's been delivered/returned!" Well, no sh**, Sherlock... *I* had to get in touch with the post office lol. 

The wonderfulness of AI and bots, I guess. I very much look forward to it being implemented everywhere (sarcasm).

Thank you very much, @kensgiftshop for your reply. Oddly, never got notification there was one (via the top "bell" or email), but did get a "mark a solution" email.

I know - someone will say, "It's the P.O. fault, not beautiful eBay and it's AI." I don't disagree. But when a seller refuses to look into the return/answer/etc., eBay should have a way to get in contact vs. just telling a buyer, "Once delivered, we will engage."

Melanie/stumcneil