eBay Watch Authentication Program Seriously Flawed

[wsf]

I recently bought a limited edition watch for > $2,000, so it went through authentication. When it arrived, I tried to set the time and the crown came all the way out with a piece of the stem attached--the stem was broken and the watch was useless.

I put in for a return and was immediately rejected. I wrote several messages to eBay staff and all said essentially the same thing: Once a watch has been authenticated it cannot be returned. I know something about watches, and have a strong suspicion the authenticator broke it, or at least knew it was broken. It doesn't really matter though if it was broken when sold or broken when authenticated: the point is that I received a broken watch and eBay will do absolutely nothing about it--because it passed authentication.

I'm interested in hearing people's thoughts on this.

[masim5393]

How did you pay?

[azaz_8302]

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@wsf wrote:

I recently bought a limited edition watch for > $2,000, so it went through authentication.

When it arrived, I tried to set the time and the crown came all the way out with a piece of the stem attached--the stem was broken and the watch [is] useless.

I put in for a return and was immediately rejected. I wrote several messages to eBay staff and all said essentially the same thing: Once a watch has been authenticated it cannot be returned.

I'm interested in hearing people's thoughts on this.

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Your card issuer @wsf actually states that the return policy has no bearing if the goods are defective.

Throw that back and watch their 2-bit watch program wither.

[wsf]

PayPal.

[klm5660]

Take photos of the item as arrived damaged.

Contact your credit card company, file a dispute and send the photos to them

[kairos_223]

They broke my FREAKING watch theses guys SUCK!!! 2,200.00 watch rare and it arrived broken with the tag. ebay also by the way no longer has a customer service number....so they implement this asinine sysytem and then remove all customer support. DO NOT TRUST these guys.

[simba6]

That is a big issue. They don't check for things like that. Condition or how well it matches the listing are NOT checked. Only that is is the stated brand in the listing and it's not a fake.  I hope you paid by credit card as you always should. You can file a case with your card company if needed.

[siriusrising]

It does not matter what the ad says about returns. It may if you just did not say like the color. But if its not as advertised do a charge back. Keep the watch and have it ready to send back. If the seller never gives you a return label or address to send it back to you don't have to send it back. Keep in touch with  your CC issuer.  I  have done charge backs with people who would absolutely never take responsibility. Even if it was damaged in shipping that is not  your fault. They should have put insurance on it.  You have I  believe 90 days with most credit cards to do the charge back. Do all of your correspondence though eBay. That way there is a record. They can fight it and that will take things from around 15 days to a couple of months but you will win in the end. They will get mad as when you put the dispute on, the CC will pull the money and put it in escrow. It will sit there until they reach a decision. The Authentication company may not have noticed the stem. Maybe it worked for them and broke for you.  I am not sure I would blame the Authentication co at this point.

[siriusrising]

So do you have an actual bank account linked to the paypal to pay or a credit card? If its a credit card you can talk to paypal but from all I have ever done they are of little use. If eBay dose not stand up for it, they will most likely follow suit. Your CC will do all the work, all you need to do is call the number on the back of the card and once you get someone, tell them you want to dispute a charge. Or you may be able to dispute the charge online in your credit card company portal.

[kathiec]

You're responding to a thread that's more than a year old. The OP is long gone and the time to take action expired long ago.

[kh-gary]

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread HERE if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.