eb*y disputes

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.
I mentioned on here somewhere previously that I bought a carbon fork on ebay and when I took it to my lbs to be fitted they found a crack in the steerer tube.

I've contacted the seller and she is refusing to accept the fork was damaged when she dispatched it. Something smells fishy here; any reasonable person would, I'm sure, be mortified to discover they've sold something as potentially dangerously damaged as this fork by accident. Therefore their blind refusal to acknowledge any sort of mistake seems as if they're trying to cover this up.

I'm not sure how the trades description act applies to an auction format ebay sale and how much the principle of caveat emptor applies. Despite opening a case in their 'resolution centre' ebay seem somewhat less than disinterested in mediating and it only seems to further facilitate arguing with the seller not even making offers of resolution. Has anyone here had a similar experience and if so how was it resolved? (if at all) I can hardly afford to waste my money on broken components, there's a reason I'm buying second hand on the interwebs!
 

redddraggon

Blondie
Location
North Wales
Did you pay by Paypal?
 

e-rider

crappy member
Location
South West
Paypal is the route to take to get your money back from the seller

Paypal will take the money back from the seller whether they like it or not!

You might have to make a claim within certain time limits so I wouldn't wait around too long.
 

RecordAceFromNew

Swinging Member
Location
West London
As redddraggon said, if you did it seems to me your complaint meets the following condition here:

You received an item that was broken or did not work as described in the item description (Significantly Not As Described or SNAD) and you have contacted the seller to inform them of this and have allowed 3 days for the seller to reply.

My understanding is if your claim meets the ebay buyer protection criteria, irrespective of whether the seller cooperates or otherwise Paypal will refund you (and they will debit the seller's a/c accordingly). I would just follow the procedure patiently.
 

goo_mason

Champion barbed-wire hurdler
Location
Leith, Edinburgh
One thing to watch - even if they eventually agree to a refund and tell you to send it back to them so they can issue the money, they don't have to refund the postage costs you incur sending it back.

Decent eBayers with any sense of good customer service will, but most don't. Nothing you can do about it either, as eBay says it's between you & the seller to agree. They won;t get involved.

I agreed with a seller in the US that they'd refund the return postage since they accepted that they sent me a broken item because they'd not checked it over before they sold it. However, once they got it back they started playing the daft buggers and pretending they couldn't understand what I was asking them for when I queried the lack of a postage refund. Then they simply stopped responding; in the end, I was left out of pocket for an item I'd never owned. Caveat emptor, I suppose.
 

thomas

the tank engine
Location
Woking/Norwich
goo_mason said:
One thing to watch - even if they eventually agree to a refund and tell you to send it back to them so they can issue the money, they don't have to refund the postage costs you incur sending it back.

if it's a shop (rather than just like a person selling on an auction) then I believe they legally have to.
 
OP
OP
A
numbnuts said:
It is quite possible they didn’t know that there was a crack in the forks, but as others have said go through paypal. good luck
Ps is it clearly visible

4vgsb9.jpg

Oh I'd say it was broken. Although to be honest I've lit that picture specifically to show the crack in the surface which exaggerates it's depth.

By the way, are you sure it's broken? Your LBS could just be miffed they are only making £25 instead of £225 ("See mate, thats the ebay problem ain't it? Let me order those new forks we spoke about last week")

My lbs know I can't afford the £225 forks, I'm always in there after the cheap option. The fork was out of my sight for less than a minute, which makes it seem laughable that the seller suggested that we damaged it at the shop.
The suggestion that it was not up to the task of being picked up and examined by the mechanic surely implies that the carbon was b0rked to begin with. I really can't see the seller has a leg to stand on, if they were a retailer then "I didn't know it was broken, tough sh!t" is no defence at all.

I suppose as they are a private seller and I've foolishly already left feedback I can't expect them to apply the same standards I would expect from a retailer or other commercial operation. Added to the fact their spelling and grammar is childish to say the least it makes them seem so much less trustworthy.
 

numbnuts

Legendary Member
doesn't look good, I wonder how it happened
 
OP
OP
A
How much did you pay for them?

They have the steerer cut quite short (pretty much the length I need) so were a bargain at £40 which makes it all the more galling that I'll probably not find any that cheap again.

I know forty quid isn't that much to be out of pocket but it is if it's all you've got to spend. I left positive feedback when I received the package as I have a habit of forgetting and I don't like to not leave feedback when it's warranted. Now I wish I could change it.

I'm less concerned as to whether they knew the damage was there or not, they sold defective merchandise. I've taken it on the chin and had to suffer losses as a retailer because of a supplier so I don't see why they shouldn't be held to the same standard by ebay.
 

montage

God Almighty
Location
Bethlehem
Looks like a case of overtightening, not impact damage. Pursue this with them and please do not ride these forks as I am sure you are aware
 

dodgy

Guest
Someone's tried to tighten a star fangled nut into that steerer, that's why the crack goes lengthways. They should of course have used a carbon steerer 'bung' instead, which spreads the load slightly more sympathetically.
 
OP
OP
A
dodgy said:
Someone's tried to tighten a star fangled nut into that steerer, that's why the crack goes lengthways. They should of course have used a carbon steerer 'bung' instead, which spreads the load slightly more sympathetically.

I was a little surprised when the fork arrived with a 'normal' SFN, similar to the one in my steel fork. It was Columbus branded (as is the fork) so I didn't question it.

Looks like a case of overtightening, not impact damage. Pursue this with them and please do not ride these forks as I am sure you are aware

Everyone seems to agree it's been over tightened (you guys, the mechanics at Velocity my lbs and the seller's mechanic) but as it's not been on my bike I'm stumped as to how this can be anyone's fault but the seller, who has now stated they have no intention of refunding me at all.
 

Lizban

New Member
Put yourself in the sellers' shoes, they sent it to you in perfect condition (in their opinion)

You try and fix it at your LBS - then complain that it's broken (after leaving perfect feedback)

The sellor would be (wrongly) smelling a rat.

I'm affraid this is one of he perils of ebay. Sorry to hear about it does royally suck
 

RecordAceFromNew

Swinging Member
Location
West London
automatic_jon said:
I know forty quid isn't that much to be out of pocket but it is if it's all you've got to spend. I left positive feedback when I received the package as I have a habit of forgetting and I don't like to not leave feedback when it's warranted. Now I wish I could change it.

The fundamental question is whether you paid by Paypal and whether you are still within the time limits for the process etc. I don't believe ebay buyer protection is in any way affected by feedback (left prematurely by you in this case).
 
Top Bottom