Ebay saddle refund nightmare

Wagtail

Wagtail

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Just a rant really. Bought a budget saddle on ebay which I returned because I felt the stirrup bars were unsafe and have spent the best part of a month trying to get a refund. Seller was fab at first. Sent the saddle quickly. Accepted it back no quibble. Said I would be refunded 'in due course'. They have 100% feedback and lots of really nice comments so I didn't worry. Chased it up a week later and was told 'we've had a fraudulent charge back and so things have got delayed etc' and 'you will have your refund by the end of the week. Then I still didn't get it so chesed it up the following week and was told 'I have been informed you will have your refund in your account by 22nd Feb at 1300'.

This deadline came and went with no refund. :rolleyes: So I started to get more shirty. Then received an email saying 'I can't refund you because you have reversed the payment.' I mean how? :confused: I am the buyer, and by now it had left my account three weeks ago:eek: Anyway, she finally put through the refund and sent a transaction cancellation request through for me to accept. I double checked my paypal account and was annoyed to see the refund was on hold until 1st March :mad:

Now ebay say that you must not accept the cancellation request if you have not received a refund. I contacted the seller who tried to blame paypal security measures. :confused: I rang paypal and said that it was a seller imposed 'pending until 1st March' and that they could still cancel or delay it further at any time. I then rang ebay who advised me to decline the request, so I have.

Seller is saying how upset they are that I doubt the integrity of their business and that they work very hard blah blah. I do feel a little bad, but am sure they have told me lie after lie. They are saying it is all due to ebay and paypal and beyond their control, though that does not alter the fact that they did not even try to put through a refund until 22nd Feb.

They have a blemish free record on ebay and I don't want to damage their reputation by leaving negative feedback if it really wasn't their fault. But part of me thinks they have just lied to me telling me a different story every time I chased it up and that maybe others have just fallen for it. What do you think?
 
Dont get me started.

I just bought a thorowgood on ebay...I know it will fit as tried a friends, same make /model came up....auction ended and I paid straight away.

1 week later....it still hasn't been posted because 'I've been working'...(only got told this when I e-mailed to query if it had been dispatched)

Appreciated....but surely must have taken this into account when putting the listing up.:confused:...which quite clearly says will be dispatched within 3 working days.

I've got the right hump. I'll join you in rant corner.
 
Your situation sounds fishy to me. I know there is time scales etc involving transactions be careful you don't go past this. You could go on to the user forum. I have found the advice given - in the past - to be helpful.

I'm having a similar problem at the mo - no where near as much money as you have spent, under a £5 in fact. The seller ( newbie) is adamant they want payment by PP - which is fine - but they don't have a PP account. I've tried everything to sort this but now they want my details i.e email etc so they can sent an invoice out-with Ebay. Not a chance.

What makes it worse is they live about 30 mins from me and I would easily have collected (initially). So we are a standstill. Ebay and PP useless - only advice was to contact seller which I have done.

I feel my blemish free Ebay ratings is away to get blotted :(

Best of luck and I hope you get it settled. x
 
Hippona said:
Dont get me started.

I just bought a thorowgood on ebay...I know it will fit as tried a friends, same make /model came up....auction ended and I paid straight away.

1 week later....it still hasn't been posted because 'I've been working'...(only got told this when I e-mailed to query if it had been dispatched)

Appreciated....but surely must have taken this into account when putting the listing up.:confused:...which quite clearly says will be dispatched within 3 working days.

I've got the right hump. I'll join you in rant corner.
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That is so annoying. I know the feeling as I bought a different saddle after I sent this one back and then was told they couldn't post until after the weekend (it was only Wednesday). I just wanted to get going with my mare. When the saddle finally arrived I was very pleased with it and it fitted perfectly (a thorowgood too) then my girl got an attack of laminitis. :(

Girlychu said:
Your situation sounds fishy to me. I know there is time scales etc involving transactions be careful you don't go past this. You could go on to the user forum. I have found the advice given - in the past - to be helpful.

I'm having a similar problem at the mo - no where near as much money as you have spent, under a £5 in fact. The seller ( newbie) is adamant they want payment by PP - which is fine - but they don't have a PP account. I've tried everything to sort this but now they want my details i.e email etc so they can sent an invoice out-with Ebay. Not a chance.

What makes it worse is they live about 30 mins from me and I would easily have collected (initially). So we are a standstill. Ebay and PP useless - only advice was to contact seller which I have done.

I feel my blemish free Ebay ratings is away to get blotted :(

Best of luck and I hope you get it settled. x
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Thank you. Good luck with yours too. Mine was £200 so it's no small amount of money to be without for a month (or more if she delays the refund further).

If it isn't in my account by 1st March ebay have said to phone them to open a case as it won't let me do it for some reason, probably because I have a refund pending. But I have until the 10th March to do that they tell me.

I just really want to leave negative feedback but will probably leave neutral if I get my refund.
 
dianchi said:
Open a dispute on Ebay- i did this got it sorted within 2 days!
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I tried to do this three times and each time it said Paypal cannot open a case at this time. I was told it was because on the morning I paid there was a paypal glitch where lots of payments went through multiple times. I actually ended up paying four times, but paypal refunded me the extra three times a day later. Thousands of transactions were involved. But it's messed up the system for all those items that were bought on that morning. Just my luck!
 
I'm having the opposite problem and the seller won't accept my payment :mad: I've tried messaging them and only got a reply when I said I'd open a case if they didn't respond by x date. Think I'm going to have to do the same again this week as they have had another week to accept my payment and I sent proof I had sent it.
 
dafthoss said:
I'm having the opposite problem and the seller won't accept my payment :mad: I've tried messaging them and only got a reply when I said I'd open a case if they didn't respond by x date. Think I'm going to have to do the same again this week as they have had another week to accept my payment and I sent proof I had sent it.
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That is really odd. :confused:
 
I had a nightmare the other way round - buyer claimed the tree on the saddle they bought was broken, despite no real evidence and when (on ebay instructions) they returned it for a full refund the seat was creased where they have over flexxed it many many times - I had to get my saddler to open it to prove the tree was sound and she straightened out the creases. The dispute system doesn't seem able to take into account any evidence so in desperation I emailed the CEO (email etc are on this website http://www.ceoemail.com/ it's a really useful site people have sorted out all sorts of problems with various companies) and after looking into it they refunded me the full amount including courier fees :) It was a fight though. Email the ebay CEO.
 
If your paypal payment was funded by a credit card the transaction is classed as pending for 7 days as you can cancel it. If the payment was by cc through paypal I would try the credit card company.
I refunded someones payment through paypal and although it looked as if they had been credited, paypal were waiting incase the intial payment had been cancelled. I made me feel aweful but there was nothing I could do, caused alot of upset on both sides.
 
JillA said:
I had a nightmare the other way round - buyer claimed the tree on the saddle they bought was broken, despite no real evidence and when (on ebay instructions) they returned it for a full refund the seat was creased where they have over flexxed it many many times - I had to get my saddler to open it to prove the tree was sound and she straightened out the creases. The dispute system doesn't seem able to take into account any evidence so in desperation I emailed the CEO (email etc are on this website http://www.ceoemail.com/ it's a really useful site people have sorted out all sorts of problems with various companies) and after looking into it they refunded me the full amount including courier fees :) It was a fight though. Email the ebay CEO.
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Phew. That was lucky. I usually have the greatest sympathies with sellers on ebay because they get a tough time of it on balance. So my default setting is to give positive feedback, even if I have to return an item, so long as I get a refund. Not that I have to return things very often (this is the second time in ten years).

I am still puzzled as to why this seller has such good feedback. But I have been fobbed off by different stories by her. If she was struggling and just said 'look cash flow is tight and so I cannot issue the refund until x date, then I would have been understanding and patient. But she is making me out to be some kind of nightmare customer. I actually waited 3 weeks before getting at all annoyed with her. I don't know what to do re the feedback. I am 90% sure it is all her fault, but that 10% tells me, a seller with such a good record does not just suddenly go dodgy and I should not blemish their record.
 
honetpot said:
If your paypal payment was funded by a credit card the transaction is classed as pending for 7 days as you can cancel it. If the payment was by cc through paypal I would try the credit card company.
I refunded someones payment through paypal and although it looked as if they had been credited, paypal were waiting incase the intial payment had been cancelled. I made me feel aweful but there was nothing I could do, caused alot of upset on both sides.
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No, it was funded direct from my bank account and was cleared that very day. I paid at the end of last month. Seller sent the saddle out when the payment had cleared and so there should be no clearance time. Seller insists that the funds have left her account though. I just don't know whether to believe her. Yesterday she told me that ebay were trying to call me but there was no answer. I was in most of the day and no messages were left. Do ebay even do that? I mean call a buyer to sort out sellers problems? They certainly didn't mention it today when I called them.
 
Just a thought but perhaps they have put it on hold until 1st March because for a lot of people it will be pay day tomorrow (28th feb) so maybe they dont currently have the money in their account to refund you but will do by Friday- hence the delay.
 
Paint Me Proud said:
Just a thought but perhaps they have put it on hold until 1st March because for a lot of people it will be pay day tomorrow (28th feb) so maybe they dont currently have the money in their account to refund you but will do by Friday- hence the delay.
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They are a business with a website etc. Their turnover on ebay alone is pretty big. I did say to her that maybe she had cashflow problems that would explain the delay but she vigourously denied that saying they were a business and had to do things a certain way, that was all. Trouble is, the stories kept changing every time I chased up my refund. This is what made me lose confidence.
 
Dafthoss. Be careful as may be they've sold the item to someone not on eBay. If you push it through eBay it may then get lost in the post... I'd be very wary of what was happening there.
 
Wagtail, the whole point of a record is the truth of how a transaction went. I see not reason not to state exactly what happened. If every other person had the same problem but didn't want to blemish record you may not have bought and had hassle in first place...
 
PandorasJar said:
Wagtail, the whole point of a record is the truth of how a transaction went. I see not reason not to state exactly what happened. If every other person had the same problem but didn't want to blemish record you may not have bought and had hassle in first place...
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Yes, I agree. I suppose it is just the 'woe is me' stuff she comes out with such as 'why can't you be understanding of our position, like we have been of yours' etc. But at the end of the day it her who has my £200 and has done for a month! Yes, I owe it to others to be truthful.
 
PandorasJar said:
As a private seller I may be sympathetic. But as a business with a changing story? Wholey unprofessional!
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I've a feeling they may be in financial trouble which is why I have been reluctant to leave negative feedback. But when I think about it, customers should know.

The saddle had hard and lumpy flocking, and the stirrup bars were not tight against the saddle and were sloped slightly downwards which meant you had to ride with the end of the stirrup bar turned up. This is dangerous. The saddle was described as having a generous wide seat and panels, yet they were narrower than my wintec 2000, which I think has quite narrow panels.

I know it was a budget saddle and I thought 'what did I expect?' when I received it. I would have left positive feedback but noted the defects had I received my refund promptly, but after all the different stories, I have lost total confidence. If you are going to tell a story, at least make it the same each time FFS! I can only think she has a number of other customers chasing her and has lost track of what she had told me.
 
If they are and they go bust people won't get their money back. I'd rather know on poor service especially atm as would definitely cap my spending with a company to what I was happy to lose
 
On the plus side they sent the saddle out realy quickly, and have answered every single email. But the end result is still the same, I am £200 down. :(

I think that maybe they have spent all their money on stock. They have '89 available' of one of their saddles.
 
Got a feeling it may actually be paypal at fault, I've got exactly the same thing going on for a returned saddle too except in my case the seller has been brilliant at communicating throughout.

Refund is showing as pending until 5th march and the info icon next to it is saying it's to allow 5-7 days to clear. I've had it once before as well for a refund and also once for buying even though it was from funds already in a bank account.
 
Ankerwycke said:
Got a feeling it may actually be paypal at fault, I've got exactly the same thing going on for a returned saddle too except in my case the seller has been brilliant at communicating throughout.

Refund is showing as pending until 5th march and the info icon next to it is saying it's to allow 5-7 days to clear. I've had it once before as well for a refund and also once for buying even though it was from funds already in a bank account.
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I am not a fan of paypal as I know they like to hold onto money to benefit from the interest. But they are telling me it is the seller who specified the date for clearance. The seller says it is nothing to do with them. Who to believe? One thing I know for sure is that the seller has told me different and conflicting stories as to why I haven't had my refund, and despite receiving my saddle before the 6th February, they did not attempt a refund until the 22nd. But told me it would be refunded firstly by the 11th and then by the 22nd. Then when I chased it up on the 22nd, they only then tried to put the refund through. :mad: They are now saying that paypal and ebay were trying to call me yesterday. Another lie as paypal and ebay don't do this. They are hard enough to get hold of when you phone them yourself.

My seller has answered every one of my emails. But every time with a different story or excuse. In addition, the product is very poor.
 
Wagtail said:
That is really odd. :confused:
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I know, never had it happen before.

PandorasJar said:
Dafthoss. Be careful as may be they've sold the item to someone not on eBay. If you push it through eBay it may then get lost in the post... I'd be very wary of what was happening there.
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The money hasnt gone in to their account though thats the thing. I paid to the paypal linked to the ebay account and now it says they have to accept the payment, on further investigation it seems that they either have the wrong sort of paypal account (personal not one that can accept payment) or they have some setting where they need to accept any thing going either way or they have gone over the transaction limits for their type of account.

I think another message with a deadline is in order, I sent them a print screen proving the payment had been sent. They also claimed they had tried to contact me when I sent them a massage despite not sending me any messages :rolleyes: . Dont think I'm ever going to get hold of it sadly.
 
It's hard to know what to think, with Ebay and Paypal anything could happen, the more they get involved the more they seem to screw things up for both parties.....

I have just privately sold a highish value saddle to a lovely lady in Budapest and a bulk order to Wales, no Ebay, just Paypal, trust and some crossed fingers - both sales went smoothly and both buyers have Emailed to say how pleased they are.
I think Ebay may be very slowly on its way out...

Good luck in any case Wagtail - £200 is too much too spend on a knackered saddle, I hope you get your money back.
 
I normally wouldn't buy a budget saddle, but I needed a temporary one for my mare as she may not remain sound enough to ride (had retired 3 years ago after a massive shoulder injury and wasn't expected to come sound but she did. Now she has on and off laminitis.) I had sold her pessoa saddle a year after her injury when it seemed her retirement would be permanent. Anyway, I wanted a cheap saddle until I know whether she will be able to cope with being brought back into light work. I have now bought a thorowgood and it fits beautifully.

I should have known better than to buy a foreign made budget saddle. But the feedback really was so good. I can only think that these people do not know what they are looking at, sadly.
 
I would be opening a dispute on paypal - it doens't take long and if the seller doesn't co-operate paypal will simply remove the money from their account and put it into yours (assuming they find in your favour which given whats happened is almost certain)
 
Wagtail, be aware of the dispute timescales,if you do not start a dispute within the timescale, which I think is 45 days, its tough and your loss,as ebay can not claim the funds back from paypal.
Do you have the phone number for ebay,as I have found them incredibly helpful over the phone. Only yesterday they sorted a problem my OH had with faulty goods. We returned them,after ebay agreed over the phone as we had purchased from Germany and was impossible to open a case as it was in German which we don't speak,read etc.
The seller had been very awkward all the way through,and yesterday refused to accept the package back,which we had sent tracked delivery via TNT.
His mistake,as when I spoke to ebay,and they could look on TNTs website,they could see he declined package,and did an immediate chargeback,thus reimbursing us.
Call them,they will look into all correspondence,which you have hopefully done through ebay and not your personal email,and inform you what you can do, or if they can do something on your behalf.
Good luck.
 
Thank you. I could not open a dispute because when I paid there was a paypal glitch which meant I paid four times! :eek: Paypal sorted it and reversed three of the payments, but unfortunately it mucked up the disputes system as three payments for the sme item are seen as already reversed. I have spoken to both ebay and paypal on the phone and they tell me I have to wait and se if the payment clears tomorrow and if not I have to phone them and they will open a dispute for me manually. This whole thing has been a disaster from start to finish. :(
 
When I have refunded via PayPal just click the refund and it goes instantly. It is very simple. The only time it isn't simple is if there isn't enough money in the PayPal account to meet the refund. I am reluctant to leave negative feedback but in this case future buyers might like to be aware and make their choice.
 
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