On dec 31st I bought a $2100 Liebherr cabinet cigar humidor from an Ebay seller "trendhomestore", I know that might seem like stupid money for a humidor but it was a relatively good price and was advertised as new. I paid through paypal with my visa card and received the unit on Jan 11 with some dents in the stainless steel. The next day I notified the seller about the damage and he offered to replace, refund, or discount. I opted for replacement. The seller soon after stopped responding to my emails so I decided to complain to Ebay (my window to open a dispute was about to close). On Feb 17, the shipping company "Manna Distribution" arrived to pick up the damaged unit and hold it for claims. The seller had still gone "dark" and would not respond to my repeated emails. I decided to escalate the case with Ebay buyer protection on Feb 28 after realizing the seller had no intention of responding, replacing or refunding.
Okay, just a simple case of a bad Ebay seller. Rest assured, If you buy on Ebay enough times you're bound to run into guys like this. I knew that going in but I bought into Ebay's buyer protection gimmick and thought that I was "100% protected".
I explained all this to an Ebay rep Matt G (they won't give their last names) and he said he would look into it. A couple days later, Ebay emailed me that my case was closed - no refund. Here's a paste of their response: "eBay Customer Support has closed the case. Mar 09 at 2:28 PMeBay Customer Support comments: You returned the item without authorization from the seller or eBay and did not provide tracking.". Here's the rub - I never asked Manna to pick up the unit, that request came from the seller and Matt G already had the tracking number. He recited it to me.
I called Ebay to appeal their decision and another rep said Matt G would handle the appeal but was out of the office and would contact me in two days to get more info. No sooner after hanging up the phone still hoping I could convince Matt G if he called me back, I immediately received an Ebay email stating my appeal was denied - no refund. Ebay's log showed my appeal was denied 3 minutes after I appealed! No call from Matt G asking for more info, just an email basically telling me to lump it.
I've disputed the charge with Visa and am still waiting for their determination. I'm writing this complaint to inform others that Ebay's buyer protection program is nothing more than a bait-and-switch gimmick, don't be a doosh like me and fall for it! Despite Ebay's empty promises it remains a risky place to buy.
-Thanks for reading and stay safe!
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