WARNING EBAY SELLER - collect4free !!

[simon1966]

Hi All

Some of you already know that I recently bought an E63 steering wheel with paddle shift as an upgrade on my E55. I bought it from a seller on ebay who I contacted for some detailed pictures as he only put one poor photo in the listing. He duly obliged and sent me some more photos which was good and at the same time offered to do a deal outside ebay at a lower price. We agreed a price and I paid him by paypal as a gift so he avoided charges.

Now I know before anyone starts that I shouldn't have done it and I now fully regret it but......

To cut a very long story short the steering wheel got badly damaged during delivery. Now that isn't the sellers fault, although it wasn't particularly well packaged but the problem now is that he has done nothing about it and it was 3 weeks ago!! He won't respond to any of my messages and I have no way of raising a claim as Parcelforce will only deal with him as the seller and person who arranged the delivery.

So basically I am left with a damaged steering wheel that isn't repairable and no money returned.

I'm sure all will be fine dealing with him if everything goes to plan but clearly not if something goes wrong!

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!!!!!!!!!


He sells quite a bit of MB stuff, here is a listing from same seller

1x MERCEDES E350 E550 AMG IV GENUINE FRONT 18" COUPE CABRIO ALLOY WHEEL W212 | eBay

 

[Scott_F]

How do you know that it was damaged in transit ?

He could have lifted the photos from a similar, undamaged item that ended on Ebay a week or more before the item that you bought.

 

[stwat]

How come you haven't given him bad feedback yet?

 

[High-Lo]

How come you haven't given him bad feedback yet?

Was dealt with outside of eBay

 

[simon1966]

How do you know that it was damaged in transit ?

He could have lifted the photos from a similar, undamaged item that ended on Ebay a week or more before the item that you bought.

The pics he sent me were clearly the same steering wheel. I don't doubt he had good initial intentions, he just won't deal with the problem that is totally out of my hands.

 

[simon1966]

Here's a ink to my previous thread when I was looking at possibility of repairing it.

http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/interior/178501-straightening-bent-steering-wheel.html

 

[Ricks Cafe]

That link selling a wheel - the description "Had a small flat spot has now been straightened and ready to use" Could mean anything. What is a small flat spot? Has been straightened? Meaningless and vague.

 

[automaniaman]

Pity that, as he seems to have a good feedback history... If he's not deemed to be a trader, you may well be stumped on this.....

 

[simon1966]

Pity that, as he seems to have a good feedback history... If he's not deemed to be a trader, you may well be stumped on this.....

Agreed, his feedback is good, which is why I'm surprised at his lack of any sort of positive response.

As said deal done outside ebay and I paid as a gift so I'm basically knackered and he knows it

 

[millo777]

You're pretty much screwed ona couple of fronts.

1. Airbags are a prohibited item by parcel force as they contain explosives
2. Car parts are on their list of items that are excluded from compensation

I don't think there is any point in raising the issue with parcel force.

Unless the seller is willing to refund you, you're only option is small claims court. I doubt it's worth the ball ache.

 

[Harrythedog]

Tell him you'll inform eBay about his "outside" deals, they may bar him, unless he sorts it out

 

[isobars]

What would you like him to do?

 

[jotter22]

Tell him you'll inform eBay about his "outside" deals, they may bar him, unless he sorts it out

You can't agree to a deal outside ebay then scream when it goes wrong!
Simon is there no chance he is not at home away working or something that may stop him from replying?

Tony.

 

[Rory]

Was dealt with outside of eBay

I don't think it's reasonable to say avoid an eBay seller for a transaction that happened outside eBay.

 

[Harrythedog]

You can't agree to a deal outside ebay then scream when it goes wrong!
Simon is there no chance he is not at home away working or something that may stop him from replying?

Tony.

The point was that the SELLER may not want eBay to be aware of his outside deals

 

[AMGeed]

I think Simon needs to round up a few of the "boys" and pay him a visit

 

[def90cars]

The point was that the SELLER may not want eBay to be aware of his outside deals

I think the lesson here is don't buy off an ebay seller outside of ebay if you want the benefits of ebay (protection etc).

Can't complain after you agree to it.

Whether the ebay like it or not - its not illegal to do so (I buy lots of stuff "outside ebay").

 

[simon1966]

I think Simon needs to round up a few of the "boys" and pay him a visit

If he wasn't in Leicester I would have already been to see him. I'm sure face to face it would be sorted.

 

[simon1966]

I don't think it's reasonable to say avoid an eBay seller for a transaction that happened outside eBay.

I gave a warning about my experience. I haven't said to avoid, I'm just giving my experience that when things don't go right he isn't willing to sort it out.

 

[Deleted member 37751]

How much did you pay for the wheel Simon?

If you have no joy with the seller, I might be interested.