ebay customer service = non -existent?

[smo]

I bought an iPad Air and received an regular (non-Air) Ipad (from US to Thailand at the cost of shipping close to 100 bucks.) The difference between the two models is significant and I don't know why the seller listed the item both in the listing title and description as "Air" while it is definitely not. I opened a return request following eBay policy. It says that after 3 business days if no news from seller then I can escalate the case and ask eBay to "step in."

Well 3 business days have passed, no news from seller and when I tried to get eBay to step in, I got the run-around: My return request is not listed, and when I try to open a new request, it says, there's already one opened. According to eBay, I should find my return request listed and based on that I can click on further options to escalate. eBay customer service is a joke: no phone, no email, you keep clicking and go round in circles. You get the picture....

What can I go from here? Any advice will be much appreciated and thank you all in advance for your help.

(If the urge to inject a sarcastic remark strikes you, then make a trip to the bathroom first, that would help - no, this is not an ebay policy!)

[CharlieH]

Hoe did you pay for it ? paypal ? file a claim there if possible for "not as described".

[2fishin2]

They have a live help/chat. Use it

[lopburi3]

My recent experience with ebay was an item being listed as a brand name only having that name printed on it - it was not made by the registered company and had no guarantee or serial number. It also did work well and not charge in one hour as claimed in listing (otherwise listing was accurate with photos other than not being real). No answer from seller. Alert ebay and they pull advertisement within few hours and say I can not make a claim because they no longer list item but maybe paypal and there link to check with PayPal put me in endless loop of not being able to make claim because seller is no longer an ebay member.

[smo]

“Hoe did you pay for it ? paypal ? file a claim there if possible for "not as described".”

- I did go to paypal. It gives you 2 choices that are applicable for filing a dispute: 1) something wrong with the item, 2) something wrong with the payment. However 1) has been greyed out, ie you can not click on it.

“They have a live help/chat. Use it “

- As of yesterday, this is not possible, as I said: ebay gives you the run-around. You can try it yourself and if you can get to their live help/chat then please tell me how you did it.

Thank you all for your inputs so far.

[BB1950]

eBay online customer service for Thailand is in Singapore.

Have you checked out (http://ocsnext.ebay.com.sg/ocs/home)?

I also see a Thai number for eBay Thailand:

02 106 6550, but I'm guessing you might have to speak Thai.

Check out this page: http://sea.ebay.com/customerservice/contact-channel.html

PayPal support for Thailand is also in Singapore:

+65-6510-4584

Monday – Friday: 9am to 10pm (Singapore Time)
Saturday & Sunday: 9am to 6pm (Singapore Time)

I've never had a problem with PayPal support in Singapore.

They have always provided excellent service

Edited January 9, 2015 by BB1950

[mike324]

forget about ebay, go straight to paypal and get your money back or get the seller to refund you the difference if you don't want to to through the hassle of sending the item back. I've dealt with paypal before, trying to get hold of someone is a long wait but worth the wait if you are having trouble with large purchase like that... submit a claim via paypal site, should be under your the ipad transaction payment link, should be pretty straight forward

[JhonD]

You are right. It exist but irrelevant. Next time use aliexpress, etc. Paypal support really much better.

[smo]

The outcome:

After 2 days of waiting for ebay to step in, during which I posted this thread, ebay did finally step in by making the "step-in" button available (no longer greyed-out). eBay rep - one individual who also signed her name - sent an email telling me that they would want the item shipped back to the seller, but they wanted the seller to pre-pay for the return shipping. So she courteously asked me to wait while they contacted the seller, meanwhile she gave me praise for being a good, prompt-paying buyer (the equivalent of law-abiding citizens in the ebay universe).

So I waited, one week + 1 day later (giving the time difference between Thailand and the US, which also explained the 2-day delay in earlier response) ebay wrote back, congratulating me for having the dispute ruled in my favor, and that my refund is going to show up in my paypal account. When that happens, ebay will close the dispute. I immediately went to paypal and lo and behold, my refund was already there, in full (including the original shipping charges which were almost 100 bucks). Neither paypal nor ebay says anything about the item per se.

The reason for my "victory" was that the seller did not respond to ebay. My conclusion is that ebay money-back guaranteed truly works! I guess ebay has its own insurance which pays for delinquent sellers or buyers.

In spite of this I am not going to buy anything from the US via ebay anymore. Prior to this incident, I bought a smartphone which the seller sent from NY with a wrong charger that would not charge, plus the phone itself was not "like new". I contacted the seller who was very savvy in this matter: first she offered me a partial refund - of 1 dollar - which I turned down. For the mere fact that she responded, my return request was closed! ebay is now out of the dispute. The seller then asked me to return the phone. I should have asked for a pre-pay return shipping label or something, the way ebay did with the ipad, but I was so glad the seller accepted return that I didn't ask further questions. The seller gave me full refund promptly upon receiving the item, but my loss was the return shipping charges that I paid out of my own pocket. In summary, it's more hassle that it's worth, namely the long distance and high cost of shipping.

Again, thank you all for your inputs, and hope my experience would answer some questions or doubts other members on the forum may have regarding buying on ebay from here.

[Chicog]

I tend to buy only from sellers with very high reps and read their buyer feedback as well.

I got stitched up once, and that was when a seller lied about what he was providing (although he called it "a mistake"). I opened a case with eBay, won and got a full refund.

The plank was basically telling me to stick it prior to me opening the case, once I'd done it he was practically begging me to take the thing for free.

Unfortunately there are some rubbish sellers out there and you should research them thoroughly to sort out the wheat from the chaff.