On Oct.1 2004 I won an auction through EBay. The item I bid on was advertised as a functional highchair. The item condition was described as GOOD, STORE DEMO OR RETURN, FUNCTIONAL in an opened box. I paid a total $63.12 USD via Paypal which included the purchase price of $23.99 to have the item shipped to me.
When it arrived on Oct. 21 2004, I opened the box and prepared to put it together. It became clear quickly that that was not going to be possible. It was missing four rather important pieces. It was missing the tray (kind of necessary for a highchair). It was also missing one of the bases (legs go into it to be supported- the item cannot even be stood up as it should be). And it was missing an armrest. It was also missing a retainer (needed for structural safety).
I immediately emailed the seller about the problem. Four days later I got a reply from the seller in the form of what was to become an all too familiar form letter offering me an "in-store credit or "US $25 in store credit (not Paypal) for your future purchase from our EBay store with no limited time, keep item (possible fix), save return cost, please consider our offer, you can use this credit to find something for yourself as a replacement, please advise soon. I did not find this offer at all acceptable as I would be out over half my money and there is now way to fix the high chair that was missing pieces. I replied that no, this would not do and I would like the return of my money and I did not want their "credit". They sent me another, identical form letter in reply on Oct. 26 2004 except that this one offered me $35 in "credit. I mailed them back that this was not acceptable either and would they please return my money.
On Oct. 27, 2004 I got a different form letter, the content I post here:
"Dear customer, Acturally, the Return and Refund policy states clearly that we offer refund based on the item physically returned to us. the policy is supposed to be agreed before any bid placed. Thus, plesae let us know how do you think to solve this problem will be fair for both. thanks
li
NetClearances Customer Service"
Again I immediately mailed them back stating that I wanted my money back and at this point I didn't give a hoot about what was fair to them or their return policy. I gave them until 5 PM EST the next day to return my money Or I would file a complaint with both EBay and Paypal. I promptly got another form letter offering me $35 "credit" on the same day (Oct 27). I replied again with the same content as my previous mail, asking for my money by the deadline. On Oct 28 2004 I mailed them to remind them of the deadline and that I wanted my money returned by 5PM EST. I got an email back from them that was usual form letter offering me $35 "credit" but this one had their "terms of sale" added to the end of it.
I replied again immediately asking them to please stop sending me form letters and to just return my money.
In the meantime I inquired with Square Trade, whose Logo was posted on their auction page as to whether I had the added buyer protection that they offer. I received a reply from Square trade on Oct 28 stated that the seller was NOT a member of Square Trade. The same day I got another $35 form letter "offer.
On Oct 29 I received another Form letter with the "terms of sale" at the end but the offer was now for $40 "credit. I replied to them yet again (sigh) that I wanted my money back. On Nov 1st I was finally able to call them. I called both telephone numbers they have listed with EBay and got voce mail for each. I left a message identifying myself and the auction number. I told them that if I did not hear from them by the end of the day that I would be going to the RCMP and filing fraud charges. I also sent another email stating the same. A woman whose name I could not understand because of her heave eastern accent called me within an hour.
I told her what the problem was and she agreed over the phone that what was sold to me was not in fact functional as the auction stated. I told her that I wanted my money (all of it including the shipping since I saw no reason why I should pay to ship something that I very obviously did not order) returned to my Paypal account by the end of the day or I would be going to the RCMP to file fraud charges. She started to try and beg me for 2 days more because she could not authorize the return of my money as she was only authorized to give me an "in-store credit". She said he manager was away and she did not know if she was going to be in that day.
I told her that it wasn't my problem that she couldn't find her manager and that they had had my money already for 30 days already had enough time to try and sort this out, which they did not do. I told her that she had best find her manager by the end of the day as I was not going to wait and I would file charges by the end of the day. We then hung up. I kept checking my email every 5 minutes and within 15 minutes I had all my money returned to my Paypal account. I know for a fact that this seller has gotten away with many, many unsuspecting buyer's money (hundreds every month going by the amount of negative feedback they get).
I am starting to get email after email from them after they read the negative feedback I left for the seller. Every story is almost identical. Very rarely does the buyer get any real satisfaction. They are offered only "in store credit" so that they can buy more defective and misrepresented items. Hardly just remedy for this type of situation. This seller needs to either start representing his items accurately so that his customers know exactly what they are getting or he needs to be put out of business. I am lucky. I was able to get my money back. Literally hundreds of others per month are not able to. Thank you for your time and attention to this report.
Also you can report them at the Competition Bureau, the governing body the regulates things like false and misleading advertising in Canada. Netclearances have been reported to them more than once and they more reports they get the more likely they are to step in and put a stop to them. So please consider filing with them as well. They can't help you get your money back, but they can prevent someone else from being ripped off.
If you want help recivering your money from them you can mail met at diafel at the mail that is hot.
Michelle
kimberley, British Columbia
Canada
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