So I ordered an Nvidia Shield Pro it arrived but was faulty kept losing power, so I RMA'd it or at least attempted too as the online service required me to contact them to authorise the return, after 5 days I couldn't get through on phone without being hung up on, wait times of well over 30 minutes each time, all live chat, email and eNotes were ignored or unavailable.
So I opened a case through Paypal for a returns..
Paypal advised me to return it as I did and then provide proof of postage as I also did, eBuyer emailed me when they received it.
Today my account is inactive and I rang eBuyer after a 45 minute wait I got through and told because I opened a Paypal case, their policy is to close my eBuyer account, I have order thousands of pounds worth of items over the years this is the first dispute I have had with them and it wasn't even a dispute it was a faulty returns so they cut their nose of to spite their face! and I have been advised they do not re-open the accounts after they close them.
Any one else thinking this is a massive over-reaction? and a policy that surly alienates loyal customers?
So I opened a case through Paypal for a returns..
Paypal advised me to return it as I did and then provide proof of postage as I also did, eBuyer emailed me when they received it.
Today my account is inactive and I rang eBuyer after a 45 minute wait I got through and told because I opened a Paypal case, their policy is to close my eBuyer account, I have order thousands of pounds worth of items over the years this is the first dispute I have had with them and it wasn't even a dispute it was a faulty returns so they cut their nose of to spite their face! and I have been advised they do not re-open the accounts after they close them.
Any one else thinking this is a massive over-reaction? and a policy that surly alienates loyal customers?
40 Comments
sorted byWith all due respect and I am sure you are trying to help but I wasn't asking for advice or guidance, I am fully aware of the situation and my rights I was just making others aware of the shoddy CS, I know i did everything I could at my end, they failed in their duty of care and breach their own terms, they left me no choice but to seek alternative resolution.
But my issues isn't with their returns process, its the very fact they spitefully ban any member from their store whom they see as having the audacity to involve PayPal as a dispute to the returns process. I have done nothing wrong, I followed their guidance up until the system they have in place didn't work and then had to seek my own path to get a resolution.
I will get a refund its PayPal and I have proof of return, I just wont use eBuyer ever again, I only used them as they were the only people with stock of the product at he point I wanted it.
Absolute joke that service matey
I thought it would be an easily-rectified mistake - I was wrong. ebuyer left me on hold for an eternity and I wasn't getting anywhere so I took to their forums..
You know when you just get that feeling something is "off"? It felt like I was being hassled by their staff as the replies got so personal on their forums (I was nothing but polite, and why would Joe Bloggs care about a mistake on their site?).
Vowed to never give them a penny after that.
Think it was actually around the time this story came out, too (olden but golden) theregister.com/201…ed/ (edited)
Live chat. Did it never work or you never got through to anyone - or again, you did but they just never did anything?
Emails. I assume zero response to any Email you sent them?
After 5 days. What was the time limit they impose on returning goods? Could you have waited longer to get in contact or did you have to take further action (via Paypal) as you were close to not being able to return?
I'm not being judgemental here but you did effectively circumvent their returns process. I may well have done the same thing. However, it's their business policy so they set the rules. Saying that, I think their stance is very over-the-top and; as you rightly say; serves no other purpose than to turn a long-time customer against them. Especially if they take in to account the very nature of the issue we have all faced over the last few months.
Perhaps a well thought out, non-aggresive "peeve" Email to their Managing Director might be in order?
All the best, Phsy.
@EbuyerSupport (edited)
Yeah its massively unprofessional and the adviser on the phone couldn't seem to understand that, kept telling me i should of tried harder to get in contact, save from walking into their warehouse not sure how i could of tried harder, esp when they were ignoring all communication and hanging up calls. seems they are punishing customers.
Totally agree with that MrSparkle. I don't think I can 'help' as; you rightly say; no help is required. It was more an interesting issue to ponder on for a while. You did what you felt you had to. You are also right in questioning their action to terminate you as a customer - which does seem somewhat over-reactive but when all's said and done, it's their prerogative.
I suppose my only 'head-scratch' moment is why you needed to escalate to Paypal rather than just await the refund when Ebuyer processed the return? You could have just sent the parcel, complete with issued RMA number (ignoring the request to call them further if so inclined) and then await the refund - after their investigation which they are entitled to do as per their T's & C's of course.
Anyway, water under the bridge as they say. I'm sure you will get your money refunded and can draw a line under the whole affair. I'd still be inclined to send them a polite, yet firm Email describing my experience but I'm guessing this has soured you enough to not use them again in the future anyway.
All the best, Phsy.
Ask them if they think you were handled fairly in light of the evidence you give them. There's no point trying to argue with a drone on a phone. Wouldn't be surprised if they send you a voucher as a goodwill token and reinstate your account.
I wouldn’t return something of a higher value on a whim that they will just work it out, after they’ve told me it’s got to authorised.
I don’t see what you did wrong to get the advice above, if their policy isn’t working it’s not your fault.
uk.trustpilot.com/rev…com
This is why I never order anything from them, despite preferring to use non-Amazon retailers when I can.
Their customer support is just horrific when something goes wrong.
I no longer had the original box, and I was very concerned that they would do whatever they could to try and wiggle out of their responsibilities, so I paid them to provide me with a suitable box and packaging material so that I could return it safely. I packaged it very carefully using the suitable box and packaging materials they sent me.
Guess what? They later said the TV was damaged in transit, and that it was my fault because I hadn't used suitable packaging
Phone.
I got through 3 separate times each call was a minimum wait for 30 minutes, each time I spoke to someone on returns who advised that tech must authorise the returns, I was transferred to the tech team and put into a further queue only once did I actually get through to tech without the line cutting off and then they cut me off after giving the RMA number..
Live Chat.
Simply wouldn't connect said all advisers were busy, I had it on my desktop for hours and never connected.
Enotes & Email.
both simply no response
After 5 days.
At this point my concern was how much longer would I not be able to get through, I used PayPal payment protection to ensure a response, but guess what still no response to PayPal contact with them, I have no refund as of yet. the only communication is a automated response to confirm receipt of the parcel I sent.
I understand the difficulties companies are dealing with, but in the same breath they clearly are not understanding the difficulties customers are having when their communication systems are not working or bad employees are hanging up.
I have filed claims through PayPal with lots of other companies over the many years of using PayPal I cannot get in contact with the normal ways and they generally allow you to return and then issue a refund or replacement, never are you punished for using the in place resolution process provided by paying with that gateway.
I don't think I circumvented anything though as they agreed to use PayPal agree to PayPals policies, I am sure that Paypal would not be happy if companies block companies for using resolution centre.
So you had an RMA?
I'm clearly misunderstanding. You were issued an RMA number. You returned the item. Why did you not then wait for them to process the return and issue a replacement/refund? Why the move to Paypal to 'escalate' the refund?
I agree with you (in principle) that by using the Paypal platform as a payment service, Ebuyer accept Paypal's terms of service but in reality they would not overshadow their own 'in-house' business policies. They would ultimately come first. I can imagine that by a customer effectively bypassing their own system - it creates more work at Ebuyers end. In-house computer systems don't always play with "curve-ball" scenarios easily. I used to work with a "Pinnacle" business system and boy, was that finnicky! (edited)
The RMA was issued with automated process online but it said I needed to contact them to authorise by phone.. Because apparently only the tech team can auth return of faulty items
I basically said the same op waited to find account was blocked but couldn’t wait for return. But my comment was deleted..
What went wrong?
The only thing I can see regarding this needing to happen is this:
From the FAQ:
" I have tried to raise a request but your system tells me that I have to call someone else. Why is this?
In certain cases, manufacturers provide support direct to end users. They do this for many reasons, the main one is that they would like to ensure that their customers receive the best possible support on their products. If we refer you to a manufacturer your RMA will invariably be dealt with a lot quicker."
They weren't trying to connect you to someone to discuss the issue you had with the equipment? Maybe they were going down the 'automated' route of "user error" and wanted to investigate before return? I don't know...
Just to clear it up, eBuyer have never to this day authorised me to return the item, my return was based on advice from PayPal's resolution process, I could of just returned it, but I just wanted someone in a official capacity to state that was OK... I wasn't trying to be rude either buddy, I appreciate you were just searching for answers.
I think we can assume though eBuyer has a reputation for bad CS based solely on the response of other members here.
No worries. I'd have thought just 'having' the RMA would have been authorization enough, to be fair. I get what you mean though. Sometimes we just want some sort of reassurance, don't we?
Regarding CS - it's a very short list of companies who don't have some sort of negative experience mentioned by customers - as detailed on the wonderful World Wide Web!
Some more than others though, eh?
Quite frankly: who cares?
We get it: you had a poor experience and do not intend to give any business to this company ever again, which is kinda irrelevant as the company has made it quite clear it doesn't want your future business.
Thanks for sharing your experience, and it will be thrown into the good / poor experience pot that I will consider / dismiss the next time I look for a source for a product that this co may supply.
I assume what they actually mean is that they would rather you return faulty items to the manufacture for repair/replacement so Ebuyer doesn't have to bother with them, even though your legal rights are with the retailer, and they obviously (and understandibly) also wan't to avoid returns where it might be a user error, or compatibility issue with another component.
I returned a non functioning water cooler I'd ordered for my brother, which had very nearly fried his new CPU to ebuyer a few years ago, and had to speak to ebuyer's own technical RMA agent to get approval. As I knew it would be a lot more hassle than normal suppliers and they'd want to try to "troubleshoot" the issue, which I'd expect would likely require at least a second call, I avoided any trouble and dealt with them in a single call by making notes of what was wrong with it, and also tested it on the motherboard connector of my own PC and direct to the PSU to prove the the pump didn't run, once I informed the agent I'd also tested it on a second system, and he'd confirmed that, he stopped trying to troubleshoot agreed the return.
If you can't get through in a reasonable amount of time, have to ring back after troubleshooting and get hung up on too, then I can well understand someone doing a chargeback instead. If I was the OP, I'd be writing to them asking them to pay for my wasted time and costs of the hung-up on calls.
They are well within their rights not to want to do any further business with a customer for any reason, even if it might be ill-judged. (edited)
Had a nightmare experience with them with a psu that never turned up and had to get paypal involved. No idea if they banned me because i've never tried to order from them again.
I think it's one of the main reasons, their customer service is pretty dire and they'll do all they can to make life hard, hoping that you'll go away. I can imagine dealing with people that buy items that they can't set up must be tricky and time consuming but they have to accept some items are faulty out the box, that's the business they chose. (edited)
I Agree, but no where was stock the NVIDIA shield I took a chance, everything would of been fine if it just wasn't faulty lol.
(I've had shonky CS from Sports Direct as well - from their outdoor website Fieldandtrek - didn't realise it was SD at first).
I bought a Salomon outdoor jacket from them and a jacket of the totally wrong size, brand, colour arrived, and it was for the wrong gender . I had to TELL the CS rep that I was also due a refund for P&P - they were going to process a refund for the price of the jacket only - as it was THEIR mistake. I placed a new order and the correct jacket arrived the second time. I only buy from SD when I really, really want something.
ebuyer were so horrible (and I can't prove it was their staff on their forums, but it definitely felt that way) - what I can say with confidence is that they will duck and dive and hit you with lame excuses - anything - to avoid a return. (edited)