Burned Buyer Advice

[Flack]

Quick question: Does PayPal buyer's protection work if you buy something (not eBay) and they send the item but it is not what they said they were selling?

I bought a Hypertech Power Programmer for my dad for Christmas -- it's one of those things that lets you reprogram the computer in your car. To make a long story short, it can only be used on one car at a time. So if you use it on one car, you have to reset that car before you can use it on another car. If you don't reset it, it's worthless. I found an eBay auction for one and the guy agreed to end the auction early and sell it to me so I would get it in time for Christmas. $275 later, the thing was on it's way. Despite the fact that the auction said "BRAND NEW IN BOX", it's been used. And, it has someone else's VIN in it. It's worthless. It can NOT be manually reset. I e-mailed the guy and he sent me a message that says, "all sales are final."

Heh, I have news for him, all sales are NOT final in this case. I promise you.

[Bratwurst]

Bleah, I know exactly what type of devices you are talking about. I really hate how they can be so proprietary. Ross-Tech just did come out with an audi/VW vagcom that utilizes the USB port and can be used on more than one computer without the hassle of reintroducing serial numbers, they just charge twice as much for them.

...

If all else fails you could try contacting the original supplier / manufactorer of the device, chances are good they'll be able to reset it for you (for a fee, of course, the bastards) or at least get the guy in their registry in trouble for reselling it.

[suppafly]

I would file for fraud with my CC company..

I would me as mad as you are.......! :angry:

[Flack]

Well, here's the kicker. I paid for it out of my bank account, not a CC. So it's like I purposefully went and did everything the wrong way so there would be no way for me to get a refund.

The guy called me back and said Hypertech WILL reset the unit -- but only if you have the original receipt in your name, which HE has. So, he wants me to send him back the unit so he can have it reset. So he'll have the money and the programmer. Joy.

Looks like lesson learned the hard way this time. I think I got a little relaxed and sloppy with my eBay practices and it bit me in the ass.

[mauigamer]

So are you going to send it back to the guy?
I guess you dont have much choice.

[Flack]

Yeah, I guess so. Here's my options:

Sell it (unusable) on eBay and tell people its condition.

Sell it (as-is) on eBay.

Send it back to him and hope he doesn't rip me off.

Do nothing.

I can't see selling it as-is, I don't want to rip someone else off. I'm sure selling it unusable would bring in about $20. I could keep it, then the guy has my money and I have something worthless. Or, I could send it back -- if he does rip me off, I really didn't lose anything because it was worthless when I had it. If he DOES fix it, then I come out really good because then I can sell it back on eBay WORKING and get my money back out of it.

I ended up buying my dad a new one yesterday, so now I've bought a $275 non-working one and a $380 new one. By far my most expensive Christmas ever.

[punkoffgirl]

Well, here's the kicker. I paid for it out of my bank account, not a CC. So it's like I purposefully went and did everything the wrong way so there would be no way for me to get a refund.

The guy called me back and said Hypertech WILL reset the unit -- but only if you have the original receipt in your name, which HE has. So, he wants me to send him back the unit so he can have it reset. So he'll have the money and the programmer. Joy.

Looks like lesson learned the hard way this time. I think I got a little relaxed and sloppy with my eBay practices and it bit me in the ass.

I'd ask him to send you back the money first.
After all, you have to pay him first before he sends you the unit.
He should refund before you return. Easy as that. Tell him you'll pay him again once he's ready to reship it back to you.. And then use a credit card.

[MarioAllStar2600]

I dont know if the guy is in the states or not but this is an idea. Bring him to small courts. Ask for your cash back with some extra.

I have always felt as though this would just be an easy thing to do, and an easy way to handle ebay fraud.

[SoulBlazer]

I think it's worth a shot to file a claim with PayPal. Send them the link and all the details of the auction, and provide all the other information they need. They will start a claim. Now, the only problem is that it may take a few weeks. By the time you send the unit back to the seller, he should know PayPal is looking at him. Give him the option of having it fixed and send it back to you with NO ADDITIONAL CHARGES or let him refund your money. If he agrees to do either, drop the claim. Even if PayPal does nothing, the threat of it may be enough to convience him to deal, since he knows you know he ripped you off.

And the others have good advice -- use a credit card for large item transactions on E-Bay, either through PayPal or any other way. I use direct depoist from my account through PayPal to pay for items all the time on EBay, but never for anything more then $50. Beyond that, I use a credit card -- just in case. ;) At least they are easier to get money back from, in my experience.

[mcgrail0007@netzero.net]

I filed a case with PayPal once for fraud. I had purchased a "new" Dreamcast and when it arrived it looked like a pack of dogs had chewed on it. PayPal ruled in his favor, but several months later my money was refunded to me after he ran into some other problems with complaints from buyers who had paid using PayPal. My guess is that PayPal closed his account and the only way that they would re-open it was if he resolved the complaints against him. I was shocked to get the money back.

You could also threaten the guy with an FBI Internet Fraud complaint. The FBI does investigate internet fraud and this sounds like fraud to me.

[jonjandran]

I'd ask him to send you back the money first.
After all, you have to pay him first before he sends you the unit.
He should refund before you return. Easy as that. Tell him you'll pay him again once he's ready to reship it back to you.. And then use a credit card.

According to EBay and Pay-Pal it's the responsibility of the buyer to send the disputed item back first and then a refund should be issued.
I've encountered this a few times.
And Safe Harbour reccommends this also.