Online Purchasing Help (Misrepresented Product)

[Acert93]

Just wanted to shoot this by people. I purchased some RC cars for my children as a gift (returning home from a trip to the grandparens and wante a surprise). I was offered a "deal" on an RC forum where traders are reviews ala ebay. The seller has 100% feedback with about 30 reviews + positive Ebay, etc. Package was insured (I requested and paid for such) and the package arrived in good condition.

Upon opening the box one car was broken in half (!) which is surprising due to it being very high impact plastic (these are low end hobbiest cars). The car had no electronics. Another car had a broken wheel well. Everything was tossed in a box and the only packaging material were two used thin strips of bubble wrap.

I purchased 3 cars under the condition that two were "Ready To Run" (charge the battery and go) and one "Ready to Run" after adding an ESC.

I took pictures and replied kindly, without assumption of any guilt, explaining the condition of the cars and how they didn't arrive in the condition purchased and how we are beginners, as noted at the beginning of the process, and need RTR vehicles. I am waiting for a reply.

=> What would the Post Office say if he says, "You need to file a claim with the Post Office." The box is in solid condition and while I cannot be certain the damage doesn't appear to be shipping related and I am sure the apartment manager signed that the box was in good condition--which it was.

=> What should my response be? My feeling is I would prefer he return my PayPal fees and I return his cars (I would pay shipping).

Obviously if he is difficult I can leave negative feedback, post in the "purchasing experience section" and contact PayPal. But my only real goal is to get my kids some RTR entry level hobbiest cars and would prefer the situation go away. These are in very poor condition and 2 are clearly not RTR and I haven't even got the point of testing the electronics.

Figures the one time I venture out of Amazon/NewEgg/Half.com I get into murky waters

Thanks for feedback.

Please, ONLY constructive feedback. I just want to resolve the issue and know the best way to go about it.

 

[Acert93]

And the response:

i am truly sorry that it came broken. i dont know what happen i had a feeling that i should have open the box when it got returned to my house. regarding the broken chassie i do not know how that happen but if you see in the box i sent you there is a complete new chassie in there so that should be a eazy fix. now reg. the broken wheel hub i will go online and see how much they are and refund you the money for that. not a problem. now to answer the question number 2 these cars are sold with an esc which is also the rx so minus the broken chassis this is a roller. so im not sure what i can do in that regard. because it does have servo and motor so its just needing a esc/rx for it. but if you look in the box there is a blue associated receiver that matches the associated transmitter if you choose to maybe make one of them brushless. let me know how you would like to proceed if you would like i can also get you another chassie too. im am truley sorry for the inconvenience and please let me know how i can make this right i dont want you to think that i tried to cheat you or any thing like that. get back to me if you can tonight or tomorrow im always around my email via phone or computer.

If the cars were broke in transport there could be all kinds of issues. Insurance is to protect the seller and it wasn't adequately packaged. Further he is fudging on the RTR as RTR clearly means put a battery in. Spending all the time fixing the clearly cosmetic issues with no guarantee concerning potential functional issues seems stupid.

Would others agree that a short message requesting repayment and I will ship everything back (confirmed/insured delivery) and allow him to sort it out with the post office is best ... if he refuses take it to the post office and file a claim with PayPal, leave negative rep, etc?

 

[cychris]

When there is a dispute i usually make a paypal dispute first. Contact the seller through that so that PayPal is aware of what you guys said.

Personally i would aim for either my money back or for him to send you new parts, nothing less. If he is not cooperating escalate this into a claim with PayPal and ask for your money back.


Do NOT bother with the post office, its the seller that has resposniblity in this case as he is the one who insured them in the first place.

 

[Cheezdoodles]

Would others agree that a short message requesting repayment and I will ship everything back (confirmed/insured delivery) and allow him to sort it out with the post office is best ... if he refuses take it to the post office and file a claim with PayPal, leave negative rep, etc?

Your entitled to your money back, he clearly sendt you something that doesn't match what you paid for. If he refuses, do all the things you mentioned.

 

[Sxotty]

I would just get a refund and send it back as well. No real reason to make it worse than it is now.

I have had one such experience. I also had a more annoying one where a guy sold something (I bought it) and he never shipped it. That was on ebay and through paypal it took forever to fix.

I had another one where a person shipped me an item prior to me paying (it was a $600 item). I sent them a check when I got it. And all was well. That was kind of crazy though for them I guess as they had no real protection besides the fact that I am not a jerk.

 

[Acert93]

Unfortunately the guy is being really difficult now (I am trying to be nice). No refund, no return, not his problem, "sold as is" regardless of insurance, etc. He shipped it in good shape so screw insurance it is my problem. He "guarantees" everything else is fine (if shipping snapped it in 2 pieces how can he say that??) and we just need to learn to fix stuff and he will send a new base plate ...

I guess tomorrow I try to use PayPal to contact him and "start over" by saying the stuff is broken. I would like a refund and I will return the product with verified mail. After such I will leave positive feedback. I guess it falls into PayPal's hands then.

 

[Grall]

I don't understand why you're being so nice... He's obviously trying to scam you. If he sold you stuff that he claimed was (almost) ready to run and then sent you a car that's partly broken and one that was snapped in half, along with missing electronics.

It's certainly not shipping damage unless the car's chassis was already cracked to the point of snapping before he ever put it in the box, and even if it WAS shipping damage then he's responsible for it due to poor packaging/protection.

If he gives you grief you should contest the charge with paypal and report him to the cops for fraud. No point in trying to be Mr. Nice Guy with these people, you ask nicely once for him to send you the stuff you paid for, and then if he starts acting up you turn to the authorities. That's the only kind of language scammers understand and respect.

 

[Acert93]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I am nice because... I believe I always should be? I am pretty sure I don't meet that expectation :| Anyhow I have tried the "lets be reasonable" route since the worst that can happen now is I am stuck with what I have is I will concisely give my stipulations for positive feedback and move quickly form there. Returning the product, my covering shipping, is more than fair. I paid for insurance, not my fault if he packaged poorly and snapping a car in half in an undamaged box is pretty... amazing. Telling me I need to get used to RC cars breaking and flaunting his "perfect" feedback actually have discouraged me from conceeding as I do feel distinctly scammed.

So I have been lining up a PayPal claim. The other things I am doing is when my family gets home tomorrow I am going to route out all of our web stuff from my PayPal and contact my CC/Bank about potentially doing a chargeback for fraud which should be straight forward as they mainly require a form with complaint + return verification.

My sons will be dissappointed, worst case scenario I spend a couple weekends fixing this junk. Best case scenario I can be done with this situation

 

[Cheezdoodles]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I am nice because... I believe I always should be?

NO!!! You should be nice to people who are nice to you. Scammers etc needs the harshest possible treatment.

People who are allways nice ends up getting scammed.

You need to be cold, whenever somebody treats you unfair, you need to hit back HARD! You cannot let people step on you. Aspecially in cases with scammers etc, unless you play hardball, they will keep on scamming other people, do it for the sake of society.

He is obviously trying to scam you, and thus its time for you to play hardball.

Get a metal cutting chainsaw, go to his house, and cut his real life car in half. It will make you feel much better.

Revenge is good. Aspecially if the people on the recieving end deserve it. Allways revenge. If you are rich, you can allways just harass people with expensive law suits etc. If your not, do some physical destruction if you cannot make things right through legal ways (but have somebody else do it for you so that he doesn't end up suing you).

 

[Tahir2]

If your not, do some physical destruction if you cannot make things right through legal ways (but have somebody else do it for you so that he doesn't end up suing you).

And you were doing so well.
Revenge is not good if it means you end up breaking the law and doing a criminal act.

As to what you should do, Joshua, Paypal + Credit Card.
Stop communicating with the guy until he meets your very reasonable demands.

Done.

 

[Tchock]

Maybe this has been mentioned before, but stick to the Paypal claim.
Do not let the buyer propose his own private compensation. Those never work.


As for being nice, nah. Nice is overrated.

 

[Tahir2]

Sorry Ostepop I should try not to read these forums so late - I think my funny bone stops working after midnight.

 

[_xxx_]

Paypal claim is the way to go and if that doesn't work get the money back from PayPal through your CC company.

 

[Acert93]

Paypal claim is the way to go and if that doesn't work get the money back from PayPal through your CC company.

This is the process I am working on. The Dispite will be escallated to a Claim, and if PayPal is innactive I already have my CC card (fyi, always use a CC, not a debit card, because CC cards offer more protection) forms ready that simply ask for pictures and a copy of the verified mail return to initiate chargeback.

 

[Grall]

I hope things work out for you. Best of luck.