Reply to: PC bought on eBay turns up dead

[worzelGummidge]

In conclusion.
I raised an Ebay resolution thingy and eBay ruled in my favour.
I did consider rejecting the Ebay offer of me paying for the postage of sending the system back to the seller ( about £70 - it's heavy ) and taking the seller to court to teach the little so and so a lesson not to sell dodgy goods on Ebay but thought better of it and accepted my "fine".
- Shame, I've just won two other court cases. This would have made it three in a row.
So, If you live in London and sold a dodgy Sun system to someone in Bristol then consider yourself as having a close call and your piece of junk will be with you shortly.

[zippy.mini]

My sister raised a dispute with Paypal over fake goods purchased with her credit card, not via eBay but via some dodgy site (she's not particularly internet savvy).
Paypal said that seller can prove goods were dispatched so she needed to send them back and get refund that way and closed dispute.
Can't send them back because the site's refund and contact links just point you to the legitimate company's phone number etc, which obviously is no good.
Sister did a chargeback on the credit card, got her money back.
Now the credit card co want the money back from Paypal. Paypal have therefore suspended her account until she reimburses the money she got back from the credit card co!!

After all that, my point is that doing a chargeback on your credit card if you paid via Paypal is not as foolproof as it may sound, especially if a Paypal dispute hasn't gone your way in the first place. You would be better off paying directly with your credit card, if you ever want to use your Paypal account again.

I know this has nothing to do with the original question, but it is relevant to some replies...

[TykeMerc]

Surprised by this. They normally take the money out of the seller's account if the buyer says the goods arent any good.

BTW, credit card protection ie Section 75(?) of the Consumer Credit Act doesnt apply when buying via ebay \ paypal so that's no good.

The Small Claims Court will also expect all and every avenue to have been followed before looking at any claim. If you havent, the claim will probably be rejected until you have proved you have tried all avenues.

This needs to be sorted by ebay \ paypal.

I'm not sure you're right on the bit I bolded, in the past I've initiated a chargeback on an eBay purchase. Paypal is just another cards acquisition service. Unfortunately a debit card doesn't (I believe) have the same protection as a credit card even though it's probably got a Visa symbol on it.

eBay complaints procedure is better than it was assuming that the seller refuses to sort stuff out to your satisfaction.

Small claims as Bolsie has said will expect you to have pursued all reasonable avenues to gain satisfaction so keep good records.

[BolshieBastard]

ebay \ paypal dispute is useless as I found out to my detriment the other week. Did you purchase the PC on credit card via Paypal, as this should give you claim cover without having to go through the courts ?

Surprised by this. They normally take the money out of the seller's account if the buyer says the goods arent any good.

BTW, credit card protection ie Section 75(?) of the Consumer Credit Act doesnt apply when buying via ebay \ paypal so that's no good.

The Small Claims Court will also expect all and every avenue to have been followed before looking at any claim. If you havent, the claim will probably be rejected until you have proved you have tried all avenues.

This needs to be sorted by ebay \ paypal.

[worzelGummidge]

I used my company debit card. Not a credit card. If things do not pan out very well then I prefer the court route which is very easy now it's possible online and usually shakes things up a bit to produce a quick conclusion.

[kaiser78]

Just raise an ebay \ paypal dispute. Everything is in the buyer's favour now on ebay.

Should have no problem getting a full refund via the disputes procedure. Shouldnt beed SCC.

ebay \ paypal dispute is useless as I found out to my detriment the other week. Did you purchase the PC on credit card via Paypal, as this should give you claim cover without having to go through the courts ?

[BolshieBastard]

Just raise an ebay \ paypal dispute. Everything is in the buyer's favour now on ebay.

Should have no problem getting a full refund via the disputes procedure. Shouldnt beed SCC.

[suityou01]

The packaging was OK on this delivery. A funny thing though is the front foot was missing from the server but that would not have happened during transit.

I have checked that all leads are connected. These Sun servers are very well made and leads don't come un-connected very easily. It's a bit of a pain really but I will see how things go with the seller.

Reference the not mentioning the having a tinker comment from someone, you have to take the side off these things to get the disks in. It can take up to eight disks and the whole thing is very well made so if changing components such as fans or power supply then no screwdrivers are required it just plug and play stuff not like usual PC's where the case is too small for the contents and everything is a bit of a mess inside the case.

Usual PCs work.

HTH

[worzelGummidge]

I had the same with a Sun ultra from an ebay seller a few years ago.

In my case, the whole front panel inc the front of the CD drive was ripped off and several of the larger components had been ripped off the motherboard.

The damage was entirely due to poor packaging.

What I did is to take some pictures and emailed them off the seller. From these it was obvious what has happened and I was not trying to pull a fast one. I gave him the option of a replacement or refund. He replaced with another server a few days later and we both ended up giving good feedback and we have done business (another Sun and a SGi) since.

Most people are understanding when presented with the evidence and will sort things out without needing to go through ebay arbitration service, legal action etc.
PZZ

The packaging was OK on this delivery. A funny thing though is the front foot was missing from the server but that would not have happened during transit.

I have checked that all leads are connected. These Sun servers are very well made and leads don't come un-connected very easily. It's a bit of a pain really but I will see how things go with the seller.

Reference the not mentioning the having a tinker comment from someone, you have to take the side off these things to get the disks in. It can take up to eight disks and the whole thing is very well made so if changing components such as fans or power supply then no screwdrivers are required it just plug and play stuff not like usual PC's where the case is too small for the contents and everything is a bit of a mess inside the case.

[TimberWolf]

I had similar with my new desktop, DOA. It turned out that a wire to the hard drive had come loose in transit, partly as consequence of Dell saving 1p on a wire that was too short.

[suityou01]

OK, I know eBay. I have search on this site but have not found anything.

Has anyone else bought a PC on eBay and when delivered it does not power up?

I have just taken delivery of a nice, slightly scratch and but OK Sun Microsystems Ultra 40 but it does not power up.

I have a couple of other Ultra 40's and after trying a few parts from the other machines in the dead one it seems as though it has a motherboard fault.

On powering up nothing happens put there is power going through the power supply. What should happen when powering up one of these beasts is that it initially sounds like a small rocket is going off when all the fans power up but then is a quiet as a mouse.

Has anyone had a similar experience? what did you do when the seller was not interested in a full refund? Go direct to eBay or take the seller to the small claims court?

It's been in transit. Try reseating all the cards.

[Clippy]

I would not mention that you opened it up and did some troubleshooting if I were you.

When you contact the seller just mention it won't power up and as soon as you realised this, you contacted him.

Otherwise, he may use the fact you opened it up as an excuse not to refund/replace.

[pzz76077]

I had the same with a Sun ultra from an ebay seller a few years ago.

In my case, the whole front panel inc the front of the CD drive was ripped off and several of the larger components had been ripped off the motherboard.

The damage was entirely due to poor packaging.

What I did is to take some pictures and emailed them off the seller. From these it was obvious what has happened and I was not trying to pull a fast one. I gave him the option of a replacement or refund. He replaced with another server a few days later and we both ended up giving good feedback and we have done business (another Sun and a SGi) since.

Most people are understanding when presented with the evidence and will sort things out without needing to go through ebay arbitration service, legal action etc.

PZZ

[worzelGummidge]

O.k. Thanks. I will give the seller a chance to refund, then seek help from eBay and then small claims if they play silly buggers.

[SuperZ]

OK, I know eBay. I have search on this site but have not found anything.

Has anyone else bought a PC on eBay and when delivered it does not power up?

I have just taken delivery of a nice, slightly scratch and but OK Sun Microsystems Ultra 40 but it does not power up.

I have a couple of other Ultra 40's and after trying a few parts from the other machines in the dead one it seems as though it has a motherboard fault.

On powering up nothing happens put there is power going through the power supply. What should happen when powering up one of these beasts is that it initially sound like a small rocket is going off when all the fans power up but then is a quiet as a mouse.

Has anyone had a similar experience? what did you do when the seller was not interested in a full refund? Go direct to eBay or take the seller to the small claims court?

Never had the problem but go via eBay first. A full refund has to be given I believe, it's dead on arrival. They will get the seller to refund you, or their account will be closed down.