Concern over eBay purchase taking a long time to deliver

Mr. CooL ICE

I purchased a bass guitar from a seller with acceptable feedback (698, 97.9%) back on 1st August. The item is an 'order to build' item, meaning they start building it as soon as payment is received (they state this clearly), and say it takes 14-21 days to complete, and will contact you to keep you updated on its build status, but I never heard anything from them until I contacted them first.

On August 16th, I contacted them about its production status. They replied, saying it was nearly finished and would be shipped when its done.

On August 30th, no item or contact. I contacted them again. They said they were waiting on parts from an external supplier, and again stated "We inform you regularly of the current production process of your order.".

On Sep 13th, still no item or contact. Their reply was

Hello Mr Lynch,

With regard to your bid for <bass guitar> we started the production as
planned.

Unfortunately we have to inform you that your instrument can not be
completed within the time period stated because of external supplier
problems.

This time lag caused by one of our external supplier can not be made up by
us. Consequently the production will be finished till end of september at
the latest. We inform you at once with regard to the definitive delivery
date. The customer satisfaction is very important for us and we are glad
that our customers appreciate it. But unfortuately we are not 100 per cent
immune against incidents like this matter. We really do our utmost to finish
the production and to send you the bass.

The long waiting period led to an annoyance which we understand and
sympathize with. We are really sorry for this! It was not our fault but we
have to draw the conclusions from this matter. However it would be really
regrettable to lose you as a satisfied customer. We would be very glad if
you understand the decision we made and you have the patience to wait for
the definitive delivery. We formally apologise for the time lag! As
satisfaction of this matter we like to send you sets of strings, plecs and
cable along with your bass for free. As soon as the production is finished
and your instrument ready for shipment you will receive a confirmation by
e-mail.

We apologise for any inconvenience and hope for your understanding!

Still full of sh!te. Since they offered some free stuff, I decided to cut them some slack. Possibly a mistake for being too naive on my part?

On Sep 25th, still no item or contact. An email reply was:

Hello Mr. Lynch,

Your <bass guitar> is nearly finished. We know that we stated the delivery period within the end of september. Because of a delay in delivery of one of our external supplier we could not finish it in time as written.

To be able to offer our instruments to a favourable price we abandon a huge stock and along with it the corresponding costs. However regarding the current production there is a delay again. The great demand caused a delay in production processes so that we had to react and are moved to extend our production and back office. We are glad to be there for you more efficient and faster now. But for this reason we have a delay in the current production process.

Your bass is nearly finished now and because of a fix stated delivery date we'd like to submit you the following offer. Besides the promised free accessories we deliver along with your brand new instrument a brand new gigbag deluxe for more protection and carrying comfort.

However we would be very glad if you understand the decision we made and you have the patience to wait for the definitive completion of production till 15th october and the add-on delivery with UPS. Of course we add the strings, plecs and cable promised.

We do know your annoyance waiting so long for an instrument ordered and we, the whole <seller> Team, formally apologise for this.

If you need any information with regard to your order please do not hesitate to contact our customer service:

Aforementioned free stuff, plus more free stuff.

I decided that if there are any further delays, I will cancel and request a refund. But while reading through the eBay buying guide, I became concerned because I can launch a complaint between 10-60 days after purchasing. Since it is over 60 days since I won the bid and paid for the item, am I still eligible to complain?

P.S. I know I should have had contact from the seller before posting here (I sent an email today, so I'm not expecting a reply for another few days), and made my mind up from reading the eBay policies, but I could only find information regarding items not being delivered, and not items in this situation, where they (supposedly) cannot deliver the item 'yet'. Also, I mentioned 'complaining' because I have a guy feeling that they were just trying to throw me off until after the 60 days were up so I wouldn't be eligible to complain.

Royale with Cheese

Same thing happened to me, well almost the same thing. Buyer came up with a few excuses until the 60 days were up then stopped all contact.

Once it's over 60 days ebay won't do a fucking thing. They'll send you an automated mail full of shite. I couldn't even leave bad feedback for the guy cos it was over 90 days. Get on to your credit card company about it now. They might be able to do a chargeback.

jor el

Since you've already gone outside the time period that eBay or Paypal will allow you to request a refund there's no real hurry (apart from the fact you want you guitar last month of course). Send a mail off to them tomorrow and state that since it's now Oct 15th, the date the told you it would be ready, that you want them to confirm that it is finished now and that they have shipped it. Ask for the shipping info, tracking number, etc. If it's not ready now, tell them you want a full refund immediately as you're not willing to wait any longer.

Give them say, 24 hours to respond. If you hear nothing, or they come back with more fob off BS then do as Cookies says and contact the credit card company for a charge back.

I hope you paid with a card and not from your Paypal cash balance.

Mr. CooL ICE

Didn't expect such prompt replies! Thanks all

Well, apparently its already finished...

The production was already finished successfully.

At the moment it is checked and tuned before it is passed on directly to
our distribution center

Therefore I'm willing to give them one more chance. I emailed asking for shipping info and aexpected delivery date, basically anything just to check their story. If they give me the slightest whiff of BS again, ill straight-out cancel it.

Mr. CooL ICE

For the sake of closure, this matter has finally been resolved.

As mentioned in the last post, I emailed them asking about shipment on the 16th Oct...

me wrote:

Thank you for this. Do you have any shipping information, e.g. tracking number, etc, available? Any expected delivery date?

Thanks

Alas, no reply.

On the 19th, I gave them an ultimatum...

me wrote:

Do you have any tracking or postage information available at all?

Needless to say, I have been very patient up until now. I paid over €200 at the beginning of August, and 2.5 months later, I still have not received anything. At this stage, I don't really believe that I will get anything for it.

To quote every email that I have received from you, "We inform you regularly of the current production process of your order.", this is a lie. I have never heard anything from you until I emailed you first, and even then, the reply wasn't always guaranteed.

So here is the deal. If I don't get any confirmed information about the shipment of my bass guitar by Tuesday (23rd), I am cancelling my order and if needs be, I will contact my credit card company about getting my money back. I do not want any offers of free plectrums and cables, all I want is confirmation that I am not a victim of a scam, because I have every reason to believe that you are scamming me.

It will be in your best interests that I hear from you soon

Again, nothing.

Along came Tuesday (today), so I let them know I definitely wanted to cancel...

me wrote:

I wish to cancel my order. It has taken too long and you have stopped replying to emails.

Please refund me via paypal. You have my information. If you decide to ignore this email, then I will be forced to report you and your UK subsidiary to eBay.

Again, it will be in your best interest to respond to this email

Within about 2 hours, I got this reply:

them wrote:

Hello Mr. Lynch,

We are sorry to hear that you do not want to wait any longer.

We apologise for the delay and that we are not able to keep you as our
satisfied customer.

We will transfer the total amount back to your account at once and hope that
we can close this case in a mutual satisfied way.

We thank you very much and would be glad to hear from you again in the near
future.

Best regards,

Due to my recent dealings with them I didn't believe that they would refund me. But strangely enough, i checked my paypal account, and the full amount was there waiting to be accepted.

Needless to say I am glad this is over! Thanks to all who replied

Ninja_scrotum

Leave them some real dirty feedback the bastards

smilyhat

jor el wrote: »

I hope you paid with a card and not from your Paypal cash balance.

Hi! Im new to eBay (joined last week), and I only have a PayPal account i.e. no card, and I was wondering why its bad to pay from your PayPal account?