A lesson learnt on e-bay

[macabethiel]

I bought some Leather Food / cleaner for our Sofa from a UK supplier and it was quite a large quantity for the price so should have realised it was too good to be true..

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Leather-ST...53.m2749.l2649

When it arrived I did as advised on the instructions and tried a test on a small section at the rear of the Sofa. The blue dye started to run almost immediately so I stopped and e-mailed the seller with the problem. The stuff was the consistency of Low Fat Milk not a decent cream- - all solvent perhaps.

At first I got the "This has never happened before" line. After an exchange of messages via a "Manager" they agreed to send me a free returns label and they would give me a refund on receipt of the goods.

Sent it back and obtained proof of postage and after a few weeks no sign of a refund. Advised that they had checked the tracking and it was still with the courier Royal Mail. Another week passes and told it still had not arrived at their warehouse.

Asked how long it would be before they decided it was lost in the post and claim from Royal Mail. Then got the sad line that they had sent me a return postage label that they had paid for so they were out of pocket on the transaction!

Pointed out that I had paid for the item in good faith and now had nothing for my money. Then told to make a claim from the Post Office. Checked with the Post Office and was advised that the claim had to be made by the person who paid for the returns label.

Advised them that they had to make a claim as they paid for the returns postage and that as the receiver of the goods they would have to declare they had not had the item back. Then advised that they would have to seek advice from the "Manager". Eventually received a platitude that they wanted to keep me happy and a claim was being processed and after having to again send a photo of the Proof of Postage told refund would be in 48 hours.

Meanwhile checked with e-bay and as I did not raise a case in the first instance with them within 28 days no refund from e-bay. They had even read my exchange of messages with the seller but sorry it's out of time. E-bay said try PayPal which I did as they have a 90 day time limit but my transaction did not fit the PayPal criteria.

The 48 hours has now lapsed and still no refund as yet. So much for trying to resolve an issue with the seller before raising a case with e-bay. In future I shall raise a case first then try to be reasonable with the seller.

[jims-terrano]

Typical ebay user that gives ebay a bad name.

[Monaro Pete]

I'm on with a similar problem.
I purchased a "mint condition, never been used" padlock.

The shackle has slight abrasions on the inside face like when
it would have rested whilst locked.
I clearly stated to the seller that Abloy wouldn't let a lock through QC in this state.
He also said he posted it out Monday...... He posted it yesterday as it arrived by special delivery today.
Why do some sellers think we're all chumps???

See what he has to say.

[Monaro Pete]

The silly bugger's gone & amended the listing to say "used". He doesn't realise that I still have the original listing on my ebay landing page for what I purchased

[panelbeater]

on ebay,i paid for an item on pay pal that had not arrived and raised it with bay,they gave a time for when seller should respond but did not.
i then went vanning and the date cut off piont went well past.
so last evening about 1800 i re raised it with pay pal, and after about 2hr i had a mail from pp that they had refunded in full so credit where its due i think.

[Monaro Pete]

If I'm honest PB. I can't fault eBay for the way I have been treated in the past with refunds given.
I purchased some dash cams from Ching Chong which never arrived & eBay where quite good. There's been a few previous occasions in the too which have turned out good

I just hate it when I'm lied to by sellers

[rustic]

I have had some good experiences from far eastern suppliers, they really value their feedback, and if an item hasn't arrived as per date promised, they will resend, or give a refund. I bought an IP 65 "water proof" micro switch from China, I thought if this is waterproof I'd be surprised, but hey ho... it arrived, it had a nice junction box seal, yep... water proof, gland thread neaded a dab of sealant, ok fair enough, but the actuator into the micro switch was totally open, as were the connections. A quick email with a definition of what IP ratings were was quickly responded with a full refund and a promise that they would amend the listing, which they did.
My experience with far eastern products is they know they must have the CE mark, IP rating labels etc, so they put them on, however they didn't know that there is a laboratory of test results that relate to that actual product that support it.
It appears to me, they take an approved product, reverse engineer it, copy it, build it, label it and sell it.

I would never be the importer of a CE marked product that was going anywhere near the mains supply.

Power supplies may have a CE mark, but for only use in a particular industry, I tested quite a few in industry, they often failed the testing due to over heating, some in fact caught fire, they fitted thermal fuses, ok if they overheated, they failed safe, but after a time the manufacturer was looking to cost cut, and actually removed the thermal fuses, back to square one.... we were placed in a total product recall situation... They didn't do that again.
However... other companies that clone products, would probably not fit these thermal fuses anyway.

Just remember where you left that newspaper when you last charged your iphone, with that cheap "genuine Apple" charger.

Do you unplug unused adapters at night? or if you leave home?
Rustic

[macabethiel]

Originally Posted by rustic

Do you unplug unused adapters at night? or if you leave home?
Rustic

I have one of those double mains switched 3 pin sockets with a pair of built in USB outlets that we charge our phones with most of the time.

Trouble is the USB outputs are not operated through the socket switch so are effectively always "ON". Bought it in 2015 and they still work but wish the socket switch operated the USB power. The socket is mounted in our kitchen wall that is tiled so am hoping fire risk is minimal !

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-x-2Amp-U...1%26rkt%3D1%26

[rustic]

Originally Posted by macabethiel

I have one of those double mains switched 3 pin sockets with a pair of built in USB outlets that we charge our phones with most of the time.

Trouble is the USB outputs are not operated through the socket switch so are effectively always "ON". Bought it in 2015 and they still work but wish the socket switch operated the USB power. The socket is mounted in our kitchen wall that is tiled so am hoping fire risk is minimal !

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-x-2Amp-U...1%26rkt%3D1%26

It wouldn't be too bad if the power to the USB was activated when the metal plug is inserted, a bit like bathroom shaver sockets, they sit there 24/7 waiting for a plug, but only then be live and use power.

In my opinion, as an electronic engineer, is the wall mounted USB sockets are a hazzard waiting to happen, if they contain an electrolytic capacitor, over time they dry out, eventually they do go pop... some over heat, some explode, and often the cause of many power supply failures. The point is, these capacitors also degrade over time, but not as fast as when they are taking power, or worse when hot.

The point is... in plasterboard walls, there are often gaps between the brick and the plasterboard, when using the dab method, and often the paper of the plasterboard is exposed and only a few mm from the wall socket.
Nice chimney effect here !!!

I bought a pair of these sockets once, handled them, looked at the back box... thought about the risks, then thought, these are going to be live 24/7, when my grand kids are in bed....
What will they will be like in 15-20 years ?? (The sockets, not the grand kids lol..)

I took them back to screwfix next day. I would never fit these.

I use the usb adapters, that have a socket on them, so you don't loose use of the socket. Even then, one product was recalled by Home Bargains a few weeks back due to a safety issue, luckily I happend to be reading the notices in the window, when I realised it was one that we had on the boat. That was close....

Uncle Rustic

[emjaybee]

Originally Posted by rustic

It wouldn't be too bad if the power to the USB was activated when the metal plug is inserted, a bit like bathroom shaver sockets, they sit there 24/7 waiting for a plug, but only then be live and use power.

In my opinion, as an electronic engineer, is the wall mounted USB sockets are a hazzard waiting to happen, if they contain an electrolytic capacitor, over time they dry out, eventually they do go pop... some over heat, some explode, and often the cause of many power supply failures. The point is, these capacitors also degrade over time, but not as fast as when they are taking power, or worse when hot.

The point is... in plasterboard walls, there are often gaps between the brick and the plasterboard, when using the dab method, and often the paper of the plasterboard is exposed and only a few mm from the wall socket.
Nice chimney effect here !!!

I bought a pair of these sockets once, handled them, looked at the back box... thought about the risks, then thought, these are going to be live 24/7, when my grand kids are in bed....
What will they will be like in 15-20 years ?? (The sockets, not the grand kids lol..)

I took them back to screwfix next day. I would never fit these.

I use the usb adapters, that have a socket on them, so you don't loose use of the socket. Even then, one product was recalled by Home Bargains a few weeks back due to a safety issue, luckily I happend to be reading the notices in the window, when I realised it was one that we had on the boat. That was close....

Uncle Rustic

+1 on the 13A sockets with USB.

I'm an electrician by trade and I personally wouldn't fit these sockets for myself or any of my customers.

[macabethiel]

Originally Posted by rustic

It wouldn't be too bad if the power to the USB was activated when the metal plug is inserted, a bit like bathroom shaver sockets, they sit there 24/7 waiting for a plug, but only then be live and use power.

In my opinion, as an electronic engineer, is the wall mounted USB sockets are a hazzard waiting to happen, if they contain an electrolytic capacitor, over time they dry out, eventually they do go pop... some over heat, some explode, and often the cause of many power supply failures. The point is, these capacitors also degrade over time, but not as fast as when they are taking power, or worse when hot.

The point is... in plasterboard walls, there are often gaps between the brick and the plasterboard, when using the dab method, and often the paper of the plasterboard is exposed and only a few mm from the wall socket.
Nice chimney effect here !!!

Uncle Rustic

You are playing on my fears here !
I might do yearly inspections to check for overheating.

Luckily all my ground floor walls are solid with no plaster board - all old fashioned plastered walls with Thistle then Plaster finished.
Upstairs all internal walls are solid except for the small section of the dormer roof sides that form our loft storage space in the bedrooms.
The house was built in 1968/9 by a small builder who seems to have done things the old way.
When we had our boiler replaced the Plumber could not believe we have 3 substantial RSJ's that run across the middle width of the upstairs floor ! Two of these RSJ's seem to be just to stop the roof from pushing the walls apart as they serve no obvious purpose !