I think I may have been taken for a ride (without a bike)

[JeRkY]

Some of you may remember the following from the ebay watch forum:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/mountain-bike_W0Q ... dZViewItem

Well some people said they were a little concerned about the lack of feedback, I personally took some comfort in the fact the account had been around for a few years. But it seems I have been screwed.

A few days after the auction I recieved a message from another Ebay user who had bid and won an auction for a road bike that was on at the same time as mine. He was worried that he hadnt heard back from the seller.

I personally had no time to deal with it at the time as i was about to go on holliday.

I have since sent half a dozen messages and recieved no reply, and this morning i requested the user details from ebay so i could phone and enquire what the hold up was.

the number i was given was 0132581721 which is the right area code ish for where the seller is meant to be from but on phoning it I find it doesnt work. I checked on http://www.ukphoneinfo.com/section/tci/locator.shtml
to see if it could shed any light and it gave me the following message:

Warning: Numbers starting 01325 81 are probably not valid.

Oftel records show that numbers starting 01325 81 are protected from allocation . Where numbering capacity has been withdrawn from service, the block or code is sterilised for a period, typically 2 years. Alternatively the Oftel Numbering Unit might protect capacity for a limited period, to avoid dialling errors into similar codes.

So now I have started proceedings with ebay / paypal.

And am also setting out on my mission to find Mr Dean Leach

User ID: megsxr
Name: dean leach
Company:
City: darlington
County: Durham
Country: United Kingdom
Phone: 0132581721
Registered Since: Friday, 17 Mar, 2006 09:55:16 GMT

I might try adding him to MSN tonight.

I had to phone another user on saturday to request a refund or the item (a wheelset) that he failed to send a month ago, he was very appologetic but if I dont recieve either the money or the wheels by thursday morning I will be back on paypal launching another dispute.

 

[orange71]

bad news all round... hope you get some resolution...

 

[cherrybomb]

That doesn't sound too great. I hope you manage to sort stuff.

 

[theboy]

bummer, it was going to be me if you didnt win, so I can feel the pain...

PayPal are usually pretty good at getting you your money back, its just a shame as it looks like youre not going to get the bike

 

[JeRkY]

Has any one ever had any success with a paypal dispute? The auction stated it was protected upto £150 (not stated by the seller, but by paypals logo) so I should be OK.

The dispute is open for 20 days before I have to close it or elevate it to higher proceedings, do I have to wait this long since the evidence is suggesting its more of a rip off than a missunderstanding/slow poster?

Bah...annoyed! :evil:

 

[tintin40]

It's things like this that have made me close my ebay a/c ASAP. The hassle/pain/anger factor just make it not worth it

Nice avatar jerky

 

[Calorian]

Hey guys,

Sorry to hear about the bad experience.

Launch a paypal dispute, leave it say 2-3 working days just to be on the safe side then esculate it. Paypal are always more than happy to help and do so quickly and effectively.

Dont go about closing your Ebay account though, as was previously mentioned, because these sorts of things happen once ina blue moon, but when they do they can be annoying, granted.


Cheers

 

[billinjah]

we need a bad seller / buyer sticky that guy lyndonbent i had bad experiences with has been sending obscene emails. Ebay have allowed him to leave me a negative feedback even though he got an non paying bidder strike and i got the fees back!

 

[JeRkY]

Slight update:

sorry i havn't got back 2 you had sum family trouble im sending the bike off 2 u tomorow sorry again for the delay

Im not closing the paypal dispute (or holding my breath) just yet as it may just be an attempt to make me stop the paypal persuit.

Still, Fingers crossed!