What To Do?

J

Jeff Stevens

Freshman
Jan 16, 2011
23
0
0
SF Bay Area, California
Hi,

I have a quick question of the "what would you do" nature.

The theatre I work for bought a pair of used speakers from a seller on eBay. This seller owns a sound production company in Alabama, so it seemed on the up and up. They were advertised in excellent condition so we decided that we would buy them with a credit card through PayPal. The speakers were delivered last Wednesday and we attempted to install them on Saturday. When we turned them on for the first time, we noticed that one of the speakers did not sound right in the high frequencies. The seller claimed that they were working when they sent them out. After talking with him, he agreed that we would let the manufacturer be the judge and evaluate them.

I contacted the manufacturer and they evaluated the speakers and found that it had a damaged driver. Because we are in tech this week and there is a significant time crunch, we went ahead and authorized repairs to the speakers with the expectation that the seller would reimburse us. He initially refused, claiming they were tested before they were sent out. He could not provide the traces of the test and eventually offered to pay for half. I think he should pay for it all, as the speakers were well packed and the damage was physical and could not have been caused simply by over driving them.

His current line is that if I refuse his offer, I should take it up with eBay. Any suggestions?

~Jeff
 
Re: What To Do?

I know this is of little help, but this is the very reason I use an escrow service for such purchases. If they won't do escrow, I won't do the deal. That way you're both protected and it is worth the cost of the service IMO.
 
Re: What To Do?

Jeff Stevens said:
Hi,

I have a quick question of the "what would you do" nature.

The theatre I work for bought a pair of used speakers from a seller on eBay. This seller owns a sound production company in Alabama, so it seemed on the up and up. They were advertised in excellent condition so we decided that we would buy them with a credit card through PayPal. The speakers were delivered last Wednesday and we attempted to install them on Saturday. When we turned them on for the first time, we noticed that one of the speakers did not sound right in the high frequencies. The seller claimed that they were working when they sent them out. After talking with him, he agreed that we would let the manufacturer be the judge and evaluate them.

I contacted the manufacturer and they evaluated the speakers and found that it had a damaged driver. Because we are in tech this week and there is a significant time crunch, we went ahead and authorized repairs to the speakers with the expectation that the seller would reimburse us. He initially refused, claiming they were tested before they were sent out. He could not provide the traces of the test and eventually offered to pay for half. I think he should pay for it all, as the speakers were well packed and the damage was physical and could not have been caused simply by over driving them.

His current line is that if I refuse his offer, I should take it up with eBay. Any suggestions?

~Jeff
Click to expand...

How much are we talking here? If it's a TAD 4001, then I might take the time to try to look into what your options are. For a PSD2002 I would ask the seller to pay and if he refused leave negative feedback and move on with my life. It's not worth the trouble at that point.
 
Re: What To Do?

You said they were well packed, but what does that mean? If they were thrown off a loading dock 3 times, it probably won't matter how well they're packed. If the damage is physical, it could be due to shipping, and in that case, it's no one's fault, provided they were packed reasonably well. What condition were the boxes in when you received them? Did you keep the packing?

I used to sell a lot on eBay, and got pretty annoyed with the trigger-finger negative feedback people. They wouldn't even bother to contact me about a problem, when most of the time it was out of my hands, they would just leave negative and hurt my reputation for something I couldn't have done anything to prevent (but could have helped them fix, if they had just asked!)

One thing that majorly sucks with Paypal is that you can open a dispute and send the speakers back, and the seller is forced to refund the money, often including return shipping. All you need is proof of shipment and the bill.
 
Re: What To Do?

I think the only mistake was expecting the seller to cover getting them fixed. You probably should have checked with them before oking the repair. If they refused to pay for repair you could have just returned them.
 
Re: What To Do?

Silas Pradetto said:
One thing that majorly sucks with Paypal is that you can open a dispute and send the speakers back, and the seller is forced to refund the money, often including return shipping. All you need is proof of shipment and the bill.
Click to expand...

Plus, of course, you could send an empty flightcase back, and as long as the proof of delivery is there, PayPal will automatically yank the money from the sellers account.
 
Re: What To Do?

I still have the packing materials, and although I am not a fan of UPS, I don't see how it could be their fault. The speakers were double boxed, with popcorn and paper between each layer. The boxes were taped around each edge and had no signs of damage.

I have not left feedback yet, because I wanted to give him the opportunity to fix it. Last night, he finally agreed to pay the full amount. So at least that is fixed. It was not that the expense was so huge, only about $400 on a speaker that cost a thousand, but more the principle of it. He promised speakers in "excellent" condition and then denied any responsibility when there was a problem. Escrow is seeming like the only way to go after this episode.

Thanks though.

~Jeff
 
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