Gruesome eBay Situation - Please Advise

[Ryan Dean]

Ok, I have a very ugly situation on my hands. This is kind of long so please bear with me, I am getting desperate and welcome any advice.

 

Almost two months ago, I ordered a Roland a90 from an individual on eBay. I was about to move out of my apartment and into a new one, but at the time I ordered it I had almost two weeks until I had to be out of my old place, which would have been plenty of time to receive the unit before the move. Unfortunately, the guy I bought it from (call him Jack) did not get around to sending it until about 8-9 days after I ordered it. I knew this was going to be an issue, so I told the people who run the office of my apartments to keep an eye out for my package and sign for it and hold it there. I knew that this was a special request, but they all agreed to do so, so I could just get the keyboard from them when they received it.

 

Since I was moving, I was without internet access for a number of days. Of course, during this time, UPS attemped to deliver the keyboard to the apartment I had just moved out of and the office folks promptly told them I had moved and did not accept the package (contrary to our agreement). So UPS attempted to deliver it next to an apartment I lived at years ago, saw that it was vacant, and proceeded to return it to the sender in California (I live in Houston, TX).

 

Now keep in mind that this is a 77-lb, over 5-ft long beast of a package.

 

So I find out about this just as it becomes too late to do anything about it. After a few discussions with UPS I suck it up and just fork over the extra $150 to have it re-sent back to me. Fortunately Jack (the seller) was cool about the slight extra hassle required on his end and simply re-shipped it to me (to my work address this time).

 

I finally receive the keyboard, and guess what. After being in transit over a month, seven of the keys were broken and it showed obvious signs of droppage. Clearly, I thought, seven broken keys is unacceptable and UPS should do something about this. I contact UPS about this and they tell me that they will pick up the package, take it to an inspection center, and file a damage claim.

 

This sounded great to me, as I assumed this meant I would probably at least get re-imbursed enough money to repair the keys. So I bundled the beast back up and they retrieved it. Days later, upon checking its online tracking, I discover that they are sending it BACK to Jack in California. After a few calls to UPS I learn that it is their policy to complete all damage claims solely with the shipper of a product, not the receiver. (WHY did they not tell me this to begin with!?!?!?)

 

So here I am in my present situation. Jack has my keyboard, the money I paid for the board, and rights to whatever re-imbursement UPS is going to pay for the damage. And I have nothing. And now Jack will not answer or return my calls or e-mails. I know that UPS has completed whatever claim business they need to, but they will only disclose the details to the sender.

 

Due to the initial wrong-address problem, by the time this situation arose it was too late to file a claim with Paypal. I have just a couple of days left to report the issue with eBay, which I intend to do, but I have been trying to keep things civil and cool between Jack and I with the hopes that he would just do the right thing and resolve this whole deal with some integrity.

 

 

Has anyone ever had a problem like this? What can I do? It seems that I might as well have just flushed the $1000 I spent on the board and all the shipping down the toilet. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

Ryan

 

[wd8dky]

I had that exact situation happen once; you are definitely at the mercy of the shipper and his "mood." I was unfortunate enough to have been dealing with someone who could care less, so I was scrod. Like you, this guy refused to respond to me. I'm guessing he pocketed whatever funds they sent, if any. This was about 6 years ago.

 

More recently I received a brand-new, but damaged PA speaker (it had obviously been dropped in shipping as the driver had separated itself from the horn, shearing the mounting screws right off the horn). UPS came to my house, picked it up, talked to me about it over the phone while they disassembled it, and sent a check to the shipper (the amount he had insured it for). This guy was a human being, and he sent me the check directly.

 

I wish I had better news to share with you.

[Prague]

Just stay on top of the situation. Make sure you have the paper trail in order, too.

[SilverDragonSoun]

Did you pay with a credit card? If yes than you do have some recourse. Call your credit card company and file a fraud charges. Call Ebay and tell them you never received the item and that you want to initiate a claim. If you paid through paypal, start a dispute form and have them investigate. This guy will get bombareded with inquiries from all these different places if he gave them legitimate. The whole thing with paypal not opening a dispute is crap. Your credit card company will file on behalf of you and pressure them to do it. If you paid by crecit card, things are not as bad as they seem. I've been on both sides of the coin with these types of situations and can certainly help you with any information if you'd like. I just hope you paid by credit card. It makes this whole process easier.

[Tonysounds]

If you paypaled, you also have recourse, although it take 30-45 days. But there is a window, so if you Paypaled, START YOUR CLAIM PROCESS IMMEDIATELY.

 

I'm sure we don't need to point out the folly of having purchasing something on ebay to be delivered that close to your move; should have sent it to work in the first place.

 

Remember that the seller is obligated to ship within 7 days of your payment when you file your claim with Ebay and with PayPal.

[synthEsquire]

I have sent you a PM on this Ryan.

[Bobadohshe]

Such occurences freak me out and make me hesitant to gamble on certain E-bay situations. Please keep us posted on the outcome Ryan, even if it's in a few weeks. I'd like to hear how this turns out and how it gets dealt with.

[DafDuc]

I had something like that happen - though no ebay involvement - and I got the repairs handled at my end. But in my case the seller remained cooperative. He was also shipping from (and was president of) a business, which helped immensely - UPS seems to presume incompetent packing when it's just individuals involved.

 

Anyhow, mostly a happy ending, but my keyboard never wound up back in the seller's hands. Good luck.

 

Daf

[JohnH]

Oh man, I had no idea this could happen. I had an RD-500 sent to me last year (first ebay purchase) and it was the same situation. The RD was for use as a back up keyboard. I just went ahead and fixed the broken hammers myself, since I have parts inventory and know how to do it. I am glad I didn't try to file a claim, it was a money order sale. this is horrible!!!!!!

 

JH

[SilverDragonSoun]

Such occurences freak me out and make me hesitant to gamble on certain E-bay situations. Please keep us posted on the outcome Ryan, even if it's in a few weeks. I'd like to hear how this turns out and how it gets dealt with.

 

I echo keeping us informed as well. The more we know the better prepared we are on how to deal with these things. If you also have questions on what to do next afetr something happensd post here as some of us have had to deal with similar issues. Good luck!

[Garrafon]

You could sue him....probably small claims court in seller's town. Even though it isn't his "fault" exactly, he still has your money and the goods.

[Ryan Dean]

I really appreciate all of the concern from you guys. So here's a few updates to my situation.

 

On the positive side, I have talked to the seller a few times since the post. He is being very cool, extremely cooperative, and I really believe he is not trying to rip me off. He just wants the transaction to be done with, him to have his money, me to have the keyboard, and all of the problems to go away. That said, let me re-iterate that I really doubt that the keyboard was broken before he shipped it. A 77-lb, 5-ft long keyboard that spends a month being shipped around and tossed from truck to truck by guys who are probably pissed off at having to lug such a heavy and awkward package is pretty much doomed. Especially since there was no indication whatsoever on the box that the contents were FRAGILE(!!!), oh no, just the oh-so-helpful warning that it's a 'heavy box'.

 

But anyway, the seller is being cooperative and cool about everything. But here's the bad news. UPS is saying that, upon inspection, there is no visible damage. So they are currently refusing to reimburse a dime. I'm not sure if their inspection was on the contents, or just the box itself, because the keyboard is CLEARLY damaged. Even the box was pretty jacked up... I had to use a ridiculous amount to tape to secure it back together for re-shipping (it had to be in the original packaging). I wonder if the tape masked the box's wounds...

 

So I am now waiting on the seller to try to prove to them that it was in fact damaged and get back to me. Of course, I doubt he's going to fight as hard as I would to get something done about it, but at least he's trying.

 

To be honest though, after the risk of losing it all, I'm starting to think I should just cut my losses, take the broken board, and shut my mouth. But the last thing I want to do is fork over another $150 to have it shipped back out to me, which I suspect is what's gonna happen. I think I've already sunk enough money into this thing. But if worse comes to worst, I guess it's better to do that than come out completely empty-handed.

 

But I mean, come on, $1100 for a Roland A90 with seven broken keys and possible internal damage? I like the board a lot, but I doubt I'd even be willing to pay that for a mint one.

 

Ryan

 

P.S. Just a reminder, cuz I saw a couple of posts about this. I did try to file a claim with Paypal as soon as I realized how UPS handled damaged packages. But by that time it was too late, the claim has to be filed within 45 days of purchase. They were very adamant over the phone that since it had been over that time period (I think it was about 50 days) there was nothing they could do to help me.

[SilverDragonSoun]

P.S. Just a reminder, cuz I saw a couple of posts about this. I did try to file a claim with Paypal as soon as I realized how UPS handled damaged packages. But by that time it was too late, the claim has to be filed within 45 days of purchase. They were very adamant over the phone that since it had been over that time period (I think it was about 50 days) there was nothing they could do to help me.

 

 

Call your credit card company, file a dispute over a charge with them and they will file an inquiry which will force paypal to answer to them. This happened to me. My credit card company launched an investigation and reimbursed my money.