2 Questions. Phones4u and Ebay

[harathoi]

Firstly lets get to the ebay one, Very simple.. Gentleman purchased an item off of me from (win the auction) Paid the money, contacted me and arranged a date to collect, and then dissapeared..

 

He has good means to contact me (phone, address, email) and has failed to do so.. i still ahve the money and have no way to get it back to him.

 

What do i do?

 

 

 

 

Secondly, I purchased a phone from phones 4 u, (nokia N73) on contract with vodaphone..

 

The phone subsequently developed a fault, (2 months and 22 days after the original purchase) so i took it back to store, to exchange it..

 

i was told that they did not exchange phones after 14 days (regardless of reason) and that my only recourse was to let them send it off to be repaired which could take up to 28 days.. (yeah right.. ) I asked them for a temporary replacement handset and they explained that they did not do it, and my only option was to purchase a phone that my sim card works in.. being vodaphone the pay as you go handset would not be refundable after i had my phone back..

 

Needless to say i quoted my rights as a consumer (thanks CAG most usefull) and they were still defiant.. I contacted head office and explained that

 

"The return and repair of the item would cause me significant inconvenience to me (due to the nature of what i use the phone for)" and requested under this clause in the SoGA they replace the handset for me to which they again refused citing their "contractual 14 day replacement policy"

 

I shouted (well talked firmly) some more and they agree;ed that if i took my handset into the store, they would send me a new one out Via next day courier (once they had confirmed it had been returned to store)

 

I took it back into store, on saturday 13th oct.. called and confirmed on monday 15thto head office, who confirmed that the handset had been left at store. and they would get the new one sent out straight away.

 

I still have not heard anything..

 

 

 

Am i able to claim back the 2 weeks contract that i have not had use of? (£42 per month equating to little over 2 weeks so far and counting)..

 

and what can i do to give them a boot up the arse regarding getting my phone to me.. ?

[Conniff]

I can answer the first one.

You can contact any buyer through ebay email (send him a message). You can have it show your email address to him or not.

 

The experts will be along to answer the other one.

[harathoi]

I can answer the first one.

You can contact any buyer through ebay email (send him a message). You can have it show your email address to him or not.

 

The experts will be along to answer the other one.

we are in contact with him.. what i mean by that is (i didnt word it correctly) he has paid for it, and has agreed to collect, but has never shown.

[Conniff]

If you are sure that the money is in your hands and not a cheque that has been cleared for at least 10 days or is still in your paypal account, then:

 

Send him an email via ebay, so that it will be in ebays system, telling him that the phone is still waiting to be collected.

 

Do not offer to send it to him. There are lots of scams on ebay concerning mobile phones and laptop computers. If this is some sort of [problem] then he will claim non delivery even if you have the delivery receipt and paypal will refund him.

[shywazz]

HI with regards the e.bay phone issue, how was you paid? cash, postal order,cheque, money tranferr, via paypal ?

 

If you got payment via paypal, only sent the phone to the paypal registered address, do-not let the buyer collect it, as this could lead to the buyer saying there never got it, and open a dispute to get the money back, to which you won't have any proof of delivery due to it been collected.

If the buyer is paying upon collection, this is fine, as the goods will be exchanged for the item won, still get some from of signeture when the item is collected, also give a recipt for the money taken.

I never let buyers collect as this can and most likely will result in a item not recieved dispute been opened and you losing the phone and money.

 

It just might be that the buyer has gone on holiday, and will make contact soon, in the mean time, it might be wise to contact e.bay and explain that the buyer won the item and has paid, tell them how you got the money, but there havn't made contact with respect collecting or delivery instructions. E.bay should guide you through there proceedure in such issues.

With regards the phones for you, i see that you have taken a contract with them, didn't you get the phone for free as part of the contract ? Phones on contract should be under warranty for a period discussed as you took the contract, i would have requested there replace the handset, not take it away to fix, as 2 months for a phone to break indicates to me that it could be faulty, is there a exchange clause in your paperwork?

As for getting them to reduce the monthly contract payment, you agreed a monthly usage at a certain charge, if you have 100 mins and 100 texts at say £20 and you only use half of them, this doesnt entitle a refund, however since the phone is broken at no fault to your own, i would at least expect the mins and texts not used during the time the phone is out of action, to be rolled over for a period to please all concerned, there is no harm in asking for this to happen, failing such, can you not put your sim into another phone and continue using your monthly usage that way.

I'd give them a call, and ask when the dispatch date will be and obtain the tracking number from them while your on the phone.

[IdaInFife]

Re ebay:

 

How long are we talking about?

 

You can pull his contact details and give him a ring.

 

If over 1 month or so I would just refund the payment and relist the item.

 

 

Idax

[Weird Al Yankovic]

Phones4u I would say I couldn't care less what their policy is-if the phone was faulty after just two months then they have a statutory right to replace/repair it.

 

Unless they can prove otherwise of course.

 

Ebay? Why go there? They are seemingly a law unto themselves and I wouldn't even bother with them or deal on their site.

 

How do you even phone them?:? Dodgy as hell.

[harathoi]

seems to be some confusion here..

 

2 issues are totally seperate..

 

Gentleman paid for some unused fishing gear that i was selling on ebay.. received money, has yet to collect them.. been 4 months now with him saying "i will be there on this date .... ,"

 

==============================================

 

The phone, was purchased from phones4u, was faulty, they refused to replace, and have insisted that they will exchange the handset for a new 1, i agreed on the premise that i would have it within 7 days, and i have not had it yet..

 

I don't want a reduction in monthly price permanently, I would like to be compensated for the "loss of use" if you like, of the phone, and thus to cover the contract that i am paying for, but not using, (so far 2 weeks worth =£22 ish)

[Conniff]

Ah, right. You should have started seperate threads.

 

The advise I gave above is still relevant however.

 

Don't have any contact with the buyer except through ebay channels so all is on ebay record.

[IdaInFife]

How did he pay? If by paypal you shouldn't have accepted that if he is collection. Refund it and contact the buyer and say if you still want the gear you have 7 days and need to pay cash. Do not accept paypal for collection items.

 

 

for example: if the buyer comes today and collects it. He can then go to his cc company and get the money back (if it was less than 45 days he can start an Item Not Recieved dispute as you have no proof of delviery)

 

If he doesn't collect them relist.

 

 

Idax

[buzby]

The P4u issue is more complex - they certainly have to provide you with a working phone, however if the fault has been cause by the user (misuse, water damage etc), then you're stuck. Your contract is for phone service, supplied by the SIM card. By placing the SIM in a different (working) handset, you would not have been inconvenienced. Therefore P4u will not entertain claims for compensation - neither would any other firm. It's always useful to have a spare phone available for such an eventuality, and to prevent you being out of touch.

[djgordyp]

The P4u issue is more complex - they certainly have to provide you with a working phone, however if the fault has been cause by the user (misuse, water damage etc), then you're stuck. Your contract is for phone service, supplied by the SIM card. By placing the SIM in a different (working) handset, you would not have been inconvenienced. Therefore P4u will not entertain claims for compensation - neither would any other firm. It's always useful to have a spare phone available for such an eventuality, and to prevent you being out of touch.

 

I would agree that if the phone was damaged through misuse then phones4u would not be obliged to repair or replace. Otherwise I would have thought the SOGA would override their 14 day policy and I for one would expect a phone to last longer than 2 months and 22 days regardless of price

[buzby]

Agreed - however whether SOGA applies or not cannot be ascertained on the spot. They do have to send it away for 1st Level inspection - and this means the customer is without a handset. Since they won't be liable for the period the phone is away for checking, it would be nice, but unreasonable to expect them to compensate the owner for not being able to use the handset. If an insurance policy provided for an immediate replacement, that would be different.

[harathoi]

The P4u issue is more complex - they certainly have to provide you with a working phone, however if the fault has been cause by the user (misuse, water damage etc), then you're stuck. Your contract is for phone service, supplied by the SIM card. By placing the SIM in a different (working) handset, you would not have been inconvenienced. Therefore P4u will not entertain claims for compensation - neither would any other firm. It's always useful to have a spare phone available for such an eventuality, and to prevent you being out of touch.

 

I got a phone call from their customer resolution team after i left a message asking what was going on with the replacement handset.

 

Basically as i said above they raised the order, for the new handset on the 15th, and the lady at their end said that the phone had not been shipped.. i said i wasnt happy and i would like them to make every effort to get the phone to me, and she agreed. Without any prompting she offered me compensation for 1 months contract term (sum of £40) and promised to chase the phone up.. the cheque is in the post now, and the phone should be here some time next week.