Ebay- Protecting my credit rating.

[Wethers82]

I recently had a dispute with Ebay that made me realise that Ebay's email support staff were completely useless. For the story to make any sense, please read below. I know its long but if you could spare a couple of minutes to read it through it'd be appreciated as always.

 

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I sold four items on ebay:

Ericsson K750i £70

Nokia 6230 £60

Two Videos = £2

 

That's all I ever sold. Then eBay sent me a bill asking for £131. How could I possibly owe this? After thinking for a while I thought that maybe the fraudulent bid made for one of my phones that reached a total of £3,000 could be to do with it. (Just like BottumBurp, I also emailed the account holder and discussed cancelling the bid)

 

I sent many emails to ebay and recieved emails back from them but none were of any help. I informed them of the fraudulent bid and asked them time and time again for break-down of my cost and they kept saying 'please understand you must make this payment'.

I'm not exaggerating when I say I sent and recieved a total of 20 emails from eBay but none of THEIR emails were any use. Even one of their emails said 'Dear ****, I'm sorry to hear that you have made a payment and we have not recieved it' ......Where did that come from? Are these people even reading their emails?

 

Anyway, I got one call from their debt collecting team and I basically BEGGED her to take it to court. That same day I printed out a list of all the conversations we had, covernotes and overview. But that call was six month ago and I've heard nothing since (except the occassional email from eBay billing me for the same amount).

 

When it comes to customer service, eBay are up there with the worst. I hope they take me to court, that way I can get some extra money from them for wasting court time.

 

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Now I'm concerned that their debt collection team have given me a bad credit rating due to this issue, and of course this isn't fair as I'm being unfairly targeted to pay something that I don't owe. How can I find out if they've damaged my credit rating?

[Guest ian cognito]

You can get a free months trial from Experian Credit Expert, check credit rating, credit reports & file alerts - with Experian CreditExpert.co.uk, you have to give card details so make sure you cancel it before the month is up. Let us know if they have, never heard of a credit rating from e-bay before, and yes, they are about as bad as it gets.

[Movingon]

eBay cannot affect your credit rating without a Court Order; they do not provide credit in any way, shape or form and as such are not regulated by the Consumer Credit Act. The "Default Process" used by credit providers is provisioned by s.87 of the Consumer Credit Act and to my knowledge is not replicated elsewhere.

 

In order to have ANY EFFECT on your credit rating, they would have to obtain a county court judgement against you. As long as you have never acknowledged any debt to them, as long as you have never made any payment to them, as long as they have ceased to pursue you... you have NOTHING to worry about.

 

If they DO chase you, and eventually take you to court, then you will have plenty of opportunity to frame and present a defence.

[Guest ian cognito]

This was my first thought, then i remembered mobile phone companies, they are not governed by the CCA, nor do they provide credit, but they quite happily destroy your credit rating for 6 years if you don't pay your bill!!!

[Movingon]

This was my first thought, then i remembered mobile phone companies, they are not governed by the CCA, nor do they provide credit, but they quite happily destroy your credit rating for 6 years if you don't pay your bill!!!

 

...which you can challenge successfully.

[sortingitout]

...which you can challenge successfully.

 

I got defaulted with Orange 6months ago, i have payed and cancelled the contract now, but could you point me in the right direction to remove this, thanks:)

[Wethers82]

So it still won't effect my credit rating?

[Movingon]

So it still won't effect my credit rating?

 

No because eBay/PayPal do not provide credit; the only way it can go on your credit file is via a County Court Judgement.

 

I got defaulted with Orange 6months ago, i have payed and cancelled the contract now, but could you point me in the right direction to remove this, thanks

 

It depends if (a) you signed a Credit Agreement and (b) if they defaulted you using a Court Order. I suggest you start your own thread and give full details.

[buzby]

So it still won't effect my credit rating?

 

I'm assuming the phones you bought were pre-owned and not new with a contract? If so, you did not enter into a service contract with any network, so your credit rating (not to be confused with taking out a credit agreement) based on your payment record with eBay or its DCA will not be an issue, as the eBay T&Cs to not advise they disclose to third parties, and the DCA cannot do it either.

[Movingon]

I'm assuming the phones you bought were pre-owned and not new with a contract? If so, you did not enter into a service contract with any network, so your credit rating (not to be confused with taking out a credit agreement) based on your payment record with eBay or its DCA will not be an issue, as the eBay T&Cs to not advise they disclose to third parties, and the DCA cannot do it either.

 

Regardless of that, a "Default" is a legal process provided for under the Consumer Credit Act, and nowhere else. The CRA's cannot report a default unless the matter being discussed comes under the auspices of the CCA.

[buzby]

I beg to differ. You of all people are aware that CRAs use the term 'default' and encourage their clients to treat it as if it held the same legal status as a 'Default' (note the capitalisation) issued by the courts.

 

Therefore, anyone can be in 'default' of something without recourse to court action, a quick look in this sub-forum of the number of CAG members being in default of their mobile phone contract is a case in point, and it is this point I am clarifying.

 

If you feel that no CRA has the right to list a default against an individual simply because there is no CCJ or Decree attached to it, you've missed the point completely.

[Movingon]

Not at all... but please feel free to show me the legislation which permits eBay to list a "Default" against a person if they were to amend their TC to permit disclosure to a third party? Like I said, "Default" is a legally defined term and therefore can have no other meaning in a Court. If the CRA's list a Default against me where there is none in Law, I believe I may have a fairly good case for misreresentation of personal data under the DPA AND the CCA (seeing as it affects my ability to gain credit). If they are to list "Defaults" then they must be prepared to defend the use of that term in Law - and unless the Consumer Credit Act is involved, they simply CANNOT.

[ScarletPimpernel]

Ebay are hopeless. Some months ago there was a spate of incidents reported on their own boards when many people were pursued by Robinson, Way or Intrum Justicia for debts to Ebay that simply did not exist.

 

My own experience was as one of a group claiming against them for goods that did not arrive. The police were involved, and Ebay's ineptitude and slow responses may well have contributed to the individual involved not being arrested. Actually getting the money from them took many months, and queries were usually met with template responses that made no sense. personal responses were usually risibly absurd. Amongst the gems were: 'Our Swiss bank will issue payment, and it isn't possible to send wire transfers from Switzerland' and 'we don't respond to letters quickly because they have to be quarantined as part of our anti-terrorist procedures". Eventually the cheque arrived, drawn on a Dutch bank...

 

Anyway, you could always try surprising Ebay by getting their latest UK phone number from The Auction Guild Inc - MAIN They try to avoid speaking to customers, but you never know...

[buzby]

Not at all... but please feel free to show me the legislation which permits eBay to list a "Default" against a person if they were to amend their TC to permit disclosure to a third party?.

 

Not the issue I'm discussing, the OP was concerned a default could be registered on their credit file by eBay's collection company. I was pointing out that they could note, as their T&C do not permit this, and cannot be made retrospective by a change in the T&Cs. (Which is why the Government is attempting to legislate that the banks can disclose details of their customers financial matters to CRAs because they had the good sense to sign up 18 years ago, before CRA disclosure became a requirement.

 

Additionally, since eBay cannot list a 'Default' without going to court, I'm losing track of what tangent this is to the main argument.

[buzby]

Ebay are hopeless. Anyway, you could always try surprising Ebay by getting their latest UK phone number from The Auction Guild Inc - MAIN They try to avoid speaking to customers, but you never know...

 

I did better than that - fed up with their template letters that did not address the issues, I went to their HQ in Blanchardstown (Dublin) and asked to speak to someone. After awaiting 20 minutes they told me the person I needed to speak to was in a meeting. I said no problem, I'd wait - as I'd travelled 200 miles by plane to resolve this. After a further 20 minutes I was then told by the receptionist that the person would be unable to speak with me and there was nobody else. I said I wasn't going anywhere, and to find someone.

 

Security was called, and I had to explain the whole thing to them. They dealt it unreasonable in a building of 400 folk, nobody could address the issue or at least meet with me, however they could not assist. The suggested I write a letter to be passed to the person the following day, along with supporting documentation (which I had brought with me). I was assured the matter would be dealt with.

 

Four weeks later, I received a template email response in reply to my visit, ignoring everything in the letter and not moving the issue forward. I'm going back again, this time with a pair of handcuffs....

[Guest ian cognito]

It's not very often it happens, but for once I agree with Buzby, I had a default on my credit report, not covered by the CCA and I only managed to get it removed because of an error on Vodafones part, Dayglos recent case appears to back the companies, CRA's and ICO in this, however valid you feel your own arguments are.

 

However, think it has already been defined that EBay don't process data to the CRA's so in this case there will be no damage done.

 

On the positive side, Ebay themselves are being pursued through the courts by some pretty big companies reference counterfeit goods so thats something to look forward to.