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Last month, I ordered Fatal Frame III: The Tormented via an online store on ebay.
They had a 99.5% positive rating out of almost 25,000 feedbacks so I figured they'd be pretty good.
I waited almost a month, but the item never arrived. I contacted them about a week ago, and they responded within a day saying that, if I wanted, they'd send me another copy when they "got more in stock" or they could give me a refund. I opted to wait for them to send me the game.
Well, today, I received an email from ebay saying that they had opened an Unpaid Item dispute, claiming that we had "mutually agreed to end the transaction". This kind of pissed me off, so I rejected the dispute and left as a comment a short tirade about how I'd never received the item and so couldn't return it (as the email implied was expected) and that if they couldn't hold up their end of the deal, then I would accept a refund. Then I wrote a somewhat heated (though civil) email to the seller asking them why they had ended the transaction without first trying to at least contact me and tell me they were going to do so. I told them I'd prefer to get the item but I would accept a refund if they couldn't hack it.
Then I checked PayPal and saw that they had already refunded the money. I had not received any sort of notification from either the seller or ebay or Paypal that this had occurred, but it still made me feel a bit bad that I had rejected their dispute, which, apparently, prevents them from receiving a credit from ebay for their ebay expenses. So I sent an email to ebay asking them to reverse my position on the dispute (even though we still technically had not "mutually agreed" to end the transaction before that point) so that the seller could at least get their credit. I mean, really, it sucks that I didn't get my game, but I did at least get my money back. They apparently lost their merchandise altogether, which sucks for them.
(EDIT) And, the more I think about it, in the end it is more likely that something simply got screwed up with my email, given that I didn't receive a notification from Paypal. And if I didn't receive the Paypal notification, it's likely that I also did not receive an email from the seller either, assuming of course that they sent one in the first place. I'm not so sure that they didn't, now. All I know is that I didn't get it if they did send one (similar to what happened with the game itself, strangely enough). (END EDIT)
So, I don't know how this will turn out for them, as to whether ebay will reverse my position and give them their credit (and, honestly, I don't know if they really deserve it, but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt). But whatever. (EDIT) And, as I suspect, if it was an issue with my email crapping out, then I feel even worse about rejecting their dispute now. At any rate, I sent a sort of preemptive apology email to the seller, just in case the DID try to email me about it and my email just ate it, whether they actually did so or not. (END EDIT)
(EDIT 2) And now, it does indeed look like there was some screw up with my email, as I've since learned that someone else sent me a personal email earlier today that I did not receive. So, it is indeed very likely that I should have received an email both from Paypal and the seller concerning the refund, but didn't. And now that I have acted hastily and (probably) unjustly cost the seller their ebay credit (assuming ebay refuses to accept my decision to reverse my dispute response), I feel like a shitheel. God dammit.(END EDIT 2)
In the end, I just ordered the game again, this time directly from tecmogames.com. Even though I've had little problem with ebay before now, I'll think twice before I order anything from there again, unless it's as an absolute last resort.
They had a 99.5% positive rating out of almost 25,000 feedbacks so I figured they'd be pretty good.
I waited almost a month, but the item never arrived. I contacted them about a week ago, and they responded within a day saying that, if I wanted, they'd send me another copy when they "got more in stock" or they could give me a refund. I opted to wait for them to send me the game.
Well, today, I received an email from ebay saying that they had opened an Unpaid Item dispute, claiming that we had "mutually agreed to end the transaction". This kind of pissed me off, so I rejected the dispute and left as a comment a short tirade about how I'd never received the item and so couldn't return it (as the email implied was expected) and that if they couldn't hold up their end of the deal, then I would accept a refund. Then I wrote a somewhat heated (though civil) email to the seller asking them why they had ended the transaction without first trying to at least contact me and tell me they were going to do so. I told them I'd prefer to get the item but I would accept a refund if they couldn't hack it.
Then I checked PayPal and saw that they had already refunded the money. I had not received any sort of notification from either the seller or ebay or Paypal that this had occurred, but it still made me feel a bit bad that I had rejected their dispute, which, apparently, prevents them from receiving a credit from ebay for their ebay expenses. So I sent an email to ebay asking them to reverse my position on the dispute (even though we still technically had not "mutually agreed" to end the transaction before that point) so that the seller could at least get their credit. I mean, really, it sucks that I didn't get my game, but I did at least get my money back. They apparently lost their merchandise altogether, which sucks for them.
(EDIT) And, the more I think about it, in the end it is more likely that something simply got screwed up with my email, given that I didn't receive a notification from Paypal. And if I didn't receive the Paypal notification, it's likely that I also did not receive an email from the seller either, assuming of course that they sent one in the first place. I'm not so sure that they didn't, now. All I know is that I didn't get it if they did send one (similar to what happened with the game itself, strangely enough). (END EDIT)
So, I don't know how this will turn out for them, as to whether ebay will reverse my position and give them their credit (and, honestly, I don't know if they really deserve it, but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt). But whatever. (EDIT) And, as I suspect, if it was an issue with my email crapping out, then I feel even worse about rejecting their dispute now. At any rate, I sent a sort of preemptive apology email to the seller, just in case the DID try to email me about it and my email just ate it, whether they actually did so or not. (END EDIT)
(EDIT 2) And now, it does indeed look like there was some screw up with my email, as I've since learned that someone else sent me a personal email earlier today that I did not receive. So, it is indeed very likely that I should have received an email both from Paypal and the seller concerning the refund, but didn't. And now that I have acted hastily and (probably) unjustly cost the seller their ebay credit (assuming ebay refuses to accept my decision to reverse my dispute response), I feel like a shitheel. God dammit.(END EDIT 2)
In the end, I just ordered the game again, this time directly from tecmogames.com. Even though I've had little problem with ebay before now, I'll think twice before I order anything from there again, unless it's as an absolute last resort.
