I haven't received an order, the company says I have, what can I do?

September 13, 2004 10:55 AM

According to a company I ordered from, I received a package on Thursday. According to reality, it never happened. What can I do? [mi]

I bid the absolute minimum on an ebay auction. The company selling the item (Instrument Exchange sent me an email a day or two after I bid saying I had won the item. The auction wasn't supposed to end for two days. Yes, this sent up every possible red flag in my 287 perfect feedback mind, but I googled for information about the company and didn't see anything implying that they had ripped anyone off. In addition, they had a pretty professional layout too, not to mention a phone number. I paid after a second notice saying that I only had 48 hours to pay for the item.

The auction ends with them canceling it. Then they send me an email saying they have received payment, and that the item will be shipped via FedEx. That thursday, I receive an email saying that I received the package, but neither my roommate nor I were home at the time. However, some people our landlord hired were siding the house that day.

I've emailed the company several times asking for the packages tracking number. I called their telephone number. I called FedEx (who says they have no deliveries listed recently at my address).

How should I be handling this situation?

posted by drezdn to shopping (7 comments total)

First, you should be reporting the seller to eBay, as they are trying to weasel out of paying their auction fees by this tactic.

Second, you should demand that the seller provide you with a tracking number, since it was sent FedEx. Then, if the FedEx Web site has the right city on it (it won't show your complete address), you contact FedEx to find out who actually received it and where.
posted by kindall at 11:48 AM on September 13, 2004

Tracking number is a must. If they won't send you the number, it's fraud, and if they can send you the number, you can track down what happened (which may be fraud anyway).
posted by weston at 11:53 AM on September 13, 2004

You appear to have been defrauded by the seller. I'm sorry to hear it happened to you, but unfortunately it's never a good idea to pay for a cancelled auction.

Treat this as your everyday run of the mill seller scam: a report to the postmaster's office -- which could blow you off if the post office wasn't involved in the transaction -- a call to your credit card issuer, and a complaint to eBay, and perhaps a police report if the amount lost was significant enough. eBay may very well blow you off, since the auction was cancelled -- as far as they are concerned, no transaction took place (and therefore you should not have remitted payment) -- and since eBay doesn't really give a shit about seller fraud anyways.

Your strongest avenue will be with the financial institution that paid the scammers for you. Let's hope that wasn't PayPal!

Unfortunately, unless this whole thing is an honest mistake, which seems unlikely, you're probably not going to get your money back. Con artists rarely offer refunds.
posted by majick at 11:54 AM on September 13, 2004

Yeah, there's not much you can do if this was a scam. eBay puts those big flashing "don't pay for anything outside eBay" warnings all over everything for a reason -- this happens all the time.
posted by reklaw at 12:50 PM on September 13, 2004

If you paid with a credit card you can stop payment. I'm not sure what Paypal's policies are now that its settling that class action, but you maybe able to get your money back if you paid through it as well.

You should really post this type of question on the Ebay boards, Trust & Safety or Shipping. Those are the experts and it's stories like yours that make their ebay lives worth living.
posted by Juicylicious at 3:13 PM on September 13, 2004

I contacted my bank, and though I paid with a debit card, I might be able to get a chargeback on the item.
posted by drezdn at 8:19 PM on September 13, 2004

I've got the tracking number finally, and found it on the fedex site... According to fedex, the package was delivered, but didn't require a signature (do to a signature waiver- something I've never signed)... Do I have any recourse with Fedex to get my money back?
posted by drezdn at 11:16 PM on September 13, 2004