Home for cheats and cheap deals

WHAT is eBay to you? Ask anyone this question and you can bet on one of two robust responses.

Many of my friends, colleagues and neighbours swear that the online auction site is the best — nay, the only — way to get rid of junk they thought no one would ever want to buy.

Goods they have auctioned off without any trouble at all include a giant box of Eighties cassette mix tapes (£5); a battered Subbuteo table football kit with misshapen West Germany and Argentina players (£17); and an old school tie (£1, on account of its unusual lime colour).

Avid buyers and sellers, they turn to it first without a second’s thought — car boot sales are history. Sure, they acknowledge, the odd item might occasionally go astray. But that’s part of its charm — it’s the internet, don’t you know!

However, to many others, eBay is little more than a squalid bazaar where hucksters and charlatans lurk in the hope of ripping you off.

to Mike Soar, tony Williamson and Robert Gowing, among others featured in our report on pages 46 and 59, it is a dreadfully stressful place to buy and sell.

their experiences have put them through the wringer, and not just because of the loss of money, disputes with users or run-ins with fraudsters.

In fact, the real difficulties have lain with eBay itself.

Our postbag has been overflowing with readers’ tales of terrible service. You’ve told us of selling goods to buyers who claim the item never arrived — and having your cash grabbed back by eBay.

Others complain of paying for goods that never turn up or are faulty, and having to chase them for a refund.

And all too common are letters where you’ve been left out of pocket by fraudsters who exploit inadequate security checks.

Most galling for many of you was the impression that eBay staff — when you finally did get through — couldn’t care less about your predicament. Poor treatment at the hands of customer services who fob off complaints or ignore countless phone calls and emails is a worrying theme.

In some cases, it has taken a letter to the company’s chief executive to get anything sorted.

Online forums are buzzing with customers fed up with being badly treated. Any anxious firsttime eBay user who types in ‘eBay customer service review’ on Google should expect the worst. A list of online forums pops up, all giving the site just one star out of five.

the sheer numbers using eBay will be behind some of the gripes. this is especially the case as online confidence grows, encouraging more people — in particular older households previously wary of the web — to use it. But my biggest concern is the lack of transparency over what eBay’s protection pol ic y does, a nd doesn’t, cover when sales go wrong. For starters, un ambiguous, clear and easy-to-follow guidelines are an absolute mi n i mum in today’s consumerdriven economy. So this shambolic sentence used to describe ‘what’s not covered’ in its moneyback guarantee fails on every count: ‘Buyer’s remorse or any reason other than not receiving an item or receiving an item that isn’t as described in the listing (see the seller’s returns policy for returns options).’

this babble leaves customers with no option than to reach for a consumer’s legal terminology handbook (or pin their hopes on Google). that, or hold their aching head in their hands.

One c o ncl usi o n is t hat customer services has wilfully stuck to techno-speak to cover themselves in the case of legal niceties. However, for ordinary users, it smacks of an indifference towards helping those who want to find out what they’re covered for when they use eBay.

the sheer size of eBay is what makes it so successful, and I applaud i ts ability to bring together buyers and sellers who would otherwise never have done a deal.

the company says it is spending millions to improve its services — but it’s clearly not enough.

Until the type and severity of complaints begins to ease off, I’m yet to be convinced it’s doing its best to do better.

People power

RECENTLY, I popped into a hardware store to buy some tiny batteries for one of my youngest son’s less annoying toys.

Until children came along, I had no i dea minuscule cell batteries even existed. the sheer number of sizes is mindboggling, so it’s easy to buy the wrong one.

Mindful of the disappointment such a mistake can cause, I’ve learned to double- check I’m buying the right ones.

So, I asked the assistant if he had a replacement f or the battery I showed him. He didn’t recognise it, so went to consult a chart of dozens of names and sizes. He returned with what looked like a same-sized replacement, but with a different code.

He reassured me it would work — and then tried, unsuccessfully, to sell me a bumper pack of regular batteries.

Back home, it was clear the battery didn’t work in the toy, so I trudged back for an alternative. But the store refused to exchange it — because I’d already tried to use it.

Under the Sale of Goods Act, any item you buy must be ‘as described’. Since I’d been told ‘these will work’, the battery fell foul of the rules and so could be returned without question.

Only after arguing this point did the manager relent.

If only stores would take more time training staff in consumer rights than telling them to flog extra goods.

Shopping is enough of a chore without having to fight for your rights every step of the way.

Royal payout

IT DIDN’T take long for financial companies to crank up their marketing machines after the arrival of Princess Charlotte.

Virgin Money was first, with a promise to put £25 in a young saver account for the first 1,000 new child customers named Charlotte or Charlie. Investment platform nutmeg followed, offering five £2,000 prizes to parents whose baby shared the May 2 date of birth.

though I can’t begrudge them the sentiment, I do wish that firms would spend their cash on better deals for all rather than indulging in opportunistic — and costly — promotions.

James Coney is away.