EBay Problem

Sarabande,
You are correct it is a bargain, I am sure that Mactra (the Katadyn UK agent) would be able to attach the motor and it would still be good value, new price about £3.5K for the motorised version.
A friend has had one of these units for about 6 years and it has only failed once, but was repaired by Mactra for not a lot on readies!
I could be interested in buying the unit if it became available.
Jon
 
halb said:
Sorry to put my four penny worth in, but this water maker does not have a motor, it is intended for use as an emergency unit or for use by the Atlantic rowers etc, if you Google Katadyn you will find the it is at the bottom of their range, the next one up has a motor retails at about £3000.00.
So I would think that the seller did describe the goods correctly, the photo's were clearly showing the pumping handle! I do however think that is is possible to up-grade the unit to include a motor.
Halb
Click to expand...


Thats not correct a bit of Googling will show that is a powered water maker. Claimed to be the worlds smallest electric water maker.

One clue is the name Powersurvivor. Another is the fact that its a 12 volt one

It can be converted to manual operation .

The manual ones are the Survivor 06 and Survivor 35
 
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sarabande said:
The PUR 40 seems to have a combined manual/motor version.

http://www.katadynwatermakers.co.uk/Katadyn 40E.htm
I wonder whether you have assumed "with motor" as being part of the description.

You may even have a bargain if it is the manual version, as you can 'just' add a 12v motor in place of the handle.
Click to expand...
The clue is in the name! It's a PUR Powersurvivor 40E. This has a 12 volt motor assembly although it can double up as a manually operated watermaker too - that's the beauty of it and that's why I wanted it, the membrane housing shows clearly it's a PUR Powersurvivor 40e. If I'd wanted a manually operated watermaker I could have purchased one of the umpteen PUR 35 models sold on eBay for upwards of a $100. It was listed as an item in "New Other" condition and the description goes on to say it's never been used, all parts are complete and it's in excellent condition". it's NONE of those things.

What i failed to mention in my OP is that apart from the missing motor assembly, the whole thing is like a box of meccano, it's clearly been dismantled by its owner and its very probable other parts are missing too. Why would anyone dismantle it into it's component parts if it was new, unused and in excellent condition?

The message I sent to the seller was polite and not at all hostile, the reply I received this morning is cut and pasted below.

"i do not want it back.. nor would i pay to get it back you have allready filed a claim with e bay before you gave me a chance to work it out with you..pay pal will refund your original monies..the fact that you saw exactly what you were getting and still purchased it is of no avail to me...nowhere in the item description did it mention a motor assy.. it stated new other and I did mention the box was deteriorated...you will get your moiey from pay pal,,I am pissed you didnt give me time to respond to you..i might have tried to refund some of your money...but not now...go **** your self"

I have since replied to the above message politely (because I'm a polite and non confrontational person) but at the end of the day The auction description was totally misleading and I didn't receive what I expected to receive so I want a refund of my money which I'm fairly sure I'll get via EBay/Paypal if the seller isn't going to reach any agreement with me.

If you bid on a car which was described as unused, in excellent condition and categorised as "new other" and then received a set of dismantled body parts with the engine and wheels missing, would you think the car had been fairly described by the seller?

Cheers, Brian.
 
Wandering Star said:
Because he's apologised, I feel slightly churlish to ask for all my money back but on the other hand, what he's sent me is pretty much worthless to anyone who doesnt already have a similiar watermaker and who could use it for spares (possibly) in the condition it is. I doubt I'd get anymore than a token few quid for it if we agree i should keep it and accept a partial refund. How do you think I should reply?u
Click to expand...
I wouldn't feel sorry for him, the things is no use to you and I'd just say that I wanted my money back and it's up to him if he wants it returned to him at his cost. This might sound a bit hard but i think it's fair really under the circs.

Boo2
 
Foreignian eBay in general...

... as an aside, I wish there was a way of excluding foreign sellers from eBay search results on a permanent basis - I know you can check the UK only box but it resets itself and because of issues like the OPs with postage I'd much rather stick to UK sellers...


Boo2
 
Wandering Star said:
not now...go **** your self"
Click to expand...

Well, that makes life easier. Instead of having to work out a mutually agreeable compromise, you no longer have to care about his position and can in good conscience press ahead for a full refund from eBay and quite possibly end up keeping the unit as well. He's shot himself in the foot there.

Pete
 
Sorry for resurrecting this thread but despite having heard nothing more from the seller since the abusive reply posted above and despite writing to him twice more, I was forced to look to eBay for a decision and they've responded that they'll refund my €400 but they want me to ship the item back to the seller at my own cost. That'll mean shelling out another £50 or so but until the seller receives the returned stuff, they won't refund.

The dispute is handled by automated emails generated by the eBay resolution process. The seller has already made it clear he doesn't want the stuff back and he's already made it plain he's not a very nice person so I'm not confident that when the shipment arrives at his address, he'll sign for it which is a condition set by eBay of getting a refund. Does anyone know if there's a way to circumvent the automated resolution process and talk to a human being as t seems stupid and unfair having to take the risk of an even greater hit than I've already taken especially since the seller has stated he doesn't want the items returning.

Cheers, Brian.
 
I had an issue with a Buyer that resided in California, although I had said ship only to UK. This was resolved through the Ebay resolution centre after I opened the case.

The best way I found was to start a chat session from your case - this is on line messaging ( typing, not spoken ) - the agent can view all of your messages to the seller and quickly resolve your issues. Or that was my experience !

Best of Luck
 
moodyNick said:
Maybe time to resell it on ebay, get what you can and cut your losses ..... or even make a few bob?
Click to expand...
Unfortunately what I've received isn't even one third of a complete watermaker and what is present is largely dismantled. There's no pump, no connecting rods, no motor unit. The membrane holder is delaminating. There are loose metal plates, studs and bolts etc. it's just a box of bitz really but carefully presented in the photograph to display as a complete unit. Along with the description of "unused" and listing as "New Other" I've been had. I've also noticed the box it was posted in is marked by the manufactures "update kit for survivor 35" and I think that's what's happened, the seller or more likely an innocent former owner, has upgraded his Survivor 35 with motorised parts and pump etc, put redundant bits and bobs back in the box and it's been forgotten until the seller has discovered it and sold it on eBay. I wish I could say there was some value in what I bought but the truth is it's a worthless box of junk.

In the original user manual there's an original letter from the manufacturer proving that even in 2001, the item was faulty and returned for repair so it's NOT unused and NOT new.

Would add value to a Starlight 39 though, but then again, so would any bit of bling add value to a Starlight 39.

EBay have accepted my claim, it's just their insistence I have to obtain a signature from shippers to prove the junk has been returned to the seller before they'll shell out. There's the side issue that if I agree to pay the return shipping cost as eBay insist i must do, the seller will refuse to sign and therefore eBay won't stump up as they've agreed they will do because of the lack of a signature. I'll be throwing even more money at the scam!

I'm waiting to hear back from eBay with their assurance that if I ship the junk back but the seller refuses to sign for the delivery, they will still refund the money. To be honest, whilst I can't really afford to lose the money, worse things happen but I'm more interested in ensuring the seller doesn't make a penny out his dishonesty than I am in protecting my own position! I think it's called principles!

Cheers, Brian.
 
From what you've said in your latest post, what is required is proof of shipping (shipper's signature), not of receipt, which is easily obtained from Parcelforce et al. This seems sensible and is what I'd expect eBay to require - they will have encountered this potential situation countless times and their system will be set up to protect the buyer from a rogue seller. If it doesn't their business model would collapse.

Good luck.
 
RadiumRob said:
From what you've said in your latest post, what is required is proof of shipping (shipper's signature), not of receipt, which is easily obtained from Parcelforce et al. This seems sensible and is what I'd expect eBay to require - they will have encountered this potential situation countless times and their system will be set up to protect the buyer from a rogue seller. If it doesn't their business model would collapse.

Good luck.
Click to expand...

I agree, from what I can remember you post something then give the tracking number as proof. As someone else said, send the tw a t an empty box or similar!
That in effect is what he has done to you!
Stu
 
Never send anything of any value sold on Ebay without a shipping receipt: I paid for some photographic kit which never arrived. Seller swore blind he had posted it and had proof of sending. I complained to ebay, who also asked for proof of posting. Seller never produced it, so after the prescribed time, I got my money back. Soon after, there was a string of bad feedback against the seller with the same complaint - goods paid for, never received. I heard later the bloke ended up in court for fraud after Ebay reported him to Plod.
 
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