Seller to avoid on Ebay

[dhgleaves]

Hello. I’m writing to alert people to a recent experience that I had with a seller on Ebay, and also Ebay’s response. I checked with Craig to make sure this kind of message was allowable. It did involve a G&L guitar. Long story short, I would recommend avoiding Ebay seller “seyanne” (called Absolute Best Guitars). For those wanting the long story, here it is. I was looking for locking tuners that would fit my Tribute Legacy. I saw some Kluson locking tuners listed by seyanne (Absolute Best Guitars). The person’s real name may be Wendy Willis because that is how the Paypal payment shows up. Anyhow the Kluson tuners had two pins like my Legacy, but I didn’t know if they would fit (without modifying it). I asked the seller if she knew if they would fit. Her response was that yes they would be a direct fit. Thus, I bought them and paid shipping to have them sent to Australia. The first lesson that I learned is that the Kluson’s were not a direct fit for the Tribute Legacy and that you cannot trust what “Seyanne” says about this. I wrote her back telling her this and pointing out that I only ordered them because she said they were a direct fit. She apologised and said to send them back, and that she would give a full refund plus return shipping. Keep in mind that, because we are talking about international shipping, the total amount that I’ve paid by this time is over $100 AUD, but she has promised a full refund. Of course, I still don’t have the refund, the seller has been very dishonest, and there is very little that Ebay will do about it. After I sent the tuners back (with tracking) she said she would give us the refund as soon as they arrived. I had to go out of the country because of a death in the family but, when I hadn’t heard in a while, I wrote asking if she would confirm when she received them and had given us the refund. She replied with a vague “Yes, thank you”. When I asked if that meant she would do that or if she had already done that, she first replied with the exact same "Yes, thank you". Then after I asked again, she said she had already done it. But, of course, she had not. I then checked the tracking data, and found out that they had arrived back there about 3 weeks prior, and still no refund. The last thing that she said to me was that she had done it but I had to wait several days for it to be processed. This is, of course, false, because it would get processed immediately in Paypal. It is now clear that what she was doing was stalling so that the 30 days past delivery and 60 days past purchase Ebay deadlines would pass. When the 30 days deadline passes, you can no longer file a claim with Ebay (based on their guarantee). When the 60 day deadline passes, you cannot leave feedback. Thus, I’m not able to warn other buyers that she has done this (other than in this fashion), and I’m certain that she had done it before. I have seen reports on other guitar sites going back to 2013, yet this seller is still active on Ebay. When I sent her a follow-up email saying that I was aware of what she had done, I got a reply saying that my messages had been blocked by the seller. However, Ebay confirmed that sellers cannot block messages from buyers, and it was just her writing me and pretending to be an automated reply. How professional is that? At this point, I have filed a complaint with Ebay (who said they won't refund my expenses but will look into the seller), with Paypal (who may refund my original cost but not the return shipping), and with the Better Business Bureau. I would recommend avoiding her, and that business, at all cost. Obviously, on Ebay, pay attention to feedback ratings, but keep in mind that if someone stalls to the point that feedback cannot be left, the problems will not be reflected in someone's overall feedback rating. Ebay also seems very tolerant about this kind of behaviour.