I feel I'm being ripped off, what's my course of action?

[tom10167]

I'm relatively new to the forums so I'm not sure what the SOP is on these sorts of things.

-Bought a watch from a member

-he ships the watch out

-5 days later,for some reason it says "recipient not located returning to sender" ??? I notify the seller of this and to just tell him to send it to my other address. I tell him I'll pay for that shipping. He says thanks.

-13 days later(two business weeks) and he has yet to resend the watch or say "Hey I got the watch, be sending it out soon" a few days ago I asked him if he received and he said "No not yet I'll let you know soon"

- 5 days ago I asked him to PP my funds back. I still fully intend on buying the watch I'd just feel more comfortable holding the money until the watch is shipped, or about to be shipped out. Is this unreasonable? He hasn't responded.

I have a hard time believing it takes twice as long going back as it does getting here. Is there anything I can do?

I'd rather not out the member just yet...

Edited August 25, 2009 by tom10167

[KB]

Tom in which countries are you and the seller located?

Ken

[JohnG]

What does the tracking say? Has it been returned to sender yet or not?

It is not the sellers problem by the way, why should he return your money?

[ubiquitous]

In this kind of situation a cool head and patience will be of benefit to you.

First off, I'd check tracking and see what current status shows. If the watch has returned and is reflecting receipt by the sender, then I'd think it should be a matter of time before they re-send. Kinda difficult to say why things can take so long to ship in transit- Lots of variables, like customs, parcel being overlooked in the delivery vehicle, or even non-legible handwriting on the address/return address. Who knows?

I will say that good communication from the seller is important to keep his buyer/customer informed along the way; then you don't have someone stressing over the status of their purchase. Just a quick email or PM goes a long way in calming one's worries... But if the watch is still in transit back to the seller, you have to remember that it's currently out of their control and there's not much they can say at the moment either...

[freddy333]

Depending on where you are, return shipments can take as long as 3 months. I once had to return a watch to a seller & the seller gave me the wrong address (in China). After the local (Chinese) post office said the package had been lost, it just arrived on my doorstep some 3 months later.

Hopefully, your package will not take that long, but I would be patient, not request (even temporary) refund of your payment (at least not yet) & keep in (weekly) touch with the seller.

[lanikai]

To back up what others have said for your peace of mind..

depending upon logistics.. and remembering when a package is returned to sender it is not returned "express" or even "priority"..it's on a slow boat to China .. as a fugure of speech.. if the seller has been on the forum for awhile and has a good rating then I would relax .. shipping always takes time.. and especilly now..

As everyone is aware of, USPS has had huge cut backs ... lay offs etc.. so needless to say things have slowed even more..

here in Hawaii for example they are planning on closing 10 Post Offices.. and very busy ones that cater to a large number of people daily..

hope that helps

A~C

Lani