Hi there Fellow Carbies
I purchased lithium batteries from an online store early April 2021, received Friday 9 April 2021.
NOTE: Seller is not from Carbonite.
On receiving the items, I immediately reached out to the retailer telling them that their packaging (basically black bag with bubble wrap) was extremely poor AND the items received look NOTHING like what is on their website. I asked to return/refund on the same day.
I was told I had to return it at my expense (I'm fine with this) and they can only refund my purchase amount less the courier fees to ship it to me (less fine, but OK).
I arranged for courier to deliver the batteries to another customer of theirs who happened to also purchase what I'm returning....not back to them.... items collected Tuesday 13 April and deliver 15 April.
Then I'm told I had to wait 15 business days (counting from 15th April) to get a refund, which was their policy and it would be from a different account to the one I paid into.
I get an ABSA proof payment on day 15 and then wait....receive nothing. I reach out to ABSA and get confirmation that the proof of payment is not legitimate, as in it is fake.
Now I'm not getting any response from the company (calls don't go through, whatsapp messages don't get received and website chat gets no responses).
I'm owed more than what small claims court manages; so quite a fair amount.
I appreciate anyone who managed to read my story this far.
So what can I do now?
Is there any recourse for me at all?
This is a lot of money that I have essentially been scammed of.
Any guidance is appreciated.
I purchased lithium batteries from an online store early April 2021, received Friday 9 April 2021.
NOTE: Seller is not from Carbonite.
On receiving the items, I immediately reached out to the retailer telling them that their packaging (basically black bag with bubble wrap) was extremely poor AND the items received look NOTHING like what is on their website. I asked to return/refund on the same day.
I was told I had to return it at my expense (I'm fine with this) and they can only refund my purchase amount less the courier fees to ship it to me (less fine, but OK).
I arranged for courier to deliver the batteries to another customer of theirs who happened to also purchase what I'm returning....not back to them.... items collected Tuesday 13 April and deliver 15 April.
Then I'm told I had to wait 15 business days (counting from 15th April) to get a refund, which was their policy and it would be from a different account to the one I paid into.
I get an ABSA proof payment on day 15 and then wait....receive nothing. I reach out to ABSA and get confirmation that the proof of payment is not legitimate, as in it is fake.
Now I'm not getting any response from the company (calls don't go through, whatsapp messages don't get received and website chat gets no responses).
I'm owed more than what small claims court manages; so quite a fair amount.
I appreciate anyone who managed to read my story this far.
So what can I do now?
Is there any recourse for me at all?
This is a lot of money that I have essentially been scammed of.
Any guidance is appreciated.