I ordered a shiny new all-singing-all-dancing micro system on ebay on Tuesday, from "Panther.uk.ltd", which is the ebay ID of Panther Online, a company which has gone into administration and appears to be flogging lots of stock very cheap. (This stereo is £190-230 elsewhere and I paid £105 including delivery!)
A parcel arrived yesterday, which was impressively fast; however it's the wrong item - they've sent me a 15" LCD TV/DVD combi (Akai cheapo nasty) rather than the micro system. This is where the problem started...
The company's advertised phone numbers just ring and ring and ring and are never answered. After a bit of Googling I found a number that presumably used to be theirs but that now goes through to some bloke in the same building (who doesn't work for the company). This chap gave me their sales number, which I rang and actually got an answer. Spoke to a chap in sales who took my details and said he'd check it out on the computer and ring back "in 2 or 3 minutes". Of course, he didn't, so I rang back yesterday. He then told me that his colleague would call me back next day (today) to sort it out - this hasn't happened either! :bang:
Getting annoyed now... Rang the sales number today and a different bloke answered who didn't know his arse from his elbow, all he could tell me was that "the guy who deals with the online sales, he's not here". He didn't know/wouldn't say when the sales bloke would be available, took my name and said he'd pass on the message.
Based on their current performance I have no faith whatsoever that they will call back . Nobody in the company (or what's left of it) seems to have any interest in correcting their mistake, so my question is one of what to do next. Luckily I still have the TV...
1. If they ever actually call back and arrange to exchange for the product I actually ordered, where do I stand legally if I refuse to return the TV until the stereo is delivered? Given how little use they've been so far I don't think it'd be wise to send the TV back and trust them to deliver the stereo.
2. How long should I leave it before I make a complaint to Ebay/Paypal?
(This is tempting - I once complained about a laptop bought on Ebay that had less RAM than advertised and got a refund from Paypal, but neither they nor the seller asked for the laptop back! )
3. If 1) and 2) fail, should I just whack the TV on ebay to get my money back (it's worth about £150ish)?
Any opinions/ideas/offers to go round there and swipe the micro system (ok, maybe not the last one!) would be appreciated!
A parcel arrived yesterday, which was impressively fast; however it's the wrong item - they've sent me a 15" LCD TV/DVD combi (Akai cheapo nasty) rather than the micro system. This is where the problem started...
The company's advertised phone numbers just ring and ring and ring and are never answered. After a bit of Googling I found a number that presumably used to be theirs but that now goes through to some bloke in the same building (who doesn't work for the company). This chap gave me their sales number, which I rang and actually got an answer. Spoke to a chap in sales who took my details and said he'd check it out on the computer and ring back "in 2 or 3 minutes". Of course, he didn't, so I rang back yesterday. He then told me that his colleague would call me back next day (today) to sort it out - this hasn't happened either! :bang:
Getting annoyed now... Rang the sales number today and a different bloke answered who didn't know his arse from his elbow, all he could tell me was that "the guy who deals with the online sales, he's not here". He didn't know/wouldn't say when the sales bloke would be available, took my name and said he'd pass on the message.
Based on their current performance I have no faith whatsoever that they will call back . Nobody in the company (or what's left of it) seems to have any interest in correcting their mistake, so my question is one of what to do next. Luckily I still have the TV...
1. If they ever actually call back and arrange to exchange for the product I actually ordered, where do I stand legally if I refuse to return the TV until the stereo is delivered? Given how little use they've been so far I don't think it'd be wise to send the TV back and trust them to deliver the stereo.
2. How long should I leave it before I make a complaint to Ebay/Paypal?
(This is tempting - I once complained about a laptop bought on Ebay that had less RAM than advertised and got a refund from Paypal, but neither they nor the seller asked for the laptop back! )
3. If 1) and 2) fail, should I just whack the TV on ebay to get my money back (it's worth about £150ish)?
Any opinions/ideas/offers to go round there and swipe the micro system (ok, maybe not the last one!) would be appreciated!