this is long so bare with me...
Well, I ordered what was claimed to be a brand New Carsoft 6.5 on ebay on Oct 24. (Located in CA) It was a buy it know and i paid promptly within a half hour. The next afternoon the shipped icon was marked that it shipped. I waited well 3-4 other packages i ordered after it arrived, and on Nov 18th i decided enough was enough, so i emailed the seller and inquired for a tracking number(i had not recieved one at this point) the next day i recieve this very broken english reply(the first time i have contacted the seller directly) stating that the item shipped from HONG KONG today(the 19th) and should be their shortly.
Well, i have done afew hundred transaction online(either through ebay, or other online classifieds like here) and this response immediatly set off a hundred red flags in my head. First, knowing overseas shipping, if this item was to arrive it would be months, and then it would be far too late to do anything about it with ebay or paypal.(i had this happen once before) Second, i did not order it from Hong Kong, I ordered it from Califorina. And third, i dont think its just coincedence that it shipped the day after i inquired. I think he saw my email and rushed to find a tracking number to stall me. I decided it was best to file an ebay dispute at this point, with the emails back and forth included. By the following morning ebay had closed teh dispute in my favour, and my money was refunded to my account! i figured great, thats the end of it. But no.....
On the 25th to my surprise a package showed up from hong Kong, and sure enough it was the carsoft. I figured i would make sure it is all legit, and if so i would send the money back to the seller. So i open the package to find a cheap quaily homemade connector, and a rewrittable disk. I throw the disk in my computer and the install starts, about a minute in it reports 'file missing' and shuts down. I open up the disk and open the the user manual, which claims that you need to follow a bunch of random long steps to sneak this 'cracked' software onto your computer. I closed it all down, and sent an email to the seller with my findings, and that i did not want this fake software, and said i would return the product to his for the cost of shipping(around $30). He replies stating that his terms are that i pay return shipping, but his terms only apply if i decided i did not want the item that was decribed, not if i get a fake item. I forwarded this on to ebay and am awaiting reply.
Now, the question:
Is it unreasonable for me to not ship this fake software back at my own expense? I feel i have already been had(now a month without the tool i needed a month ago) and that i shouldnt be spending 30$ of my own money just so this guy can pull it off on someone else who wouldnt pick up on the fact that its fake.
Well, I ordered what was claimed to be a brand New Carsoft 6.5 on ebay on Oct 24. (Located in CA) It was a buy it know and i paid promptly within a half hour. The next afternoon the shipped icon was marked that it shipped. I waited well 3-4 other packages i ordered after it arrived, and on Nov 18th i decided enough was enough, so i emailed the seller and inquired for a tracking number(i had not recieved one at this point) the next day i recieve this very broken english reply(the first time i have contacted the seller directly) stating that the item shipped from HONG KONG today(the 19th) and should be their shortly.
Well, i have done afew hundred transaction online(either through ebay, or other online classifieds like here) and this response immediatly set off a hundred red flags in my head. First, knowing overseas shipping, if this item was to arrive it would be months, and then it would be far too late to do anything about it with ebay or paypal.(i had this happen once before) Second, i did not order it from Hong Kong, I ordered it from Califorina. And third, i dont think its just coincedence that it shipped the day after i inquired. I think he saw my email and rushed to find a tracking number to stall me. I decided it was best to file an ebay dispute at this point, with the emails back and forth included. By the following morning ebay had closed teh dispute in my favour, and my money was refunded to my account! i figured great, thats the end of it. But no.....
On the 25th to my surprise a package showed up from hong Kong, and sure enough it was the carsoft. I figured i would make sure it is all legit, and if so i would send the money back to the seller. So i open the package to find a cheap quaily homemade connector, and a rewrittable disk. I throw the disk in my computer and the install starts, about a minute in it reports 'file missing' and shuts down. I open up the disk and open the the user manual, which claims that you need to follow a bunch of random long steps to sneak this 'cracked' software onto your computer. I closed it all down, and sent an email to the seller with my findings, and that i did not want this fake software, and said i would return the product to his for the cost of shipping(around $30). He replies stating that his terms are that i pay return shipping, but his terms only apply if i decided i did not want the item that was decribed, not if i get a fake item. I forwarded this on to ebay and am awaiting reply.
Now, the question:
Is it unreasonable for me to not ship this fake software back at my own expense? I feel i have already been had(now a month without the tool i needed a month ago) and that i shouldnt be spending 30$ of my own money just so this guy can pull it off on someone else who wouldnt pick up on the fact that its fake.
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