Warranty Return of eBay Purchased Security Camera

Dabbler68 on 05/10/2022 - 13:07

Seller closed my ebay return request. Not sure of the best way forward.

I purchased a Reolink camera from an Australian ebay seller on 11 August. The listing said "AU warranty" and the specs from Reolink state 2 year warranty. After 3-4 weeks use the camera has failed. I raised a return request on 24 September and then had a bit of back and forth with the seller on "try this", "try that" etc (5 times). Finally the seller gave return details, saying they would evaluate it and send a replacement if faulty. But in the meantime I raised a support request with Reolink quoting the error message to see if there is a possibility of recovery …. I doubt it, but still waiting for a response. When I told the ebay seller of this they closed the return request.

"No worries, in this case, we will have to reject the return for now but if you'd still like to return the device to us for assessment, you already have all the details."

The seller has 100+ positive feedback in the last month.

So it appears if I had claimed the camera never worked, Paypal buyer protection would have made returning it simple. But from what I can see it is not valid for warranty …. only if it arrives faulty.

I am now wondering if I should just return the camera and hope they honour it, or if there is a better way. If they had not closed the return request I would have less concern.

Suggestions?

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Comments

  • stratbargain on 05/10/2022 - 13:13
    +1

    Just send it back

  • Keplaffintech on 05/10/2022 - 13:21
    +1

    Reolink is pretty good with warranty, if you go through the back-and-forth with Reolink support they'll eventually give you an RMA return auth or some remediation.

  • ensanguined on 05/10/2022 - 13:38
    +1

    If it failed, how/why would you be able to keep testing and trying things? Did it really just die on it's own within 3 weeks? Im confused.

  • Summoner on 05/10/2022 - 14:01

    But in the meantime I raised a support request with Reolink quoting the error message to see if there is a possibility of recovery …. I doubt it, but still waiting for a response.

    It sound like you are not sure if the camera is faulty or not. Just out of curiosity, what is wrong with the camera?

  • Dabbler68 on 05/10/2022 - 14:10

    Kepplaffintech, are you saying to hope for resolution direct with Reolink rather than the ebay seller? Hopefull the seller is an approved one.

    ensanguined and Summoner, I wasn't going to get into the technical here, but briefly …

    It was connected on wifi. One morning it did not appear on the network. So I brought it in and connected it via ethernet cable … it needs ethernet for initial setup anyway. Could not log in. So I factory reset it. Now I see the logon screen … slow to load (via browser or Reolink app), but whenever I enter the default logon credentials (or my old ones) it fails with an "Unable to connect" error message. Tried factory reseting multiple times, different browsers and different PCs. Just once out of about 20 or more times I saw video for 2-3 seconds before it failed. I have other Reolink cameras so can easily replicate the method on them.

    I raised the support request with Reolink to see if the numeric error message 4294967293 means anything useful.

    • Summoner on 05/10/2022 - 16:19

      I had similar issue with nest doorbell. After attempting to resolve it with google support for a few times over a month (twicking settings, resetting the devices to if it resolves the issue), google finally gave up and deemed it faulty. I took the chat transcript to the retailer, jbhifi, and got a refund. All i had to mention was major fault under ACL and the transcript with google showing google deemed it faulty.

      I guess what ebay seller wishes to see is the confirmation from Reolink that the camera is faulty. I assume once you return the device to the seller, they will simply forward it to Reolink to see if its indeed faulty which may take a while. So it might be quicker for you to deal with Reolink support first to confirm your camera is faulty.

  • bobbified on 05/10/2022 - 16:20
    +1

    I don't think the seller has done anything wrong. They were going to accept the return but you've said that you've also raised a ticket with the manufacturer, so they've closed your case (and told you that can reopen the return request if need be).

    You either deal with the problem through the seller or the manufacturer (or try the other if/after one fails) - not both at the same time.

  • Dabbler68 on 05/10/2022 - 18:00

    They have not said I can reopen the case. Just return it. ebay shows the return as closed and there is no option to reopen it or raise a fresh Return. I think it is unreasonable that a seller can do that. If that had still been open I would not have posted here.

    That was actually the point of the post, to see from those who know ebay and Paypal better what options there are, as sometimes doing one thing closes off others. As I said in the initial post if I had fibbed and claimed it was faulty on delivery instead, I would have Paypal buyer protection, and no drama. But telling them it worked initially closed off that loop.

    As for the Reolink ticket, I only raised it to seek information hoping to avoid a return, (not a resolution provided by Reolink), and that is what I told the seller.

    • bobbified on 05/10/2022 - 21:07

      They have not said I can reopen the case. Just return it.

      You said that they told you "….but if you'd still like to return the device to us for assessment, you already have all the details."

      That, to me, says that they're not washing their hands of your problem.

      • Dabbler68 on 05/10/2022 - 23:00

        No, but with the eBay options now closed I have to rely solely on their goodwill to do the right thing. eBay did at least provide a level of protection for both sides.

  • OldSchoolHarry on 05/10/2022 - 20:21

    If it is still under Reolink warranty, can you return to them directly quoting that seller is not using proper return channels?

    • Dabbler68 on 05/10/2022 - 23:05

      The seller has offered the return for evaluation so I can't complain on that count. I don't even know for sure the eBay seller is not doing grey market. Still no response from Reolink for support after 2 days.

  • WonderBlast on 06/10/2022 - 13:45

    Do not send it back to the seller without them approving your return request on eBay.
    Given that they declined the request for now, I would wait for Reolink warranty to sort it out.
    If you don't want to wait you can always open a dispute on eBay stating the facts and eBay will force seller to accept the return.

    • Dabbler68 on 06/10/2022 - 16:52

      Still no response from Reolink. Three full days now. I thought about trying to reason with the robots at eBay and decided that raising the issue may not help. So this afternoon I sent it back to the seller. I am guessing they will get it Monday or Tuesday. I will give an update when I have their response.

      • WonderBlast on 07/10/2022 - 09:15

        Yeah hopefully the seller will keep their word.
        But in most cases, you should really open up a dispute with eBay stating that the item is faulty/not as described to force a return. eBay will refund you almost immediately once the return has been marked as "delivered" by Auspost.
        I reckon this is a trustworthy seller but you never know they could just keep the item and not respond so you're out of $ and the item.

  • Dabbler68 on 17/10/2022 - 17:57

    I said I would come back with an upate when I had a response from the seller. It's not looking good.

    Summary from above posts. I bought an IP camera on ebay from a small seller with good feedback and supposedly with AU warranty on 11 August. It failed after a few weeks. I raised a Return request with ebay and after a few back and forth emails they gave a return address. In the meantime I sought info from Reolink support about the error message and the seller used this to justify cancelling the return, (without input from me) but said to still send it if I want.

    So I sent the camera back and tracking shows it was delivered Tuesday 11 October. After 2 days and no response from the seller so I sent a followup message on Thursday. Response "Your device is under assessment by our technician team and we will revert to you if there is any outcome." If there is any outcome?? In other words, don't hold your breath.

    Now Monday evening and no further word. Any suggestions on how to turn this in my favour?

    ebay has the facility to request a reassessment of the Return closure. Anyone hazard a guess as to their approach? Is there anything else open to me? Too late to leave ebay feedback.

  • Dabbler68 on 24/10/2022 - 22:44
    +1

    Update for those who may be interested: Resolved

    Surprisingly it was ebay that came to the party to encourage the seller to do the right thing. I have no doubt the seller was intending to do nothing. With no further response from the seller, and having had the returned camera for 9 days now I contacted ebay via LiveChat.

    The eBay chat said he could not reopen the Return or intervene and require a solution as it was past the 30 day window (from original delivery). But he would send the seller an email, and was "very confident" that the seller would decide to resolve the issue. Sure enough, next day the seller sent me the tracking details for a replacement camera, which arrived today. It works.

    So whatever the seller was told it appears it was enough to decide I had better be a satisfied customer.

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