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problem with a amazon customer
 

basically i sold an item to this customer more than 4 months ago. that account has been blocked and all funds withdrawn from it. i still use the account for when i want to buy something from amazon.

he contacted me the other day, saying the item has malfunctioned and he wants a replacement or refund. it is a genuine item(electronics) quite costly @£150.

i said to him is been more than 3 months since he purchased the item and i do not sell on amazon anymore and there is no warranty left.

he's having none of it, he says he will contact amazon etc, that all items sold in UK have 12 months warranty, which is a lot of bull***.

my question is has anyone experienced something like this before? what will happen next? can he fill an a-z claim even though my account has been blocked and no funds are available in it?

thx in advance

i think your fine. Do nothing. Amazons policy is 90 days. Tell the buyer to contact the manufacturer, or tell them to bring it back to a large electronics retailer, and they may exchange it for them for a replacement. If you offer no warranty at this time, there is no warranty. End of story.

File an A-Z claim after 4 months? No... Well, he can TRY, but he won't win.

If the item you sold him was new, then maybe the manufacturer's warranty still applies, but that would be between him and the manufacturer.

I don't like the policy of 90 days. It gives buyers lots of time to have fun with the product, then all of a sudden they can attack the seller when they no longer need it, and demand a refund.

True - too much time to muck around with the product then claim refund.

I would contact the manufacturer for him, maybe it is still under warranty. Then relay the steps needed to rectify the situation

I would feel bad if something I sold wasn't function-able after 90 days.

I dont know if it applies to amazon, but on my ebay accounts, I offer the "SquareTrade" option. Probably could be used for amazon too, but I never mention it to my buyers. Amazon may have a problem with that, and I dont want them on my back. I dont like to give them asswipes any reason to take a closer look at my accounts:amen:

Blunt question: do you give a damn about the buyer or are you trying to protect yourself. This account closed, no money etc is strange. Because, quite frankly, as a decent person/seller, you should offer some recourse. Was it by chance a refurbished item that you flogged at a good price but would not have a longer warranty as far as I am aware. Few more facts would help :pop2:

I would look up the manufacturers warranty information and give it too him offering a helping hand and request that he please contact them. And simply state that even if you no longer sell on the acct. you do want him to be happy but Amazon's rules are 90 day returns and you are unable take it back. Kill him w kindness. even if you do not benefit from being nice here knowing you helped him correctly will benefit your customer service skills in the long run.

blunt answer: if i did not care, i would of not bothered to reply to his query.
the item in question is a complete bose audio system. it was used but in mint condition and in perfect working order.
now he says one of the speakers is broken and he said he contacted the manufacturer and they do not cover warranty for items sold on amazon, so he wants to return the broken item and get a refund from me 4 months after he bought it.

the account was blocked because when i went on holiday the person i left in charge of it made a mess of things - it was my main account(real details), 2 years old - lesson learnt... emailed amazon countless times asking to review their decision to no avail...meanwhile the 90 days passed so i disbursed £12k to my bank account, so there is a £0 balance in it. i still use this account for buying

thx to askpin i went stealth ever since and all is going smoothly.

so that is why i posted here to try to find more about amazon's policy in dealing with this kind of matters - i have a better understanding now after reading some of the replies

Was not personal just I like to dig for facts to help.

Sure amazon has the 90 day return policy but that's not cut & dried.

Was this sent out during January? Was delivery of the item timely or in fact was there a delay because of the bad weather conditions? How was the item sent?

Are you able to check that it is in fact outside the 90 days? If there was a delivery delay, your timing might be 'close' and a claim could be allowed.
That was the basis of my blunt question :peace:

I had many customers who tried to return some faulty items to me after my account was blocked and 90 days passed. Just ignore (if you don't want to help them)! There is nothing they can do. They've got up to 90 days since the purchase day to open a dispute. They can't even leave a negative feedback because they have already missed their chance to do it. Once I decided to surprise my customer and returned him his money by post in usual envelope ) It's up to you

yeah Amazon has a policy to where you cannot direct their customers to any other websites whatsoever