What is the law for this?

[shoggoth43]

Please move this if this is the wrong forum.

Without getting into details, and I will not be discussing the items or the vendor...

I ordered something and received a radically different item of substantially lesser value. I tried to contact the vendor via email, and got no response. I tried the email on the invoice ( apparently a holding company ) with no response. I tried the contact us form on the vendor website, and well, no response. I eventually tried to contact them through PayPal asking for either the correct item or a refund. The holding company of course demanded that I send the item back to their warehouse, in China, with a tracking number, at my cost, and "after inspection of the item" will issue a refund. No offer of actually fulfilling the order. PayPal has of course sided with them.

So what is the legal requirement in the US for a wrong item shipped? I have always been told that if you are sent an item you didn't order it can be considered a gift and I am under no obligation to return it and that the law is written that way to prevent companies just randomly sending things out and demanding payment. Regardless of whether I ship back the incorrect item, they are STILL required to fulfill the order and send the item I actually paid for, or issue the refund.

NOTE: I told them repeatedly that I am fine with sending it back, but there is no reason it should be at my expense as this was not my error. I see no reason to spend 10$ or likely quite a bit more with tracking, just for them probably will say they never shipped or "arrived damaged" and not get a refund. They certainly never sent me a shipping notification or tracking number when they sent the wrong item. Again, it's not like I am demanding, or even want to keep the item, but I should not be paying to fix their mistake here and it goes back however they want to ship once I get a prepaid label. I'd be more charitable on their intentions but no listed phone number and sending emails to "support@..." and "disputes@..." that go unanswered doesn't scream anything other than "scam".

What are their legal responsibilities and what are my legal responsibilities here? Is this legally considered a "gift" and they are still required to fulfill the order or refund me the money? Am I legally required to send this back at my cost in order to get a refund or have them send the item I actually ordered?

This is mostly out of curiosity as at this point I've contacted my credit card company to intervene. Hopefully some knowledge of what legal rights I would have in a future event and what their legal obligations are might make future mistakes from other vendors easier to resolve. It's not like I'm ever going to use this particular vendor again regardless of the outcome.

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[ZoWhat]

Open an investigation with your Credit Card Company.

They need to provide you high levels of customer service based on the 21% APR Interest Rate they are charging you for over 30 day balances.

They need to prove themselves as a worldclass credit card company

 

[Gp!]

Buying direct from a company in China probably complicates the "law". You'll probably find your credit card company charged you an international transaction fee (unless you have a card that comps that) and your transaction took place in China. Best course of action is to dispute with the cc company. When you win they will take the money back from the vendor. So all in all accomplishes what you want.

Without sharing more of the specifics I don't think you can get the answers you are asking for . Hope you get a satisfactory resolution!

 

[Halal Hotdog]

Legally speaking it has to be proven the item sent to you is different then what you purchased. If the company does not have a US branch then it ends at that level. If they do then you can file a claim against them in small or large claims court depending on the value, and prove you received an item you never purchased. Basically.... It's not worth it. Your best bet is either resolve it with seller, or PayPal, or your credit card company. Anything beyond that will probably cost you more than the item is worth.

 

[shoggoth43]

Buying direct from a company in China probably complicates the "law". You'll probably find your credit card company charged you an international transaction fee (unless you have a card that comps that) and your transaction took place in China. Best course of action is to dispute with the cc company. When you win they will take the money back from the vendor. So all in all accomplishes what you want.

Without sharing more of the specifics I don't think you can get the answers you are asking for . Hope you get a satisfactory resolution!

The company I was buying from lists their "about us" address as being in Florida. There's some sort of holding company involved where I guess the US company probably takes the orders and has them fulfilled from the other company shipping out of China. It's probably pretty common but not something I was paying much attention to.

Next time I'm just going to make the one attempt and then call the credit card company. I was giving several days between attempts just in case they were overloaded. This really just seems like a scam at this point.

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