Can ebay take me to court?

Can ebay take me to court?

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randomman

Original Poster:

2,215 posts

196 months

Thursday 19th March 2009
quotequote all
Had a lovely letter from someone claiming to be a debt collection agency on behalf of ebay (more on this in a min) asking for £123 quid and saying that I hadn't replied to them and they had been trying to contact me.

So I rang them and asked why, they wouldn't tell me. I asked how I could find out, they told me to ring ebay. I asked what number, they couldn't say. I asked to speak to a manager and I was told that I couldn't.

I asked them how they plan on taking me to court (as threatened in the letter) when they can't have anything proving that it was me that accrued the debt. (how the hell I can owe ebay £123 is beyond me, thats a lot of selling, which I haven't done in over a year)

I asked how they tried to contact me before, as it claims they have... By email. I asked how they intended on proving I recieved these emails - they couldn't.

So it sounds like a call centre jobby that just hopes you ring up and pay with no questions asked. Has anyone had similar experiences and what did you do?

Boozy

2,389 posts

226 months

Thursday 19th March 2009
quotequote all
I'm sure I read on here that they can't, have a look through ebay related threads.

Marf

22,907 posts

248 months

Thursday 19th March 2009
quotequote all
Debt collectors are required to provide a statement of account to prove that you owe the money they are chasing. If they cant/wont do that, ignore them, or better yet report them to Trading Standards and inform the Debt Collectors themselves that they are harassing you.

http://www.civilrightsmovement.co.uk/consumer-righ...

remoh

147 posts

271 months

Thursday 19th March 2009
quotequote all
randomman said:
Had a lovely letter from someone claiming to be a debt collection agency on behalf of ebay (more on this in a min) asking for £123 quid and saying that I hadn't replied to them and they had been trying to contact me.

So I rang them and asked why, they wouldn't tell me. I asked how I could find out, they told me to ring ebay. I asked what number, they couldn't say. I asked to speak to a manager and I was told that I couldn't.

I asked them how they plan on taking me to court (as threatened in the letter) when they can't have anything proving that it was me that accrued the debt. (how the hell I can owe ebay £123 is beyond me, thats a lot of selling, which I haven't done in over a year)

I asked how they tried to contact me before, as it claims they have... By email. I asked how they intended on proving I recieved these emails - they couldn't.

So it sounds like a call centre jobby that just hopes you ring up and pay with no questions asked. Has anyone had similar experiences and what did you do?
If you state the debt is in dispute then they have to stop enforcement action and pass it back to ebay otherwise they are breaking their license under the consumer credit act.

randomman

Original Poster:

2,215 posts

196 months

Thursday 19th March 2009
quotequote all
Thanks for the advice so far, really helpful.

Quick bump for the lunchtime massiv!

Hyperion

15,705 posts

207 months

Thursday 19th March 2009
quotequote all
There is no signed contract between you and eBay (and PayPal for that matter).
You can't be taken to court. The only thing they can do is bully you into paying up.
If you search www.paypalsucks.com there is a draft letter which you can send the debt collection monkeys (Interim Justicia/NCO et al) which makes them shut up.

...or you could just throw any correspondence in the bin.

randomman

Original Poster:

2,215 posts

196 months

Thursday 19th March 2009
quotequote all
Hyperion said:
There is no signed contract between you and eBay (and PayPal for that matter).
You can't be taken to court. The only thing they can do is bully you into paying up.
If you search www.paypalsucks.com there is a draft letter which you can send the debt collection monkeys (Interim Justicia/NCO et al) which makes them shut up.

...or you could just throw any correspondence in the bin.
Interim Justica, got it in one! Was gonna google it today but couldn't remember the name exactly. But now I do! Cheers

speedchick

5,196 posts

229 months

Thursday 19th March 2009
quotequote all
randomman said:
Hyperion said:
There is no signed contract between you and eBay (and PayPal for that matter).
You can't be taken to court. The only thing they can do is bully you into paying up.
If you search www.paypalsucks.com there is a draft letter which you can send the debt collection monkeys (Interim Justicia/NCO et al) which makes them shut up.

...or you could just throw any correspondence in the bin.
Interim Justica, got it in one! Was gonna google it today but couldn't remember the name exactly. But now I do! Cheers
IJ are a pain to deal with, had the mispleasure a few years back, they are full of scary and threatening letters, but when you stand up to them and say prove it/take me to court, they have a habit of crawling back under their rock.


randomman

Original Poster:

2,215 posts

196 months

Thursday 19th March 2009
quotequote all
Oh one thing I forgot to ask, that the chap on the phone mentioned was that I agreed to the terms and conditions when I opened my ebay account.

Is this legally binding in any way?

Jasandjules

70,505 posts

236 months

Thursday 19th March 2009
quotequote all
Write to them, deny any debt. Advise that any further letters will be deemed as harassment, and any further communications will be charged at £25 per letter and £10 per telephone call for your time. Any communications you have to write will be charged at £50 per letter and £25 per telephone call. Send that recorded. Then wait for them to send you a letter or call, and then you can take them to court for your money.....biggrin

speedchick

5,196 posts

229 months

Thursday 19th March 2009
quotequote all
And don't phone them!!! EVER!!!!

the script is to get you to pay, and they will not even think about deviating from that, so you will not get any sense out of them.