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Pre-owned purchases from that store


GWR-fan
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I am curious if others are having the same issues that I am with making purchases from a particular store.  Just in the last week I have made three pre-owned purchases that the store was unable to fulfil and a refund was made to my account each time.  I receive an apology from the store on each occasion, however, the system keeps allowing purchases to be made on an item even though it has been sold. One purchase last week the item was still showing as instock three hours after I had paid for it.  Only after I emailed the store did the store remove the item from sale.  In that case the store advised me that many, many people had purchased the same item.  It is exasperating enough not being sure when a purchase is made if I am actually buying the item in question but what really is annoying is that when the refund is made PayPal take around five working days for the amount to appear in my PayPal account and then I transfer the sum to my regular bank account which then takes up to five working days to clear in my account.

 

Thus when a payment is refunded it may take two weeks to appear back in my bank account.  Now given that the store is probably the largest supplier of OO models in the UK one would think its stock control system would be more professional than the hit and miss of late.  The system was like this several years ago but after numerous promises to correct the software an upgrade was made and purchases became more reliable.  However, this last week has really stretched the friendship.

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Its most probably a software glitch, these can take quite a while to pin-point and correct without messing up the rest of the webshop.

 

I dont really get why you are complaining about the Paypal situation, you were spending the money anyway so why does it matter how long it takes to get back into your account?

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I think the problem is PayPal. I try to avoid them if possible now.

 

I've bought quite a few things that has sold out pretty quickly from the pre owned section including some Ian Kirk LNER kits a few weeks ago. But some one had got there before me and snatched up the lot. Refund (and apology email) that day straight into my bank account.

 

Don't forget though. They have about fifty staff picking items or sitting at computers dealing with the thousands of transactions a day. It's not exactly a small shop with one bloke and occasionally his son and daughter running it anymore. Who knew exactly what everything was, where it is and how many he had.

 

 

 

Jason

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Several years ago this was a relatively common problem and each time it was reported the store would promise that a full investigation would be made and the issue would not reoccur.  The last two or three years the system has been very reliable with most purchases made being successfully processed.  This last week though three of my purchases have been refunded on each occasion.  My point is that as a major store they really should have software able to deal with the size of their sales, such that the sale of an item is immediately recognised and the item removed from further sales.  When an item remains "on sale" until a purchaser emails them to ask what is going on and only then is the item removed from sale is a very poor method of stock control, plus is an added workload on the store's employees.  I do not simply make the occasional purchase once or twice a year.  I am constantly making pre-owned purchases with several hundred transactions made,  so in the volume of my purchasing I see how poorly the system can be when it is unable to handle the volume of overall pre-owned sales.  For me at present it is the uncertainty of whether the purchase will be successful and if not whether I am prepared to have funds tied up for two weeks while I await a refund to clear in my bank account.   I do not purchase from any other store so by limiting my purchases to this store I see it for what it is,  warts and all.

 

As regards using PayPal.  Well it is not PayPal that is selling the items, it is the store, so it is the store's responsibility to ensure that their software is able to handle the volume of their sales.  I also saw those Ian Kirk LNER Coronation and articulated coach kits and knew at the prices listed that they would sell very quickly.  Yes, PayPal does take many days to clear funds back to my account, however, if the store had a decent inventory software system then sales would be more reliable and refunds not necessary. 

 

For JiLo, you do not seem to see an issue when a purchase is made only to be unsuccessful and a subsequent refund takes two weeks to return to your bank account.  Unlike you I do not have the available funds to have my money tied up for two weeks in computer processing time while banks clear funds.  A failed purchase and subsequent refund means that an alternative purchase cannot be made until the previous funds have cleared.  I see this as an issue. 

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26 minutes ago, GWR-fan said:

Unlike you I do not have the available funds to have my money tied up for two weeks in computer processing time while banks clear funds.  A failed purchase and subsequent refund means that an alternative purchase cannot be made until the previous funds have cleared.  I see this as an issue. 

If the item had been available and you had purchased it,

your money would have been permanently tied up.

If having the money tied up for two weeks is that much

of a problem, can I suggest you perhaps should not have

parted with it in the first place.

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While I understand where you are coming from RAB, consider this.  I pay out perhaps a few hundred pounds on purchases that ultimately cannot be fulfilled.  Now this should not happen in the first place - which is the real beef from  GWRFan.  However if it takes 2 weeks for the money to reappear in the bank account, that is two weeks lost opportunity to purchase other models or replacements.  That might well represent lost opportunity for example in purchasing on Ebay where typically sales are on-line for 7 - 9 days.

 

You can rightly say this is a Paypal problem - probably exacerbated by the seller - but for purchasers who do not hold UK sterling accounts, Paypal is a very convenient and cost effective way to make small value ( hundreds not millions of pound) purchases.

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20 minutes ago, rab said:

If the item had been available and you had purchased it,

your money would have been permanently tied up............

 

 

Yes, I would not have the money but I would have had the item that in good faith I had paid for!!!!!!!!!

 

Quote:  "

If having the money tied up for two weeks is that much

of a problem, can I suggest you perhaps should not have

parted with it in the first place."

 

Like most we have a limited amount of funds to purchase hobby items.  By having that money tied up in the clearance of a refund then that money is unusable until it clears.  I would have thought that fact was relatively clear,  but no doubt it is my fault for having a hobby and setting aside limited  funds to spend on that hobby.  How silly of me to lay a degree of fault on a store who does not invest in a suitable inventory stock control system that is able to realise that when an item is sold then it is no longer available as stock for further sale.  I should have known all along that it was my fault for buying an item that unknowingly the store had already sold several other times to other purchasers.  How silly of me.

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So what store are we talking about then? There is more than one store selling second hand model railway items, so referring to it as "That Store" is uninformative and pointless IMO.

Edited by Colin_McLeod
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Colin,

         my reference is to "pre-owned" items so I believe the name of the store is self explanatory.  Some do not like the store being criticised by name so helpful hints are needed.  As a no-UK resident I consider there to be two major stores that sell OO items in the UK, one uses eBay to dispose of secondhand goods,  the other uses their own website to sell pre-owned goods.

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7 minutes ago, GWR-fan said:

Colin,

         my reference is to "pre-owned" items so I believe the name of the store is self explanatory.  Some do not like the store being criticised by name so helpful hints are needed.  As a no-UK resident I consider there to be two major stores that sell OO items in the UK, one uses eBay to dispose of secondhand goods,  the other uses their own website to sell pre-owned goods.

So you will leave people guessing which one, potentially smearing both - Pre-owned makes me think of one but Paypal the other.

 

If you're going to complain you need to name the company, in fact, why not just complain to the company rather than come on here and complain as blaming without naming wont make them change.

 

I can actually understand the grievance, if the model has been sold it shouldn't still be advertised and equally it seems unfair to take your money and then due to Paypal rules you have to wait 14 days to have access to something that should not have been taken in the first place.  Can you not complain to Paypal about poor retailer practice?

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19 minutes ago, GWR-fan said:

my reference is to "pre-owned" items so I believe the name of the store is self explanatory.  Some do not like the store being criticised by name so helpful hints are needed.  As a no-UK resident I consider there to be two major stores that sell OO items in the UK, one uses eBay to dispose of secondhand goods,  the other uses their own website to sell pre-owned goods.

 

All you are doing is potentially smearing a number of stores. If you have a genuine grievance, and would be willing to stand it up in court, then stop hiding behind riddles.

 

However, your first point of call should be to the store itself.

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18 minutes ago, GWR-fan said:

Colin,

         my reference is to "pre-owned" items so I believe the name of the store is self explanatory.  Some do not like the store being criticised by name so helpful hints are needed.  As a no-UK resident I consider there to be two major stores that sell OO items in the UK, one uses eBay to dispose of secondhand goods,  the other uses their own website to sell pre-owned goods.

 

If you don't have the guts to name the shop you have a problem with they why bother posting?

 

Even in your answer to my question you are still playing guessing games.

 

PS many stores sell pre owned. Not just two.

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