TRade Me NZ's #1 Online Auction portal. . . .

[GeeEss]

To anyone out there thinking of buying parts via Trade Me; be warned, their Customer Protection leaves a lot to be desired (its non-existent).


I purchased some door-trims for my JDM AE92 FXGT* in January and the Seller never delivered. He jeked my chain for over a month before I decided to pull the pin and formally complain to TradeMe.

* Car was never sold in AUS < I live in Sydney > so my only option for parts like this is Yahoo Japan or NZ. . . .

I then complained to Trade Me's "Trust & Safety" division; and sent them full transcripts detailing all my correspondence with the Seller and. . . .

Nothing; aside from an initial email advising me they "take fraud very seriously" I was just ignored and I mean completely - For over 2 weeks I did not receive ANY further correspondence from the company; despite several follow up calls & emails. On one of my follow up calls to their Customer Service Dept I even had some guy half-sarcastically say "Oh, so you're after your money eh?"

Despite my stated reservations about the Seller (and request they get my money back) they just stonewalled me; then contacted me to say they'd resolved the issue & that it was OK for me to spend another $85 with NZ Post on Shipping Labels to send to this guy. Surprise, surprise he did jack-sh-t so that money went down the tube too. . .

I sent them a follow up Email advising that I was going to complain to the NZ Fair Trade Dept & this obviously didn't faze them one bit - they didn't even respond to that. (With good reason as I found out later; FTD can't help in Priv-Priv transactions).

Their response to date has been one email a week ago from Trust & Safety manager advising me that he had contacted Seller who had assured him that items would be posted shortly. Guess what? I'm still waiting. . . .

Meanwhile this Seller < Jay-Mega > is still advertising & still making money off their Site. . .

I then contacted another Seller < a Wrecker >on TradeMe who was advertising these parts and asked him to take photos of said door-trims & his < documented online > response? "Yeah sorry mate, me camera's broke . . ."

Unbelievable. . .

I checked online & it seems they've got form >>

I can't believe this is NZ's largest Online Auction Company. Makes me wonder why Ebay hasn't gone in & kicked their arse. Perhaps because apart from Fairfax owning them; the Owner has friends in high places and made sure they can't?


PS: FYI Seller's name is Jay Johnson and he either works at OR uses as a shipping address: Hornby Auto Electrics.


GS