Dear Rich T and anyone else who is ripped off online:
I just recently experienced my first online ripoff, a US bookseller. It was a very expensive reference book. I was gobsmacked when the item didn't arrive and then they didn't answer my emails. One of my roommates, an ex IT girl, ran a check on them and it was BAD. Then she pointed out that in the states you could get a call back by the credit card company. I found out that in Australia, you can also do that. I should imagine that it is worldwide with all major credit card companies. You have to wait thirty days, then you report the non-arrival and all the details of what you paid for and Visa (in this case) just went straight back into their account, withdrew the payment and I got it back in full.
My point being that if credit card companies have the lawful right to do this with defaulting online transactions then so would eBay. I think you should try and take this further with eBay. They have full access to our bank accounts, I would think they have the legal right to do the same as the credit card companies. And to the best of my knowledge the Australian Federal Police take internet fraud very seriously.
My bad experience with the bookseller has made me more cautious not xenophobic.
If other shackers would be prepared to do the same I think if we all wrote to
asking why they do not offer the same protection coverage as credit card companies it might have more impact. What do you think?
