boberonicus

I'm not usually an "authorized reseller only" kind of guy, but I'm learning my lesson. A few weeks ago, I purchased a pair of Bose Quiet Comfort QC-35s (series 1) for my wife, from an eBay seller with 99.9% positive reviews and 1000s of transactions. The price was around $300 (vs $350 full retail) and I had a 20% off coupon so the final cost was $244. The headphones arrived and the packaging looked like my "real" QC-35s. Even the carrying cases are identical (to my eye). I opened the box, and then things got fishy. Although I could pair the QC-35s with her mobile phone, I noticed that:

• .
• They arrived with zero battery power and had to be charged from scratch.
• After being turned on, the headphones did not audibly report the battery power level
• After associating with the phone, the headphones say "connected" but not "connected to <device name>"
• The Bose Connect App could not find the already paired headphones.
• There was no s/n under the right earcuff
• The S/N in the box does not register with bose.com

I contacted the eBay seller, was given a 100% refund in a matter of hours, and have been told to keep or discard the headphones. So no complaints, just thought this might be useful to those out there who dislike paying full retail and are looking for a "bargain".

jspira

It would be helpful to post the name of the seller so others don't make the same mistake

Be sure to post an appropriate "review" in your feedback in case you haven't yet - even with a refund and a free knock-off, he's selling a knock-off as the real McCoy and should be dinged for it. Other buyers should be warned of this seller's practices.

boberonicus

It ain't extremenetwork. I'm conflicted about posting the name of the seller. They aren't (today) selling QC-35s. They got back to me within hours of my complaint and their reply to my first inquiry was a 100% refund. They said they were going after their supplier to get their own money back. I'd argue that they've suffered a greater loss than I have, so what good would come from calling them out?

garykung

Setting aside the counterfeit issue, IME as an eBay buyer/seller, the current policy does not favor a return/exchange, but instead a refund, as eBay will assign the return costs back to the seller.

So it is not a surprise that a seller may be willing to refund instead of dealing with the matters.

jspira

I'm not sure if I'd completely believe what they said but companies (regardless of whether they sell through eBay or more directly) have an obligation to know the source of their products and selling counterfeit goods is as much a crime for the company that sold it to you as it is for its supplier.