Received broken merchandise/no refund from seller

[murphy]

I live in Virginia and I bought merchandise over the Internet from a vendor in Massachusetts. It was very poorly packaged and arrived broken and pieces were missing. I notified both the seller and UPS (the shipping company which delivered it to me). UPS returned to me and took possession of the mdse and packaging. Then they issued an insurance payment to the seller and they returned the merchandise to him, too. He now has my money ($400) and the merchandise and the insurance payment. He has been very hostile to me via email. This has been going on for months and I still do not have a refund nor do I have any realistic hope of getting one from him. So, I wrote to the Attorney General of Massachusetts and received a reply stating that they could not do anything, even though I provided considerable documentation to prove my case. What's the best course of action now? Thank you, Murphy

 

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

I live in Virginia and I bought merchandise over the Internet from a vendor in Massachusetts. It was very poorly packaged and arrived broken and pieces were missing. I notified both the seller and UPS (the shipping company which delivered it to me). UPS returned to me and took possession of the mdse and packaging. Then they issued an insurance payment to the seller and they returned the merchandise to him, too. He now has my money ($400) and the merchandise and the insurance payment. He has been very hostile to me via email. This has been going on for months and I still do not have a refund nor do I have any realistic hope of getting one from him. So, I wrote to the Attorney General of Massachusetts and received a reply stating that they could not do anything, even though I provided considerable documentation to prove my case. What's the best course of action now? Thank you, Murphy

My response:

This is just one of the many problems with buying over the Internet. Stop doing it !!

There's to much distance between buyer and seller, and neither party can properly judge the varacity of the other.

Now, in order to get your money back, you've got to go to his State and file in Small Claims court or, if you meet the requirments of Diversity of Jurisdiction, file your action in Federal Court in your State.

Each of these suggestions is a hastle, and no attorney is going to take the Federal action because there's no money in it - - unless you want to pay an hourly attorney fee.

IAAL