It seems difficult to get kosher original manufacturer or genuine aftermarket rechargeable batteries for electronics from online suppliers. Even when the price asked for is not impossibly low, it is no guarantee that the items advertised are not knock-offs.
I wanted a battery for a serviceable Samsung Galaxy SII - Samsung themselves don't seem to advertise batteries for their old models in the UK online shop - so the aftermarket is open for counterfeiters and wide boys.
There are markets in China, where traders openly spend their days exchanging the labels on secondhand and cheap copies of popular batteries for labels that imitate the genuine article.
Having bought a suspected fake from an Amazon Marketplace trader, and spending 10 days engaged in email tennis to the seller who seemed to be unable to accept that the goods involved might in some way be substandard, and in fact, fakes, I ended up using the Amazon online chat to customer support.
Within 6 hours, on a Sunday afternoon, I had the money refunded to my account. I don't know what sanctions, if any, Amazon will apply to the trader.
The seller had sent me an identical* second battery, and a returns envelope after my initial inquiry in which I had asked for them to advise me concerning a refund and disposal for what were either faulty goods (if genuine) or a substandard knock-off. *Identical - down to identical serial numbers on the battery labels!
I do not feel happy returning substandard knock-offs to an online seller - they would just be passed on to another punter.
So I have 2 different addresses given to me by the seller to return the goods, a telephone number for them from Amazon, 2 variations of their business name jn our correspondence, 2 fake batteries, and a return envelope.
A short search on the addresses on 192.com, Google and Facebook, gave me corresponding names for the 2 addresses for the directorships of several businesses, but not the business name of the seller. However, the initials of the persons at these addresses match the business name.
What I should probably do is to pass the goods, and any evidence I have to Trading Standards in the area where the sellers operate from.
What do you think, and what would you do?
I wanted a battery for a serviceable Samsung Galaxy SII - Samsung themselves don't seem to advertise batteries for their old models in the UK online shop - so the aftermarket is open for counterfeiters and wide boys.
There are markets in China, where traders openly spend their days exchanging the labels on secondhand and cheap copies of popular batteries for labels that imitate the genuine article.
Having bought a suspected fake from an Amazon Marketplace trader, and spending 10 days engaged in email tennis to the seller who seemed to be unable to accept that the goods involved might in some way be substandard, and in fact, fakes, I ended up using the Amazon online chat to customer support.
Within 6 hours, on a Sunday afternoon, I had the money refunded to my account. I don't know what sanctions, if any, Amazon will apply to the trader.
The seller had sent me an identical* second battery, and a returns envelope after my initial inquiry in which I had asked for them to advise me concerning a refund and disposal for what were either faulty goods (if genuine) or a substandard knock-off. *Identical - down to identical serial numbers on the battery labels!
I do not feel happy returning substandard knock-offs to an online seller - they would just be passed on to another punter.
So I have 2 different addresses given to me by the seller to return the goods, a telephone number for them from Amazon, 2 variations of their business name jn our correspondence, 2 fake batteries, and a return envelope.
A short search on the addresses on 192.com, Google and Facebook, gave me corresponding names for the 2 addresses for the directorships of several businesses, but not the business name of the seller. However, the initials of the persons at these addresses match the business name.
What I should probably do is to pass the goods, and any evidence I have to Trading Standards in the area where the sellers operate from.
What do you think, and what would you do?