Purchased 'suspected' missold supplies - don't know what to do!

[joshd1410]

In the middle of January I bought around £200 worth of what I believed to be gold filled chains from a supplier on a trusted and established third party marketplace. The supplier had been trading on this marketplace for over 5 years with thousands of reviews. They seemed legitimate and I had no reason to suspect that the products I was purchasing were not gold filled, especially since the phrase "gold filled" is used very very often in their descriptions.

A few days ago my mother (who is in the same business but trades seperately to myself and had contributed some money to the order of said supplies) decided to ask the supplier how their products were manufactured. At this point the supplier said very openly that they were electroplated. At another point in the conversation they had said that their products are "not the same gold filled as is made in the USA".

I have looked through all of their information and policies several times. Not ONCE in any of the information provided do they disclose the fact that their products are electroplated.

Earlier today I decided to do a quick test on one of the chain items which I had purchased from them. I gave it a few gentle rubs with the slightly abrasive polishing pads and the gold started to come off. It became fairly clear to me that this is not the quality of product which was advertised. I am awaiting the chance to take these items to somewhere that buys scrap gold just to see if they can do any kind of tests for me. One of the things I've read quite a lot about is acid testing which, as far as I know, would remove the gold from an electroplated product but not from a gold filled product.


My reason for posting here today is simple. I'm down around £200 and believe that I have been sold fake products in a transaction which was made through the previously mentioned third party marketplace. I have no idea how to properly handle this. I have voiced my concerns in a message to the third party and am awaiting a response. I have read some US government regulations on terms such as gold filled, gold plated etc and their use/misuse (as it's a US made product I figured I would start with their regulations, I don't recall seeing any similar documents that apply to the EU though. Customer and supplier are both in Europe). I have until the beginning of May to file a formal complaint regarding this but I want to make absolutely sure that I have the evidence to back my suspicions before officially flinging accusations. I would just really really appreciate some advice on how to move forward with this. If anybody has any suggestions then please do send them my way!

Lastly I just want to say that I've tried as hard as I can to leave identifying information out of my post. If you have some information/suggestions to offer would you please do the same? As I said before I don't want to be wildly flinging hollow accusations around. This situation relates to my only current source of income and I am trying to be super careful not to put that at risk in any way. Please do not name names or ask me to do so. I may be overthinking this but as I said it's my only source of income. I don't think you can ever be too careful with that!

[Dennis]

Your purchasing rights can be seen here:
https://www.google.com/search?biw=1403&bih=959&ei=Bq6VWsOhPIuEgAaBmqy4Bg&q=substandard+business+to+business+purchase&oq=substandard+business+to+business+purchase&gs_l=psy-ab.12..33i160k1.9658.28654.0.34319.41.38.0.3.3.0.1 29.2968.36j2.38.0....0...1c.1.64.psy-ab..0.37.2656...0j0i67k1j0i131k1j0i3k1j0i22i30k1j3 3i21k1.0.2-7Xe7amgjM

The difference between gold filled and gold plated is described simply here:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/gds/What-is-Gold-Filled-Jewelry-vs-Gold-Plated-and-why-buy-/10000000000692871/g.html

If the dealer is reputable, they should be willing to refund you. If there is a problem with this, you next recourse is you credit card company, if you paid by card.

Failing all this, there is the small claims court. Dennis.

[eekoh]

Also unless you actually bought these in person in a shop your purchase should be covered by the Distance Selling Regulations, which I believe give you a statutory "cooling off period" so that you can return any items you deem to be 'unsuitable', for whatever reason that may be. Clearly that wouldn't address the aspect of mis-selling, but it could perhaps get you a no quibble refund.

[ps_bond]

The DSR were rolled into the Consumer Contracts Regulations in 2014 - and there's a key word there: Consumer. Business to business transactions are covered under different legislation (so no cooling off, none of the other protections); AIUI - IANAL - it's the Sale of Goods Act sections specific to b2b contracts which hold sway. However... Many reputable businesses will still adopt similar behaviours; this should have been spelled out (good word, "should").

Dennis' recourses are the only ones open to you as far as I know. You may be able to claim business losses too, depends on the wording of the terms & conditions you agreed to.

[pearlescence]

How did you pay - a complaint to paypal?
Or to the platform on which this seller operates

[joshd1410]

I paid with debit card. The order was delivered too long ago for any normal refund regulations to reply (delivered around the middle of January). It's only in the past week that I have discovered the information regarding their manufacturing process. This information had to be asked for, it was not freely offered in their policies. It was only specifically asked for as me and my mother were contemplating a second order from them. She had doubts at first when the original order was placed but did nothing at the time. This time she decided to ask about the manufacturing process. The crucial piece of information is the fact that their products which they clearly advertise as "gold filled" are actually electroplated. The phrase "gold filled" is repeated very many times in titles, descriptions etc. However, not once do they disclose the fact that their products are electroplated.

I am currently attempting to bring my complaint to somebody working within the marketplace site. However I don't know exactly how gold filled material is regulated within the EU. In the US there is a specific set of regulations which covers acceptable use of terms relating to bonded alloy items. Does anybody know of such legislation which exists within the EU?

It seems to me that all normal regulations which would cover this situation now do not apply due to the amount of time since receiving the items. However my hope is that filing a formal complaint with the market platform (which I have until the start of May to do) will give me fair chance to get around the usual return/refund time limitations.

It is my hope that I can present a case with enough evidence to prove that the products were deliberately misrepresented in order to increase their perceived value. However if I am to do this I need to know what the regulations and requirements are regarding the use of the term "gold filled". Does something similar to the following link exist in EU regs?

http://www.bondedinfo.com/government-regulations/

This page provides the information I would need however I do not know how applicable it all is with it being US.

Surely knowingly providing false information about your products constitutes a criminal offence? If we were talking about somebody who purchased supplies which were advertised as solid gold from an established source to then find out that these items were not solid gold, but say, were gold filled for example. What would the procedure be if it was outside the time frame for all normal refund and buyer protection policies? Surely in this example the amount of elapsed time would not be a factor as this must certainly be classed as a criminal act?

Is there a way of getting the products tested professionally? Surely if I could obtain a proper assessment of the items carried out professionally then this would make pretty convincing grounds for actually pursuing legal action against the supplier? (As a last resort and assuming that no solution is reached even after the intervention of the marketplace)

Do the assay offices in the UK have the means of making such assessments and would they also have an idea of any laws regarding my issue?

Thank you for the responses so far. I am incredibly annoyed that a long trading supplier on a widely known and trusted site could have done this for so long and seemingly have gone completely unchecked. I will be taking this as far as I am able to so all information that can help me do so is thoroughly appreciated!