Laconic Records: Think twice before dealing with this seller

Update: Laconic Records have finally sent a replacement unit!

In a nutshell: If you deal with Laconic Records don't expect them to cooperate when things go wrong, and don't assume that PayPal offers adequate protection against non-delivery of items you order on eBay.

Here's the long version.

In November 2007, while searching for a good deal for a Vestax VCI-100 midi controller on eBay I found the German seller Laconic Records offering one for a good price. Laconic Records are a mail-order and distribution company based in Dresden, Germany.

The Laconic Records representative I contacted with a couple of pre-sale questions I had about the unit answered politely and promptly which gave me confidence to go ahead with the order.

After the package did not arrive I found out that DPD, the delivery company, had made a mistake. Their package tracking system showed that the package has been delivered to someone with the surname BERG at the address of my neighbor. There is no one of that name in my block, an my neighbors have not received any packages for me. (BERG, if you're reading, please get in touch!)

DPD informed me that since the package appeared to have been lost, the only way to proceed was for the seller (Laconic Records) to file a missing package claim.

This mistake was in no way the fault of Laconic Records, and I expected full cooperation from them to help resolve the problem to our mutual satisfaction. I contacted them to explain the problem expecting the same professionalism I had experienced in their responses to my pre-sale questions but to my dismay my emails and phone calls were not answered.

When it became clear that Laconic Records were not going to cooperate I opened a PayPal dispute claim to attempt to get my payment refunded that way.

A few weeks later, to my astonishment, PayPal closed the dispute in Laconic Records'
favor. The curt email from PayPal said the following:

The seller has provided valid tracking information on the above case. As a
result of this, your appeal can not be granted.

Valid tracking information? The tracking information shows in no uncertain terms that the package has been delivered to an unknown third party. PayPal has a peculiar understanding of 'valid'.

This has important implications if it is reflective of PayPal's general policy: it means that if you order an item, and the delivery company delivers it to an incorrect address, you are at the mercy of the seller to cooperate with you and refund your payment. If the seller does not cooperate, you've lost your money and PayPal will do nothing to help you. This should seriously undermine trust in PayPal. At least I will never use their service to order a physical item again.

Since PayPal failed to help, I'm now looking for legal advice on how to proceed. And hoping that in the meantime Laconic Records decide to cooperate.

I will update this page as the sorry saga unfolds.

If you have a blog or website and you want to help me to publicise this story, publishing a hyperlink to this post using the link text 'Laconic Records' would be very helpful. This needn't be a full blog post, it could be a small footnote eg. "In other news: Mormo is having some trouble with Laconic Records". Thanks!

Update: 28.03.08 Still no contact from Laconic Records. After speaking with a lawyer I have sent them a formal letter informing them that if I do not receive a refund within seven days I will start a legal procedure against them.

Update: 11.04.08 Today, roughly five months since ordering the controller, a replacement unit arrived in the post from Laconic Records. I've decided not to go ahead with legal action.

In a note enclosed with the unit they asked me to remove this article from the site. I won't be doing that since the article is still of relevance to people thinking of doing business with this seller. My advice: don't do it.