An eBay user bought a dress for her daughter, but what showed up was far from what had been advertised on the site. eBay now says it will refund the purchase, but not until after being called out by the local news.

Earlier this week, KGW-TV in Oregon reported on a local woman who thought she was purchasing a very specific pageant gown from a seller on eBay. She paid around $100 for the item, but what arrived at her door was a different color and style of gown altogether.

“They had altered (the dress),” the mom told KGW. “The straps were different, everything was different and there was stuff missing from it. Everything was bad.”

But attempts to get a refund through eBay were denied, with a rep for the online marketplace telling the buyer, “I have determined that the item was accurately described. I came to this decision because seller disclosed the following: ‘You can add a tulle petticoat to make it more fuller.'”

“Why are you lying?” asked the buyer’s 10-year-old daughter, who did manage to win big at the pageant, albeit in a different dress.

“We thought we were buying a brand-name dress,” said the mom. “But it was a knock-off dress.”

After the story appeared on KGW, eBay suddenly realized that maybe adding a tulle petticoat to this particular dress would not magically change its color and style. (Though we suppose a magic tulle petticoat might do that.)

The mom says that eBay finally reached out to her and not only offered to refund her the price of the dress, but gave her a $25 gift certificate.

Just goes to show that big businesses sometimes step up to do the right thing — after they have been made to look really bad in the press.

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