Similar story here. Here's a suggestion. If you run into 3 or more successive unhelpful responses from Ebay (whether it be because of undertrained staff, or trained staff) that forestalls any REAL resolution commitment. Let them know that you will be filing a complaint to the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and the Attorney General's (AG) office. This may or may not effect much. I do know that the mention of BBB or AG got good results for me with the largest wireless phone company in the US, when they did not live up to a commitment and provided an unreasonable workaround. I expect that I will be using this tactic soon with eBay. I might even file complaints.