Paypal Exposed
My Tale Of The Fraudulent Scandal Behind Paypal
The following is a true story that happened to me through the use of Paypal. I seriously advise anyone that currently uses Paypal as a method of payment through online retailers to take notice of my story -- It could save you a lot of hassle/money.
-The Background-
It all started with the purchase of a collector's sword. I saw the auction and thought that it would be a good addition to my wall, for use as decoration. I purchased the item for $33.50 (that is $13.50 + $20.00 S&H). I thought that I had gotten a great deal on this item...little did I know what trouble it would cause me...
I paid for the item as soon as the auction ended (as I normally do), which was on 6/28/06.
-Initial Attempt At Tactful Resolve-
I sent the seller a message asking for the whereabouts of my item on 7/03/06. The message read as follows:
- Has this item been shipped and is there any sort of tracking info you can supply for it? Thanks
I didn't receive any response back from this message. Later, I decided to send another message in hopes that my last question had somehow mysteriously vanished from the seller's inbox. Below was the 2nd attempt for contact, which was sent on 7/12/06:
- I'm still wondering about this item...it has been 15 days and I haven't received it or had any response as to when it was shipped out.
This message sparked a response. I received the following statement on 7/12/06...this was the first and last contact from the seller:
- I had a problem withthe postal service and had it shipped back to me. Right now I am in the process of shipping it again ill give you the tracking number as soon as i get it. sorry for the delay
This message confused me a little, as I pondered on what exactly the person meant by "a problem" and how it could be "shipped back" to them if it was already in transit. I gave the seller the benefit of the doubt and decided to wait a little longer to see how this whole thing would progress. "How worse can it be?" I thought to myself. I imagined that Paypal would protect me from this sort of thing...boy was I wrong...
Afterwards, I sent the next two messages, with the first being on 7/17/06, followed by the second on 7/21/06:
- Any new information on this item? If your would prefer to refund my money and not send the item, that would be fine too. There would be no hard feelings. Just let me know. Thanks
- It has been 24 days since payment was sent for this item. Please respond accordingly to my previous message. I will soon be forced to file a dispute with Paypal. As mentioned before, if you are having difficulty in shipping, you may refund my money and not ship this item to me.
-The Dispute-
I filed a dispute on 7/23/06. The first message in the dispute was:
It has been 27 days since I purchased this item and I still haven't received it. I have sent a total of 4 messages and have only gotten a response back on one. I would like a full refund of the purchase price.
A waited a couple of days for the user to respond...and still received nothing. I decided that I wanted to get my money from this deadbeat by any means necessary. I went into the Paypal resolution center thinking that I was going to hand it to this person good, only to find out the tragic policy that led me to post this story on my site.
-The $25 Dispute Escalate Paypal Fee-
The following was taken from the message I received upon opting for an escalated dispute:
We are sorry that you have been unable to resolve this dispute. By escalating your dispute to a claim, you are asking Paypal to review the case and decide the outcome. Paypal will review your communication with the seller and may contact you for additional information. We will make every effort to resolve this claim within 30 days. If this claim is decided in your favor, you will be eligible to receive whatever funds we can recover from the seller minus a $25.00 USD processing cost. We will make our best effort to investigate this matter fairly and, if the claim is decided in your favor, recover whatever funds we can. You may be required to ship the merchandise back to the seller to be eligible for a refund.
I nearly had a heart attack after seeing this message. I couldn't believe that they would punish me because someone else didn't send the merchandise that they agreed to sell. I decided to take this matter up with my financial institution, as I REFUSED to take a loss on this.
-Debit Card Transaction Reversal-
I filled out a form given to me by my bank to reverse the charges and get my money back. My bank advised me to close the dispute and obtain the money via the reversal, rather than the Paypal dispute system. I closed the dispute, with the following message:
- I have decided to reverse these charges via my credit card company, so I am closing this dispute. I am asking that you DO NOT ship this item or refund my money at this point.
After all of this trouble I finally got my money back. However, Paypal wasn't done with me yet.
-Negative Funds In Paypal Account-
I received the following email from Paypal regarding my account after the bank reversal went through:
You recently attempted to transfer funds from your bank account to your Paypal account. Your bank has declined the funds transfer.
We were unable to cover your payment to deadbeat@hotmail.com with funds from your Paypal balance. While this transaction had already been flagged as unauthorized, our external processor could not be prevented from completing the representment process. Your Back-up Funding Source will not be charged to make up the funds. This could mean that your Paypal account balance will go negative, but this is merely an interim accounting step that will be corrected when we have completed our review of this transaction. For current information on your account balance and transaction history, please login to your Paypal account.
I checked my account and sure enough, I had a negative balance (whoopie!). I sent Paypal a message in regards to this entire situation (I will spare you the details as you have already been filled in as of now). The response I received in this matter irritated me beyond belief.
-Paypal's Response-
Dear DOSerror,
Thank you for contacting Paypal. My name is Giovanni, and I'm glad to be of service to you.
I'm sorry for the inconveniences you've experienced with regard to this matter. You can transfer funds into your Paypal account for the amount needed to bring the account balance to a zero or higher balance. To resolve this outstanding balance and avoid further action, follow these directions:
- 1. Log into your account at https://www.Paypal.com/
- 2. Click the 'Restore your balance' link located in the balance box
This will bring up the 'Add Funds to Eliminate Your Negative Balance' page. You will be provided an option on how to add funds to bring your balance to zero or any positive amount. There may be other add funds options depending on your registered account information at the bottom of the page.
- If the account balance remains negative after 120 days, the account may be locked
If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us again.
Sincerely,
Giovanni
Paypal Community Support
Paypal, an eBay Company
-The Paypal Email Handling Opinion-
I received an email from Paypal regarding the way my email was handled. I felt that this was an easy way for me to express my deepest darkest hatred for the way this whole situation went down.
I sent the following bitter messages geared towards any and all that actually reviewed this survey, in hopes that it would shed light on the subject and finally allow my voice to be heard (though I'm sure it did nothing):
Please tell us why you were not satisfied with the way your email was handled. (Check all that apply)
Other:
- Problem Unresolved, I Get Punished For A Dishonest Seller Who Never Shipped Item And STOLE My Money. The What Seemed To Be An "Automated System Response" Solved Absolutely Nothing...Quite Frankly, It Pissed Me Off More With The Whole Situation.
You indicated that you do not agree with Paypal's policy in this matter, which policy are you referring to?
- The policy that punishes someone with a $25 fee just for escalating a claim. This has made me want to never use ebay again. My account goes negative because I did a reversal at my bank and the seller (that never sent the item) gets off free! Paypal should obtain their money from the seller, as I have gotten my money back. I could care less if my account gets closed at this point, because I plan to no longer have dealings with ebay whatsoever. A person with (51) 100% positive feedback (ME) gets ripped off, when the seller with (11) feedback gets off unscathed. If I would have went through Paypal to get my money back, I would have gotten 8.50 out of 33.50...no way was I going to let that happen! That isn't even a sure bet...the person I purchased the item from could have just never put any money back into their Paypal account. So yeah, take your $33.50 negative balance and close my account as I am done with you Paypal. Seeing as you covet your deadbeat seller account holders and punish those respectful members that actually follow the system...you can keep your service and your policies way away from me. Continue on your merry little way allowing thieves to take people's money and then get a portion for yourself if you are ever able to recover any.
What is it about the policy that you disagree with?
- See aforementioned statement about the seller thievery protection act...
What one thing could Paypal do to improve its customer service?
- Tell its customer service reps to actually discuss/solve the problem at hand, rather than copying/pasting a policy/procedure that holds no ground to the issue into the response box.
What could the representative have done differently to satisfy you with his/her professionalism and knowledge?
- Discuss a method of which my negative balance could be nullified, as the item I purchased was never received and the seller should have to return their stolen money back to Paypal. They expect me to take the loss for a deadbeat seller, um no...
-Conclusion-
Well as of now 8/2/06 I am still in a negative balance with Paypal and I have decided to just let it all go. I don't need this much crap to deal with when purchasing things online. From here on out I'm buying items new. It is a shame that their policies hurt honest people, but I'm sure I'm not the only person that has been ripped off by Paypal/Ebay.
Now ask yourself..."is buying items on Ebay really worth all of this?"...