PayPal
Buyer Protection Refund Promised, Then Denied After Return

Anonymous 48363
09-25-2005
11

I purchased some memory for my computer through eBay and finished the sale through PayPal. My purchase was only US$119, quite small compared to some horror stories I have since read about.

After installing the memory, it became clear that the part was faulty. I contacted the seller, who pretty much ignored me. I then contacted eBay, and Bruce kindly investigated and indicated that I was entitled to a refund. He then pointed me to PayPal dispute resolution. On June 29th PayPal indicated I was indeed due a refund and provided the postage address of the seller to return the product.

I posted the product to the seller, and upon receipt of the postage notification PayPal suddenly informed me they had changed their mind and I was not going to get my refund. On top of this, all the correspondence in the dispute resolution was deleted and replaced with 3 notices:

1) Dispute received 2 months after initial complaint
2) Dispute reviewed
3) Dispute denied

All in one day. I then tried to email anyone that I could at PayPal, but all emails were ignored. I even emailed the original eBay customer support individual, and he forwarded the complaint to PayPal, who then ignored it again.

I have only lost US$119 and postage, so I guess I got out of it cheaply, but to all those who intend to do business with PayPal, I would advise against it. If you still want to, please keep your transactions singular and as small as possible. They will leave you in a heartbeat and you cannot recover your money.