PayPal ripoff. Please take note of the Buyer Protection Policy listed on the PayPal site. It indicates PayPal works with the buyer and seller to investigate the facts in a dispute and come to a fair conclusion.
Please note that the stated guidelines indicate only one claim per PayPal payment, and also note that it must be for goods not received "OR" significantly not as described.
OK, so here is the reality of how PayPal is misleading and does not do what it claims as far as working with the buyer and seller to investigate.
I bought a guitar on eBay from a seller in Phoenix, AZ. I paid the seller using PayPal immediately with the "Buy It Now" option. A week went by with no confirmation from the seller. I emailed and got an indication he would ship right away, and then another week or so went by with no confirmation and no communication. He then stated he would ship right away again, and I asked for tracking numbers, but nothing was forthcoming. On a third occasion he claimed he did not have a shipping address, which was provided with the PayPal payment weeks before. So I initiated a claim with PayPal and my credit card company based on the criterion "item not received."
At exactly 30 days from the payment/close of auction, it arrived (the same date the seller provided the email with the tracking number; actually, the guitar got here before the tracking number). Much to my dismay, it is significantly different from what was described. The solid rosewood body described is cheap plywood laminate mahogany, and the "Great Shape" promised is a guitar that has a warped neck and cannot be played or even tuned. It also has a crack in the body, and it was described as being in perfect condition. The seller acknowledged in an email that he had no idea what he was selling and that he was doing it for a friend (I don't believe that). Certainly you should be liable and accountable if you advertise the specifics of an item, no matter what.
So I called customer service at PayPal to provide the additional discovery and update, and now here is where PayPal is misleading and does not do what it claims it does. The customer service representative told me there is no way for me to dispute that the item received is "significantly different" from what was advertised and promised, and that since my claim was initiated on "item not received," that was my only grounds for dispute. So the seller provided a tracking number, and PayPal closed the case in his favor. It does not state in their guidelines that it must be one criterion or the other but not both, or one exclusive of the other. It does not tell you that you have no way to update information as it becomes known while the dispute is still open. Is that working to investigate the facts?
Their advertisement is misleading and false. An analogy: all the seller has to do is show they sent something. You could order diamonds and receive peanuts, and all the seller has to do is prove they shipped a package, and the case is closed by PayPal. I will also mention that the customer service rep was rude and argumentative. I asked to speak to a supervisor, and they would not cooperate. If anyone has any suggestions as to what avenue is available, I would appreciate any information.
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