PayPal
Refund issued to buyer before I got the phone back

I sold a cell phone through eBay and processed the payment through PayPal. I sold a Sciphone i68 (a cheap knockoff of an iPhone) with a lot of extras, in its original box.

Unfortunately, this phone sold to a crazy person in North Carolina. Before the transaction was over, I received more than 15 three-page emails from this lady. They ranged from her telling me how she put herself through medical school and law school while raising five kids alone, to her belittling me and telling me to go to church, and telling me that she had diabetes, cancer, and had just completed 800 hours of anger management. They were all in text-lingo, and I knew from her other eBay purchases that she was a kid. However, I was very patient with her. I tried to be accommodating.

Before she even got the merchandise, she had filed a claim with PayPal because I had not answered all of her emails. Her package was sent four days late. I apologized. In order to appease the buyer and do the right thing, I sent her the phone via UPS with a tracking number. I deal with UPS on a daily basis. I am certain that the phone was packaged very well and that it was received in fine order.

I sent PayPal two emails of concern. I wanted them to know what kind of person I was dealing with. I was certain, according to her emails, that I was being set up. I received no answer from PayPal. Phone calls don't go through. If you have ever tried to contact PayPal, you know how difficult it is to get through. But I held out hope. I was certain that when someone saw her messages, they would see that they were not consistent and that she was obviously not telling the truth.

When the buyer received the phone, she escalated the claim and sent me a demand for the money back, without sending the phone back. I said no, and told PayPal that I would give her a refund once I received the package back intact. PayPal indicated the same, that the buyer would receive a refund once I, the seller, had indicated that I had received the phone back intact.

First, the buyer's first claim stated, through PayPal and personal email, that she received a non-working phone. Her email to me said that the phone was cheap and it didn't work. Then the buyer stated that she received a bunch of cheap plastic. Then the buyer stated again that she received nothing but a bunch of plastic. Then the buyer sent me another private email telling me that the package had been delivered completely torn apart, like it had been in a hurricane, and that there was nothing in it but the bottom of a box and a few cell phone parts. Now there was not even a phone!

I sent PayPal another email and told them that I was concerned because the buyer's emails were all inconsistent. I knew that she had received the phone and was just trying to get her money back.

So I asked the buyer to send me everything back just the way she received it. I told her that if she had received a damaged package from UPS, I was going to file a claim with UPS, and that they would want to pick it up from her. Well, surprise, surprise. The buyer did not comply. She claimed that she threw it all away because it was junk. That does not sound like something someone would do if they received a damaged package and filed a claim about it, right? The buyer told me that she was sending what she had back via USPS, that she was only sending a few pieces (probably the stuff she just didn't need), and that she was getting her money back.

Well, today PayPal gave the buyer her money back, and I haven't even gotten the package back yet! I did not even get to receive the package and tell them whether it was intact or not, which was the deal PayPal made. I did not even get to act as a seller!

I am furious! PayPal is lazy. I am sure that their robot email answerer is the only thing I got to deal with, because there is no way that a real person looked at this claim and made that decision.

I would love an answer back! I would love to actually hear from someone at PayPal! I would love to hear what kind of defense they have to a claim as pitiful as this one!

If you want my phone number so that you can actually talk to me in person, just let me know! Bring it.

Company: PayPal
Country: USA
Site: paypal.com

  <     >