Experiences with PayPal's Buyer Complaint Policy?

[Lyle]

I've had to resort to filing a claim with PayPal's "Buyer Complaint" resolution center, because an item that I ordered and paid for using PayPal was never delivered to me and the seller doesn't respond to my e-mails or phone calls. Has anyone here ever had to do this, and if so, what was your experience in dealing with PayPal? Did you feel like they did enough to resolve the problem?

 

[clayj]

I had to do this back in mid-2005... a CD I ordered from Australia was never shipped, and the seller stopped responding to my communications. Filled out the complaint form, and since the seller did not respond to PayPal's request for clarification, I got a full refund after a few weeks. (Officially, they said 10 business days, but it really took longer than that.)

 

[Lyle]

Thanks for the feedback, Clay. The amount of money is small enough that if I don't get a refund (or the product I originally ordered), I can chalk it up to the going price of a life lesson. We'll see how it goes; I only just filed the claim, so it won't be until sometime next week at the earliest that they even begin investigating.

 

[rickvanr]

I got gypped on these forums a while back, same scenario a clayj. My money was returned to me.

 

[Lyle]

A Moral Victory?

Well, I received word of the "resolution" of my complaint this morning:

Dear JAMES JOHNSON,

After careful review, we have concluded our investigation of the Buyer
Complaint described below.

We have decided in your favor, however, we were unable to recover any funds
from the seller's account. As stated in the PayPal User Agreement, recovery
of funds associated with a Buyer Complaint cannot be guaranteed.

We will make our best effort to recover the funds in question if they
become available in the seller's account in the future. Please be assured
that we will also take appropriate action against the seller's account,
which may include limitation of the seller's account privileges.

I don't expect that PayPal is ever going to see hide or hair of this buyer again. I suppose I can file a complaint with the Texas Better Business Bureau as well, not that that's going to help me personally. I wonder if it's worth it to see if Citibank will do anything about it?

 

[Johnny Rico]

I ordered an item off ebay and the seller mailed it to a completely wrong address. I tried to get them to replace the item, they refused, so I went to the paypal buyer complaint thing. Because my seller was able to provide a tracking number that showed he sent a package SOMEWHERE, not neccessarily to me, paypal refused my complaint and someone else got my stuff. I don't use ebay or paypal anymore because I just get a really shady feeling when using them.. I have felt safer buying cocaine from meth junkies who were squatting in a derelict house with bullet holes in the door and used syringes stuck in the front yard.

 

[Lyle]

I don't use ebay or paypal anymore because I just get a really shady feeling when using them.. I have felt safer buying cocaine from meth junkies who were squatting in a derelict house with bullet holes in the door and used syringes stuck in the front yard.

Well, I think we can all relate to that.

 

[macartistkel]

I had a word with Paypal last week on the phone. They drive me crazy with not depositing money from my clients directly into my checking account. Its faster to have someone send me a check in the mail so I can go deposit it into my account instead of me waiting 4 business days for a check to clear, then waiting another 4 business days for them to transfer funds from the Paypal account to my checking account. A waste of time in my opinion with my situation!

Well anyway, for Lyle's situation, I hope you get your money back though someday!!