Requesting return of $5000 deposit after 3 mths of waiting with no services/product.

[malibusteve]

Hi....... I place a $5000 deposit 3 mths ago for a watch that was to be delivered within 2 mths.  The watch has not arrived and the Merchant, ExquisiteTimepieces, Naples Fl, refuses to refund my deposit.  Unfortunately I made the deposit outside fo PayPal via Bank Check.  The Merchant is a PayPal member.  What can I do to obtain my deposit back?

Beware of using ExquisiteTimePieces. 

[kernowlass]

Do you mean you did not use paypal to pay the deposit???

[malibusteve]

Yes.  Not smart on my part.  I always use PayPal or a CC to protect myself.  Quite foolish of me this time.  I have no written contract or agreement beyond verbal statements from the Merchant that the item would be delivered within 2mths.  He refuses to refund stating that he has a no refund policy.  No such policy was expressed, implied or agreed to when the deposit was sent.

[kernowlass]

So if you did not use paypal to make the payment how do you expect paypal to help you get a refund !!!!!

[malibusteve]

Do not expect PayPal to help with refund.  Looking to warn PayPal uses about this Merchant and possibly have his account removed or suspended by PayPal for such business practices.  Also looking for suggestions as to how to pressure the Merchant to proceed with a refund. I have filed a complaint with the Naples/South FL BBB and the Watch Company that the Merchant is an authorized dealer for and infomred them of my situation.  I plan to iniate legal action.  

In order to compensate the Merchant for the inconvenience I requested a 90% refund allowning the Merchant to keep $500 which was declined by the Merchant.

[kernowlass]

OK this confused me.

What can I do to obtain my deposit back?

Your probable only option is a claim in the small claims court for eg?

Good luck.

[DPCreations]

What kind of legal contract did you have with the seller? 

Payment was outside of PayPal so PayPal would not get involved.

Bank checks are high risk for buyers to use as there is no option to recover funds.

It may be necessary to file a claim within a court jurisdiction in this case; it would be based on any contract you had with the seller.

[malibusteve]

no contract.  Simply verbal. My mistake for not using PayPal.  I have filed complaints with BBB, The Watch Company that the Merchant is an authorized dealer for and have begun legal proceedings.

[progear]

If everytthing you say is true, then launch a social media campaign against them. Yelp, Google, Yellow Pages and any other forum that applies. Call them out for what they are and let everyone know.