Paid the wrong person, Pay pal won't reverse the payment.

[piestalker]

I paid £50 into the wrong PayPal account . I just assumed that PayPal would reverse the payment ,but they can't.

They should  make this clear when processing the payment that personal payments can not be reversed.

It is an easy mistake to make especially when the confirmation page does not give you the full name of the person your transferring money to. You don't find this out until after payment has been made. 

Paypal did agree to give me back half the funds as a good will gesture ,but I'm still £25 out of pocket .

When transferring money from my bank account the name and all the banks details are shown of the recipient before you confirm payment.

The Paypal process is easy to get wrong and from what I read on line it's a common problem with PayPal.

[MTS_Justin]

Hello,

Unfortunately, we don't have the account access available to research this particular issue for you, so you will need to contact PayPal Customer Service to resolve this issue. The PayPal Customer Service team is specially trained to address all account inquiries. I have included a link below to contact our Customer Service Team.
http://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_contact-general
http://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_contact-phone

[piestalker]

I paid the wrong person not persson . I should wake up properly before I post.

I spent in total two hours on the phone to PayPal customer services.

They phoned the third party who claimed to be away on vacation ,so a refund was not possible.

My argument was it would of been safer to do a bank transfer rather then use PayPal. 

If you receive funds into a bank  account by mistake and you are aware of this then it Is a criminal offence to spend that money and not return it.

Does this law apply to PayPal?????

[piestalker]

I've already spent two hours talking to customer services.

[Whac-A-Mole]

It is not a common problem,sending payment to the wrong person.

but if you have used a credit card,then file chargeback,but email the recipient first and ask him to return the payment else a chargeback would cost him $20 fee

[piestalker]

It is a very common problem, My own brother did it few years ago and the internet is full of simarlar issues with Paypal.

It does not cost anything to refund the payment. This person knows the money has been paid to him by mistake because Paypal C.S. rang him and told him.

So if have something useful to contribute please answer this question.

My question is does this law apply to Paypal the same as it does with a bank account.

Keeping any money wrongly credited to your account could lead to you being charged with 'Retaining wrongful credit'. The 1968 Theft act defines this as: "A person is guilty of theft if he dishonestly appropriates property belonging to another with the intention of permanently depriving the other of it".

In plain English it is a criminal offence to spend money you know has been credited to your bank account by mistake.

I need to know where I stand Legally.