sent money to wrong recipient, how do i get it back?

[jeremyR76]

i was intending to send money to a father of a teammate of my kids for a hockey tournament and i input the wrong email address.  the transaction shows as complete and I don't know what else to do?  PayPal said they can't do anything and that I should first try the recipient... lot of good that is going to do.  Why would anyone in their right mind return money they were 'gifted'???  The Service center at PayPal was less than helpful and could barely understand my concern.  

[Snow-Cat]

Sent funds to incorrect email address.  What are my options?

If the status of the transaction is "unclaimed" and the "cancel" link is active, the sender can cancel it.    This means that funds were sent to email address that is not registered with the PayPal system.

If the status of the transaction is "unclaimed" and the "cancel" link is not visible or not active, PayPal will return the funds to the sender after 30 days.  This means that funds were sent to an email address that at some point in time was registered with the PayPal system.   Most likely the email address is not active any more or the owner of the address has not confirmed their email address.

If the payment status is Completed, the sender needs to ask the recipient to do a refund.   You’ll find the recipient's contact information on the Transaction Details page.

If the payment status is Completed and the recipient cannot be contacted, the sender next step would be to open a dispute in the Resolution Center.

[jeremyR76]

I sent an email to the recipient, but no reply yet.  If they respond I will update this thread.

[jeremyR76]

by the way, the transaction shows as 'complete', so my only recourse at the moment is to wait for this person to respond.