Issues with a package forwarding company

[ajeremy]

I am an international customer who ordered an item from a US retailer via a package forwarding company over a month ago. Orders are paid in two installments: a first payment to the package forwarder to purchase the item on the customer's behalf; then a second payment after the forwarder has received the item and calculated international shipping.

The package forwarding company received my first payment and provided a USPS tracking number indicating that they received my package at their warehouse, but they never processed my order for shipping to my overseas address and never billed me for the second payment.

I opened a Paypal dispute for non delivery of package because the package forwarder stopped replying to my emails. The package forwarder used the USPS number for the package's receipt at their facilities as proof that my package had been delivered.

The dispute is still open but I have a sinking feeling the package forwarder has gotten away with pocketing my money. Has anyone else had experience with this sort of dispute? Am I out of luck here?

[sharpiemarker]

That's an odd, shady scheme that retailer/package forwarder got going.

Something to consider: You can usually tell from the USPS tracking information whether a shipment is shipped internationally or domestically by the shipping service used and this is found in the tracking results of the tracking number at USPS.com.  If your shipping address on the payment is your intl address, then they did not deliver your item and is trying to pull a fast one.

Good luck.

[ajeremy]

I checked their Facebook page and there a lot of comments from customers who have had similar experiences to mine, with packages going missing or not getting sent out and no email communication. The weird thing is they've been in business for several years. Maybe they have found a way to game PayPal's dispute process so they can stay in business.

[sharpiemarker]

That sucks.  Sorry this happened to you.

When you consider your reply to the dispute:

The point of the transaction is that the item you ordered be shipped to you at your intl address.  If their USPS tracking is showing a US domestic shipping service and delivery, what good does that do you?  They did not ship to your intl address in the payment which is what they are supposed to do.

If you still lose the dispute, then file a chargeback with your credit card issuer and see if they can help you.  That is if you paid with your credit card through PayPal.

[ajeremy]

Thank you for the helpful advice. Just want to post an update to say that PayPal resolved the dispute in my favor and they will be giving me a full refund. Thanks to PayPal's support team for putting an end to a pretty stressul month and a half. I don't know whether that seller is fraudulent or just incompetent, but it's no way to run a business.