Lulugal

[VLG]

I ordered a dress from Lulugal on November 22 so that it would arrive in plenty of time for Christmas. I received a "shipment notification" on December 3, after which I waited, finally asking (for the first of several times) "Where is my order?" on December 14. The answer I received then and subsequently--the last time on December 22--was "Wait one more week, and thank you for your patience." The package did finally arrive on December 24; however, the dress is the wrong color, only vaguely resembles what was pictured on the website and, of course, does not fit.  After investigating the possibility of returning it, I have discovered that it would cost me more--because Lulugal does not pay return costs--to send it back to China (I had no idea that these products originate in China) than I paid for the dress. I am disgusted by this entire experience, and I'd like to have my money returned, but it'll still be a loss for me should I attempt to send back the dress.

After disputing this with Paypal and not receiving a satisfactory answer from Lulugal, who offered me a whole $8.00 in compensation, I escalated it to a claim, and now I'm stymied because Paypal wants tracking information to show that I have sent the item back to Lulugal.  I haven't done that, because even with the munificent $8.00 compensation that Lulugal has offered, I will lose money on this deal because of the prohibitive shipping costs.  Beyond "Enter the tracking information" point of this dispute, there appears to be no way to comment further and say "I will not send it back.  It's useless to me as it exists, but I will incur a greater hit through the shipping charges than I have already sustained."

At this point, since I understand that my money is gone, the only possible satisfactory resolution I can see to this issue is some kind of guarantee from Paypal that they will no longer sanction purchases from Lulugal.  I am at fault for not having exercised due dilgence by reading the HUNDREDS of negative reviews of Lulugal (this is apparently a very common issue), but I regularly order online and have never experienced an unsolvable debacle of this magnitude.

Thoughts?

[DPCreations]

@VLG

When it comes to purchase you shouldn't need PayPal.  Why did you use PayPal?

I think you should always use a credit card for online puchases and use a credit card which is not linked to your PayPal account.  If the site doesn't permit credit card purchase,then beware.

PayPal is a good way to accept payment for sales, but credit cards are better for purchases.

[VLG]

My sense has been that Paypal provides an extra layer of protection against identity theft, not that I have much of an identity to steal.  That might be changing, since--with the exception of your good selves--Paypal has not been particularly helpful here.

[DPCreations]

My guess would be that credit cards are better at identity protection.  And if you really think about it, PayPal would be less identity protection when you add a credit card to your PayPal account.  Now funding with your credit card passes through PayPal to a credit card merchant account.   Wouldn't it be better to deal directly with the merchant and bypass details passing through another 2 parties?

For those who use PayPal primarily for purchases, why do they do so?  Is is becaause they really like to use PayPal for some benefits or is it because they don't have credit cards?

[kbtsou]

Not that I would have known to look for it, but I tried to find indications that this site was based in China.....

1. On the "Contact Us" page, 1730 PM to 0230 AM EST is somewhat suspicious for live call and chat hours.

2. There's mention of Chinese tax and duty on the return page.

Once again, all this is in hindsight, and there's no way I would have discovered it had I not known about the China part in the firsthand. However, when purchasing items online, I'm obsessively detailed when going over return policy, so there may have been the slightest chance that I thought this site was based overseas.

[DPCreations]

The fact that the company did not specifically state a mailing addresss would have been a red flag for me.

[VLG]

Yes, hindsight can offer a certain amount of clarity that the immediate moment might lack.  I regularly purchase clothes online, but generally from the same 3-4 companies.  This was a rare foray outside the known and familiar; if nothing else, it has been a powerful learning experience.

[VLG]

Although it's been so long ago that I don't remember for sure, I think I started using Paypal when I began making the occasional purchase from eBay, and I believe I did so either because that's what the sellers preferred or because I thought not giving sellers my credit card number directly was prudent.  Now I have it set up so that a couple of recurring donations every month go from Paypal. but I'm that there might be other ways of doing that.

Interesting that my fury about this Lulugal situation has led me to think that I might be better off without Paypal.

[itzachance]

I am definitely NOT going to use PayPal anymore because of how they are investigating and doing such a lousy job with my Lulugal problem.

[luv2boatnorcal]

I use Paypal because it is easy for online orders, I don't have to go get my credit card out and type in all the info. Will think twice in the future if they don't refund the money they shipped to lulugal for a bag of garbage otherwise known as lulugal "fashion."

[Amyhb]

Hi,

i am having a vey same issue with lulugal. They sent me the wrong item but will not tell me how to return it. I see many people with similar issues, do you think we can submit them to the better business bureau?