item not received. Seller not communicating.

[Stormdrunk]

Any insight is appreciated. I bought an item off a website January 7th. After a month I contacted seller because I had not received item. I tried emailing website directly, I found a Gmail address and emailed that with no response. Eventually I was able to talk to someone from the company through facebook messenger. They told me that since it takes the post office to investigate missing items that they would just ship me a new one. The next day I sent another message asking if they could please let me know when the item has shipped and to provide a tracking number. No response. So I waited a couple days and messaged them again. No response. Waited another day and no response.... I haven't received any response and opened up a dispute with Paypal this morning. How long should I wait before I escalate this to a claim? I've been waiting over 6 weeks and emails and messages go unanswered. Waiting another week at this point just frustrates me. Any help or insight is appreciated. Thanks!

[A_TeaMz · Accepted solution]

Hi There,

Im Sorry To Hear That Your Having Issues With Receiving Your Item! Usually PayPal Gives The Buyer A Time Estimate Onto When They Can Escalate A Dispute Into A Claim. Based On What You Have Stated It Seems That You Should Escalate This Dispute To A Claim Now So That PayPal Can Step In & Review/Investigate This For You! Once This Dispute Is Escalated Into A Claim, The Seller(s) Will Have 10 Days To Respond To The Claim/PayPals Emails. If They Dont Respond Within The 10 Days Provided, Then You Will Be Reimbursed On The 11th Day In Full. If You Do Not Receive Your Money Back On The 11th Day Then, Just Simply Give PayPal A Call & They Will Gladly Open Up The Case & Manually Release It Back Into Your Payment Method Used To Make This Purchase. Hope I Was Able To Help With Your Issue(s)/Concerns/Questions! Have A Good One!

[sharpiemarker]

You have 20 days from the date/time that you opened dispute to escalate or lose your purchase protection.  So you can escalate any time you want. After that, the seller has ten days to respond.  Then PayPal reviews case and makes a decision a few days after that, give or take.

[A_TeaMz]

You DO NOT Lose Your Purchase Protection. Buyer Has A Certain Amount of Days To Escalate or Case Will Simply Just Be Close Without A Solution & Neither The Buyer/Seller Will NOT Be Penalized. Once A Buyer Escalates To A Claim, Seller Will Have 10 Days To Respond. If Seller Does NOT Answer Within That Time Frame, Buyer Will Be Reimbures On The 11th Day & The Case Will Be Closed In The Buyer(s) Favor. Since The Seller(s) Failed To Respond To The Claim & PayPals Emails They Lose The Right To Appeal The Decision. However, If The Buyer Does NOT Escalate or If The Buyer & Seller Can Not Work On The Solution Within The Time Frame & They Case Gets Closed, The Buyer May Call In & Appeal The Case & It Will Be Reopened BUT Keep In Mind If You Fail To Answer On The Appeal Then The Case WONT Be Reopened. Not To Worry As You DO NOT Lose Your Protection Plan AT ALL & A PayPal Agent Confirmed That Part To Me. Have A Good One!

[sharpiemarker]

"To be eligible, you have to follow the dispute process and escalate the dispute to a claim. Disputes not escalated to a claim are not eligible for Purchase Protection."

https://www.paypal.com/us/selfhelp/article/paypal-protection-for-buyers-faq2378

I know I am not seeing things!

[sharpiemarker]

In the user agreement, it does not say that word for word but it does say if the dispute is not escalated within 20 days, PayPal will close the dispute.  If case could be opened again? maybe so, maybe no.  And if the steps in the resolution process are not followed, claim can be denied. Calling in to customer service aside to appeal, etc, that's what the documentation say.

[A_TeaMz]

Based On Experiences With Cases & Chats With PayPal Agents & Account Specialist What I Mentioned In My FIST Response Is True & If You Want You Can Contact PayPal To Confirm It or Have An Agent Step In & Confirm It. Anyways, Im Not Here To Make You Believe Mme Sir, Im Here To Help The Buyer With The Issue & As Long As He Follows My Steps In My FIRST Response He Will Be Fine & Buyer If Your Reading This Once Again DONT Be Afraid As Your Protection Plan Is Safe Unless You Start Opening Many Cases Then It Will Draw A Red Flag. Have A Great One! Thank You!

[A_TeaMz]

I Understand & As I Mentioned Twice, He Will Need To Escalate This Dispute To A Claim & Let PayPal Review/Investigate. You Claimed That He Will Lose His Purchase Protection If He DOES NOT Escalate The Dispute To A Claim In 20 Days Which Is False Because If He Does Not Escalate He Wont Be Penalized, The Case Will Just Simply Be Closed Without A Solution As I Stated Twice As Well. The Buyer Nor The Seller Will NOT Lose Any Protection Plan Just Because They Failed To Answer. Case Will Simply Be Closed Thats All. However, If A Buyer Continues To Open A Lot of Cases Then This Can Cause A Red Flag & The Buyer Then Can Lose His Protection Plan. Please Read Through Carefully, Thank You!

[sharpiemarker]

Oh, no? There was a recent case where a user failed to oversee their dispute because of personal issues at home. Didn't have time reply or escalate in time.  Case was closed.  They refused to reopen when the user appealed.  What I am driving at all this time is the importance of escalation.  I am not saying don't escalate or filing too many cases or whatever else.

[A_TeaMz]

Thats Unfortunate For That Buyer & It All Depends On The Case But Im Telling You With This Specific Type of Case He Can Appeal It If Thats The Case That It Closes As I Myself Have Been In His Position. As For The Other Buyer His Case Could Have Been Entirely Different or Might Have Lost His Protection Plan or Might Have Just Called Once & Got Denied & Instead of Calling Again He Didnt. Alot of These Agents Dont Know Some of The Policies or Arent Familiar With Them As I Had To Report An Agent Because He Was Making Outisde Calls From PayPal When He Wasnt Suppose To But He Prob Didnt Know That. I Have Had Agents Where They Would Talk To Me About An Account When Im Not The Account Holder. So That Buyers Agent Probably Didnt Want To Deal With It or Probably Didnt Know You Can Appeal A Case. YES, An Agent CAN NOT Reopen A Case BUT If They Contact The Dispute/Chargeback Departments & They Give Them The Info The Buyer Gave Them Then Those Departments Will Let Them Know If The Buyer Qualified For An Appeal To Reopen The Case. I Myself Are In An Appealed Case. I Accidentally Closed The Case & The Agent Called Tthe Chargeback Department & Based On My Info I Was Able To Appeal The Case & Its Now Reopened. Anyways Im Not Worried About That Other Buyer Even Tho Thats Unfortuate For Him, Im Worried About This Buyer & I Just Simply Answered His Question As He Wanted To Know If He Should Escalate. You Agreed With Me On Your First Statement As Well But Mentioned He Could Lose His Protection Plan Which Is False. Only Way To Lose A Protection Plan Is If You Violate PayPals Policy or Have Too Many Cases Open. Hope NOW You Understand. Have A Goodnight Sir!!!