Lost $117.48 due to technical error. eBay & PayPal will not help

[jelsa]

TLDR: I lost $117.48 in eBay gift card value due to a technical error. Neither eBay nor PayPal wants to help.

I purchased a $200 eBay eGiftcard and have redeemed $5.95. There should be $194.05 left on my card. In October 2016, when I checked my card balance, it showed the card only had $76.57 left. Shocked because I thought someone else had been using my gift card, I called eBay. Every time, they told me that they will investigate and I should call back after 2 weeks. Many calls and 2 months later, in December, eBay finally sent me a message. They said that due to technical error, money was deducted from my gift card.

The message went:

"This email was created for the update about your eBay Gift Card. Our Gift Card team investigate about the unknown charges on your Gift Card and they found out that you're being affected by a current site bug. We add your account on the affected members of eBay so that there information can be reviewed and will speed up the process of giving your refund. We will keep on giving you updates"

In short, I lost $117.48 due to an eBay technical error. My card was deducted even though nobody was using it. It has been 1 month after getting that message, I still have not gotten my refund. Any phone call to eBay has resulted in "Call us back in 2 weeks!" When I contacted eBay on social media, they finally told me to contact PayPal. According to them, PayPal is in charge of eBay gift cards. When I contacted PayPal, surprise, I was told to contact eBay because it’s about an eBay gift card.

I lost money due to no fault of my own. Yet, neither PayPal nor eBay is willing to help. I'm really frustrated and fed up with this. I’m at my wit’s end. All of my money was on that eBay gift card so I have not been able to buy anything since October. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

[Whac-A-Mole]

if you go to ebay help and support,there is some information on Ebay giftcards,see if you can find some relevant information

[jelsa]

Thank you for your suggestions. I have already looked on eBay but they had no inforation abouteBay gift card being incorrectly deducted.

I've also contacted both eBay and PayPal. None of them offer resolution. eBay representatives would put me on hold for 45 minutes to confirm all my purchases. Afterwards, they said that yes, it was a technical error. I did not use the gift card but somehow money kept disappearing. Then, they would told me to call back after 2 weeks. To add a more personal touch, all the eBay representative I've talked to promised to personally give me a call back to give me a status update. They never called. PayPal just told me to contact eBay. Now, I'm out of money, time, and patience. I regret ever buying the darn gift card.

[mmwalzer]

I would call eBay and demand to speak with a manager. If they have confirmed it is an error, there is no reason they should put off refunding the money to your card.

Good luck.

[Whac-A-Mole]

go to Ebay forum-buying and ask,there are many Ebay buyers and sellers there.

[jelsa]

Thank you for your of your suggestions. Below are the actions I've taken:

- Called eBay every 2 weeks since October 2016

- Asked on eBay forum

- Contacted eBay on Twitter

- Contacted eBay on Facebook

- Contacted PayPal (who said they can't do anything, it's eBay's problem)

- Called eBay and talked to a manager

All the responses eBay gave me were the same: They cannot do anything. They cannot refund my money or issue me a new gift card. Only the Gift card team can help me. They will send a message to the Gift card team. There's no way to contact this team directly. Call back for an update in 2 weeks.

I'm not sure how busy this Gift card team is but I've never heard any progress or status updates. I think I'll wait for a few more months before biting the bullet and calling it quit