Bait and Switch Scam, help!

reed12b
Contributor
Contributor

I am the victim of a bait and switch scam from Facebook.  The seller presented a high quality dash camera with lots of features, but the one they shipped was a very low quality camera that was nowhere worth the $59.99 charge.  But the response from Paypal is they want me to ship the product back to the seller, who is located in China! The shipping charges are more than the purchase price. What do I do? Just accept the fact I have been scammed?

Login to Me Too
12 REPLIES 12

kernowlass
Esteemed Advisor
Esteemed Advisor

@reed12b

 

Paypal buyer protection can never be a 100% coverall, so in the event of a dispute you need to bear in mind possible return trackable costs before you buy from that seller / item / country.


Paypal state this >>
PayPal is not obliged to reimburse you for any costs that you incur to comply with any of PayPal’s requests for cooperation for the purpose of resolving the problem (including, without limitation, costs that you incur to return a SNAD item to the Payment Recipient or another party as PayPal requests), although sometimes it may reimburse these costs.

Although they will compensate you for some of the cost if you have activated this at some point before you made that transaction .....
https://www.paypal.com/us/selfhelp/article/what-is-return-shipping-on-us-and-how-do-i-activate-it-fa...

You also have the option to do a chargeback via your card issuer instead of a Paypal dispute if you funded your Paypal payment via a credit card.



Advice is voluntary.
Kudos / Solution appreciated.
Login to Me Too

reed12b
Contributor
Contributor

From reading responses to complaints on various Facebook comments, it appears that some users have been able to get Paypal to refund these charges without shipping the crap back to the seller.  I need advise on how to make this happen.  I think that Paypal is in bed with the seller as they are making money off these bait and switch scams and just ripping off their customers.

Login to Me Too

dleeme17
Contributor
Contributor

This happened to me too.  The problem is that PayPal's resolution center is a bot that gives the buyer no way of discussing their "resolution in your favor," and no way of reaching customer service to discuss.  The address supplied to send back the garbage that was delivered instead of the promised product is dubious at best, the shipping charge, of course would be more than the item purchased, and the scam continues to work for the seller.

 

I couldn't even figure out how to contact a real person at PayPal to try to resolve this and as such will never use PayPal services again. I have been a long time customer and regret that PayPal has totally dropped the ball here.

Login to Me Too

kernowlass
Esteemed Advisor
Esteemed Advisor

@dleeme17

 

You can phone customer services if you want to.


Advice is voluntary.
Kudos / Solution appreciated.
Login to Me Too

dleeme17
Contributor
Contributor

Where can I find the customer service number?

Login to Me Too

kernowlass
Esteemed Advisor
Esteemed Advisor

@dleeme17

 

Paypal is 'country specific' so as you have not added your country to your community profile or said in your post then click on help / contact bottom left of page for options if available in your country.


Advice is voluntary.
Kudos / Solution appreciated.
Login to Me Too

dleeme17
Contributor
Contributor

I'm in the US.

Login to Me Too

kernowlass
Esteemed Advisor
Esteemed Advisor

@dleeme17

Click on the words "Help / Contact" at the bottom of paypals pages and use the phone option in the blue band at the top OR very bottom of page dependent on what country you are in. Scroll down past the list of help questions and click on 'Call us' bottom of that page. Log in and get the code.

OR

have you considered contacting Customer Service via Facebook or Twitter?
You can send them a personal message from their facebook or twitter pages.
It's: https://www.facebook.com/PayPal and @AskPayPal for Twitter.




Advice is voluntary.
Kudos / Solution appreciated.
Login to Me Too

gusart
Contributor
Contributor

don't bother they're all bots will put you in a que 24hrs so far they stand to lose way to much in fees if they open the floodgates , or as I was informed/accused of trying to scam an honest company as soon as I offered proof of the crap that I received ,PayPal profit before integrity

 

Login to Me Too

Haven't Found your Answer?

It happens. Hit the "Login to Ask the community" button to create a question for the PayPal community.