I apologise in advance for the length of this post.
I purchased 2 items from a seller on ebay that ended up being misadvertised and the incorrect size.
I contacted the seller and discussed getting a refund. After much back and forth which involved the seller offering incredibly paltry partial refunds, he finally agreed to start the return process and I was issued with an eBay return slip for an address in NSW. I posted the two items back to the seller and on the 10th of Feb the items tracking updated to mark them as delivered. Once this happened I received an email from paypal stating I had been given a refund. Upon checking the refund, however, I found that the seller had only refunded the cheaper of the two items.
I started the dispute process on Paypal, then realised I should probably see if there was one on eBay since I purchased the items on there. After much searching around the site I found a claims section and spoke with someone at ebay and was told that, yes, they could see the seller had not refunded in full and that they would get my refund for me. All good... until the case was automatically closed following the conversation because I had a pending case open with Paypal. *facepalm*. Okay, my bad, I **bleep** up on that one - believe me, I have been kicking myself since. I contact ebay to ask if I can close the paypal one (which I hadn't done anything with anyway) and reopen the ebay one to get my refund, since it had all but been sorted out with them. They inform me that unfortunately they can't reopen cases once closed so I would have to pursue it via paypal, but reassured me paypal would find in my favour as they had.
So I go through the dispute process with paypal for "item significantly different to how it was described" as I couldn't find one for "item significantly different to how it was described but has been returned and the seller has only refunded half my money". I figure the item WAS significantly different so it shouldn't matter, right?
In my first message I explain the situation, the misadvertised goods and incorrect sizing, the fact that the items have been returned using an ebay return slip and only a partial refund was issued. I explain EVERYTHING and I attached a handful of screenshots to support this.
I then receive a request to return the items and provide a tracking number showing they were returned. I notice that the return address provided on paypal is a Chinese one, and not the NSW one provided by eBay. I explain again that they've already been returned and I upload the tracking slip information and more screenshots to support this. At this point I'm not even sure if any of this is being read by an employee of paypal or if it's just me and the seller, but I figure at some point an employee will be reading it, right?
I receive two more requests for the same information. Each time I respond by providing the information requested and supporting documents.
Finally the case goes to the final stage where a paypal employee supposedly reviews it. Thank god. Or maybe not because, much to my surprise, the case is denied as "we received shipment tracking from the merchant confirming that the merchandise was delivered". Okay, so apparently MY tracking information showing the items being RETURNED doesn't matter?
So I'm thinking at this point that whoever "reviewed" the case doesn't have a good understanding of what "review" means or was feeling kinda lazy that day and I figure I can appeal the case. In the meantime the seller has decided to start feedback extorting me on eBay so before I appeal the paypal decision I decide to contact ebay and report the extortion and differing return addresses and ask if there is anything they can do to help since they've already told me I should be getting a full refund. The ebay employee I chatted with told me that she can't do much but can report the seller for the extortion and can send me an email explaining the situation and that I am entitled to a refund. Great.
Unfortunately when I go to appeal the case I realise there is no appeal button, so I am forced to send paypal a message about the case asking for it to be reopened. I explain the entire situation again, adding in the information about the addresses and the extortion and also attach a copy of the email provided to me by ebay. A paypal employee gets back to me, letting me know the case has been reopened, they are currently reviewing it and will get back to me if they need anything further. See below:
Dear xxxxx,
Thank you for contacting PayPal.
We have re-opened the case on behalf of you and we're currently reviewing your case and will contact you if we need more information. Thanks for your patience and cooperation.
It is my pleasure to assist you. Thank you for choosing PayPal.
Sincerely,
Chennakeshava
Protection Services Department
PayPal
So at this point I'm thinking, great, I've supplied about 100 screenshots supporting my case and all the information is there, this should be pretty cut n dry. How silly of me. I get an email from paypal requesting, that's right, that I return the items to the same chinese address and provide a tracking slip as proof when I've done so. *facepalm*
I am not sure what, exactly, was "reviewed" by paypal, but clearly it wasn't anything in the case file. So I try to provide the tracking details for a fourth time and figure I'll upload the email from ebay as well. Unfortunately the paypal website keeps giving me an error every time I hit submit so I am unable to upload the requested documents and am worried that paypal will automatically close the case despite the fact I've already provided them 3 times. So I decide to give paypal a call. Sigh.
I finally get through and explain the situation. The paypal employee on the other end is sympathetic to my plight but informs me she will have to direct me to the disputes area, which she does. Sigh. Another employee answers and I explain the situation yet again. She tells me that she thinks the reason it was denied initially was because I didn't upload tracking details that were requested. Sigh.
I inform her that she is incorrect, that I actually supplied those details three times and give her the dates in question relating to those occasions. She replies saying she can now see that I have indeed supplied those details and says that she believes the reason it was denied was because the tracking details are for a company that isn't standard, or isn't on their tracking software (parcel point) so when it was searched for, it didn't return any tracking details. I ask her if she's telling me that the employee who reviewed my case plugged the tracking number into the paypal tracking software and, because it came back with nothing, they denied my case without actually reading or reviewing ANY of the other information I provided on multiple occasions? This didn't really get a response, maybe a little umming and aahing.
She then tells me that it could have been closed due to the fact the case was lodged as an "item significantly different to how it was described" and I haven't provided any information as to how the item was different. Sigh.
Again I informed her she was mistaken as the first response I had to send included a rather large paragraph explaining the problems with the item and why I had requested the refund in the first place. Again she claimed she couldn't see this. I provided her with the date of the message and she was able to find it on her end. She apologised again and told me that she would type a note on her end on my case file so that whoever reviewed it would understand the situation. She said she included everything I had mentioned and information on how the items weren't as described and that the case should be found in my favour.
I then inform her that paypal is asking me to upload the tracking details for a fourth time but that the website is coming up with errors every time I try to submit them. She asks me to clear my cache, use another browser, both things don't work. I ask her if the error could possibly be on paypal's end or due to the fact my case had been reopened. She says the error is definitely not on their end and that I should maybe try uploading the information with my phone later and see if that works.
I told her that I would do so but I was concerned that if I was unable to provide the tracking details, the case would be automatically closed as a result despite the fact they'd been provided three times prior. She just told me to keep trying to send it and reassured me that the case wouldn't be closed because she'd made a note on it.
So, cut to last night and the case was denied because I didn't provide requested information. Sigh.
I shot back a quick message to paypal explaining the entire situation, asking for the case to be reopened as it was denied for no good reason.
This is the reply I got:
Dear xxxxx,
Thank you for contacting PayPal.
We received the case you filed on 10 February 2020
We have reviewed this transactionand are denying your case.
This decision was made because the dispute was submitted with insufficient information/documentation to support the claim and we were unable to obtain the required information/documentation after requesting it from you.
It is my pleasure to assist you. Thank you for choosing PayPal.
Sincerely,
Prema
PayPal
I am at my wits end with this one. It's not even about the money for me - it wasn't that much money. I do not want the scammer I purchased from to get away with the items and my money and feedback extorting me. Unfortunately I seem to be dealing with robots or people who are either lazy or simply cannot comprehend written words on paypal.
What are my options at this point? Is there a way to escalate a case to someone who actually reads them properly? Or to a manager? Or to lodge a complaint against Paypal's customer service with them or anyone else????
Thanks for reading if you made it to the end.
