Case denied. I loss over $100...

[eparaiso]

I bought an item for a game, I received the item and spent it in the game. To my knowledge, I thought it was in CAD so I thought I had enough money to pay for it. It ended up being in USD so I couldnt pay the whole amount right away. PayPal attempted to remove money from my account but my balance still was not enough. Once I realized it was in USD I filed a dispute claim. I failed to categorize my dispute in the wrong category because it was not available. The seller disables my account, paypal gives me a negative balance for the money owed. I pay my negative balance off paypal and my account is still disabled. I contacted PayPal and they reopened my case. However, the info that was in my case were not updated, so my case was denied. It may be important to note that I had already received an item I had not fully paid for yet. The seller disabled my account while it had not been paid yet. Once I paid for it, my account was still disabled. So am I in the wrong or did I not receive an item I paid for, although it was a late payment? I also attempted to contact them several times but they never responded to my emails.

[PayPal_Olivia]

Hi @eparaiso,

I'm sorry to hear of the confusion regarding a dispute that you opened.

What was the claim type that was opened? If the type of claim was "not as described" or "not received," then that was a statement that the seller did not provide the item, even though the seller did do so and you used the item you received. The claim would not be found in your favor if those were the circumstances.

I'm sorry to hear that the dispute caused the seller to discontinue providing a service to you. I know that many merchants do opt to sever their business relationship when a buyer opens a claim, especially if they feel that they have provided the purchased item and the claim was not valid.

Olivia

[eparaiso]

Here's why I didn't receive my refund. I assume the seller re-enabled my account, thereby the payment became valid. The seller most likely used that excuse to convince PayPal staff in order to keep the money they took from me. I had contacted Artix Entertainment concerning my account being disabled when PayPal had already taken the money due from my account. The seller never replied to my emails. It was only then when Paypal notified the company I was asking for a refund on the item I had bought that they re-enabled my account.

Correct me if I am wrong, under the goods and services act; even if I had received the item prior, and had not paid. The item was provided. However, due to the seller being unable to receive the full payment right away, they disabled my account. Therefore I technically did not get the item I had paid for. Furthermore, I called PayPal and opened up the case that was falsely categorized. I requested PayPal to place it in the right category and re-open the case. Only then did Artix Entertainment did something. They enabled my account and that is the defence they used to keep their profit, I assume that's what they used anyway. How else would they win?

[PayPal_Michael]

Hello, eparaiso. Thanks for taking the time to post your concern here on the PayPal Community Forum. It sounds like there have been some misunderstandings regarding how payments are funded and how money is sent to a merchant/seller, what issues might be disputed with PayPal and regarding the reason a seller suspended what sounds like a gaming account. I will do my best to assist.

When a purchase is completed via PayPal, the currency used can depend on the seller's preferences. If a seller requires payment in a certain currency, PayPal will convert the money in a customer's balance and/or money requested from a card or bank in order to send the correct currency to the seller. That seems to be what happened in your situation.

Even if there was a misunderstanding with the currency used, the seller would have received the appropriate payment. I'm sorry for my confusion, but I'm not clear on how the situation turned into one where you lost over $100 since you indicated you received what you paid for and used the item. If there was an unexpected fee that was added to the transaction due to a currency conversion that had to be completed, that's something that PayPal might address by providing additional information and/or education, but it would not be possible to address through the dispute/claim process.

Issues that can be disputed include if nothing is received when a purchase is made, or if something is received but it's not as described, or if a PayPal account is used without permission to send an unauthorized payment. A misunderstanding regarding the currency used to fund a payment would not fall into any of those categories and PayPal would not be able to address that concern through the dispute/claim process.

In this situation, if you submitted a dispute to PayPal and/or to your bank or if you asked your bank to stop a payment, that likely caused the seller to suspend your account and it likely caused the negative balance on your PayPal account. Here's how that works. When a purchase is completed, PayPal looks to see if there's enough money in the balance. If not, the additional funds needed are usually requested from a bank. If the bank stops the payment or reverses it, that means PayPal's request for reimbursement would be unfulfilled, and the only option for PayPal would be to debit the amount to a customer's balance. If you submitted a dispute/claim to PayPal, the seller would have been informed. If the seller took steps to suspend your account until the dispute/claim was resolved, that would fall under their policies and procedures and PayPal wouldn't be able to advise you on that.

So, the likely sequence of events was that the purchase was completed, money was sent to the seller, you received what you purchased, a dispute/claim was submitted to PayPal and/or your bank, PayPal denied the dispute/claim, the money PayPal asked for to reimburse what was sent to the seller was not provided, PayPal notified the seller there was a dispute/claim, the seller took steps to suspend your account, and the unreimbursed amount was debited to your PayPal account, causing a negative balance.

In a situation like this, PayPal denying a dispute/claim shouldn't be viewed as the seller "winning," but only that PayPal could not proceed with the claim on the basis of what happened. If the situation with your suspended account has been resolved, it sounds as though the only remaining issue is for the negative balance to be addressed.

I hope this is helpful. If further assistance is needed to clarify things, please contact PayPal's Customer Service via phone, email, Facebook or Twitter. Thanks for being a part of the PayPal Community!

Sincerely,

Michael
PayPal_Michael