After doing a bit of searching through the community pages I've discovered a troubling trend.
Given the current situation, with phones not being manned at PayPal, the messaging system in place is leaving many of us at risk of insufficient buyer protections.
I recently made a purchase... now granted the price of the item was really good and the shipping extremely cheap ...depending upon the buyer protections afforded by being a PayPal user *in case what seemed like it could be too good to be true turned out not to be true.
I tracked the item, when it seemed like it was running late in being delivered, only to find it appeared to have already been delivered. I looked around my house and didn't find the item. I went back to the UPS site to look again, at the "proof of delivery" in specific, to find that the item was "left at the side door" now the flags went up and sirens go off in my head... I DON'T HAVE A SIDE DOOR!
The following morning I drove down to my local UPS Customer Service Center to see if I could shed some light on this issue. I told the lady at the counter my problem and she asked for the tracking number. She also stated that I wasn't the first person she'd spoken to recently that was having the same kind of problem, when she explained that the tracking number I had was for a package delivered to someone else.
Having faith in PayPal's buyer protections I politely asked if she could provide me with any documentation of proof of delivery and she promptly printed out a sheet with the actual shipping information. She also informed me that the tracking numbers contain shipper ID information and that "7V266F" was clearly Amazon (*I didn't purchase the item from Amazon).
When I got home I began the long slow process of not being able to contact PayPal... I could not call, given that there's nobody to answer the phones. I could not get the robotic messaging agent to provide any actual answers to my concerns and after going in many many circles finally got it to connect me with a live agent.... sort of.
Some five hours later I get an e-mail that I have a message, in the messaging system, from PayPal... I log in, open the message (*which is no longer being attended by a live agent) and wait patiently for a reply. I finally get a live human being to speak with me, I explain my situation... and promptly get disconnected from the chat. At least it didn't take too long before I am reconnected. I'm told that it will take a couple minutes while my previous messages are reviewed.
Eventually I'm told that I can submit my proof to the case resolution page - which I could not... there was only a place for the seller to submit paperwork, so I attached the PDF copy of the shipping information I had been provided by UPS.
Now, to cut to the chase, I receive notice from PayPal that my case has been reviewed and denied... "that the tracking number shows the item as delivered."
If one enters a tracking number into the UPS tracker, that has been delivered, it only shows the city/town it was delivered to!
I fail to see how a seller providing nothing more than the city a package was delivered to, via nothing more than a tracking number (*NOT EVEN A PACKAGE THEY SENT), trumps a clear and concise packing slip with both buyer and shipper information that states a package was delivered to an address that isn't mine... a 4.5 pound package that should have contained a 27 pound machine, at that!
Again, though, having done quite a bit of research in the Community Forums this morning... since I can't sleep now anyways... I have seen that some of these close cases have been reopened and resolved in a logical and satisfactory way. I'm going to place my faith in PayPal one last time in hopes that I too can find a logical and satisfactory end to this and that I can continue to be a good and valued PayPal customer.
Come on PayPal... step up to the plate on this and knock it out of the park, like I have depended on you to do for many years now.
