PAYPALL ACTIVELY SUPPORTS SCAMMERS!

FranzPattison
Contributor
Contributor

So I've recently been scammed by a company, and after going through PayPal resolution services, it is clear that PayPal actively supports scammers. You'll see why. 
 
I was involved in a "free testing program" where you choose from a selection of items, then the company, Feelingirl, would send you a paypal transfer with which you order the items through amazon. 
They are covering the cost, so it is free. 
You are asked to provide a review of the product.  If you have previously bought a non-tester product, you can post a video review about it in exchange for $20, also transferred through paypal.  All of this went well until I discovered that the company considers a proper "testing review" one which is a perfect 5-star rating that boosts their metrics.  They threatened to charge back on the money used to buy the product, as well as the money already earned for the video review, if I did not delete my review.  I stated that farming for metrics by bribing people to leave perfect reviews on your own products is either illegal, or at the very least very unethical. 
I contacted paypal explaining the situation, and within an hour I had 2 claim strikes against me, for the $20 video review, and the $61 used to buy the products to be reviewed.  The claimants stated that they had not received the products I had sold them (even though I never sold them any product).
I provided a litany of evidence that they were just spiting me for not submitting to their bullying, but the resulting email was that paypal had reviewed the case and had found that the scammer was in the right, because I had not sent the item to the buyer.  This was incomprehensible, since if they had read my submission they would see that there was no product to send.  
So I appealed the decision, and this time I went in extreme detail, outlining my entire interaction with the scammers, including screenshots, to walk them through the whole thing.  After that there was no doubt about the nature of the circumstance. 
Still, the result was that I lost the appeal because I refused to provide tracking info for the item I failed to send.  (**bleep**)  Nobody with more than a single brain cell could not have understood that was an impossible statement.
So now I'm reaching out to the community.  I'm going to show you the same evidence I showed them.  I would like to know your opinion about whether this really did seem, incontrovertibly, that I still have to send some non-existent item to the scammer?   At the very least, this will show the petty scam of the Feelingirl company, and PayPal's complicit involvement in the scam by obtusely insisting on a point which has been thoroughly refuted.
This is the appeal I showed them, edited for length.
 
[After a short introduction:]

Firstly is the advertisement about both the reward and the testing project:
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I contacted the company about this:
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They asked for verification of the review, which I sent them.
They also  indicated that for the tester products, they would send me money via paypal which I would use to purchase the products through amazon and provide an order number.
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They sent me the transfer with which to purchase the products: ($61.00 CAD)
I send them the product order number after purchasing. (3.png) and here is my amazon order verification (9.png)
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They still did not send the money for the review, so I sent it to them again and they agreed to send the money: (5.png)
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After a few days I reviewed the tester products:
[I had the links here but apparently amazon links are not allowed.]
The second review has apparently been removed, so here is a screenshot of the email confirmation (10.png)  As with the other two reviews, it is comprehensive with a mix of Pros and Cons and a thorough overview and conclusion, with video.
<removed>
 
Soon thereafter I received an email from the company who was very upset that I did not give perfect 5-star reviews on the products. (6.png)  I informed them that a testing project is meant to provide honest criticism for benefit of development, not to farm positive ratings by bribing customers to leave perfect reviews. They were still upset because, apparently, if a review is not completely positive, it is unfair to them.  (7.png)
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They told me that they thought I used them just to get free products, and that if I did not delete the review they would initiate a chargeback on the money. (8.png)
<removed>
 
This concludes our interaction. I immediately contacted paypal to report the problem. 
 
I soon discovered that, not only did they chargeback the money they gave me to purchase the "free" review products (therefore rendering it not free), they also charged back the $20 for the previous review I left, completely fulfilling that obligation.  They had no problems with that review, because it was positive, but when I crossed them by offending them with the other reviews, they reversed the $20 transaction just to spite me.
Furthermore, they listed the reason for reversal is because I provided them with a service or product which was never delivered. 

In the case of the $20 review, I did deliver that service fully and completely. 
In the case of the $61, there was no product to deliver because I was not selling them anything, I was the buyer, purchasing their product with the money they gave me to acquire the tester products for free.  The obligation was that I would test the products and post thorough reviews, which I also fulfilled completely.  It would be best to think of the exchange as not that a product was being rendered, but a service, and I did render that service!
The fact that they were offended because it was not a perfect review is inconsequential. It should also be noted that on the notes provided for the chargeback they said "sorry cooperation next time" which indicates they were punishing me for leaving a non-perfect review.  If it truly was about a product I had not delivered them, they would have inquired about it, but if that were the case, their note makes no sense.
 
I hope this illustrates the nature of the interaction.  I did not withhold any service from them, I fulfilled my obligations for the $20 review, and I used the $61 sent to me to purchase the products which I also thoroughly reviewed.  In fact, it could be seen that the service to be provided to them for the $61 is the two reviews, which I fulfilled.  So there is no product to send because the product does not exist, but the service exists and was fulfilled in full.  I owe these people nothing, and by charging back the money they promised me, they are scamming me to get revenge for not supporting their scheme to cheat the amazon system by bribing people to leave positive reviews for their products, which is a violation of any store policy. Thank you.
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That was the appeal I sent to PayPal. Unfortunately I soon received an email which said "We were unable to grant your appeal with the information you provided. It was not granted because we did not receive valid proof that the item was delivered to the buyer."  From this I can only conclude that, if paypal employs reasonably intelligent people, the only explanation is that Paypal is interested in supporting scammers.  The only other explanation is that some PayPal employees at the resolution center, are completely inept and are not fit for the position.
 
What do you guys think?

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3 REPLIES 3

LegendB
New Community Member

Sorry to hear about this, and thanks for sharing your experience. I'm actually contacting the same company, so thanks for going into details how your whole situation ended up. I might've gotten a bit luckier, because my first "transaction" was a gift card, so I know that is non-refundable. For this second transaction, this is where I came upon your post. Honestly, I think as long as the company didn't fully "scam" you (i.e. in a way that you lost money), you at least got a product out of it. Im definitely disappointed to see how Paypal handled this, but honestly, I'm gonna go though with this and just leave a 5star review if that's what the company wants. 

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Alex100395
Contributor
Contributor
Totally agree that paypal supports scammers. I have been scammed with the amount of 450 euros and paypal doesn't seem to go through the case. It has been more than a month now and all i got was we are investigating and we don't find that as a valid proof. They should remove the eligible for protection as that thing does not apply. Once this nightmare is over im never using paypal again.
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Jesush
Contributor
Contributor

PayPal is supporting scammers, in my case I never got the item and the big probe is a tracking number without specific info about me or my address or my sign on it. only the package was left to an individual message.  The seller promise to keep informed and never email me 

 

Where is the track form or at least the ticket that show my info?

And when I tried to email directly to PayPal they make me go in circles but never take me to write an email 

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