Payment Dispute (Frustration)

[Midg3]

I have been involved in an ongoing dispute for a few days now with PayPal over a product I purchased through a company I later learned was scamming a massive amount of people. At first, I didn't think I was ever going to get my package but found out my post office had it after waiting for the thing to even be shipped after what felt like an eternity (and two fake tracking numbers later plus bogus excuses and more). When I got home with what was a sealed, red plastic bag, I opened it and saw an item wrapped in bubble wrap but through it, I could tell something was wrong. I opened the wrapping and revealed a very damaged product box. I also noticed it definitely wasn't what was advertised. What it ended up being was an illegal recreation of a copyrighted figure the company involved did not have permissions to make let alone sell for a profit. I opened it and it didn't stop at just the box. There is a divot in the top of this thing. I acquired images of the real product and made visual comparisons between them and what I received. I even double checked the website I ordered it from and saw where they had taken images of the real item and put it up claiming that was what they were selling, so I certainly know I wasn't mistaken. 

Now it seems like I'm being tossed to rep after rep after rep and getting just about nothing but automated messages. My case is a little different because when I went to buy the item, or rather what I thought I was buying, I had used PayPal's Guest portal for the transaction as it had been awhile since I had used my PayPal account and couldn't remember the password. It just seemed easier. Now I've been told practically everything about the Resolution Center and offered an equally automated alternative of creating a new message and submitting my images that way. I had to do that in two messages because what I have doesn't fit into one. I am so frustrated. I know these are other humans responding and I know they have to deal with a lot of different things, but this is ridiculous. It almost feels like the process is being made purposely difficult. How am I supposed to voice my side when they won't even take the time to actually read my messages and realize I did exactly as they instructed given my situation? I just want my refund and want nothing more to do with this. 

I know the forums most likely can't help me, but I'm at my wits end. 

Edit: I tried upload images before posting this and that seems to not be working for me either. Lovely.... Should a rep see this and happen to respond, please help me get these images up for my case so they're seen. I don't know how this forum works, but I can even send them through whatever messaging service the forum itself has, only it says I have to wait until later to upload images as apparently I "uploaded" ten already even though none did....

[sharpiemarker · Accepted solution]

@Midg3 

Okay, first of all...transactions through PayPal Guest checkout is not covered. It's in the policies.

Second, if you paid with a credit card, you're better off filing a chargeback with the card issuer for receiving a counterfeit item and supply the proof from authorized dealer/manufacturer. Gather all the proof and pdf it and upload ready first before contacting the card issuer...have your ducks lined up first. The cool thing is, credit cards have broader dispute terms than PayPal. So this seller will get charged an extra fee for PayPal to handle this credit card chargeback. 

[Midg3]

I don't know why they opened the case then and have been telling me to jump through a bunch of hoops if it's not covered. The card I used is a debit card but issued to my bank through Mastercard. I can't really do a chargeback, but now that you mention it, I might still succeed with the refund if I were to contact Mastercard directly since it's technically one they issued. As for the proof, that I have more than enough of. Screenshots of correspondence, screenshots of the website complete with their listed product, screenshots of the numbers being fake, and of course the pictures of the product compared with a legit model. I've always reported the scamming company to the BBB. Goodness, the amount of negatives against them is shocking. Had I seen them beforehand or even thought to try and verify this website that popped up on Facebook, I would have never sent them a dime. Even worse is they are in China, so legal action from my side is pretty much not going to happen.

[sharpiemarker]

@Midg3 

Some agents don't appeared to be properly trained.

Yeah I hear that some debit cards may not let you chargeback but some do have purchase protection of some sort, don't hurt to try. 

Oh gosh, you could have gone without saying the seller is from China as I could have guessed it. Hehe. China is the manufacturer of the world with capability to make fake bad quality stuff. US companies make stuff there but they have some measure of quality assurance. Facebook is not a good place to buy either, imho. Anyone can set up shop so you have to be super vigilant, check every seller/company out and think about how much you are willing to lose or do you want to be return goods overseas if you see their questionable feedback and their true location.

Best wishes.

[Midg3]

Thanks. I really don't know what I was thinking. An idol of mine had just passed and suddenly this popped up. The idol reminded me of my dearly departed grandfather, thus I think maybe I started reexperiencing a bit of grief. Couple that with the fact I'm by no means a huge collector of the figures, and you have a naive, grief-stricken(again) person. Thing is, I've known for a long, long time how a lot of Chinese companies are, but on the site it says it's based in Utah and nothing indicated China until I finally got that package. pretty messed up but alas.... c'est la vie, I suppose. Again, thanks for taking the time to reply to this night owl. Have a pleasant evening/morning/day....wherever you are, lol.

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