Scam Face Book Advertisement that shipped bogus item

[mmcmaster]

https://poukcily.com/products/factory-outlet-halloween-talking-animated-pumpkin-with-built-in-projec...

This is the website that is still currently up.  If you saw the 3 tiny pumpkins they mailed to me you would know how badly this is a scam.  They are 3 inches tall and light up like a tea light with a tiny switch on the bottom.  This is the video they showed on their Face Book advertisement that suckered me in.

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I was thinking... No problem.  It looks a little too good to be true but it might just be a good deal so I will use Paypal protection to protect my purchase and credit card information.  Now Paypal isn't allowing for me fight this charge.  I am about to contact my bank and fight it that way.  I tried the Resolution Center but the option for "item is significantly different than what was purchased" isn't an there.  

[rfransen]

I just received the same thing, what a joke.  Going to try to file a claim now.

[mmcmaster]

Don't stop fighting.  Paypal eventually refunded me the money.  Be sure to send them pictures of what was advertised vs what was actually shipped.  DO NOT SEND IT BACK TO CHINA.  It will cost a fortune and it isn't really the right place.  

[Bertie8]

PayPal ended up giving me a full refund. I called, got through to a customer service officer, told her what had happened and that I wasn't going to pay to return the item. She went of for a few minutes and then came back and told me they settled the claim in my favour and I had the refund in my bank account later that day. They refunded the amount I'd paid in my currency, so I didn't even lose out on the exchange rate 🙂 

My theory is that PayPal don't actually review the claims when you escalate them. The scammer comes back with a conditional full refund offer, which takes away your option to refuse it, then you can't even go back and accept the previous lower offer. I think the scammers rely on people just giving up at that point. It's definitely worth calling PayPal, because then you get at least get a human to review your claim.

I've learned my lesson and won't be buying any more cool-looking things advertised on Facebook!

[rfransen]

They told me they would refund as well and then they didn't.  I threw the items away because they said I didn't need to send back because I refused to and now they are saying I have to send it back and have no record of any of my conversations with representatives.  Paypal is a joke.

[Mpauley]

They are nothing like described and now all there stuff is all down! Obvious scam. Now after 2 weeks of not responding to customer service they are saying privately in email they will refund half. No thanks I want a full refund and they can take their dollar store trash back. Oh guys look up hallmark living pumpkins. I think this is where they stole the idea

[Bertie8]

I had something similar happen. Different company, different item, but got completely ripped off with what they sent me.

The company offered me a 50% refund. I refused. They've come back with an offer of 100% refund, but I have to sent the incorrect item back to China before they'll refund me. So I'm expected to pay half of what the original item cost me, to send their piece of rubbish (available for $3 on Wish) back to them and wait until they receive it (which could take months!) before I get my refund. And their address is written in Chinese, so how the hell am I supposed to even put that on the postage forms?! 

The item is CLEARLY something completely different, and I even explained to PayPal that the advertised product was 5.5kg and the rubbish I received only weighed 140g, but they obviously don't even bother reading any of it. Why should I have to pay anything to return something that I didn't even order? I think these sham companies have realised that this is a great way to scam people. I thought I was protected using PayPal, but obviously not.

I have no options available now other than to close the claim or to send the tracking details for returning the item, so I can't even dispute it further.
I'll be calling PayPal customer service tomorrow, but after reading some of the posts on here, I'm not expecting to get any help. If they won't refund me the full amount, I will be lodging a chargeback with my bank. And I'll never be using PayPal again.

[mmcmaster]

Paypal refunded my charge.  I had to file a claim with the government to show that it was a scam website.  I think this is a new type of scam.  Paypal ultimately came through but it was a royal pain to prove that it was just a scam.  They ship from the US but expect us to mail something to China to return it?  

[rfransen]

I'm in the process of a claim.  I had submitted links to the listing and such but they have pulled the website down.  They haven't responded since I file the claim and as long as they don't I should get my refund.  No way am I spending money to send that junk back to china. 😞

[rfransen]

I called paypal finally and told them there was no way that I was paying to send these items back, shipping would be more than it was worth.  I also advised them that the "company" had taken down their website and was basically non existent but was still trying to get me to agree to a partial refund.  I told them this was a scam and a fraudulent transaction that went against paypal policies.  They closed the claim right then and refunded me.