Scammed by Paypal Franchise Store

[Scanyou]

I ordered a Google Nest Learning thermostat, for a very good price, from what looked like an official PayPal Franchise Store site. The confirmation email only gave an email and no website. They did not reply to a question I had. I contacted PayPal to see if it was a scam. I was told there was nothing to suggest it was. A month later I received a cheap flimsy plastic iphone cover (probably with 99 cents) under the same tracking number I received from the bogus seller. This is definitely a scam. Beware!

Most concerning is that PayPal did not know whether it was a scam. I later saw more complaints on this PayPal community board.

[CarolQ9]

I also am being scammed by this same company and through research am finding out many others have complained to PayPal about this company.  I am being told that in order to receive my full refund from this bogus company I must return the cheap plastic iPhone cover which is probably worth $1.00 back to its original shipper which is in China.  Really PayPal???  

[kernowlass]

@CarolQ9 

Chinese Web Sites or on Social Media ads easy to spot (once you know the below signs) so buyer beware.

1. No return address on the returns policy............thats because the site will look as if its in your country (where they despatch goods from) BUT they will ask for returns to go back to China (returns depot) at a shipping cost nearly always more than the item is worth.
2. No contact telephone number............if you click on contact the most you will get is webmail or an email address.
3. No company address information.
4. Great looking items at bargain prices that turn out to be tat.

In the event of a dispute you need to bear in mind possible return trackable costs before you buy from that seller / item / country because....

Paypal state this >>
PayPal is not obliged to reimburse you for any costs that you incur to comply with any of PayPal’s requests for cooperation for the purpose of resolving the problem (including, without limitation, costs that you incur to return a SNAD item to the Payment Recipient or another party as PayPal requests), although sometimes it may reimburse these costs.

Although they will compensate you for some of the cost if you have activated this at some point before you made that transaction.
https://www.paypal.com/us/smarthelp/article/FAQ3544

You also have the option to do a chargeback via your card issuer instead of a Paypal dispute if you funded your Paypal payment via a credit card.

[DesertHiker1]

I reported this transaction to my credit card, after the company did not respond via email and the phone number went directly to voice mail.  I tried to cancel my order with no response from the vendor.  Nobody responds from this company but they certainly did  respond to the chargeback promptly with fake phone number.  One month later I received a small package with a cheap iphone case in it (I don't even own an Iphone) from China.  It had the same tracking number on the package as the Paypal transaction did for this seller, but it most certainly was not any Nest product or the Nest Doorbell I ordered.  Now this site is defunct https://nesthome.nsprosite.com/, after I reported to Paypal and My cc company.  It is apparent to me that this is a very convincing, yet false/ fraudulent or “spoof,” Nest account that I came across accidentally via my Nest/ Google account. I made a purchase and never received the items. PayPal is also less than helpful and in my opinion allowing these companies to scam people using their services with no way to reach a live person for Guest PayPal payments.  They have been scamming people for awhile through PayPal, after reviewing the blog.  PayPal is not doing anything to shut them down.

This is the website:

https://nesthome.nsprosite.com/

This is their spoof email address:

Can't provide as this site won't let me.

This is their spoof phone numbers:

<p[Removed. Phone #s not permitted]an[Removed. Phone #s not permitted]/p>

This is their alleged address:

<removed>

I have a PayPal charge on my VISA from FRANCHISEST.  Invoice is from Franchise Store.  Looks like they are getting rich off this scam.  Reported them to FTC.  BEWARE!!!

[vidmot]

http://neststore.nsprosite.com/

I got $10 Phone case instead of google max hub $159.

Paypal is very lazy to responded to these seller, Do not have any way to resolve. Paypal platform is encouraging these kind of frauds not taking action.

Hi Paypal Team,

This seller is a fraud, I received. d package today with the tracking number mentioned in the transaction, He has sent a $10 phone case instead of $159.99  Goolge Hub Max. 

Refer attached images.

The Website was fake and trapping folks via offering discounts, pretending to be the main google store. This website vanished from the internet overnight, These are scammers and I wish the strongest punishment to them.

Kindly resolve this case, they deserve a strong punishment.

[BigJohn3]

I’ve been thinking about a small envelope I received from China a few weeks ago containing a plastic cell phone case.  It wasn’t anything I had ordered and the invoice that came with it was all in Chinese, which I cannot read.  I thought it might have been something I won in a contest, but it was useless to me and I threw it away.  Unfortunately, I also threw out that invoice, so I have nothing to document what I received.  I’m thinking now that the envelope came from the Franchise Store that failed to send me the Nest products that I ordered.  I believe they may have sent PayPal the tracking information for that small envelope in response to their inquiry.  PayPal closed my case and will not let me appeal. I have not received the merchandise that I ordered, and my money has not been refunded.  Beware that this Franchise Store is a real scam!

[Scanyou]

BigJohn3, Was your PayPal tied to a credit card? If so, perhaps you can dispute the charge. Same thing happened to me. The dispute is not yet final. I’m hoping it succeeds.

[DesertHiker1]

Paypal is ridiculous. They let the seller get away with fraud for well over a month and still deny that the charges are fraudulent for me. However my credit card company has turned it over to the fraud department finally. I am also tracking the seller or sellers on multiple threads on Google for numerous sites with the same web page still committing fraud and using PayPal as payment methods. I can't post the phone number that was on the web page where I purchased my items on this thread but I texted that number recently and got a text message back from whoever's on the other end acknowledging it is a scam and fraud and there are multiple websites Associated to it. Both the address that was on the web page goes to a residential house in the woods and the phone number is a Florida phone number that if you call it nobody answers but I did text and get a text message back telling me it is a scam. Not funny but PayPal doesn't even confirm the credentials of their sellers from their websites. I've been contacting the domain servers hosting the websites and Reporting fraud. I have filed criminal charges or at least contacted law enforcement agencies about the scam and PayPal not doing anything about it. It is almost funny but at least I did not lose as much money as some other people did.

[Scanyou]

I absolutely agree. My wife had the same experience with PayPal.

[Temp20220104d]

Yes, there are a lot of online scam stores that are using PayPal as a "legal" means to rip people off.  PayPal's policy allows an almost foolproof protection for the seller as you have to, as people are finding out, return the goods received (and they use tracking as proof that you received the paid-for goods".  That is all the seller needs to "prove" to PayPal they sent you what you ordered.   If there is a dispute, PayPal requires you send the received goods back to the seller with tracked shipping. 

In my case, I received a $0.25 ball.  The seller was willing to refund me %50 of my money.  In my naivety I said "No" and will file a claim with PayPal.   They said "fine", that concludes our transaction and we will do nothing more for you.  I opened the claim with PayPal who wanted me to pay about $50 for tracked shipping of the ball.  The item for which I paid was about $35.  No one in their right mind is going to do that.  When I refused to pay for tracked shipping, they close my claim stating 'no proof of returned item'.   Hence, the perfect fraud platform sponsored by PayPal, and to which more scammers are finding victims.