I ordered something online using PayPal. The item that came was not at all what I paid for. I ordered an electronic bracelet that would act using Blue Tooth, to allow you to work your smartphone. What I got instead was a plain, fashion accessory bracelet. It looked nothing like the item I was trying to buy, had no place to charge the device, no electronic components of any kind, and was literally nothing more than a fashion bracelet (and a cheap one at that, or I'd just sell it).
The item came with no information on the seller, no website or email address or other way to contact them was included (as opposed to the nice cards I receive from sellers on Ebay, or actually many other sellers found just online). I tried the email address that they supplied to PayPal, and writing them there, it appears my email was delivered, but I never got a reply.
I filed a dispute for the item, sent pictures of the proper item, as well as the item I received, and explained all this to them. PayPal, of course, said they would reach out to the seller. Now they tell me the seller is offering a full refund if I return the item. Well it's going to cost me nearly half of my total refunded money to send the item.
Not to mention, if they are so obviously willing to scam me (sending a clearly different item, not providing a way for me to reach out to them, not responding to my emails for assistance), it looks to me like they are doing things like this on purpose...hoping most buyers don't bother filing a claim and don't bother paying to return the items. Further, whose to say they won't just say the item never came back. There's no international tracking that really can be monitored in countries like Singapore or China are they? I mean their address is just a bunch of Chinese characters, so I don't know how anyone here will know how to deliver it.
I've mailed to China in the past, and usually we get the transliterated address to mail to, so English speakers can read it. ANd still, they could say it didn't arrive, that the package they received was empty, or I returned something else besides this cheap bracelet. I mean they don't seem like they are beyond such shady practices.
Is this really my only option? Can't PayPal just debit their account, and reverse charges like a bank does or a credit card company does? If they don't, they are just encouraging companies like this to continue, and I might have to work very hard to ensure I don't use PayPal in the future. If I had done this through my bank, they could just charge it back to the company.
Am I really expected to spend nearly $15 to ship an item back, for a $30 refund, that may never arrive? I see nowhere to contact PayPal on the dispute screen, so I can explain this to them, and tell them I am hesitant to send it back due to cost and the chance for fraud.
And, no tracking it to the point of delivery is no better, because first of all they can say there was no item in the package when opened, and that would cost me almost the whole amount of the refund.
Any ideas? TIA.
