At the end of last month I got taken in by a couple of fraudulent sellers (yes, I feel foolish) and now have two ongoing disputes open. What I'd like to know is what are the odds PayPal will find in my favour?
One of them is still at the dispute stage and I'm wondering if I should escalate. The details are that I bought some clothes on a site but then the next day learned that they were fraudulent, they take photos off the internet and pass them off as their own products then send people poor quality imitations. Their web site states that you can cancel an order within 24 hours after purchase at no cost, so I tried to do this twice but received no answer. I tried to reach them via their Facebook page but got blocked. Eventually I opened a PayPal dispute for goods not received. All the messages I addressed to them were stonewalled, they said my order had been shipped, but one item (a pair of trousers) had been cancelled and I would receive a refund for that.
No refund was issued. I received a direct email from them saying that in order to get my partial refund I would have to close my PayPal dispute. Very fishy, right? I didn't do that. Eventually my order arrived, but as expected, the goods are really poor quality and don't match the photos. Via the dispute page they are offering me a 40% discount to keep the items, but to return them I'll have to cover postage. I think that's really unfair as postage will cost a lot to China and by the time it arrives the deadline on the dispute will be passed, and frankly I don't trust them to refund me if the case is closed.
Should I take the offer? Bear in mind they didn't send the trousers that they cancelled from my order and haven't refunded me for them, so I'd be taking a discount for something that isn't even there. I proposed that they give me a full refund on that one item as promised, a full refund on this really terrible jacket that's been made out of horrible cheap nylon (the jacket in the photo is a beautiful cotton one) and then 40% discount on the other items. They've said they can't do that, only 40% on the whole order.
If I accept their offer I'll be out of pocket with a load of unwearable clothes but I'm worried if I escalate to a claim PayPal will find against me and I'll get nothing. Also, if I accept their offer what happens if they then don't pay me? In my dispute messages I've posted links to the product photos they've lifted from the internet (I took time to google search them all) but will that kind of proof be factored in?
