I am very angry, but I will try to keep this civil. I ordered an item and paid via PayPal. I soon had cause to suspect that the vendor (Serdady) was untrustworthy, and some time on Google and on YouTube confirmed my suspicions. There were numerous complaints about scams and fraud, including fake tracking numbers.
Now this site, Serdady, looked like it was similar to eBay, with individual sellers posting things on their site. They also appeared to be based in the UK (based on their "free shipping" being limited to "mainland" Britain). I had ordered a Logitech G27 racing wheel to use with my old Playstation 3, for $50.95 from "bethanie", and expected to be contacted regarding the cost of shipping to the USA, which might approach the cost of the item. I was a bit concerned when my PayPal payment to "bethanie" turned out to be linked to the account of one "Wu XinFeng". I was further perturbed when my request for a tracking number was answered a few days later, in poor English, by yet a 4th party--<removed>--and was not accompanied by any word about extra shipping costs--nobody would seriously ship a $50 item for free when shipping would cost that much--and advising that the tracking # might not be "updated" for a few days more. And googling the tracking service <removed> led to hits re fake tracking numbers.
So I did not wait--I immediately filed a dispute in PayPal's resolution center, abundantly documenting my case. I classified the dispute as "item not received" since I had in fact received nothing, and a presented my evidence that I had good reason to believe that I would not receive anything. With my dispute, I uploaded a screenshot of Serdady's online posting of the item for sale ( the G27 racing wheel ), of my invoice from Serdady clearly showing the item description, invoice number, and cost; my email request for a tracking # and the response; and advised PayPal of the results which they could verify themselves if they would google "serdady" and the "tracking service".
I felt confident that PayPal would, as they encourage people to believe, "have my back" and crack down on this fraudulent vendor. I would even expect that PayPal would block any further transactions by any PayPal users and known scammers. So I was shocked to receive an email advising me that PayPal had denied my case. "This decision was made because we received shipment tracking from the merchant confirming that the merchandise was delivered." What?! Hadn't they read my charge, backed by many others on Google and YouTube, re scams by Serdady and FAKE TRACKING??? OK, well I had just got something from yet a 5th entity via China Post and USPS, so I guess PayPal could be excused for considering that my "item not received" complaint no longer applied. Fair enough. But what I received was a little black plastic bag with a pair of face masks. Not a box with the Logitech G27 racing wheel that I had ordered. OK, so I just need to inform PayPal about that and they would still make things right. And block that scammer from doing any more business via PayPal.
That's not how it went. PayPal's site refused to let me do anything more regarding that order from that vendor. Case closed. I had filed a complaint with a 99% expectation that I wouldn't receive what I ordered ("item not received"). Now it was 100% certain that I DID NOT receive what I ordered ("item not as described"). But PayPal's "resolution center" would not let me re-open or amend my case. If they let this stand, then PayPal is complicit in this fraud. Of course we cannot talk to them. And the covid-19 mess may delay their response to the email (well, onsite response form) that I filed almost a week ago. But that does not excuse PayPal from--however belatedly--doing the right thing. Refund my $50.95, reverse charges on the scammers--Wu XinFeng and <removed>, and throw THEM the #@&$!! off of PayPal.
If this post is not deleted, I will report back on what ultimately happens.
