Sent this to PayPal complaints today. I have since been told under no uncertain terms I cannot appeal this scam!! Sellers beware! I am so pleased I have eviudence!
Dear PayPal Complaints,
Ref: Case #PP-005-732-122-70
I am absolutely disgusted by PayPal protocol and the way they treat innocent customers who have been victims of theft and are then penalised by PayPal leaving no way to appeal your case!
I recently placed an advertisement on eBay to sell my Erde 122 trailer which was sold to a Mr Francois Du Mains of Bideford, Devon. I congratulated him on his purchase through eBay mail and gave him my telephone number; twice. On the 27th March Mr Du Mains emailed me to say he would call that evening to arrange collection - which he did. (I have a log of the private number he used and the duration of this call).
On Saturday 1st April Mr Du Mains arrived at my home rather early and sat in my living with my wife and 4 children whilst I got up and dressed. I spoke with Mr Du Mains who told me he had called ahead that morning but I must have been asleep (there is a log on my phone of the missed ‘private’ call at 0806). I showed Mr Du Mains his trailer and hooked in onto his car and I even offered to check the lights but he said not to worry and off he drove placing his magnetic number plate above my already existing plate.
A few days later I decided to transfer my money out of PayPal and leave feedback for Mr Du Mains as he had paid promptly and collected as promised. I noticed then that I had been paid a postage fee of £3.30. I thought this strange and checked my eBay advertisement and sure enough it had a postage option on the advert. This I thought strange as I clearly had no intention of posting a trailer and certainly not at the price of £3.30 if I did. I noticed then that PayPal had deducted some money from the £175 selling fee and assumed the postage had been removed.
In order to leave feedback for Mr Du mains I had to say click the button on eBay to say that the item had been posted (I had no option from the eBay site), and as the item had been collected, I thought nothing of it, clicked the posted button and left positive feedback.
On the evening of the 19th April I noticed an email from PayPal saying a dispute had been raised and I needed to respond. I quickly read the dispute made by Du Mains saying I had not posted the item he had paid for and had given me ample time without any correspondence from me. I immediately called him to see if this was made in error. Speaking to him I introduced myself and said he had bought and collected a trailer from my home a few weeks ago to which he responded “ I don’t know what you’re talking about” and put the phone down.
At this point I was in shock and was completely amazed!
I immediately then called your adviser (after some 40 minute call wait) and told her exactly what I’ve written above. She asked me provide as much evidence of correspondence/information as I could and assured me a full investigation would be undertaken by PayPal before a decision would be made on the appeal. She also told me I could appeal the case should the decision be made against me. Lol, that was a joke!
I logged into my account and sat for hours that evening providing as much information as possible including several notes with the whole story, pictures of call logs from my phone, pictures of email correspondence relating to the call log references, pictures of the emails arranging calls etc. etc. etc.
I heard nothing else until I received an email from PayPal on the 24th April telling me the dispute had been resolved and you had favoured Du Mains and had refunded his money from my account!
I immediately went to your website to read what had been submitted and it told me that because I couldn’t provide evidence of postage you had favoured Du Mains appeal. There wasn’t even away to see any evidence submitted (mine or Du Mains) or a way to appeal the decision. This was fast becoming a joke and my frustration and stress levels were at tipping point.
I then reported this as a crime of theft from my property to West Mercia Police: Crime number *************.
After this I called your customer adviser and again explained that I could not leave evidence of postage as it was collected by the buyer. I pointed out that Du Mains had been an eBay member since the 7th March 2017 where as I had been a member since 1997 with all positive feedback. I explained the entire situation again to her telling her the reasons why I could not submit evidence of postage, even explaining that this guy had sat in my living room with my family before I hooked up my trailer to the back of his car! The advisor told me that a full investigation would be carried out on Du Mains and I should report the theft to the police. LOL! It gets better! A full investigation clearly wasn’t carried out and now that you’ve taken my money, you then inform me it is a matter for the police! This is a complete and utter farce!
I also explain to your advisor I cannot even appeal the case on my PayPal account; she went on to tell me the case had been re-opened by her and a full and thorough investigation would take place into the matter.
I once again wrote a 2000 word entry into your evidence portal on my PayPal login site explaining the whole situation - again, even submitting a crime reference number.
Shortly after whilst speaking with the Crime Bureau Officer to re-arrange an appointed made at my local Police Station to provide evidence, I mentioned that there were Police cameras at a major junction near to where I lived. Asked if a knew the number plate of Du Mains vehicle I explained that my (old) number plate was on the back of the trailer and Du Mains placed his number plate above it (not on top of it). The Crime Bureau Officer told me she would make enquiries and would be in touch. Approximately an hour later the Crime Bureau Officer called me to explain that the trailer had been picked up by APNR cameras at the junction at the time and the date I submitted as evidence of the theft. Eureka! I have Du Mains caught as a thief and perhaps now you would be kind enough to refund my money!
I quickly report the evidence to my PayPal appeal evidence page letting you know I have conclusive evidence of the theft of my trailer.
Oh no… it gets better…I receive another email from PayPal the next day (25th April 2017) telling me my appeal has been closed as I cannot provide evidence of postage!
This must be a joke; I have an extremely stressful job, I’ve recently and very suddenly lost my mother 5 days before Christmas and my mother in law underwent PET scans for lung cancer on Saturday 22nd April; and I now have this thief and PayPal’s ridiculous protocol and complete lack of understanding to deal with, let alone the fact that you have refunded MY money to the guy that has my trailer and then to top it all off (this may make you laugh), I have received a bill form eBay for the sale!!!
So, I again contact your advisor. Oh yes, I got the most understand guy in the world this time….. After I explained the whole situation to him again, he advises me I should have taken cash at the point of sale! Thanks for the advice!! He also advised me that I should never have been told this case would be investigated as I cannot provide proof of postage therefore I could not possibly win the case! Is this a joke or what? I explained to the advisor that if PayPal had enough power to take money from my account then PayPal should have enough power to carry out full and thorough investigation into the matter.; if not then they should have handed the matter to the police for investigation. He also explained that he could not re-open the appeal because it would again be rejected by PayPal Administrators as I could not provide postage evidence. I explained that I had police evidence of the Du Mains towing my trailer away on the back of his car. He eventually told me a manger would call me that afternoon. When I said, “I sincerely hopes he does” he replied, “I sincerely hopes he does too”! What excellent customer service you provide PayPal! I await the call………………
So the conclusion is that if someone uses PayPal to pay you (which incidentally I had the privilege to pay for!) and the item is collected then anyone can set up a dispute to say they have not received the item. It doesn’t matter even if you have conclusive evidence that this is a fraudulent claim as you will not succeed because you can’t provide proof of postage!! Absolutely disgusting!
This is a criminal matter and I should have been directed to the police in the first instant, not given the run around by your advisors. This has caused me so much distress and anguish I will be seeking advice from a solicitor into the way you have conducted your business regarding this matter.
Ps . If you are wrongly going to take the money from my account then please have the courtesy to take the amount after your fee was deducted and not the total selling price, this would mean that you would get a transaction fee from me when there was no transaction! Also your subsidiary company ‘eBay’ will need to retract their invoice to me as the sale (according to your excellent investigation) never took place!
Thank you for all your help, advice and assistance.
I will continue my criminal case against Du Mains for the theft of my trailer and in the meantime would like a response from you within 14 days.
