Overcharges on my PayPal debit card charged 3x's for the same transaction

[monga]

I made a purchase on Jan. 14th in the amount of $16.30. with my PayPal debit card at a local merchant. That transaction was successful and my PayPal account was debited for the $16.30 amount charged. Then on Jan. 16th my PayPal account was debited again for the same transaction. So I called PayPal and was told to go to the merchant to get the refund. Well I did that (took all my paperwork in to show the double charges) but the merchant had only run the card the one time on Jan. 14th. I called PayPal from the store and the store manager spoke with Jolene at PayPal and told her that the card had only been swiped the one original time and the  second charge was a duplicate somehow. After much discussion PayPal agreed to "make the adjustment" to my account, saying it was some sort of procedural problem on their part. I got an email from Brett saying the original duplicate charge would be adjusted within one business day on Jan. 17th . Well, in the evening of Jan. 17th, instead of crediting my account with the $16.30, another debit for the $16.30 was made to my account (OK, SO NOW I'M OUT $48.90 FOR A ONE TIME PURCHASE OF $16.30) I've been charged 3 times for the same transaction (same transaction # on all three charges) even though my card was only swiped one time by the merchant. When I called to report the third charge I spoke with a guy named Chris who was less than helpful and almost rude by suggesting that it was MY FAULT, since "PayPal doesn't make arbitrary charges to any account". I'm beside myself, don't know where to turn to get help to get my money credited back to my account. Any suggestions would be welcome.

thanks

[TheMoneyMan]

Did you choose debit and get physical cash back?

I am not sure, probably just an error or maybe you need to look closer

[monga]

NO chose "credit" and didn't receive any cash back. Only paid for merchandise I purchased at this merchant.

[DaXX]

It's probably an inside job.  Lots of shifty people working customer service handling credit cards.  I'm talking whoever is handling payments within paypal.  While this sort of thing doesn't happen by everyone it does happen rather a lot.  **bleep**, it even happens in convenience stores more i've noticed.  People not ringing something up and putting the money in their pockets.  The thinking of these people is sad. 

One thing for you to remember is that paypal is basically a banking institution and they are governed by laws.  Even dispite a disclaimer we still have certain laws that protect us.  Most think of suing to be a lot of trouble but its not really.  Keep that in mind.

[artistsmom]

This problem occurred for me a couple years ago with a frequently-visited local store. Using my paypal debit and/or my bank debit cards, signature (or credit), not pin purchases.  Several times over a few month period, the charge would double-up.  Usually within a week of the 'extra' charge being made, that amount would be put back into my respective account.  (Thankfully, at the time, I had a balance to cover these extra charges.)  It wasn't the bank or paypal, and it most certainly wasn't the store operator (a very honest person).  She'd had a complaint from one other customer, too.  While I was there explaining the situation, she called her *credit card processing* vendor.  That vendor swore up and down that there was no way that they could make such a mistake.  A few choice words from the store owner and threats to take her business elsewhere seemed to solve the problem.  A few days later my 'extra' charge was put back in and the problem never happened at her store again.

Could be that whoever the proprietor of that store uses for credit card processing is making the mistake.  I'd suggest that he call them, while you're there, and straighten it out with them.

kj

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edit:  I forgot to mention (because it involves my bank card, not paypal card) that I'm in a dispute right now with my internet provider because of a mistake that *their credit card processing vendor* made!  Don't forget that middle-man can do a lot of damage, but it's easy to blame the bank-- or in this case, paypal.