Pending refund and PayPal broken promises

[MichaelMcG]

I was refunded by an ebay customer on August 27th. Since then, the refund has been "pending". At first the funds were to clear on Sept 4th. That date came and went, with the refund still pending. I sent a message to paypal on 8th Sept asking for an update and was told the refund "will be available on the 10th September." And "Do not worry. I guarantee the return of the money and you just need to wait accordingly."

So today is the 10th and the funds still haven't cleared. So I messaged again stating how disappointed that I still haven't received my refund, even though I was guaranteed it would be available today. I got a reply saying:

"The eCheck usually takes up to 10 business or even 3 weeks to clear and reflect from the sender's bank. Hence, I would recommend you to wait till end of the day. At times it takes more time to reflect. Even we are waiting for the funds to reflect. In case, the eCheck gets cancelled, please open a dispute or contact us for opening the dispute. But, we get the option only if the eCheck gets cancelled. Please write back to us if you are still facing an issue."

So this is basically a case of tough luck, you'll get your refund when you get it? How can I trust paypal if it continually breaks its own promises? I'm sure if I missed a paypal credit payment and told them the same thing, it wouldn't be looked on favourably. And I would have a charge added to my account for good measure.

[kernowlass]

@MichaelMcG 

Paypal can't give you money that they don't have yet.

As to how long you wait that would be up to the sellers banks processing times.

If the payment has not arrived with paypal yet then not a lot they can do about it is there. 

[MichaelMcG]

Which isn't the point. The point is, a paypal staff member "guaranteed" I would receive my refund on Sept 10th. Then once I didn't receive it, the guarantee was reneged on.

[kernowlass]

@MichaelMcG 

They can't know 'to agree' when a bank transfer will complete through to them, only the bank can know their own processing times.

You do know that most customer services 'call centre' staff are often just reading from prompts from a screen don't you?

The real staff that actually administer everything you don't get to speak to unless you are put through to them.

So my advice stands, take it or leave it, makes no difference to me to be honest.

Not much point posting a thread for advice and then complaining about the advice.