Scammed fake Maui Jim’s Facebook

nellie12341
New Community Member

I fell for a scam. Sunglasses advertised as genuine Maui Jim’s were cheap fakes. I opened dispute. I have to return them to China and cost is more than I paid. Return label when sent to me is City of Industry, CA. What can I do to get my money back? I only have until 1/28 to send back and show tracking. Total rip off.

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15 REPLIES 15

Mauijim
New Community Member

I had the same case. I think it is facebook’s fault not checking the ads publisher’s qualification. Also PayPal and credit card companies are not helping their customer 

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owalnum
Contributor
Contributor

I would think PayPal would prohibit these people from using PayPal to sell counterfeit items over the internet, after all its against U.S. trade laws to do so.  Have also contacted Facebook about same issue for a month but still see the Maui Jim adds pop up!

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kernowlass
Esteemed Advisor
Esteemed Advisor

@nellie12341 

 

In the event of a dispute you need to bear in mind possible return trackable costs before you buy from that seller / item / country because....

Paypal state this >>
PayPal is not obliged to reimburse you for any costs that you incur to comply with any of PayPal’s requests for cooperation for the purpose of resolving the problem (including, without limitation, costs that you incur to return a SNAD item to the Payment Recipient or another party as PayPal requests), although sometimes it may reimburse these costs.

Although they will compensate you for some of the cost if you have activated this at some point before you made that transaction.
https://www.paypal.com/us/smarthelp/article/FAQ3544

You also have the option to do a chargeback via your card issuer instead of a Paypal dispute if you funded your Paypal payment via a credit card.





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lindyinca
New Community Member

CLEARLY there are a TON of us who were scammed by these freaks! At what point does PayPal realize that these glasses are worthless and the seller is a scammer? PAYPAL! JUST refund our money! This company is a scam and you're wanting a return receipt to CHINA to refund us? WHAT A JOKE??!! Why are we even having to have this discussion? I'm calling Homeland Security!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

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kernowlass
Esteemed Advisor
Esteemed Advisor

@lindyinca 

 

Chinese Web Sites or on Social Media ads easy to spot (once you know the below signs) so buyer beware.

Paypal would not be able to check every individual seller / merchant / company in over 200 countries worldwide that adds paypal to their website to accept payments.

So they give you 'some' buyer protection but the onus is on you to risk assess your transactions.

They do stop bad companies from using Paypal when enough claims start rolling in.
However as they are in China (mostly) then its easy for them to just start over with a new name, so stopping them does not really do anything.

The best thing is to not buy from them in the first place, to recognise them -

1. No return address on the returns policy. The site will look as if its in your country (where they despatch goods from) but they will ask for returns to go back to China (returns depot) at a shipping cost often more than the item is worth.
2. No contact telephone number. if you click on contact the most you will get is webmail or an email address.
3. Rarely company address information.
4. Great pictures of items at bargain prices that turn out to be tat.
5. Fake reviews.
6. Google and you can often see previous company names as they change them once enough claims roll in and Paypal stop them using their services and start over.
7. Send fake tracking numbers to win item non receipt of item claims.

Good luck with homeland security, not sure they will have any infuence on a company in China   😃 


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kriss001
Contributor
Contributor

I fell for this same scam. The resolution is "reviewing information from the seller" and they keep extending the date. What's wrong with PayPal in letting these proven scammers get away with this? The money should just be refunded, no questions asked. There's clearly enough information about these scammers available both here and other places on the internet. It almost seems like PayPal should be liable for not refunding immediately. 

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kernowlass
Esteemed Advisor
Esteemed Advisor

@kriss001 

 

Paypal didn't choose to buy from a scam seller, you did, and paypal will 'try' and get you a refund if you qualify (as per terms / conditions of their buyer protection policy).

If there is enough information on the scammers then why buy from them? Maybe risk assess your transactions a tad more?


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kriss001
Contributor
Contributor
That’s really helpful of you pal. I guess I’m just not jaded enough not to trust a site like Maui Jim until I get a receipt from some Chinese scammer once I paid. However, PayPay knew of them before I filed a claim.
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Acook61
Contributor
Contributor

Same has just happened to me and I don’t understand why I should pay to return glasses I didn’t order, originally they offered me $17 refund for a $14 purchase. I have reported them to Facebook and noticed that they remove all the negative comments on their page 😡. Should take this company to the media so others don’t get scammed

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