In August I decided to buy a chest freezer from an online distributor. Big mistake. Instead of the freezer, all I have received are email notices apologizing that shipping would be delayed. Firs to September 7. Then October 1. Then October 27. The freezer is now widely available at Home Depot and other box marts for less than I was to pay online. The payment was never processed -- the payment goes through when they ship. But the company (or rather, the slave-wage Indian laborer at its off-shore call/chat center) says it "lacks the ability to cancel the order". As the payment has not gone through, there's no way to dispute it. But PayPal doesn't even list authorizations, much less provide any means of disputing them. (Even if PayPal did provide a contact number for customer service, which it doesn't, I would probably reach the very same useless Indian call center used by the creepy distributor.) So the whole transaction hangs like the Sword of Damoclese until the sleazy company finally manages to drop-ship the freezer from the manufacturer, After which I have to start a dispute. Way to offload risk on to the consumer, PayPal. Next time I will use a credit card.
... View more
