Workaround for Paypal Customer Protection Policy

[estellefolle]

I don't know if this is a widespread practice but I recently dealt with a company called "Gumroad" that has apparently found a workaround for Paypal's Customer Protection Policy.  If you open a Paypal dispute, you immediately get the following automated response. 

Hi,

You recently purchased a product on Gumroad, using your PayPal account, and then disputed the payment. Please cancel your dispute in your PayPal dashboard. Once you’ve done that, email me back and I can refund you. 

Here’s how:
https://www.paypal.com/us/selfhelp/article/how-do-i-cancel-a-paypal-credit-dispute-faq2855

I need you to do this because: 

1) When you issue a dispute, PayPal takes the money out of our accounts and I can not refund you

2) The lower our dispute rate is, the less our banking partners breathe down our necks 

Once you cancel the dispute, you can never reopen it again, and of course you never hear from the company again.  Follow-up emails got the same auto response.  I reported this issue to Paypal but got an automated response instructing me on how to check on the status of a Paypal dispute. 

[Snow-Cat · Accepted solution]

It's a common scam - they send you and email with a sad story hoping to convince you to close the dispute knowing that once it is closed, it cannot be opened again and you won't ever be able to get a refund - bottom line, people that do these things have actually read the User Agreement.   A good way to protect yourself from these types of people is to pay with a credit card - if you're in a situation like this, as you paid with a card, you can contact the card issuer or bank for assistance.

[estellefolle]

Wow, so much for Paypal's Customer Protection Policy!  Unscrupulous vendors have rendered it meaningless.

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@Snow-Catwrote:

It's a common scam - they send you and email with a sad story hoping to convince you to close the dispute knowing that once it is closed, it cannot be opened again and you won't ever be able to get a refund - bottom line, people that do these things have actually read the User Agreement.   A good way to protect yourself from these types of people is to pay with a credit card - if you're in a situation like this, as you paid with a card, you can contact the card issuer or bank for assistance.

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