Ripped off

[Stuhiggy1]

Hi have been with PayPal for years and all good recently I have been conned online with adverts from Facebook . Have paid by PayPal and no more than £40 for items I have bought . The company are sending junk items registered Mail and nothing like I had ordered . PayPal should be aware as I probably not the only one been scammed . Opening many PayPal disputes and that favouring the sender even though not item I ordered . As you can imagine not happy and over £100 lost with no come back once PayPal closes case . The items I purchased in good faith have never been sent just cheap bits of plastic yellow metal rings junk sunglasses and because I received this **bleep** I loose the dispute . This can’t be right these scammers making millions and should be banned from getting to use PayPal to rip of customers . Any advice or help appreciated thanks

[debsdel]

I bought an Umbrella from a Facebook add and paid with Paypal. It took ages on purpose to pass any dates to use credit card protection and I got a tracking number. 3 months later I get a tiny plastic letter with a rubbish no value ring inside. When I checked the tracking it was the same number given for my Patio umbrella. I wrote to the seller and he admitted 100% it was his fault. Trouble with a supplier! He offered me a 20% refund and said I could keep the ring, what a joke! I declined and insisted on a full refund. Opened a dispute and 8 weeks later Paypal investigated and had full sight of the emails the plastic envelope that would never fit an umbrella with the tracking number still on it. This included the weight and definitely not an umbrella. The seller admitted it was his fault in writing. I jumped through every hoop I was asked to and spent so much time trying to get a common sense person to look at the situation - no luck! Yesterday I received a message saying the seller agreed to give me a full refund, however I had to return the ring to them. If and I stress if they received it back and it was in good condition and they confirm all was good to Paypal then! and only then would I get a refund.

What I don't understand is why Paypal encourage this behaviour it must cost them money and time and they are loosing customers just Google Paypal china wrong item and you'll be amazed how many people have been scammed. The lady in my post office just laughed and said we get so many of these and often the cost to return is more than the item cost.  

Well I am so fed up with this that I paid the extra cost to insure my return with a signed for delivery. Post office did say they probably wont accept it and you wont have a confirmed delivery.... Where does it end!

I am going to write the the chief executive of Paypal and would suggest a few other do so aswell to bring this to light and see if they just dont care.

email is the MD a good place to start.

So now I just wait and if I don't get satisfaction I will take a trip to Whittaker House. 2 Whittaker Avenue, Richmond TW9 1EH and issue a claim in the small claims court....

[kernowlass · Accepted solution]

@Stuhiggy1 

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

1. No return address on the returns policy............thats because 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 nearly always 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. No company address information.
4. Great looking items at bargain prices that turn out to be tat.

[Leone88]

I have 3 claims from the same seller - all scams selling baby gear & I waited 3mths for 3 plastic rings to arrive - I’m soooo angry!! PayPal should be refunding the consumers & blocking these sellers! PayPal have advised I need to return the rings & the return address they have given me is in Chinese characters - how am I supposed to put the address on the return - it could be saying anything! I have tried contacting PayPal but not received an answer yet - and I only have 8 days to do the return - so frustrating !!! Does anyone have a positive solution - it is nearly $200 US so I want the refund.

[Mkm65]

I have been scammed by 2 companies now and PayPal is not helping they can check these companies but they don’t their going to get their money if it wasn’t for messing up my credit I would stop paying PayPal and see how they like it.

[Mkm65]

Eleganet trade and vineylook So I have a lot invested and hoping PayPal will stop China and other companies to rip us off.

[debsdel]

Well I made up my mind that even if I loose even more money I would sent the cheap worthless ring back to China. Signed for and insured. Customs form completed and took pictures of the wrapping process and even got a picture of the little box in the post office ladies hand with all the tracking information and address clearly displayed. Cost me nearly as much as the original purchase. Tracked the item and they tried to deliver it 4 times and could not get a signature or someone to accept it. On the 5th attempt they got a signature that’s not readable but hey! Now I log into PayPal and the dispute which has been going on for 3 months now says that they are processing new information from the seller. Now I wonder what that could be?? Estimated time for a response is the 23rd of October a full 2 weeks after the seller received his item back. This really is beyond a joke. PayPal did reply to a message I sent suggesting I raise a request for the shipping cost and sent me a link to activate free return shipping. The only problem with that is you can’t make claims prior to the date you activated free return shipping Doh!! So you should all at the very least activate the free return shipping on your account now. That’s if you’re going to continue using a company that cares not a jot about their victims sorry clients. I’ll update you when I have more bad news. Then I’ll Fly to China to say hello...

[trauma631]

Paypal community highlighted a scam vendor which i reported a week after ordering. Paypal said wait for delivery, which never arrived. Raised a dispute but because i was sent a tracking number (which Royal Mail confirmed was not one of theirs) i have been told it was not upheld, ABSOLUTE JOKE! In over 10 years years i have never had to raise a dispute and the first time i do, Paypal **bleep** me over. Can't even contact them to appeal and haven't been asked to provide any evidence.

Don't believe you have any kind of security or protection with Paypal, you don't!

[Cyneff]

I have just had 5 negative experiences where I was scammed by companies who advertised on Facebook and where PayPal did nothing to protect me as a customer:

• in one case there was a video showing a folding chair that I wanted. Once I paid and purchased these chairs, what I received was cheap vinyl bags.  When I went back to try to figure it out, I saw that at every stage of my purchase - until after I had purchased and received the receipt - I was buying chairs, but on the receipt it described the chair in detail, but added the word 'bag' at the end of the long description.  PayPal denied my claim even though I was able to show them the ad that I responded to that clearly showed that it was a chair that was being sold.
• In another situation I purchased a 'pack of 20' items.  The vendor sent me 1 item.  I had clear evidence that what I paid for and what I received were different.  PayPal denied the claim, saying that this item was not eligible for price protection.
• Another one was a set of wristband hand sanitizers.  They arrived not as described and were non-functional. They literally had no holes where you would put the sanitizer in and were therefore unusable.  In order to get this claim resolved, PayPal required me to return the items to China, and they had to be delivered back to the vendor for them to examine within 10 days, which was my response windows.  The postage to do this was more expensive than the items themselves.  I sent photos of the non-functional items, but PayPal sided with the vendor that this wasn't sufficient and if I wanted money back I needed to send the items themselves within the time window, which was completely unreasonable.
• The last claim was closed and denied because I was on holidays and away from my computer when the vendor responded to the claim, and I wasn't able to get the info back to them within their limited response window. I appealed this and got nowhere.
• Finally, I purchased an item (pet carrier box) and did not receive it. There was, however, a mystery item delivered to my house that was just a cheap small dog harness.  I suspect this may have been what the vendor sent, but there were no details on the packaging about what order this item was referred to.  I put forward a claim that I had not received the item I had ordered - as I hadn't and didn't know anything about this weird item I received - and my case was denied simply because the vendor had a tracking number for the order.  I have no evidence about whether this mystery item is the thing that was supposed to be filling the order so I can't even go in and try to claim that I was sent the wrong item. 

PayPal is doing nothing to hold vendors accountable, and in fact seem to be contributing to the scamming in making it highly complex for customers who have been scammed to be compensated.  PayPal reps did try to call me, but they did so while I was at work and unable to take the calls, then when I sent a note asking if we could try again at a set time they refused to set a time appointment for a call so that we could make sure to be able to connect.  They also called from an area code that was unknown to me and suspicious - I don't always answer calls that appear suspicious.  Then they added this to the reasons for denying my claim, because they said I wasn't available to speak to them about the issue.  I tried to address this via messaging, but they closed the cases regardless. 

I once thought that using PayPal might offer me a protection buffer when I purchase goods online, but now I know that no - PayPal does not really seem invested in securing our safety as purchasers - they just want the money to be changing hands and I suspect it is too hard for them to reclaim from shady vendors so they just don't fight for us. They seem to favour the rights of questionable vendors over the public who have been scammed.  

[sbluefountain]

After offering 30.00 to a buyer on ebay for an item she was not happy with, this was accepted.  Paypal sent a 30.00 echeck to the buyer.  The next day they sent a Full refund of 402.97 after sending partial payment as agreed by Ebay, buyer and seller.  Paypal will not return my 402.97 and blames it on ebay.  Ebay says its PayPal's issue.  Paypal went into my bank account and sent both payments e check and debited my account.  I called my bank and they are working on it.  PayPal essentially robbed me of 402.97 sending it to the buyer.  I did not get the item back, so buyer got 800.00 in item and fee.  Paypal, is not being accountable.   I am trying to cancel Paypal account as there are some viable alternatives.  I find PayPal is dishonest, incompetent, and non-accountable.  I am out 800.00 due to PAYPAL, so please beware.  They are robbers.  I have closed my bank account but cannot close Paypal account without giving them more personal information.  I have no trust.   Anyone have similar situations with PayPal stealing from account?  How did it end?   If legal costs were not so high, I would seek that option.  My bank is working on it.