Partial refund offer but dont trust seller.

[BeeHop]

Purchased an item which when it turned up bore little resemblance to the picture on the website. Turns out is was from a Chinese scam site, have been in email discussions with the seller about returning the item but they are haggling and bullying into accepting a menial refund (15%). Unfortunately Trustpilot shows I'm not alone. I lodged a PayPal dispute and have now received a partial refund offer,  the amount of which would be acceptable, but I'm thinking if I accept its just a ploy to get the dispute cancelled and the refund will never appear, but if I decline it says I will have to continue to communicate with the seller. Does this also mean that the dispute is closed and I won't be able to escalate? Feels like I'm stuck between the proverbial rock and hard place and either way I'm out of pocket and the seller keeps my money.

[kernowlass]

@BeeHop 

Don't wait, escalate the dispute to a claim now if you don't want the part refund.

HOWEVER be aware that if paypal find in your favour normally you will only get a refund under buyer protection if you return the item back to the seller (trackable to prove delivery). So if that is going to be too costly and you don't want the part refund then if you funded your paypal payment via a credit card talk to your card issuer and see if they will chargeback for you? 

[BeeHop]

It doesn't give me the option to escalate. Do I have to decline the offer 1st. I had already told the seller in our email conversations that I would accept £25 but they did nothing, they could have just done a refund but by doing an offer, if I accept and close the dispute the money won't arrive and I can't then re dispute.

[Bandon]

I too, am dealing with a Chinese company that pretends not to have a record of my order that doesn’t work.  If only I had seen the Trust Pilot complaints!

I learned a $34.98 lesson.  Never buy something from a Facebook ad!  PayPal refused to help me.