I had a horrible experience with Paypal myself some time ago. I was auctioning off this software which I listed on eBay. When the auction ended and the sale done, having been a Paypal member for a while, I offcourse continued to use and rely on their services in fully realizing this transaction.
The money was received - around $83.00 I think it was - and I packaged and shipped off the software. The buyer was a guy in the U.S. and I will not mention his eBay name only because I do not remember it, but no doubt he has a ton of negative ratings by now. But I will refer to him as "mr. cheap-software-buyer" because he did get the software for very, very cheap.
Anyways, at the time I was in the C'bbean and so I mailed off the package through the local post-office: regular mail. Now anyone who has ever mailed off anything via regular mail knows there is no tracking number. We all know the only time you get a tracking number is when you ship via an express courier like DHL or FedEx - definitely not regular mail. The package was not big enough for that - and besides it would cost me too much to ship it that way. Hey I was trying to make a profit here!
I made a near full withdrawal from my a/c a few days after I shipped off the item to recoup for the packaging and shipping cost and also because I already had other stuff to get. Soon afterwards I get an email from Paypay saying that a dispute has been filed against me by "mr. cheap-software-buyer" and I need to confirm shipment of the package. Now I understood his concern when a day or two went by and he did not see the package. I emailed him and told him it would take at least 5 days to get to him - it takes a bit longer when it's shipped from outside of the America.
Paypal sent me a page/link to resolve/rectify this dispute but the stupid page only has 3 options and I had to check one - one of which was proving a tracking number. That was it! There was no area or place where I could insert a comment or explanation where I could tell them 'look, the item was shipped regular mail and I did not get a tracking number because no post office provides a tracking number for items shipped via regular mail.' How dumb is this dispute resolve page !!! No area to insert an explanation! Anyways, I sent them several emails spanning months explaining this very thing to them. I never received any responses other than the same stupid email notification thing asking me to rectify and provide confirmation.
After a while Paypal debited my Paypal account and refunded mr. cheap-software-buyer. By the time they did I am almost sure that the asshole got the software and never bothered to cancel the dispute. Why would he? He got some very expensive software and he got all his money back.
Now remember I told you earlier that I had taken nearly all my money out of my Paypal account to do some other stuff. With Paypal's debit to the account meant that account now had a negative balance because there was not enough in there to cover their debit/refund to the customer. So now it meant that I owed Paypal and also was out of my software. Now I'm on the losing end. I kept of sending them emails explaining the situation to them - none of which were ever responded to...and then bump trying to call them - wasn't happening. They eventually suspended my account and kept sending me emails and letters now saying that I owe them. I refused to pay because I did mail the item off to the S.O.B. who no doubt is enjoying it right now - I hope it brings a plague on your PC and causes it a horrible crash, even though it will not happen because it's Linux software.
To You Paypal I say...
[This was not fair at all. Where's my restitution? I should be able to file a complaint for non-payment of a shipped and received good. Shouldn't I? Not with Paypal, baby.]
Could this get any worse?
The bastards at Paypal then submitted this information to a collection agency. I refused to pay. This then showed up on my credit report and offcourse you know that messes up the credit score and all sorts of woes accompany this. It's gonna stay there for 5 years because I'm not paying this crap. Hopefully within that time they would crash and go out of business. I'm going to see a "going-out-of-business-sale' in their windows - you know, like the ones you see in Chicago, Boston and some New York City stores.
I can't tell you how upset I was that they submitted the info. to some collection agency and then the shit showed up on my credit report. Especially after I tried so hard to explain and rectify the situation. Their system was just not set up to fully rosolve disputes and as a result I got screwd. This now seems to be a legal issue as it filtered over and ruined my credit. They never provided adequate dispute resolution.
So now there's only direct payments for me. And I won't even get started on eBay. I'm looking forward to Google's payment service - that's what I'll be using. Let's hope it's easier on dispute and resolution claims as no doubt there will be guys trying to get 'free software.' Looking forward to their working out better than paypal.
Post Post:
Since I've written this I got an email or two from people who have also had bad experiences with Paypal and some with eBay. If you have some stories of your own please post it here as a comment or email it to me and I will put it on for you.
1 comment:
You might want to post or link to http://www.paypalsucks.com/
> It's gonna stay there for 5
> years because I'm not paying
> this crap.
You realize that it won't go away after 5 years until you pay off the creditor right? It will just sit there and they will probably keep updating the item and adding some interest every year.
You need to becareful as a seller. Look at the laws the are called 'consumer protection laws' for a reason. As a seller you must be able to provide proof that you provided the service in question. Without having a tracking number paypal only had your word on it. There are very few laws that protect sellers...
Yes, the asshole who probably has your stuff is a scammer, but as a seller you must be able to prove that he has it.
I am guessing you not using ebay anymore, but if you do, just make the buyer pay the cost of tracking. It protects both of you and is worth the effort.
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