Was I ripped off? What should I do

Message

ajkula66 · #61 Post by **ajkula66** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 7:09 pm

smidgley wrote:

I guess the fact that he created the label is good enough for them. I do still have a chargeback pending with my credit card company, though.

The chargeback may be the reason they denied the claim, thinking about it.

I'd tend to read into this a little differently: the seller's gone. Vanished. His accounts are shut down. They can't pull the money out of anywhere, so it costs them nothing to deny your claim.

However, your chargeback will go through, if I know anything about credit card companies...

Unfortunately, I feel less optimistic about our friend ahammad's situation...

smidgley · #62 Post by **smidgley** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 7:31 pm

It turns out that PayPal denied the claim because my credit card company had already processed the chargeback. In essence, PayPal is now out the money.

If PayPal had refunded the money to my account with them, I would have been reimbursed twice.

Stan · #63 Post by **Stan** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 7:43 pm

This is part of the deception that PayPal is trying to get across to the people who use it.

PayPal is not a bank and is not subject to banking laws in any country. It may be convenient but I still think that PayPal (and eBay) is only to be used for amounts of money that the user is prepared to lose, in a worst case scenario.

I'm losing faith in PayPal, after reading this thread, and that may be true for others.

My sympathies to those harmed in this incident, I hope you find redress at some point.

ahammad · #64 Post by **ahammad** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 9:24 pm

So I called PayPal and asked them to update me on my case. The rep said that if there is no answer from the seller, the buyer automatically wins. She also said "it may take more time (up to 30 I think) for the proper process to go through, to ensure that the money is refunded properly" or something along those lines. When I asked if it is guaranteed, she did say that the money is apparently "on hold".

Not sure what that really means...can anyone decipher this?

ajkula66 · #65 Post by **ajkula66** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 9:35 pm

When a buyer files a claim, the seller's account is blocked for the amount in dispute, including shipping. The money is released once the claim is settled.

I don't mean to sound discouraging, but sometimes PayPal "freezes" an empty account, and can't reimburse the party that would normally win the claim...so it either informs the party that the claim was lost, or that the seller's account did not have the funds required for the reimbursement of initial transaction...

If the seller (or shall we say scammer) in question knew how to cross his Ts and dot his Is, you're out of luck. Let's hope he wasn't that smart...

smidgley · #66 Post by **smidgley** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 9:36 pm

If Freddie was unwise enough to leave the money you paid him in his PayPal account, they have a hold on it and he can't spend or transfer that money. I hope that is what's happening.

ajkula66 · #67 Post by **ajkula66** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 9:43 pm

It goes a lot further than that...and I could explain it in detail, but...

I'm a little weary of one thing: our guy Freddie may be reading this thread signed as a guest, which leads me to state the following: I've been through all of this and then some. If you guys have specific questions, feel free to PM me, I'm here to help you as much as I can.

Good luck.

ahammad · #68 Post by **ahammad** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 9:59 pm

ajkula66 wrote:It goes a lot further than that...and I could explain it in detail, but...

I'm a little weary of one thing: our guy Freddie may be reading this thread signed as a guest, which leads me to state the following: I've been through all of this and then some. If you guys have specific questions, feel free to PM me, I'm here to help you as much as I can.

Good luck.

ygpm

ahammad · #69 Post by **ahammad** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 9:45 am

Update:

Well, the dispute was ruled in my favor, but as I expected, 0.38 USD was all that's there in the guy's account...the rep ensured that they will go after him and secure all the funds...should I still have hope or just start to deal with having less money around for the time being?

This sucks

ajkula66 · #70 Post by **ajkula66** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 7:21 pm

I'd forget about that money altogether, and if you ever get to see a cent of it, it'll be a pleasant surprise.

Lesson, not an inexpensive one, learned. Time to move on.

Good luck.

pianowizard · #71 Post by **pianowizard** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 7:51 pm

ajkula66 wrote:Lesson, not an inexpensive one, learned.

Yeah, after reading this thread, I decided to always PayPal with my credit card unless I know the seller well.

ahammad · #72 Post by **ahammad** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 12:10 am

To me it's still a pretty expensive lesson...I guess there isn't much more I can do right now though. One thing I will do is call them everyday to give them an earful.

What I realized is that PayPal is nothing more than a middle-man with absolutely no power. They take CC and banking information, and yet, they can't go after the guy. If you don't pay your 50 dollar phone bill, the phone company sends its hounds after you. If you steal a more substantial amount of money from a lowly consumer, they don't even bother.

What a load of BS. Some of the reps are so thick to even understand the point. I told them that "if it were so easy to scam people through your flawed system, then there is nothing stopping me from scamming somebody else and getting my money that way" and the rep simply said "that's correct".

Sorry for venting here...I need to sell off something now to get more money to purchase a much needed laptop.

#73 Post by **carbon_unit** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 7:07 am

I also learned to use CC funded Paypal after some dude hosed me for $1000.00 on a T42 3 years ago.
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... ght=#83500
I got lucky and my bank got me the money back.

Was I ripped off? What should I do

Who is online