Twice now, I’ve had companies where I paid for services via PayPal. Last year, I was co-locating one of my servers with FDC Servers. They decided one day to unplug my server and throw it in a closet, and hold it hostage for an evening. Needless to say, I canceled my service and moved it to a datacenter in Madison. The following month, they decided to continue charging me for a service I had canceled a month prior, through PayPal. I filed a dispute with PayPal, and after a month, I got the verdict that they couldn’t help me because my claim was not for a physical item. Screwed by FDC, screwed by PayPal.
More recently, I made the mistake of trying to get iStockphoto to honor their return policy. They refused, and said to file a complaint with PayPal. I did, and again, PayPal waited a month to tell me that they couldn’t help because there was no physical item. Double-screwed again.
Here’s a screenshot of the resolution center options, when you try to file a claim:
PayPal Resolution Center
As you can see, you can only dispute if a physical item doesn’t arrive as promised, or if someone has fraudulently accessed your account. With iStockphoto’s return policy scam, I called PayPal, and was assured that even though there was no option for a virtual good in the dispute center, each claim would be reviewed properly. Obviously this is not the case, given PayPal’s reply to my claim:
Unfortunately, we were unable to resolve this claim in your favor because the item purchased was virtual or intangible. As a result, we have not taken any action against the seller at this time but we have noted your dissatisfaction in the seller’s record for future reference.
Thanks for nothing, PayPal.
If you paid via a credit card or your bank account through pay pal, your bank or credit card provider my have a dispute process that you can go through.
Might be worth looking into.
I’ve also had problems with pay pal, but was able to get resolve through the credit card company….
And is your PayPal account still open? I don’t have the luxury of having mine closed down.
I agree the Paypal resolution site is worse than useless. They always favour the Seller because without them they have no income. The Seller in my case fraudulently changed the description of the item after I raised a dispute. I was astonished eBay even permitted him to do that, so when I found the item I received was not what I ordered the Seller then told Paypalthat I had oredered incorrectly. Many Sellers are wise to the Credit card refund and refuse to accept them and only allow Paypal so my advice is don’t use eBay or Paypal they are essentially the same despite their protests they do not give you any protection its the American “Buyer Beware” system.
Sold a cell phone to a lady thru ebay, and after 3 weeks of it being in her posession and using it she filed a claim saying it was broken. Paypal found in favor of her.
Even the two options are useless, the only thing that works is cancel your pay before it is submitted, which is quite ridiculous since we never knew we are going to be scammed.
The good I’ve paid for did not arrive and I tried the item dispute, I requested a full refund and this is what I had after a week of waiting.
“We have concluded our investigation into your case and have decided in your
favour.
You have indicated that a partial refund of 0 would be satisfactory.
If the seller’s account has insufficient funds to complete the refund owed
to you, please be assured that we will take appropriate action against the
seller’s account, which may include limitation of the seller’s account
privileges.”
A $0 refund? Is that still a considered as a refund? Who the fuck would bother and why the hell is this even an option for people to choose from!?