Paypal You gotta be Friggin Kidding me!!

Bass2Bass7 · #1 12-01-2009, 01:42 PM

To all my fellow Bassist and anyone who has used Paypal or may still be using Paypal check this out!

I sold a Jazz Bass on Ebay back in 8/09. The Bass was going to Russia! I have shipped Basses overseas before and have never had a problem. I have also been using Paypal since "04". I send the Jazz Bass it gets held up in Customs. The Buyer and I are in regular contact with each other the whole time. After waiting a while the Buyer files a complaint with Paypal. I try and go on Paypal and put in the Customs # to prove that the item had been shipped. But guess what? Paypals system will not accept Customs #s. So I call and give the information to a Paypal Drone. While they are reviewing the case they pay the $ back to the Buyer! I try and tell them the bass was sent! Now they're trying to charge my account the $900.00 that they just gave back to him!

I call them almost week for almost 2 months! One lady finally tells me that the Russian Postal service tried to deliver the Bass. Was unable to do so. The Buyer had sent a message through Paypal that he had been in the hospital! I didn't get any of this info from him or Paypal! Since the Buyer had gone into the hospital and they couldn't deliver it the Bass was returned to Customs. The Paypal rep tells me to keep checking USPS. The next time I check a few days later the Bass made it! So I'm thinkin cool all done! WRONG!

I call again to find out why I still have a Negative Balance on my account and the next Paypal Rep I speak to says that the Buyer is distputing the the purchase. I ask why the Rep says I can't tell you!! ***! So I send an email direct to the Buyer asking what the problem is?! No response! I call Paypal again they say the Buyer has 14 days to follow through with the claim. Again no response from the Buyer. So I call Paypal again to find out whats going on because still my balance is neg? This time the lady says well it's too late for the Buyer to do anything as far as the dispute goes, so they are going to try and get the $900.00 back from the Buyer! What do you think has happend so far!?!

No response from the Buyer, He has a killer Jazz Bass and all his $$ back and Paypal has still been trying to get the $900.00 from me! SO!!! Again I call Paypal today and go over this whole thing with them yet again! All they can say is since I didn't reply to the dispute in an email I lost the case! WHAT!!

So I tell them they can keep my account on hold as long as they want! I am not giving them a dime! I did what I was supposed to do. I have a golden rating on Ebay and until this point never a problem with Paypal!

I will never use Paypal again and I'm just sharing with you all. Peace!!

Linas · #2 12-01-2009, 01:49 PM

Dude, but seriously, thats a tough break. I typically avoid dealing overseas, especially with countries notorious for scamming. e.g. Russia. Hope you can recover your funds!

L-A · #3 12-01-2009, 01:53 PM

Paypal support is awful. Just recently, I bought a new monitor, which I tried to pay through PP. Upon confirming the transaction, I was sent back to the merchant's web site telling me that Paypal couldn't process the transaction. No big deal I thought, I'll pay with my credit card.

Afterwards, I log on to Paypal to see what the matter is, and guess what? They sent the amount of my payment to the seller, twice. So I got a 150$ monitor for 450$. I've been trying to get in contact with someone human and residing out of New Delhi for quite a while now.

Fortunately, the folks on the merchant web site agreed to ignore both of these transaction approvals, so I am clear for now. But if this happened elsewhere, I don't know what I'd do.

bongomania · #4 12-01-2009, 01:56 PM

I've had some good no-hassle Russian transactions in the past, but lately they've been nothing but hassle. I've started including the various former Soviet states in my exclusions list. It's too bad, too, because the good transactions I did there were with super nice people.

DigMe · #5 12-01-2009, 02:32 PM

And you're just going to let it end there with a "I'm never doing business with you again"?? For 900 bucks I would sure not let it end that easily. It sounds like the proof is on your side. I would badger them until they escalate or reopen. If you have proof that the bass was delivered then this should not end here.

bc

René_Julien · #6 12-01-2009, 02:47 PM

I'm not sure if I understand this correctly.

Your account balance is minus 900$, negative.
That means you got the funds of your account before they tried to get it back. ??

Or did they deduct it twice?

And the problem is you can't use your account anymore before you fill this negative gap?

hdracer · #7 12-01-2009, 02:56 PM

I had the same thing happen only it went to Australia. About the same story. The way I got it handled was to contact my State Attorney 's office and the Secretary of State in my state. Your beef is with Pay Pal. They got my money back. That was over 2 years ago and I have done NOTHING with pay pal sense! Give it a try, It will take a lot of phone calls, but you should be use to it by now. Good luck

Loel · #8 12-01-2009, 02:56 PM

I would have a lawyer send PP corporate a letter,
stating an eminent law suit for $900. and SIX
figures punitive damages..

Stumbo · #9 12-01-2009, 03:03 PM

Don't let it this die or think it's over. Paypal will file on your credit for unpaid balance or file in court against you and if you think you have problems now, you won't be a happy camper when that happens.

Bass2Bass7 · #10 12-01-2009, 03:22 PM

Bottom line Buyer paid for the Bass! I sent the Bass while the Bass was in customs they paid him back the $900.00! Isent the proof and talked with them a few times proving that the Bass had been sent. He gets the Bass and they still have my accont on hold with a Neg Balance because they can't get in touch with him!

I'm not sure if I understand this correctly.

Your account balance is minus 900$, negative.
That means you got the funds of your account before they tried to get it back. ??

Or did they deduct it twice?

And the problem is you can't use your account anymore before you fill this negative gap?

Pilgrim · #11 12-01-2009, 03:39 PM

Keep working on it, and cross every T and dot every I as per Paypal's specifications. don't leave them any room to say that you didn't follow proper procedure. I like the idea of also getting your State Attorney General's office involved.

MakiSupaStar · #12 12-01-2009, 04:07 PM

Well. I've got a paypal account that I don't use very often and now I can't get them to send me an email to tell me what my password is.

Chunk-O-Funk · #13 12-01-2009, 06:45 PM

+1 to keeping at it.

Also, don't speak to the regular customer service reps. Ask for someone in their (so called) "resolution department".

I haven't used my account in over two years, and technically it's still unresolved. Paypal is just too dumb to know it. The major difference between my problem and yours is I was not financially affected in anyway, so I simply don't use their service. From my personal experience I have no confidence in paypals' security or ability or to handle problems let alone be conscious of them.

Here was my experience:
This might seem to be TMTR (to much to read), but I think it should be read. It's a testament to paypals not knowing what the left and right hand is doing and their "sweep it under the rug" resolution practices.

1. Someone hacks into my account and makes a fraudulent transaction of $3200.00. They never touched my bank accounts associated with paypal. They received a payment and then transferred it to their own bank account.

I report the problem once I noticed it. I had no problem with paypal at this point. They recognized that transaction was not done by me.

2. About a month or so later I get a notice of a dispute and my account was debited.

This actually took about a month to resolve as I had to go through their procedure. After going through this procedure of theirs I lost the dispute and was given instructions how to resolve it (pay them) despite my emails and phone calls letting them know this all stemmed from a fraudulent transaction they resolved over a month ago.

Eventually got to speak to someone in their resolution department and had no problem getting it all straighten out. My account was brought back to a zero balance.

3. About a month after that I get another email from paypal informing me that I won a credit card depute and my account was credited.

I never filed a dispute. Besides losing some time and getting a headache I never lost a dime. The money belongs to paypal. I sent them a few emails and gave up. And, if you followed my story Paypal actually screwed themselves for twice the amount of the original transaction. Good for them I am an honest person.

Paypal is way to scary to use. Fine if (as a seller) you are dealing with an honest person on the opposite end of your transaction and everything goes as planed. If not, you (the seller) will get screwed.

My lessons
1. The automated online depute forms are basically ignored and a waste of time.
2. Speaking with their regular customer service reps are a waste of time as I believe they are not authorized to help with anything other than telling you it will get fixed.
3. They really don't know what's going on with their money. Probably way, way too many transactions for anyone to keep track of never mind for a customer rep to even care about.

But, that's how it is with paypal. Probably millions of transactions a month. I know someone who has used paypal for years and has a few thousand transactions on ebay. He's never had a problem selling to people all over the world. The majority wins and the minority has to fight because paypal could care less about you losing a few bucks.

warnergt · #14 12-01-2009, 07:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bass2Bass7

...I try and go on Paypal and put in the
Customs # to prove that the item had been shipped. But guess what?
Paypals system will not accept Customs #s...

Something like that happened to me. I returned a misrepresented ebay
item by USPS with insurance (which has to be signed for). When I ultimately
filed a dispute, Paypal wants some sort of tracking number to prove you
shipped it. Well, I had already sent back the bad item and I had no
tracking number (a lesson learned). However, I entered the insurance
receipt number (even though I wasn't sure it would satisfy Paypal) and
everything turned out in the end. I got my money back and, ironically,
the guy never signed for his worthless returned item so USPS returned it
to me. I got my money back and got to keep the worthless item.

The lesson is make sure you have tracking on your item and make
sure the buyer knows he has to pay for the slightly more expensive
shipping to protect both of you.

WookieeForLife · #15 12-01-2009, 07:35 PM

Am I the only one that finds the only crime is a $900 jazz bass?

I kid, I kid.

Stay on them, for you are right.

Geddyfleaharris · #16 12-01-2009, 08:36 PM

I sell stuff to Canada and the States. I figure worse comes to worse I get in my truck and go for a drive if the dollar amount is big enough.

I have sold a couple of effects pedals overseas and all went well but I doubt I would have the gonads to send a bass overseas. But that's just me.

So far Paypal has worked for me but it seems there are the odd horror stories that pop up. The number one complaint seems to be their customer service and the whole right hand/left hand incommunicado thing.

Hopefully your situation gets sorted out.

chicago_mike · #17 12-02-2009, 12:53 AM

http://www.paypalsucks.com/

capnsandwich · #18 12-02-2009, 01:25 AM

This almost sounds like a scam to me. The buyer was "in the hospital" at the time the bass was to be delivered, yet he still got the bass all while PayPal paid him his money back. It really does seem like he pulled the perfect scam. Maybe this is something new they're doing now since the Nigerian "Dear Sir or Madam" scam is getting old.

mophead · #19 12-12-2009, 10:29 AM

Well I had a transaction with an eBayer through Paypal that went well. Bought an old Peavey PA amp. Ad claimed it had been to the tech shop, cleaned up and good to go. He did have a 7 day return policy so I bit.
Got the amp and it was DOA. Opened the case and it was dirty with numerous dead spiders inside so all I can assume is the tech who checked it out was blind.
Sent the amp back to the guy via the rules and Paypal got my money AND the return freight costs on top of that.

So not all bad.

Chunk-O-Funk · #20 12-12-2009, 11:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mophead

Well I had a transaction with an eBayer through Paypal that went well. Bought an old Peavey PA amp. Ad claimed it had been to the tech shop, cleaned up and good to go. He did have a 7 day return policy so I bit.
Got the amp and it was DOA. Opened the case and it was dirty with numerous dead spiders inside so all I can assume is the tech who checked it out was blind.
Sent the amp back to the guy via the rules and Paypal got my money AND the return freight costs on top of that.

So not all bad.

Yes, it protects the buyer very well. Unfortunately it's also what makes it so easy for a seller to get scammed/screwed.