Many of us use Paypal on a daily basis, not just for purchases made through eBay. I know that in the past I have often used Paypal to purchase pretty much all of my items online-things from Etsy, etc. This has now changed. After my most recent experience I will never use Paypal again.
My story: I purchased something from a website that came with a 90 day money-back guarantee. Very simple guarantee-if you are not happy please contact us and we will be happy to refund you. I contacted the website-they sidestepped around refunding me the money. I then contacted Paypal to see what I could do.
The answer-nothing! Paypal has a dispute resolution process for upto 45 days after you paid-anything after 45 days and a dispute cannot be opened. For any reason, including one like this where the seller was claiming to offer a 90 day guarantee.
Frankly I am shocked and disappointed with Paypal's policy (as well as their customer service-five emails have been sent to me each one saying that "you can open a dispute up to 45 days after the transaction date. Hope this helps.") I've found several other people who had similar instances-they purchased something with a 60 day guarantee, it broke at 45 days, they asked for a refund, and Paypal won't help them. Unfortunately if we had purchased with a major credit card, we would most likely be able to get our money back.
Paypal should not be allowing websites that use Paypal to collect money to rip-off their customers. Instead Paypal should be investigating claims like this and making websites honor their guarantees-or those websites would not be able to use Paypal anymore.
I still planning on suing the website to get the money back but this is another lengthy step that shouldn't have to be taken by the average consumer.
I will never use Paypal again for major purchases.
My advice:
-Use credit cards online exclusively for better protection and service. I have had similar situations happen with my Discover and Visa-both times the card company worked with ME to get the item replaced or to get my money back.
-Realize that with Paypal longer guarantees are useless. Since you only have 45 days to open a dispute, a guarantee of 1 year or 6 months is useless unless you are paying with a major credit card.
-Same with Paypal's verified seller status. My situation is with a verified seller. It means nothing. Stick with credit cards.
-Don't use Paypal for any online services. I learned my lesson and am publishing this so others don't have to be ripped off in the future.
I did not know about these problems with PayPal and their sellers. I'll have to reconsider how i buy things online.
ReplyDeleteOur Paypal account was hacked into and someone charged close to $1000 of computer equipment with our info. We straightened it out, but I closed Paypal and never looked back. I don't do Paypal because I think it's rampant with hacking/identity theft.
ReplyDeleteThanks for warning. I didn't know that Paypal only gives you 45 days to open a dispute.
ReplyDeleteDidn't realize that about paypal. I use paypal for my online boutique, but there aren't a lot of other options for super small websites like mine.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip! There are a number of reasons to not use Paypal. But does anyone know of a good alternative?
ReplyDeleteWow-that's horrible. I will be very cautious with online purchasing that's for sure!
ReplyDeleteJennifer Marie
lilnursejen at yahoo dot com
I do not like Paypal at all, especially after what happened with Regretsy over Christmastime. Unfortunately, there isn't a viable alternative to send money online.
ReplyDeletehmm thanks for the advice... I've always been weary of using paypal
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry you had a bad experience! I recently have had a terrible experience with my Visa card where flat out fraud charges were posted and I cannot get my money back. It's ridiculous! I've spent over 5 hours in phone time so far with the company and don't see getting my money back ever.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about this.Thanks for the tip
ReplyDeleteI have never used PayPal, I usually just pay with my debit card, but I will be sure to be extra careful in the future.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the advice! I use PayPal a lot, but will rethink that now.
ReplyDeleteThat is crazy! I had no idea PayPal would do that despite the seller's own, stated return policy.
ReplyDelete