HELP with a PAYPAL claim?

[muckakev]

Hi All,

I recently got conned trying to buy a TV off Ebay.
In short this is what happened.
I won a auction for a 42" TV. The price was £350 and i asked the seller if i could pay a deposit of £100 via paypal and then collect the TV from his home, of which he agreed.
He gave me his address of which was in Leeds and his mobile number in case i needed to contact him.
Well I drove up to Leeds to the address he gave me, only to find the actual house number did not exist. I then tried to phone him on the number he gave me, only to find that number also didnt exist.

So when i got back home i put a resolution claim process via paypal and the claim as just been found in my favour (the email below).
I have as yet not paid the £100 to paypal, but they cannot get the money back off the seller.

So where do i stand on this?
Do PAYPAL have to clear my debt due to their guarantee process or have i still to pay the money?


This is the email i've just received from PAYPAL;

"Dear KEVIN,

After careful review, we have concluded our investigation of the Buyer
Complaint described below.

We have decided in your favour, however, we were unable to recover any
funds from the seller's account. As stated in the PayPal User Agreement,
recovery of funds associated with a Buyer Complaint cannot be guaranteed.

Please know that we will make our best effort to recover the funds in
question if they become available in the seller's account in the future,
and will take appropriate action against the seller. Such action may
include issuing a warning, a temporary restriction, or terminating the
account. Keep in mind that PayPal uses a number of factors, including
member complaints, to determine when to take action. Due to privacy laws,
we cannot discuss the details of any action taken. We hope you understand
our policy and that it reassures you that you are safe using PayPal".


Just found this in my Paypal account;

We have completed our investigation of this case. We attempted to process a refund from the seller's account to your account. Unfortunately, the seller's account does not contain the funds necessary to cover this refund. We were able to recover £0.00 GBP. We have taken action against the seller and are working to recover the remainder of your refund. We will contact you when we have more information. No further action is required of you at this time.

[GlynDerby]

You sure the email is from paypal?

They can reverse funds staright away, I had similar thing happen and they stopped the money going to their account and reversed it straight back to mine, it all depends on how long the deposit was paid. If was over 7 to 10 days ago the chances are youve lost it as this has given them time to withdraw the funds, if was more recent then paypal should have been able to get the money back by stopping the payment to them

[muckakev]

Hi Glyn,

Yep mate the email is definately from Paypal.

I paid the £100 on the 27th May.
I went to Leeds on the 30th May.
I started the claim on the 31st May.
Yet they have only today 27th May tried to get my funds back. If as you state the can reverse the funds straight away, then bloody paypal have acted to slow and could of prevented this from happening.

[stokecity]

Paypal are the spawn of the devil. I had an issue with them getting me a refund when they said I didn't do things in their timescales. However they do not state anything about getting information back to them within 7-days and then close down the case and won't reopen it. Avoid like the plague.

[muckakev]

Hi stokecity, wish i had read that before i ever used them.
Seems that there is no kind of guarantee and they are not interested in their users. secure my arse.

Tks mate

[GlynDerby]

If you started your claim a few days later then normal proceedure is that they freeze both accounts so no money can be taken or moved from either, if this isnt the case ring them up and ask why, mine was frozen for 6 months and ive just got all my money back, ring them and check weather its frozen or not. If not then ask questions of why not as it should have been. You should get your money back on this.

They do have a phone number, just look for it on site and eventually you'll find it tucked away.

And when you do get through they'll usually be Irish and quite helpful

[muckakev]

Tks Glyn, im on to that now. It does seem that they have frozen my account because i have not been able to use it since, even to pay my balance.

[GlynDerby]

In which case they should have frozen his as well so the money should be with paypal as when you made the claim both should have been frozen. there may be hope, if you have trouble finding the number then give me a shout and i'll try to dig it out for you

[Huddysleftfoot]

I had a similar problem, payed for an Ipod that never arrived, then discovered the ebayer I bought from had disappeared from ebay. They froze his account and mine and I finally got half my money back after a couple of months. I was furious but them's the rules apparently. They try to get round it by saying "caveat emptor" or buyer beware, it's a hard lesson but do not buy until you've checked the sellers feedback properly and always go by the phrase: "if it's too good to be true, it probably is".

Incidentally I filed my claim as soon as I possibly could under the rules, but a seller with no funds in his/her paypal account is difficult to get money back from, another route if you payed by credit card would be to contact your card issuer, they may be able to refund under certain circumstances.

[GlynDerby]

Good advice, if you did pay by card then your Credit card company can get it back from paypal but beware....Paypal have a team dedicated to fighting credit card companies to stop this happening as they lose money......sneaky twats

[muckakev]

I haven't paid by credit card, infact i haven't as yet paid at all. Ive got a negative balance with paypal of £100
I have tried to pay but for some reason paypal will not except my payment, perhaps because they have frozen my account.

[Huddysleftfoot]

Jun 28, 2008 13:17:44 GMT muckakev said:

I haven't paid by credit card, infact i haven't as yet paid at all. Ive got a negative balance with paypal of £100
I have tried to pay but for some reason paypal will not except my payment, perhaps because they have frozen my account.

Sounds like you're in luck then Kev, if as you say, paypal have found in your favour then you should get it all back, I think?

[st0kecity]

Jun 28, 2008 14:14:40 GMT Huddysleftfoot said:

Jun 28, 2008 13:17:44 GMT muckakev said:

I haven't paid by credit card, infact i haven't as yet paid at all. Ive got a negative balance with paypal of £100
I have tried to pay but for some reason paypal will not except my payment, perhaps because they have frozen my account.

Sounds like you're in luck then Kev, if as you say, paypal have found in your favour then you should get it all back, I think?

No, not necessarily. Should the person ever use his paypal account again then paypal will seize the money and refund what they get to Kev, however, while Kev's paypal is in a negative balance they will chase him for the money unfortunately.

Wherever possible, always fund paypal payments with a credit card.

[Huddysleftfoot]

Jun 28, 2008 14:55:21 GMT st0kecity said:

Jun 28, 2008 14:14:40 GMT Huddysleftfoot said:

Sounds like you're in luck then Kev, if as you say, paypal have found in your favour then you should get it all back, I think?

No, not necessarily. Should the person ever use his paypal account again then paypal will seize the money and refund what they get to Kev, however, while Kev's paypal is in a negative balance they will chase him for the money unfortunately.

Wherever possible, always fund paypal payments with a credit card.

Which is what I said in an earlier post. If he hasn't paid and he's been found "in favour" then he won't have to pay anyway.

[muckakev]

Well ive just been sent another email in reply to me asking that now ive won the claim how do i get my money back.

Dear Kevin,

Thanks for contacting Paypal in relation to the case PP-484-153-702.

We have decided in your favour, however, we were unable to recover any
funds from the seller's account. As stated in the PayPal User Agreement,
recovery of funds associated with a Buyer Complaint cannot be guaranteed.

As stated within the PayPal User Agreement, the PayPal Buyer Complaint
Policy does not guarantee recovery of your funds, and recovery is done on a
best effort basis. The amount refunded to you represents the total amount
PayPal was able to recover from the seller's PayPal Account. Although the
claim is closed, the dispute is noted in the seller's account records, and
the seller will need to complete the refund to you if he/she wishes to
continue the use of PayPal's service.

So as it stands now i havent yet paid the £100 to paypal so my account is in a negative balance too that amount.
What will happen if i decide that i'm NOT going to PAY Paypal the £100?

[GlynDerby]

Nothing, they'll just close the account, then simply get a new debit card and re register under a different username or learn from this and never use paypal again the robbing twats ;D

[muckakev]

So Glyn, do you reckon that they will not chase me through the courts to retrieve the £100?

[SuperRickyFuller]

I really do fucking hate Paypal. They're the sole reason that I won't use eBay

[muckakev]

Seems im coming round to the same way you think SRF, they are really starting to piss me off. They will not let me use my account with them now untill ive settled my £100 debt. Well they can kiss my arris.

[markscfc72]

i don't understand why you need to pay the £100 if they have agreed in your favour?

[SuperRickyFuller]

I wonder if there's a way to get around it, legally speaking. Surely if the £100 actually went to Paypal but was stolen, surely they have to pay you back or compensate you

Does it definately show on a bank statement that £100 went to Paypal?

[muckakev]

Hi, im not to sure about this paypal thing myself. But i paid the seller £100 via paypal, of which they apparently paid without taking it out of my account. So as of today i haven't actually paid but paypal keeps asking me for the £100.

I have actually tried to pay them, but the transaction will not go through, maybe because they have froozen my account, but they keep asking me for it.

[salopstick]

DONT BUY PRE-ORDER GAMES OFF EBAY.

I BOUGHT A PRE-ORDER GAME BUT IT NEVER TURNED UP, AS IT WAS PAST 45 DAYS I WAS TOO LATE FOR A DISPUTE WITH EBAY OR GET A REFUND VIA PAYPAL