eBay

vehicles_for_success · ‎07-09-2014

Back on or about April 23rd, I had a printing error while trying to print out postage through PayPal. I ended up having to use a different computer and managed to get my parcel shipped out and requested a refund for the unused postage that hadn't printed out. After a few weeks, I noticed the balance of my account was still 0.00, so I sent an email off to find out when I could expect the refund. The reply indicated that the funds would be in my account by May 23rd, so again I waited.

About a week after this date, I sent off another email because the money still wasn't there. And the reply said that they had tried to phone me but couldn't get through. (As it happened I had had my old cell die and was having a problem with my messaging (which prevented my being able to link the phone to PayPal.) I had updated my profile with the new number, but this really shouldn't have had anything to do with my getting my money deposited into my account.

So, I sent off another email informing them that I'd had phone problems, but didn't see the need for them to phone me which only cost me time and money. (I normally turn off my phone due to entering certain businesses and government agencies during the day, that don't like them turned on.) I also stated that I still wanted my money back as stated in their first email. That was last Friday and to date they have yet to reply.

If eBay insists that we use PayPal, they should hold them to account for this sort of blatant theft.

It's no wonder that so many sellers are looking at alternatives to both ebay and paypal.

I AM NOT A HAPPY EBAYER.

VFS

pjcdn2005 · ‎07-09-2014

Since you don't seem to be getting anywhere by using email, why don't you try phoning them at their 1 800 number. The Paypal phone reps are usually quite helpful.

The best way to do that is to sign into your Paypal account, click on contact us at the bottom of the page and then click on phone us. They will give you a pin number that you use when you phone. When the automated service answers and asks you to say why you are phoning, just say speak to customer service and that will hopefully get you through quicker.

computer-geek541 · ‎07-09-2014

I can't speak about what happens to everyone else, but from my experiences, voided/cancelled Paypal shipping labels never get automatically refunded, despite claims to the contrary by the website when you actually cancel the label and despite promises by customers service.

Every single time (never fails), I've volided a shipping label, the only way I'm able to get the refund is to wait at least 30 days and then phone into Paypal customer service. They will manually issue a goodwill credit to your account and will insist the refund being process must be some one-time glitch, but mark my words - next time you void a shipping label, you'll go through the same thing again.

pjcdn2005 · ‎07-09-2014

The last label that I voided was automatically credited to my Paypal account after 2 or 3 weeks. I had only voided one or two labels before that and the refund wasn't quite as easy.

computer-geek541 · ‎07-09-2014

I'm really surprised that you got one of your refunds without needing to follow up. I believe it's fair to say that many, if not most, voided labels are difficult to get refunds on.

vehicles_for_success · ‎07-14-2014

I actually had tried calling the robot line, but didn't hear an option for talking to a human. I'll try again, followed by a look at the BBB website.

maggiebvintage2010 · ‎07-15-2014

As" pj" said, call them. Click on "contact us" at the bottom of the PayPal page, then choose "Call Us" at the top right, you will receive a one-time code, follow the recorded prompts, and a CS rep will speak with you. The only trouble I have with their phone system is that the bots never ever recognize my phone number, and always say I'm calling from some non-existent number. I always have to get past this to get to a rep. I have always found PayPal CS reps to be polite and efficient. In the past, I have called about postage refunds, and had them credit my account while on the phone with them, and then follow up with an email to me. I used to have to call each time. Recently, however, I have twice received automatic refunds.

The refund actually comes from Canada Post, PayPal is providing a courtesy refund. It is a wild overreaction to contact the BBB, but if you do, the complaint should be about CP - let us know how far you get with that.

vehicles_for_success · ‎07-18-2014

So. I was able to talk to a human at PayPal (2 days ago) and they assured me all was well and that my postage refund would be in my account within 24 hours. Guess that's in some other planets rotational calculation. From my perspective, I didn't go to Canada Post to make my purchase, I went to PayPal. If they said the refund is pending, (as they still do 2 1/2 months later), then they should pay up. If they want to hold Canada Post accountable, that's up to them.

And to top things off, they sent me an email saying they actually wanted my opinions of the interaction with their customer service and asked me to take a survey about my experience with them. One of my comments started out with the proverbial "Money talks ...". You know the rest.

From what I've experienced and what I've read of others experiences, I think I'll be doing my postage buying at the post office from now on.

This matter should have been the simplest of things to resolve. Somehow, somewhere, there has to be someone at PayPal that's not totally incompetent. Sure do wish I could I have had them handling this.

VFS

computer-geek541 · ‎07-19-2014

They always will tell you with 24 hours or 72 hours but whenever they manually issue a credit, it's usually there within a few minutes, and sometimes even in your account before you hang up the phone. If it's not, my opinion is that the credit just wasn't issued and you'll have to call back again. Saying that, if you call back again, you'll be get a manual refund.

I wouldn't say that you should be purchasing your postage at the post office in frustration. Surely, any savings that you receive on Canada Post Expedited Parcel (this service has the best discount %) greatly outweighs any amount that you haven't yet been refunded. Plus, for proving an item has been delivered, Paypal likes nothing more than labesls created with Paypal shipping.

vehicles_for_success · ‎07-29-2014

Well, it's been over 3 months now and I've wasted enough of both time and money on this, so I'm just going to hand it over to the BBB. The details of the transaction still show "Refund Pending", but that doesn't help me any.

Unfortunately, I don't currently have internet access at home, due to circumstances that are irrelevant here. And living outside of town means having to go into town get on the web to get access to paypal, get one of those numbers from their website so that I can then phone and talk to some idiot robotic voice and sit on the line waiting to talk to a human. Then I get transferred from one to another, (with wait times between), only to be assured that the money would be returned. All while paying by the minute for my phone time.

As it happens, I send everything I sell via Canada Post's Expedited Parcel. When I ship from the post office, I do use my "Venture One" card (I think that's what it's called), so I do get a little savings, only to be eaten up by the taxman. And once I've shipped an item, I get on the web while in town and add the tracking info.

So, now I'm off to see if that other 4 letter online auction starting with "e" and the other 6 letter online payment service starting with "p", have anything to offer.

VFS

pierrelebel · ‎07-29-2014

"I don't currently have internet access at home,"

I am puzzled. You have many listings on eBay. How do you manage your listings without Internet access? How do you load your images from your computer to eBay without Internet access?

You write about paying for the phone call by the minute. PayPal offers a toll free line. You should not have to pay anything for the call, regardless how long it takes.

pocomocomputing · ‎07-29-2014

If you have a cell phone with pay by the minute, you pay for time usage on the cell phone. Or a cell phone plan with a minimum charge for say 200 minutes a month, you eat up your cell phone minutes while waiting. Or if you buy minutes at stores for so many minutes on a pay card.

Being toll free is for long distance charges, not cell phone time usage charges.

theundercutter · ‎08-12-2014

Pro Tip: 1-800 numbers are free to call from a payphone. 411 is also free 😉

pjcdn2005 · ‎08-12-2014

I can't remember seeing any payphones lately but I'm sure there must be at least a few around.

pierrelebel · ‎08-12-2014

"I can't remember seeing any payphones lately"

That may be because you do not shop much. I see banks of payphones in every mall we visit.

computer-geek541 · ‎08-15-2014

vehicles_for_success

I just got off the phone with Paypal because I had a shipping label that I voided back in July that never got refunded. Someone over at Paypal answered immediately, didn't give me any scripted nonsense, and processed my refund within seconds. I told the employee that every single time (this time being no exception) that I've voided a shipping label, I've had to call in to get a credit on the shipping charges for an unused label, usually in the form of a goodwill credit from Paypal, and that this one was voided more than 30 days ago. He apologized and said while he wansn't sure why this happens, he did acknowledge it as a problem and had the refund issued immediately. The entire process took about 3 minutes.

I had e-mailed Paypal at the beginning of the week but never got a reply so as frustrating as it may be to have to do again, I would suggest to call in to Paypal again. If you get any nonsense about waiting longer, just ask if they can issue the credit manually as a goodwill gesture. If you get any nonsense about calling Canada Post for the refund, just know that information isn't correct, thank the person for his or her time, and call in another time - ie. a few days later when you aren't upset at yet another call to customer service not going well.

The refund was done rather strangely this time. Every other time I have been refunded in the past, the refund has come from "Paypal" and was done as a good will gesture but the official refund process never was completed (ie. refund pending). This time, the refund came from Canada Post, and the original shipping label transaction (the voided one) actually shows as completely refunded.

What does that mean? That means that Paypal has full access to issue refunds from that account, without needing to wait for Canada Post. I suspect Paypal waits for Canada Post to approve refunds but not because they are the ones who refund the Paypal customer, but rather because Paypal wants to make sure that they don't get short-changed themselves.

We have to remember that as customers, we aren't purchasing Canada Post shipping labels. We are purchasing Paypal shipping labels, so it is Paypal who should (and does) issue the refunds for unused labels. Likely, Paypal has a contract shipping rate with Canada Post. So when we pay for a label, the money never directly goes to Canada Post. The money goes to Paypal and Canada Post just ends up invoicing Paypal for shpping labels at the end of the month, or some other pre-determined billing date.

If you look at the address the shipping label payments go to, it is cpc@paypal.com. This further strengthens that it is Paypal who has complete control to issue your credit. Whether or not Canada Post messes around with Paypal and doesn't reimburse them really isn't the Paypal customer's (your) problem.

Unfortunately, going the BBB route really doesn't guarantee anything. Know that the BBB has no power whatsoever to force Paypal to do anything. Anything that Paypal does to corporate with BBB is voluntary. In the end, Paypal has to be the one to refund your money, just as it would be them who processes it should you be able to accomplish the task using regular methods.

femmefan1946 · ‎09-06-2014

Unfortunately, going the BBB route really doesn't guarantee anything. Know that the BBB has no power whatsoever to force Paypal to do anything. Anything that Paypal does to corporate with BBB is voluntary.

The Better Business Bureau is a franchised company that makes money by charging local businesses to register with them. They use their income to record complaints (and praise) for local companies.

They are a private, for-profit, commercial enterprise.

This is not a criticism. I think they do a very good job but they have no legal standing. At best they are mediators.

And they don't work outside of their territory.

If you need a good plumber, it is wise to check with the local BBB about the number of complaints they have had with the companies you are considering.

If you want to complain about a foreign company, or a crown corporation, the BBB is out of its depth.

rose-dee · ‎09-29-2014

@theundercutter wrote:
Pro Tip: 1-800 numbers are free to call from a payphone. 411 is also free 😉

Wow - I must be getting ancient! Whatever happened to ordinary home phone lines? Not to mention home land-lines.

Does no one think to use anything but a cell phone these days? No wonder the cell service providers are making so much money.

To the OP: By using Paypal labels for tracked services, you will have been getting a substantially bigger discount than anything Canada Post can provide, even with a Venture One account, so consider how much you may have saved against this one potential loss. Personally I think you'll eventually get reimbursed, but it may mean another call to Paypal (not on your cell phone).