Consumer complaint received 2024-09-26
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Unauthorized transactions or other transaction problem — 
Company: Paypal Holdings, Inc (CA)

On XX/XX/year> I ordered XXXX XXXX lamps from XXXX XXXX, with a place of business noted on their website as XXXX, XXXX. The lamps cost {$920.00}. The vendor did not offer any type of insurance for the purchase. This seemed like a very small operation and I was reluctant to order from them until I discovered that payment would be made through PayPal, which I expected would be a fair arbiter should problems arise. 

The lamps were received on XX/XX/year> from an address in XXXX. They were left at in front of my house by the delivery carrier. The package was damaged and the packaging was completely inadequate for shipping such easily damaged items by international carrier. All three lamps were dented, and one had a piece broken off. The lamps were unusable. 

On XX/XX/year> I emailed the vendor asking for a refund and offering to return the items if the vendor supplied a return shipping label. 

I did not receive a response to the email so I sent another email on XX/XX/year> with the same information. 

I sent a third email on XX/XX/year>. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I was offered replacement items if I paid shipping cost, the amount of which was not disclosed. This was an unsatisfactory offer. As I was not responsible for the inadequate packing that resulted in damage and as the seller did not offer insurance at the time of original purchase, I did not feel that I should bear the cost of the sellers negligence. In addition, given the inadequate packaging, I was reluctant to encounter the same issue a second time. 

There were many email exchanges over the next few days without the seller offering a substantively different resolution. 

I filed a complaint with PayPal, who had processed the charge, on XX/XX/year>. Through multiple exchanges the seller began to insist that the only resolution was for me to return the items after which I would get a refund of the amount paid. I was also required to return the items to XXXX rather than XXXX where the seller was ostensibly located. However, after checking with XXXX, the estimated cost of shipping to XXXX was {$1500.00}! The original purchase was {$920.00}. Therefore I was being asked to pay {$1500.00} to get a return of my initial {$920.00}. 

On XX/XX/year>, when it became clear that the seller was not willing to take any responsibility for the negligent packaging that resulted in the damage, I escalated to a claim with PayPal. The seller kept making the same offer, a full refund of {$920.00} after I paid about {$1500.00} to return the items. I continued to respond that this was unacceptable. At XXXX point, PayPal asked me to accept or reject the offer. When I tried to respond, the only option I was given was to complete a form with return shipping information. Without shipping information, the form could not be submitted so there was no way to again indicate that the offer was not acceptable. In the notes section of the form, I explained that I was not accepting the offer and that I put in a tracking number of all zeroes and a carrier ID of No Carrier to be able to submit the form but that, in fact, I was not sending the item back. 

I even followed up with another note to the complaint file a few days later reconfirming that I was not accepting the offer and was not returning the items. 

PayPal closed the case in the sellers favor because I did not return the items. Not once in the entire string of messages did PayPal ever acknowledge that it made no sense to pay {$1500.00} to get {$920.00} back and, furthermore, this situation was completely the fault of the merchant who was taking no responsibility for the situation. 

On XX/XX/year>, I called PayPal to discuss the case and to have them address the fact that not once did they acknowledge the lunacy of the sellers offer that would have cost me more money than I would have gotten back. When the customer service representative could not help, she transferred me to a supervisor. The supervisor kept repeating that I did not get a refund because I did not return the item. I repeatedly kept asking him to explain to me how it made sense for me to spend an additional {$1500.00} to get {$920.00} back. He never once answered the question. He just kept repeating the need to have returned the item. 

At my request, he promised me a call back from another supervisor that same day. Now, XXXX hours later, I have not received a call back from PayPal. 

My complaint with PayPal is that they did not attempt to adjudicate this situation in good faith. They kept repeating the sellers request that I ship the items back at my expense to receive a refund without acknowledging that the shipping costs, that the seller would not reimburse, were more than the cost of the items that would presumably be returned to me. PayPal never addressed my multiple comments about a proposed resolution that would have cost me more than doing nothing and losing my {$920.00}. Despite multiple requests PayPal did not explain the logic of the proposed resolution which, of course, did not make any sense. They failed in their duty to adjudicate my claim in good faith, siding instead with an unreasonable seller and never responding to an explanation of how the proposed resolution was fair.