Who is responsible for my refund?

jonbrigdale

Hi, first post on the forum and it’s a long winded one
Basically I bought some headphones off eBay. I paid by direct debit to PayPal, I presumed I’d paid through my debit card but I forgot I’d linked my bank account to PayPal. The day after I received an email from eBay informing me the seller had been deleted off eBay for acting fraudulently and that I should contact PayPal immediately for a refund. I filed that the item was not as described as eBay had told me it would not be and I forwarded all details to PayPal. I also went into my Lloyds TSB branch that day as the email eBay had sent informed me the seller may even have infiltrated my bank details, I told the staff in branch to cancel the PayPal payment if it was on my account pending and we set up text banking so every transaction is sent in a text to my phone.
PayPal refused the claim saying there wasn’t sufficient detail for a refund. So I launched another claim saying that I wouldn’t be receiving the item which was my knowledge and they cancelled this claim as during it the seller posted postage details on PayPal (banned from eBay but could send me postage details, I didn’t understand this).
So Monday I received the item, I received a pack of shaving blades instead of the headphones, needless to say a pack of Mach 3 Blades are far from Lady GaGa headphones.
I contacted PayPal again, this time by phone as the website wouldn’t let me contact them as 2 cases had already been closed. They agreed to launch a third investigation. This investigation was closed within an hour as they said the first claim was filed wrong as I hadn’t received the item yet so I couldn’t judge it didn’t meet the description, I was only following the instructions in eBay’s email.
Then contacting them again yesterday they told me instead that eBay were dealing with the case as I had asked them to, I contacted eBay and they are not and never have dealt with the case and that its PayPal’s responsibility.
PayPal then admitted eBay were not dealing with the case, said it was their responsibility and refused the refund through an email later in the day as I didn’t provide the documents in a set timeframe on the first claim. These are the same documents they said Monday were not satisfactory but now apparently they never received them. When I proved they did receive the documents they again said it was eBay’s problem even though an hour before they said it was not. Confusing I know.

Arguing against this point again they again said they never received the documents in the first case. Then they informed me after proving these points wrong and contradictory I would not be refunded as I hadn’t contacted the seller, the seller who has been banned off eBay and has given me no contact details. I have since informed them I cannot contact the seller and they told me eBay were dealing with the case yet again.
All I want is a refund for my purchase, so is PayPal trying to get out of refunding me, or is it eBay’s responsibility? Or can I get a refund from my bank? I’m very confused so I hope there’s someone out there who can help.

Sandoval

Try spacing things out with paragraphs it makes things a whole lot easier for people to read.

Chimpofdoom

Woah lots of text...

Out of curiosity how much did you pay for your newly purchased, lady gaga mach3 razors?

Edit:
Only reason I'm asking is because there's an interesting article on the times website:
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/the_web/article4878132.ece

This last paragraph makes me glad I never use ebay or paypal!

If these customers want a refund, the amount they can claim will be limited to what is in the seller’s PayPal account. Anyone who uses PayPal and their credit card together will also forgo their rights to a refund from their card provider should PayPal refuse their claim.

adam.mt

Suggest you just persist with PayPal and ebay to try and get it resolved. Perhaps contact PayPal and email them the message you originally received from ebay about the fraud.

It seems PayPal/ebay's customer service is just a bit lacking and probably don't understand the issue, rather than them not wanting to refund you.

jonbrigdale

Thanks for the help, i tried to keep it short but was worried on missing something out...
paypal have now apologised for their beyond awful service and have sent a refund and they were £25 by the way.