PayPal won't cancel unauthorised 'donation'

triade

I went to but a whisk from ebay, went through payment by PayPal, got my receipt.  Then I got another receipt saying "thanks for your donation". I did not make any donation.

I've had some suggestions from friends. They say there is normally a checkbox on the screen, but I usually avoid that (I prefer to be more active with my charity things). I just clicked the pay button. On this transaction the pay button didn't seem to be working and I had to press it 3 or 4 times do maybe something went wrong somehow, but I did not opt to donate any money at that time and I did not click on any checkbox.

I am now talking to them for the fourth time as they have refused to cancel it. Apparently they don't offer buyer protection for things I didn't actively choose to purchase. According to them, all payment gateways have this potential issue. Surely that's not good enough if that were the case. How can it possibly be okay for payment gateways to have the ability to accidentally charge me for something I have no asked for, and then take away my right to cancel?

triade

Okay, I got off the phone from them just now. They said they can't cancel it because they already gave the money to the charity,  but they will credit my account with the amount.  I told them, it's not about the money, that's not the point, the point is, it was taken from me without my permission and should not be able to happen.

They promised to pass on the feed  back,  but I just don't really feel safe using PayPal any more. I am pretty sure stripe or other similar payment gateways do not have this issue?  I don't know.  Is this another hurdle we have to guard ourselves from?

Olinda99

To clarify - it is Paypal who did the donation (and not eBay here you bought the whisk from)?

Companies are not allowed to have checkboxes pre-filled in for other services the consumer has to actively tick the box. 

Sounds like another reason to avoid Paypal. You could check again by 'buying' the same whisk and seeing what Paypal does - obviously cancel before finalising your purchase. See if you can spot the charity box.

triade

I was buying through the eBay app and it came through as PayPal gift fund or something like that. I didn't see a checkbox at all, but maybe when the pay button wasn't working,  there was a checkbox in the way that I could not see.

MovingForwards

The donation box is just before the pay button.

triade

That makes sense, but this is what happens on mobile through the eBay app. Its possible there is a checkbox maybe under that button or something, but I never saw any checkbox. 

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When I scrolled the page down just now, I saw a checkbox but when I originally made that purchase, I didn't scroll down as I didn't feel I needed to.  I've bought many things this way in the past.

triade

After going through to their customer support and getting a barely satisfactory redress, I got an email yesterday telling me that they are refusing my claim and that the transaction was not unauthorised. Now I was begrudgingly going to let it go, but this takes the pail. They stole from me and are now gaslighting me.

I don't care if it's automated, I'm not going to have this. I am closing my account with them. I feel like a pressure cooker right now.

I am utterly furious.

Bradden

How much was thje donation for? I'm assuming a significant amount  as you are furious,

jon81uk

Did you buy from a charity on eBay? Have you been charged the total amount for the item, plus a donation?

Its possible you bought (for example) a £10 item from eBay where the seller was giving 20% to charity, therefore they got £8 and the charity got £2.

triade

Bradden said:

How much was thje donation for? I'm assuming a significant amount  as you are furious,

It's insignificant. I'm furious because of the treatment. Their attitude towards this makes me feel unsafe, because if it was a significant amount, I'd be more worried about keeping a roof over my head or eating.
The amount of the donation is frankly irrelevant as far as I'm concerned, and I'm really not interested in the money itself, I'm more interested in the fact they are gaslighting me.

triade

jon81uk said:

Did you buy from a charity on eBay? Have you been charged the total amount for the item, plus a donation?

Its possible you bought (for example) a £10 item from eBay where the seller was giving 20% to charity, therefore they got £8 and the charity got £2.

This is a reasonable assertion. I did check on that. it wasn't ebay though. I got my receipt for the ebay item, the full price accounted for. then a separate receipt from "donation via paypal giving fund". I had no separate email from that, and I had never seen it before. It was a complete mystery to me.