.jpg "Paypal loophole means EU punters can suffer -")
US online retailers can use a loophole in Paypal's dispute procedure that means EU customers may well find themselves out of pocket.
Paypal offers security for many online retailers and customers by setting up a dispute procedure if goods do not arrive or were not as described in the advert.
However, the dispute procedure is only valid if the order is younger than 45 days. Since goods shipped from the US sometimes take longer to arrive in the EU this means that by the time the parcel is registered as missing, the 45 days will have long gone.
This opens the way for the possibility that US retailers can tell European customers that their goods have shipped but when they don't arrive there is nothing a customer can do. The etailer can keep trading with Paypal because it has had no complaints about its behaviour.
Roman Paola Piacentini ordered some face products from US etailer Fragrancex.com at the end of April using Paypal. After three weeks the product had not arrived, so she dropped them an email to ask why. She was told to wait because shipments had been slowed by the volcano.
Piacentini asked for a tracking number and was told by Fragrancex.com that it had not sent the goods with a service that used a tracking number. It claimed that the postage had been "free" when in fact Piacentini had paid enough for such a service.
Piacentini waited for two more weeks and contacted the outfit again.
It shrugged and told her to send more money if it wanted her goods, perhaps using a more expensive postal method.
If Piacentini had used a credit card she would have been protected, but Paypal said that because the transaction had exceeded the 45 day limit it was not interested.
However,there's no way of talking to anyone about the matter. The Paypal "contact us" button only replies to fixed questions. The customer service chat was staffed by a bot.
After it refused to reply to our requests for information about the matter we tapped in the phrase "Is it true that asking you for information is a bit like asking the cat?" The customer service section said "I love cats and if I had more time I would love to own one." This sums up Paypal's attitude quite well.
We emailed Fragrancex.com for a comment about its tactics in dealing with European customers and it has not replied. Until something is done to fix the problem, all we can do is suggest that European customers beware of buying online from US companies using Paypal.
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Just lodge a Paypal complaint before the 45 days have expired, just in case the goods don't arrive. "Problem" solved!
Move along, nothing to see here! ;)
The other dirty trick instituted is when you use an intermediary like Paypal to play ball, your credit card uses the prennial excuse of, “Let Paypal play with your balls first and when they don’t feel like kicking balls any more, drop us a line”, and should that then be the only course of action, you might find that your credit card provider is as only good as when they needed to be seen as a saviour otherwise, you’re hung . Never, ever, use an intermediary like “Paypal”, “Nochex”, etc., for any online purchases unless you have no choice. When was the last time any Chosen Few ever told the truth? Not when they can finger-point at the nearest evil to start that riot to enable them to elude/pheonix.
For those still grappling with the mysteries within the Essence of Humanity, there is no such thing as wanting to be seen as good or bad, there is only the need to justify one’s weaknesses/unresolvables. Like the story relayed by the comedian about his friend telling him that, “I’ve never been to jail”, the reality is that, “You are not supposed to go to jail”. When was the last time a “Prime Minister” needed to affirmed that he is a “Prime Minister”? When he’s not one in reality other than having the title of office. Should Divinity exists, when was the last time He/She affirmed so? Not even when you are a Nobel-ed Scientist and especially not when you are a religious preacher. As such, wanting to be seen as a/the good guy means its lacking thereof in reality.
Of course, when the rest of Zombieland needs such a superficial system of affirmation and denigration, that says much about all. It’s all one big dog-eat-dog entertainment/sideshow called, “Let’s Fool One Another”, before patting each other on the back with niceties and superficialities whilst The Bookie, oka The Chosen Few, gets away with sheer Destruction and when it comes to destruction, it is the norm without construction/Construction, and when it comes to Construction, the geni-asses of techno-this and sciento-that do not have the foggiest what that really means. Construction goes way beyond merely rocketing off to Mars or the discovering of some darkish matter whatever that joke may be[come] or the spouting, “The Sun Shines” sorts of ariy-fairyness. Reality is beyond nice or not nice, it is about Reality Him-Her Self.
It is with very great sadness that eBay’s Chief Headless Turkey, John Donahoe (aka “Peter Principle”—among many other derogatory terms), announces the probable demise of eBay’s most ugly daughter, PayPal. PayPal is about to be stricken by particularly virulent strains of Visa+CyberSource and Mastercard open platform, aggravated by an insurmountable lack of direct financial institutions participation and a great deal of PayPal user/merchant dissatisfaction, particularly with respect to PayPal’s primitive risk management processes and totally unprofessional, buyer-biased, fraud-facilitating, transaction mediation.
PayPal’s health may therefore be expected to deteriorate and, if ultimately not completely incapacitated, will most likely be eventually confined to what little there will be by then left of the Donahoe-devastated eBay marketplaces. There is no cure for this condition, and the “eBafia Don” is particularly saddened by the inevitable presumption that it is unlikely that PayPal will be able to continue to underpin eBay’s sagging bottom line in the future.
A detailed examination of and prognosis for PayPal (including the “PayPal Nightmare Tour”) at
http://www.auctionbytes.com/forum/phpBB/viewtopic.php?p=6504554