I placed an order for goods worth GBP 67.49 on 17 July 09 and they have still not arrived. Four days ago I emailed their customer support people reminding them of the delay and requesting immediate delivery of my goods. I warned them that I would be opening a PayPal dispute if they didn't respond promptly. They didn't even acknowledge it. I have now opened my first ever PayPal dispute against the company concerned. What can I expect to happen next? Is there any risk to my good PayPal reputation?
Since these are goods they will have to provide shipping details to justify thier side since they didnt ship it.. you have better probability of winning
I believe I paid extra for some sort of recorded delivery too, so they definitely have not shipped the items. The company concerned is also in the UK (well, Wales if that counts).
Just make it very clear that these are tangible goods that you paid for and paypal will almost certainly decide the case in your favor if it doesn't receive trackable evidence of shipping from the vendor. However, even if the dispute is decided in your favor paypal will only be able to recover/refund to you from funds within the paypal account of the vendor, which may be lesser than 67GBP. At this point you can chargeback if you paid with a credit card. There is no risk to your overall paypal reputation as long as disputes aren't alarmingly frequent, and buyers have nothing to worry about.
Thanks Bohra and eXe. Unfortunately I didn't use a credit card. I always have funds in my account, so paid directly from there.
I don't know which company they use. As they haven't sent the items they haven't forwarded me any tracking details.
Paypal almost always sides with customers in these kind of cases so your chances of winning are high!
If the seller doesn't respond to paypal within a period of time (20 days I think), you get the dispute automatically decided in your favor.
I have been in a few disputes, and the matter has always been settled. Either wait, and if they dont respond on the paypal dispute system within 20 days you will recieve a full refund. If they do, respond on the system until it is dealt with. Whenever I have had a dispute paypal has not had to step in, the other person has conceded and decided to give me a refund anyway.
I think you will win this case unless they can show valid proofs that they have send the goods to your address
Just a quick update on this one. I escalated the dispute to a claim in the middle of last week. The seller has responded to the claim and (amazingly) provided a Parcelforce tracking number for my order. The only snag is the Parcelforce website doesn't recognise the number provided. I think they're trying to pull a fast one by "bluffing" PayPal. Edit: The tracking number has now been accepted, so it looks like me escalating things has caused them to quickly process and dispatch my order. I'll probably get the item tomorrow. It's still a shocking way for this company to do business - accept my payment, sit on it for more than a month and only bother to send the goods when PayPal start sniffing around.
Not knowing the company or the products involved, I am wondering is it possible that your order had to be placed on back order because they ran out of the product are was waiting for it to arrive at their warehouse? That's no excuse for them ignoring your emails advising them your order has been delayed but I am wondering if it was delayed for a legitimate reason. Regardless, they should have had more communication with you and at least you are getting your items. Although, I'm sure they realize you'll probably never order from them again.