Why not make my first post my tragic Paypal story.  Ok… a couple months ago I decided I was going to learn to speak Chinese (don’t ask) so I went on ebay and started looking for Rosetta Stone software.  I had heard good things, but it’s rather expensive so I thought maybe I could get it on ebay for a little less.

Finally I find one, its for levels 1, 2 and 3 for $150, which is a really good price.  So I bought it, and payed (via Paypal) right away.

The next morning I had an email waiting for me when I woke up.  Ebay had closed the auction because of the seller’s suspicious activities.  Unfortunately it was too late for me, cuz I had already paid.  When I logged into Paypal I saw that a dispute had already been opened.

A couple days later I get a CD in the mail.  Well, it *was* my software but it was a bootlegged copy of the software with instructions on the CD for how to crack it.  Not what I wanted.  So I reported to Paypal that an item did arrive, and that it was an illegal bootlegged copy.  In retrospect I should have just waited the 30 days an not mentioned that I ever received an item.  Oh well.

I was told I needed to spend my money to send the CD back to the seller if I wanted a refund.  I was given his address and a page to enter my tracking number once it had been sent.  Except he didn’t give a real address.  In fact the address had neither a city or a state, and an invalid zip code (which I discovered after a 30 mile trip to the UPS store.)

I explained to Paypal that I couldn’t send it back, because it wasn’t a real address.  They told me that I needed proof that I couldn’t send it back.  Huh?  After several emails I convinced them to actually LOOK at the address.

I was given another address.  I went to the USPS and shipped it off, it cost me about six bucks.  I came home to enter my tracking number, but I could no longer get to that screen.  I mailed three times before I was told I would need to fax in my tracking stub.

The fax number provided was an Australian number.  After talking to three different people and being on hold for some time, I finally got the US number.  I faxed it in, this cost another two bucks.

Three days later (it’s been almost 2 months since my original order at this point) I was told that the information I provided was insufficient to prove that the item had been returned.

My case was closed, and my $150 was gone.

Less than a week later the bootlegged CD package was returned to me, because the new address provided had also been a non-existent address.  Probably why they couldn’t confirm delivery.

You can imagine my opinion of ebay/Paypal’s “Buyer Protection Program.”

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