Paypal finally refunds reader after six months

Paypal finally seems to be waking from its pandemic slumber by clearing a backlog of cases. It has recently refunded reader Clive Bonner the £21.47 he spent last August on what he thought was a laser-cutting tool from Chinese company Letvioe. When the package arrived, it actually contained a small camera tripod made of plastic.

After getting nowhere with the seller, Clive raised a complaint via Paypal’s Buyer Protection scheme. He was shocked though when Paypal rejected his claim, saying the seller had provided proof the item had arrived.

We pointed out to Paypal that while Clive had received an item, it wasn’t what he’d ordered. It was a completely different product, not just a slightly different model.

Clive’s case seemed so straightforward to us that we can’t believe Paypal even knocked it back initially. It then took another six months to process the refund. We realise that the pandemic has put an unprecedented strain on many companies, but Paypal isn’t a small operation. It made $1.57 billion last year, as sales surged. Perhaps it needs to reinvest some of that into examining scams more urgently.

Interestingly, Clive tells us that when he took the case to the Financial Ombudsman ( www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk) it told him to forward the message Paypal had sent him rejecting his case. So, if you have a complaint against Paypal, make sure you save the rejection email it sent you in case it proves useful in a later investigation.