So this should probably go on Reddit but thought I should share this for eCommerce developers.

I will never use a PayPal guest payment method again, because its an awful untraceable transaction method that PayPal does not support itself. What this means is if I want to buy from a merchant that uses PayPal I will buy from someone else instead.

The Purchase

On the 12th of January (11th for the transaction) I made a purchase from PayPal Merchant ItalSpirits 4029357733 for £67.75  eventually a package arrive a week later than the special delivery I’d paid for. The goods inside was a box of broken glass which was not what I ordered. So I refused delivery. The package was returned to sender. I emailed ItalSpirits several times and they did not respond. So I contacted Amex and raised a dispute. I then emailed ItalSpirits telling them I raised the dispute.

The Actions

Amex immediately rescinded the payment to carry out an investigation. So, my card was credited with £67.75 by Amex. In the interim ItalSpirits refunded the £67.75 through PayPal. On the 29th of Feb at 3.01am Amex let the original transaction go through since ItalSpirits has refunded me through PayPal. So that should be the end, but no PayPal are pursuing me for a debt of £67.75 !!

So PAYPAL can’t find the Amex refund, this is rather concerning, perhaps they need an audit at their HQ.

What I Think Happened

So, what I think happened is that the Amex repayment was not linked by PayPal to their refund. I expect this is because PAYPAL are saving on infrastructure by closing the transaction history once it is refunded and have not linked the two transactions the original purchase and the refund. If PayPal want this edge case fixed let me know, I’m currently available for a contract.

Still Going

So, after 14 calls to PayPal and 4 calls to Amex. First, I have decided to pay PayPal because I want PayPal to try and explain to the auditors why they have this money. However, there are problems with me paying them money I don’t owe, the issue appears to be because I used a Guest Account my email was never verified. The second problem is that I can’t pay this money with the Credit Card associated with the transaction but must use a Debit Card. Okay, but since I don’t have a PayPal account I need to change the card on my non PayPal account. I’m supposed to do this by verifying my email address.

So, I don’t have a PayPal account, so I thought I’d solve this issue by setting up a on the email address, I do this, then I’m told that won’t work by PayPal. Okay I deleted the account.

I’m just off the line from PayPal and this gets worse and worse. They cannot verify my email, so they offered to transfer the debt to another account. The problem is I don’t use PayPal, so I don’t have one. The last option is to send a cheque to PayPal Europe in Dublin.

Second part is I have reopened the Dispute with Amex since PayPal has been sent the money and cannot find it, so I have reported a fraudulent transaction.

Next Parts

I’ll update as it happens!!

Part 2

So just to be left alone I sent a cheque to PayPal in Dublin as requested by PayPal Collections.

Yesterday PayPal returned my cheque because they could not find an associated account !!

Part 3

Today I emailed the following accounts a copy of the American Express letter confirming that they had reapplied the payment, since PayPal had refunded the card direct. enquiry@paypal.com, service@paypal.co.uk, accounts@venmo.com, moldenburg@paypal.com, sthompson@paypal.com, mhentges@paypal.com, crme@paypal.com, lfriedberg@paypal.com, mbarrett@paypal.com, slivnat@paypal.com, executiveoffice@paypal.com, escalations@paypal.com, complaints@paypal.com, BoEappeal@paypal.com, press@paypal.com, apires@paypal.com

Let’s see if they actually read my email!