Last fall I was on Ebay and for whatever reason I thought I found a bargain. Some headlights for my car. I used the Buy Now feature. In the end the vendor jerked me around, lying for weeks on end about shipping the headlights. I kept a long journal of the endeavor because I had a SquareTrade account and knew I may need to document my efforts of good faith.
Well, here is a synopsis of what took place. And in the end, SquareTrade accomplished nothing, and the vendor strung the deal out so long that PayPal refused to refund my money as a 30 day time frame expired. I won't be using PayPal anymore either. Oh, I'll pay friends, but vendors can forget about it, especially small ones that only take PayPal. That is a red flag to me anymore. I lost $29.00 and now I'm all the wiser.
Here is what happened:
Oct-29-03 I used buy now feature on item: 2439716103, I paid immediately with PayPal account: xxxxx
Fri. Oct-31-03 I received confirmation of payment from vendor. Also noted was that product would not ship until later in week. I waited a full week then decided it was time to follow-up.
Sun. Nov-9-03 I request follow-up and tracking #.
Sun. Nov-9-03 I get reply that if I have not received e-mail confirmation from them, then I have not paid.
Mon. Nov-10-03 I receive e-mail reply (Ms Biggs) requesting copy of PayPal receipt.
Mon. Nov-10-03 I send copy of PayPal receipt as requested.
Fri. Nov-14-03 I follow up once again restating all that occurred and included all account and payment history.
Sun. Nov-16-03 A new contact,
Sun. Nov-23-03 I send my final e-mail asking for product or refund. I then begin a SquareTrade dispute resolution.
FYI: RealDeals on Ebay is a joke. Don't do business with them. I should have read their rating. It seems that one in every five customers gets screwed. I was a luck number five.
Moral of the story.... SquareTrade did nothing for me.
