Quote:
Originally Posted by JSWolf
You did jump the gun by reporting the incident to PayPal. When I reported something to PayPal, they asked if I tried to sort it out with the other party. So you should have given BoB enough time to respond or not respond before going to PayPal.
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Sorry, JSWolf, I often find your comments helpful, but you're a bit off the mark this time, in part because you don't have all the facts of the situation and in part because you may not fully understand the PayPal Dispute Resolution System.
First, an editorial on my part: online retailers need to be held to the same standards as B&M retailers. Then the facts: I needed to notify PayPal immediately because BoB had actually RECEIVED the money. My credit card company differentiates between PENDING transactions and COMPLETED transactions and I can view BOTH online. According to the timestamps on the transaction with the credit card company and PayPal, BooksOnBoard received an EFTS payment within fifteen minutes of my submitting the order. At that point, BoB's system should have released the lock on my account (which they shouldn't have done in the first place) and on the transaction (if their concern was transaction fraud).
Editorial: What it boils down to is this: If online retailers choose to protect themselves with automated fraud detection systems, they have an obligation to ALSO implement mechanisms to RELEASE accounts and transactions when the validity of the transaction has been confirmed, either by PayPal or by the credit card company. BoB has implemented protections for THEMSELVES (don't let them kid you that it is for YOUR protection), but have not implemented the necessary complementary protections for the consumer.
Now for some discussion of the PayPal Dispute Resolution System: When a transaction is paid for through PayPal and goes awry, you should IMMEDIATELY open a case with the PayPal Resolution Center. This both documents the problem in the event PayPal has to get involved and alerts the organization within the seller that is responsible for their PayPal account that there is a problem. In this case, it went directly to BoB's Accounting Department (per the automated information I received from PayPal), bypassing the support people who have no authority to effect change. If you are dealing with money issues, you WANT to get to the people who are responsible for the money, not tie up the poor customer support folks who have no authority over money matters.
It is important to understand that PayPal doesn't actually get involved in a case until you ESCALATE the case to a claim (which you normally can't do for seven days unless you call them). If you called and spoke to someone at PayPal, then you were, in effect, escalating the case to a claim, which is why you were asked if you had tried to settle the problem with the seller.
So, a Resolution Center case: 1) documents the problem in case you need to bring in PayPal by escalating the case to a claim; 2) alerts the seller's money people that there is a problem they need to get involved in; and 3) usually results in a more rapid resolution without ever having to involve PayPal.