So, I just finished my first dispute ever with Paypal. I suppose I have been lucky over the years and the plethora of transactions that this is the first one that I've had to dispute. I have to say, I am underwhelmed by the response, however.
As a quick history, our refrigerator condenser HX fan failed a while back. I rigged a temporary cooling fan, then looked up the replacement part number and found a web site claiming to have the part in stock. I ordered the part, opened the box and found something different from what was described.
The part was not genuine replacement part since the motor was not the same type as the one I pulled from the fridge. Instead of a PSC, it was a lower-efficiency and louder SPM motor. It also did not feature the molex plug necessary to hook up to the refrigerator wiring harness without modifications. It clearly was not a official replacement part as implied by the web site nor an equivalent substitute.
So, I contacted the seller who replied that the part was in fact a inferior substitute because the OEM part was no longer available. Thankfully, the part I pulled from the fridge had the OEM name and part number on it, so I looked up and contacted them and found out that they very much still make the part, 5 are in stock, VISA and MC are accepted, etc.
But even with all this information, the best that Paypal can do is refund me the original cost of the transaction while requiring me to return the part at my cost. Hence, PayPal is aiding fraudsters by giving victims of fraud a further disincentive to dispute dodgy transactions. Needless to say, I am not pleased and I will hence reduce my transactions with Paypal accordingly. If given a choice, the credit card looks like a much better alternative thanks to better dispute resolution systems being in place over there.
