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Here is my scenario:
I had a customer purchase a CPAP battery over two years ago. This spring he emailed us saying that he was having problems with his battery. I gave him some testing instructions to follow, and unfortunately it turned out to be a bad cell in the batter = no way to repair it. At this point he was 1 1/2 years outside the one-year warranty on the product, so I could not warranty it for him either. If a customer is within a month or two I usually try to give them a grace period, but obviously can't do this for 1+ years outside the warranty. I apologized to him for the trouble, and offered to sell him a replacement battery at our cost. Later that day he tried to submit a product review on the battery saying that it was a crappy product and how unfair we were to him by not replacing it. Obviously, we did not approve that review.
Several months go by, and he puts in an online order for a new battery and we ship it out to him. A few weeks later, we get a notice from PP saying that the buyer is filing a claim, saying that the products was not as represented. We could see it coming at this point - his intention all along was to buy the new battery, claim it was defective and then send his old battery back to us. Sure enough, we get a box sent back to us with the old battery in it. It showed obvious signs of damage - he had apparently tried to open it to try to "fix" it or something. It was missing a piece of trim that goes down one side of the case to hide some screws. He even went as far as removing the serial number from the new battery and sticking it onto the back of the old one that he sent back. You can see where the corners of the sticker are rounded off from him peeling it off.
What he didn't count on was the fact that the manufacturer made a significant change to the finish of the case of the newer batteries. The new ones have a matte finish, and the older ones like he sent back have a shiny finish. We took detailed pictures of the one he sent back alongside the new ones, and the difference is obvious. We also obtained emails from the manufacturer stating that the unit that was sent back had been tampered with, and also stating that the newer style case had been in production for over a year.
Nevertheless, after submitting all of this information to PayPal to support our case, they unbelievably ruled in favor of the buyer! Do we as sellers have any protection at all against scam artists who pull stunts like this? Of course we sent the product via FedEx with signature required, but sadly there is little if anything to protect us from this.
Has anyone had any success with an appeal process with PayPal? I have read that a few found some success by contacting the BBB in California, PP's home state. That might be my next move. Aside from that, we may have to think about putting a dollar amount limit on transactions that can be run through PayPal to minimize our exposure.
I had a customer purchase a CPAP battery over two years ago. This spring he emailed us saying that he was having problems with his battery. I gave him some testing instructions to follow, and unfortunately it turned out to be a bad cell in the batter = no way to repair it. At this point he was 1 1/2 years outside the one-year warranty on the product, so I could not warranty it for him either. If a customer is within a month or two I usually try to give them a grace period, but obviously can't do this for 1+ years outside the warranty. I apologized to him for the trouble, and offered to sell him a replacement battery at our cost. Later that day he tried to submit a product review on the battery saying that it was a crappy product and how unfair we were to him by not replacing it. Obviously, we did not approve that review.
Several months go by, and he puts in an online order for a new battery and we ship it out to him. A few weeks later, we get a notice from PP saying that the buyer is filing a claim, saying that the products was not as represented. We could see it coming at this point - his intention all along was to buy the new battery, claim it was defective and then send his old battery back to us. Sure enough, we get a box sent back to us with the old battery in it. It showed obvious signs of damage - he had apparently tried to open it to try to "fix" it or something. It was missing a piece of trim that goes down one side of the case to hide some screws. He even went as far as removing the serial number from the new battery and sticking it onto the back of the old one that he sent back. You can see where the corners of the sticker are rounded off from him peeling it off.
What he didn't count on was the fact that the manufacturer made a significant change to the finish of the case of the newer batteries. The new ones have a matte finish, and the older ones like he sent back have a shiny finish. We took detailed pictures of the one he sent back alongside the new ones, and the difference is obvious. We also obtained emails from the manufacturer stating that the unit that was sent back had been tampered with, and also stating that the newer style case had been in production for over a year.
Nevertheless, after submitting all of this information to PayPal to support our case, they unbelievably ruled in favor of the buyer! Do we as sellers have any protection at all against scam artists who pull stunts like this? Of course we sent the product via FedEx with signature required, but sadly there is little if anything to protect us from this.
Has anyone had any success with an appeal process with PayPal? I have read that a few found some success by contacting the BBB in California, PP's home state. That might be my next move. Aside from that, we may have to think about putting a dollar amount limit on transactions that can be run through PayPal to minimize our exposure.
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