Getting money back from PayPal

Bionic Monkey

Okay, so I bought two t-shirts from Questionable Content (the web comic) back in mid-November as Christmas presents. Christmas came and went, and we had a massive snow storm, so I figured that might have held things up. December 30, I finally e-mailed the guy asking him to look into things. And I never heard back. I ended up e-mailing him 3 more times over the next 11 days, but never heard back from him. I've even installed (blech) AIM to talk to him that way, but he's never online. I started the process to get my money back through PayPal, but that apparently has to be done within 45 days of the transaction, and I'm about two weeks outside that limit.

About the only avenue I think I have left is to contact my bank to do a charge-back, which I'm not sure will work since PayPal withdrew directly from my account, not through a card.

It's only about fifty dollars, so it's not the end of the world, but still... it's $50. I'd rather not throw that away if I don't have to. Anybody have any other suggestions?

Buttcleft

only about fifty dollars? fifty dollars is a lot of money.

I say you are pretty much screwed unless you can find a paypal phone number [ good luck with that ] and sweet talk the absolute hell out of someone.

Was this via cafe press or directly from the comic guy?

If the later, dig up his phone number [ maybe in the domain registrar information? ] somewhere and try to get hold of him that way for a refund.

matt has a problem

I know Jeph has a twitter account, you could always try getting through to him that way. Or by going on the QC forums.

Bionic Monkey

matthasaproblem wrote: »

I know Jeph has a twitter account, you could always try getting through to him that way. Or by going on the QC forums.

I went looking for QC forums, but couldn't find any. At least not through the official site. I was thinking about trying Twitter. I've never used it before though, so wasn't sure exactly how it worked.

matt has a problem

Bionic Monkey wrote: »

matthasaproblem wrote: »

I know Jeph has a twitter account, you could always try getting through to him that way. Or by going on the QC forums.

I went looking for QC forums, but couldn't find any. At least not through the official site. I was thinking about trying Twitter. I've never used it before though, so wasn't sure exactly how it worked.

http://forums.questionablecontent.net/

Twitter is basically the Facebook wall, but you're limited to the number of characters you can use. You "follow" people (same as adding friends).

Wylderneedshelp

Paypal complaints must be lodged within 40 days of payment. Outside of this window, they will take no action whatsoever about your issue under any circumstances.

If you EVER have a paypal payment where your goods have not arrived within 39 days, you commence the complaint process. This process takes several months anyway, so it's not like you're jumping the gun. If the stuff eventually arrives, you can mark the issue as "resolved" with no-harm no-foul.

HOWEVER, if the goods DONT eventually turn up, and paypal begins their investigation, odds are that they will claim back your money as the default solution.

I know this advice doesnt help now, but for future reference it can save your a lot of grief.



Remember - Complain on the 39th day, even if "its in the mail, I promise!".

ronzo

http://forums.questionablecontent.net/index.php/topic,20320.0.html

this is a complaint thread on the forums there, might try that route too

Bionic Monkey

Thanks folks. I've posted my details in the merch complaint thread, and I see through that thread there are a few more contact options (why the fuck those aren't listed on the QC contact page eludes me), so it looks like I've got a couple more options open to me.

Sol Invictus

And if you fail to get any answers I'd recommend starting a blog about the entire ordeal. It might force the guy to actually pay attention to customer complaints instead of leaving them high and dry.

50 dollars is a little ridiculous to scam someone out of.

Casual

Did you try PM'ing him on his forums? Though from what I hear Jeph generally steers clear of the asshattery and muppetry that is his forums these days, still if email isnt getting your message across it doesn't hurt to bombard him from every angle. Like you said $50 isnt the end of the world but its still enough that I would be pissed if it just evaporated from my wallet.