The Story (continued)

Of course, when you’re dealing with the monetary loss of over $1,000, you can’t just let it slide. If you lost just $100 or $200, maybe you might be disappointed, but maybe not furious. So I wrote Shane and Jessica an e-mail. They did not respond, until I told them of my decision to file a PayPal claim if I was not compensated or issued some form of a refund. They then coincidentally returned my e-mail the day after with the excuse that they were away in Raleigh, North Carolina, and weren’t able to respond, told me they were sorry that I was disappointed but would not accept a return because they went the extra mile for me when they insured the box for $3,000, and stood by their claim that the value of the box was really $8,000. Before filing a dispute, I requested their contact information as eBay suggested, to try to resolve the problem. I called and heard a message on the other end stating that private numbers would not be accepted, and when I unblocked my number, the ringing went on endlessly because they would not pick up and did not have an answering machine. I then wrote Shane and Jessica an e-mail via eBay and told them that I had called, gave them the time I tried reaching them, my phone number, and asked them to contact me within a week. They ignored the message. I tried calling a few more times, and then followed through with opening the cases.

The following day, Shane and Jessica decided to escalate the dispute to a claim before I had a chance, so as to try to come across as the innocent victims, and render me as the greedy, lying glutton. And before I even sent a statement in to PayPal, Shane wrote a statement to PayPal and told them I was lying about what I received. How can someone lie before they even speak? Also, it did not make sense that the seller would not accept a return for the box if I only paid a fraction of the supposed total value of the items. Think about it. If you sold an item that was truly worth $8,000 on eBay for only $2,000, and the buyer decided that (s) he wanted to return it, wouldn’t you happily take back the item? If I was one of the people investigating that case at PayPal, I would find this strange. Since I filed five different cases, as I had paid the seller through five different transactions, I was able to send in my statement for four of the cases, and tell PayPal my side of the story, and provided them with every last critical detail, from what I received to the fact that Shane and Jessica had posted the same exact auction, word for word, typo for typo, on eBay shortly after I had won and paid for my auction, etc.. All PayPal said was that they were looking into the case, and were awaiting the seller’s response. Days passed and the seller submitted an explanation. PayPal e-mailed me once again and said that they were considering the seller’s explanation, and that if I had any questions or more information, I should e-mail them. PayPal never let me see the explanation that Shane had written, yet he was allowed to see what I had written and given a chance to make something up to redeem himself. My guess is that he sent proof of the $3,000 dollar insurance. More time went by, and PayPal then told me that I was to file a police report and fax them a copy within 10 days, or they would close the case.

I went straight away to the police station and filed a report. The policemen looked over the contents of the mystery box, and told me it was such a shame that this had happened, and that it was the first time that they had ever had a police report filed regarding a mystery box. They told me that they would do all that they could to help me, but because they had filed numerous reports for victims of fraud who had used PayPal in the past, told me chances were I would not get my money back. (One of the most recent reports was a woman who had bought a Louis Vuitton purse on eBay for over $500, but instead received a cheap bag from Target. In her case, PayPal ruled in favor of the seller, and this poor woman lost several hundred dollars.) They gathered all the information and recorded everything they thought would be necessary in the report, and faxed it to a police station in North Carolina, along with estimates of each item that I had found online. After the report was finished, they carried the box out to my car and told me that the report would be available within the next 6 or 7 days.

I returned to the police station six days later to see if the report was available and was told to fill out a request form. I thought that I would be able to get the report straight away, but the police officer that had me fill out the form told me that it actually takes an additional 10 days from the day that you request the report to receive it. Since I informed her of my circumstances, she gave me the extension number of the officer who reviews the report, and told me to call early in the morning and ask if I could have the report released to me earlier than is usual. The next morning, I called the officer and left a message on her answering machine. She returned my call shortly after and told me my request was approved and that I would be able to pick up the report at the front desk for a fee of $12.

I paid for the report, and then headed over to a local postal service center to fax the papers – the cover sheet that PayPal has you send for each claim (there were a total of 4), the report, and additional pages of the estimates of each item. I shelled out about another $20 to have the pages faxed out, and didn’t even flinch when the clerk informed me that there would be an additional charge to have the faxes sent out of state, because I thought PayPal would have some sense and rule in my favor, and my big headache that was Shane and Jessica would soon be over. Soon after, I received an e-mail that PayPal had received the documents that I had sent, and it would take 3-5 days for them to resolve the issue. I patiently waited, and finally the day came. I received e-mails from PayPal with the subject being that the case was resolved. I anxiously opened the e-mails to find that PayPal had ruled in favor of Shane and Jessica, because as they tell you, they never rule in favor of the buyer if the reason for the case is that the item is different than described. Yet, they still have this as an option for a reason for filing a claim, and knew from the beginning what I was filing the case for and did not even bother to tell me this. More wasted money on top of the money that I had already lost just added insult to injury. I had wasted more money and almost a whole month for PayPal to do absolutely nothing, while Shaun and Jennifer gloated because they knew they would win the case, and would never have to return the money that I worked so hard for.

Posting the auction to tell you about my personal experience is important to me. Although I am well near broke, I don’t mind if I have to spend a few more dollars each week if it means there is a possibility that I can save at least one person from the grief that I have experienced, or make you think twice before doing business on eBay with any Shane’s and Jessica’s out there. If you really doubt anything that I am telling you, I would be more than happy to supply you with printouts of the actual e-mail exchanges on eBay and every printout that was related to the case.