The display on Laura Eichenhorn’s new Acer Chromebook is warped. However when she returns it, PayPal retains her cash — and the service provider retains her laptop. Is that allowed?
QUESTION: I purchased an Acer Chromebook by means of eBay lately. Once I obtained it, I noticed that the display was warped, so I returned it to the vendor.
Christopher Elliott, the Journey Troubleshooter
I filed a report with PayPal that the merchandise was not as described and requested a refund. Nonetheless, throughout my discussions with PayPal, a consultant recommended that I additionally file a bank card chargeback to get a refund for my delivery prices.
PayPal then closed my case and allowed my financial institution to take over. My financial institution sided with the service provider who had despatched me the warped laptop computer, and now PayPal has my $190 and the service provider has the broken laptop computer laptop. Are you able to assist me?
— Laura Eichenhorn, Southfield, Mass.
ANSWER: You shouldn’t have filed a bank card dispute. A bank card dispute, or chargeback, is your final resort for recovering your cash. I describe how and when to make use of it in my free information to bank card disputes on my shopper advocacy website, Elliott.org.
The PayPal consultant you spoke to gave you incorrect data. However are you out of luck?
It positive seems to be that means. The service provider has the pc. PayPal has your $190. And you don’t have anything.
Parenthetically, you would possibly rethink your relationship together with your financial institution. It ought to have both requested for extra data in your declare or sided with you on this dispute. In my expertise, the perfect banks will attempt to resolve this outdoors the formal dispute course of — by contacting the service provider immediately and discovering some center floor — largely as a result of it’s cheaper for everybody. Additionally, in my expertise, it results in a fairer consequence.
That is one motive why I by no means belief something an worker says except it’s in writing. It’s simply too simple to say one thing after which neglect it. The most recent model of Apple’s iOS means that you can report and transcribe your cellphone conversations. However state privateness legal guidelines make it troublesome to make use of the characteristic, so it’s simply higher to get any promise in writing.
I requested PayPal to try your drawback. It reviewed your cellphone calls and it apologized to you for “any incorrect information you received from our team.”
PayPal credited your account the total quantity of your buy, together with an additional $21 to cowl the price of delivery.
© 2025 Christopher Elliott.
Initially Revealed: January 31, 2025 at 6:30 AM PST
