OT: Paypal's buyer-"protection" process

[richb at pioneer.ci.net (Rich Braun)]

Time to vent a little more steam about eBay and Paypal...and perhaps get some
advice on how to respond.  The response sought by Paypal is for me to go to a
repair shop to get a written repair estimate.

My saga started with a purchase on 11/13 of a used Dell LCD monitor which
turned out to have two defects:  its sporadically shuts itself off, and it has
screen blemishes.  I asked the seller for a replacement or refund; he refused;
I decided to submit a buyer-protection claim (which I thought would work
something like a charge-back through Visa/Mastercard) instead of giving the
seller negative eBay feedback.

I submitted my claim on the 28th.  Paypal's policy allows 30 days for them to
respond.  Look at the date header in the message below:  it's as if they have
a cron job that issues response letters from the west coast at the last
possible hour.

If you read the letter you can see why I'm more inclined to complain about
Paypal to the Massachusett's attorney general's office than I am to complain
about the original seller of the LCD monitor.  Paypal is *disappointing*! 
I'll use Visa/Mastercard from now on.

Anyway what I'm wondering is whether it's worth going through Paypal's
charade, and whether you know of an electronics repair shop who can fulfill
Paypal's request within the 10 calendar days they insist on (nice how four of
those days are weekend days...).  If I were running a repair service and shown
this letter, I wouldn't cooperate because of the clause about not commencing
with the repair:  why go through the effort to write an estimate for a job
that probably won't be started?

Sorry for bothering the list about non-Linux stuff.  But I figure some of
y'all might be frequent Paypal users and therefore interested.

-rich

------------------------------ Original Message ------------------------------
Subject: Your Complaint PP-xxxx:PBPxxx:
From:    service at paypal.com
Date:    Thu, December 29, 2005 12:46 am
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Richard Braun,

We are currently in the process of investigating your claim:

Case Number: [...]

In order to continue with the investigation of your claim, we must request
documentation to support your claim that the item is damaged or
significantly not as described.  Please obtain a document (such as an estimate
or invoice) from an unbiased third-party, such as a dealer; repair shop,
appraiser, or another individual or organization that is qualified in the area
of the item in question (other than yourself), which details the extent of the
damage or clearly explains how the item received
significantly differs from the item advertised. Please do not proceed with any
repairs or alterations to the item, as doing so will limit PayPals ability to
successfully resolve your claim, and may result in the
cancellation of your dispute. If possible, the document should include a
serial number and description of the item, and the dollar amount required to
complete the repairs necessary to correct the damage. This document must be on
letterhead that includes the name, address, and phone number of the
individual, business, or organization so that PayPal may contact them if
necessary.

The documents should be faxed to PayPal at (402) 537-5760 (please note this is
a United States phone number, if you are faxing from outside the United
States, you will generally need to dial 00 1 before the number). Please
include a cover sheet with your fax that includes the email address registered
on your PayPal account and the ID number of your claim
(123-xxx-xxx) so we may attach the document to your claim as quickly as possible.

We must receive your fax within ten days from the date of this message in
order to proceed with the investigation of your claim. If we do not receive
your fax within ten days, your claim will be cancelled. Unfortunately, we are
unable to grant extensions to this time period. Please note that PayPal is
unable to reimburse you for any costs or fees that may be incurred in
obtaining the requested documents. Any documents you provide may also be
supplied to the seller in your dispute.

Thank you for your cooperation and patience. We apologize for any
inconvenience this request may cause. Please do not misconstrue PayPal's
request as suspicion that your claim is not valid. As we are an
internet-based business, we do not have the opportunity to review the relevant
items and evidence in question. Therefore, we must rely on the documents
described in our request to continue with the investigation of your claim.

Sincerely,
Carly
Protection Services Department
PayPal, an eBay Company