Paypal Debt Collection

[AB]

I have had a letter from a debt collection agency on behalf of Paypal. Allegedly I owe 202.96.

I have not used Paypal for over 2 years.

I tried to log in and it says my account is blocked and asks me to send a message to them to 'appeal it'.

I couldn't care less about my account, I don't use it because of a load of hassle I had with them and buyers saying item not received etc. As far as I was aware, they got their money back and I paid it from my debit card.

Problem I have now is that I can't log into Paypal, Paypal won't discuss it with me as it has been passed on and the debt agency don't have any details of what the debt is!!

Where do I go from here?

[Parrot of Doom]

Tell the debt collector that the debt is disputed, and try again to contact Paypal.

[AB]

Just spoke with Paypal, apparently it is something to do with a buyer who bought a phone off me 2 years ago doing a chargeback on their credit card as it was 'not received'.

I sent it, at the time I had proof of delivery but I'm buggered if I do now!!!

[Martial Arts Man]

I know this isn't the standard proceedure, but my method of dealing with these parasites when the letters arrive for non-existing debts is to simply ignore them.

Over the years, I have received a few (well, more like 5 or 6) regarding supposed debts that simply didn't exist.

The first couple of times, being a reasonable man, I attempted to communicate to correct their errors. What a waste of time that turned out being. Obfuscation, bullying and harrassment are the only skills these companies seem to possess.

So, since then, the file marked BIN is where they end up. No response, no communication of any sort, nothing.

Maybe it's because the debts weren't actually real, but after a few letters of ever-changing colour, they simply went away.

I wonder how many people simply pay up irrespective?

[Martial Arts Man]

AB said:

Just spoke with Paypal, apparently it is something to do with a buyer who bought a phone off me 2 years ago doing a chargeback on their credit card as it was 'not received'.

I sent it, at the time I had proof of delivery but I'm buggered if I do now!!!

And they've just done this now?

Are they saying that this buyer waited 2 years to decide he/she hadn't received their goods?? And Paypal accept this?

[soad]

Martial Arts Man said:

And they've just done this now?

Are they saying that this buyer waited 2 years to decide he/she hadn't received their goods?? And Paypal accept this?

Nah, it must have happened around 2 years ago. PayPal simply locked account as it stood in negative balance for months (even years) on end.

Edited by soad on Saturday 2nd January 11:22

[AB]

I haven't used my account and no longer have my paypal@ email address so not sure if there has been communication there but this is certainly the first debt collection letter. As I said, I can't log onto Paypal either.

I feel I may be getting royally stitched up.

[rich1231]

Have you told us entire story?

[AB]

rich1231 said:

Have you told us entire story?

There's nothing more to tell.

I never had any 'item not received' dispute opened on this one at all, so it is a complete surprise for them to tell me this.

[soad]

That explains it - you were sent e-mails to your old e-mail addy.

I'm no expert, but probably would ignore the alleged debt, it being a fairly low amount! Can't see them getting a county court judgement, will simply pass your details from one agency to another from time to time!

Edited by soad on Saturday 2nd January 11:22

[AB]

Hmm, will ignore and see what happens I guess.

[jeevescat]

Can't say I'm too surprised. I recently sold a light on ebay, sent it off for it not to arrive. The first I knew about it was about 2 months later trying to buy something on ebay and my paypal not working, logged in to find a dispute had been started, decision made and money charged back against me, all without my knowledge.

Give paypal their credit they did sort it fairly quickly once I got a human on the phone, but had I not tried to use my paypal account again as the case with the OP I woild still be ignorant to the dispute.

[chr15b]

hmm, these types of things are rarely a surprise, nor do people tend to stop using email addresses and credit/debit cards at the same time as services. I'd suspect the hope was cancel everything, and ignore it for long enough it might go away.

[rich1231]

jeevescat said:

Can't say I'm too surprised. I recently sold a light on ebay, sent it off for it not to arrive. The first I knew about it was about 2 months later trying to buy something on ebay and my paypal not working, logged in to find a dispute had been started, decision made and money charged back against me, all without my knowledge.

Give paypal their credit they did sort it fairly quickly once I got a human on the phone, but had I not tried to use my paypal account again as the case with the OP I woild still be ignorant to the dispute.

But you get emailed the moment a dispute is raised.....

[soad]

rich1231 said:

But you get emailed the moment a dispute is raised.....

That's true, you also get emailed asking to settle the negative balance.
I beleive you may receive an automated call for the latter too.

[BarnatosGhost]

paypal are crooks. You are not alone. Www.paypalsucks.com.

[jeevescat]

soad said:

rich1231 said:

But you get emailed the moment a dispute is raised.....

That's true, you also get emailed asking to settle the negative balance.
I beleive you may receive an automated call for the latter too.

I queried that with them on the phone, they told me the dates emails were sent, and yeap, there they were in my inbox, surrounded by a load of near identical "Your account is suspended" phishing emails, actually not quite true, most of the fake emails looked considerably more realistic than their real one. When I asked if they really expected anyone to take any notice of them they did agree that it would be somewhat unlikely.

[jeevescat]

Also as I recall the first email from Paypal was received after the dispute was decided by them, nothing from either them or ebay saying that a dispute had been raised. The only notification of that I subsequently found was by logging into me ebay account, which I had not done since sending the lamp.

So I can perfectly understand the op's situation.

[AB]

chr15b said:

hmm, these types of things are rarely a surprise, nor do people tend to stop using email addresses and credit/debit cards at the same time as services. I'd suspect the hope was cancel everything, and ignore it for long enough it might go away.

You suspect wrong.

I have seperate email addresses set up for things like this i.e. shopping@/paypal@/pistonheads@ etc as it is then easy to stop spam by simply deleting the name or not checking the account.

[chr15b]

AB said:

chr15b said:

hmm, these types of things are rarely a surprise, nor do people tend to stop using email addresses and credit/debit cards at the same time as services. I'd suspect the hope was cancel everything, and ignore it for long enough it might go away.

You suspect wrong.

I have seperate email addresses set up for things like this i.e. shopping@/paypal@/pistonheads@ etc as it is then easy to stop spam by simply deleting the name or not checking the account.

i still find it very hard to believe that this is the first you are hearing of this, but hey, your actions whatever they are/were will only affect you, not me