No response from online company; advice?

[LillFilly]

The boyfriend purchased an electric kit for his bike (bicycle) on May 8th. He bought it from www.bikinglane.com almost a month ago. His paypal transfer from his checking account was immediately accepted and he received an e-mail that they would send him a shipping confirmation code within 7-10 business days (which also would have included how the item was to be shipped; ups, usps, etc.). Those days came and went. No code. He emailed them several times about when they were going to ship his item. No response. He tried calling and left messages. No response. On the 11th he told them he was lodging a complaint with paypal if they did not contact him or confirm they'd shipped his item. No response. So he lodged the complaint with paypal, which is giving the company to until April 3rd to respond. Since it was a checking purchase he can't file a dispute with the bank. I'm wondering what his chances are of getting his money back ($149.99) from this company that has shown its less-than-stellar service. I have not found any complaints online concerning the company as of yet, but I myself will not be buying from them!

And no, we haven't had any attempted delivery slips left, nor any packages with our leasing office.

[bainsidhe]

The good news is he used paypal, which will find in his favor unless this company magically responds with delivery confirmation. Hopefully your BF kept records of emails sent. Regardless, Paypal will reverse the charges and yank it out of the business's account. Unfortunately, I'm unaware of what recourse you have to lodge a complaint. You might try that state's attorney general, but I don't really know.

[MaggieTheCat]

I had a similar problem with an online store a few months ago. It took 3 or 4 rather nasty emails to their customer service demanding my money back and threatening to dispute the charges with my credit card company before they finally agreed to refund my money. I didn't really know what else to do about them, though, I was just happy to get my money back, finally. Good luck, I hope you get this resolved quickly!

[Andara Bledin]

First, if the seller can't produce some form of shipment confirmation showing that they sent something to your address, you're golden. Except in the rare case where the seller is scummy enough to clean out their account after collecting a lot of money they plan to run off with.

Second, if you're in the US, you can lodge a mail fraud complaint. Any purchase that is bought over the Internet that is then to be shipped to the address you provide falls under this heading, no matter the form of shipping that is actually used (or not used as the case may be).

Third, whenever possible, use PayPal backed by a credit card. For those very rare times when the seller ships you a box of rocks, or cleans out their account before PayPal processes the reversal. Just be sure to go through PayPal first, so they have warning that a chargeback will be imminent. Don't tell them first often enough, and they will suspend your account for not following the rules regarding trading difficulties.

^-.-^

[fma_fanatic]

First, if the seller can't produce some form of shipment confirmation showing that they sent something to your address, you're golden. Except in the rare case where the seller is scummy enough to clean out their account after collecting a lot of money they plan to run off with.

Second, if you're in the US, you can lodge a mail fraud complaint. Any purchase that is bought over the Internet that is then to be shipped to the address you provide falls under this heading, no matter the form of shipping that is actually used (or not used as the case may be).

Third, whenever possible, use PayPal backed by a credit card. For those very rare times when the seller ships you a box of rocks, or cleans out their account before PayPal processes the reversal. Just be sure to go through PayPal first, so they have warning that a chargeback will be imminent. Don't tell them first often enough, and they will suspend your account for not following the rules regarding trading difficulties.

^-.-^

Just echoing what Andara said. I think that there is a limited amount of time you can file a complaint with PayPal, so I'd say don't wait until the 4th. Put in the complaint now.

[Imprl59]

Please make sure that he has disputed the charges with paypal, not just complained to them.

If you are within your time frame paypal will do everything they can to get your money back to you. Ten minutes after your timeframe and they will do absolutley nothing. I've had a couple of deals go wrong that were paid through paypal and they took great care of me. In one case the seller never answered me or them. They found in my favor by default and returned my money. The seller sent the item to me like a week later..... when they figured out what had happened they tried to get their money back from paypal again but they said nope... we told you to respond by this date and you didn't.... sorry Charlie. I went ahead and sent another payment for the item but its nice to know they have your back.

Steve B.

[LillFilly]

I'll send him this thread to let him know. Thanks everyone!

You know, I thought it was funny that there's no feedback or customer comments section for that website...

[BlaqueKatt]

The boyfriend purchased an electric kit for his bike (bicycle) on May 8th.

if he decides to get another one-check your local laws-those are highly illegal in some places....(unlicensed motor vehicle)

[LillFilly]

if he decides to get another one-check your local laws-those are highly illegal in some places....(unlicensed motor vehicle)

We checked; it's for units over a certain cc/horsepower. On a bike under 1-horsepower is ok. For a gas-powered motor scooter, anything under 49ccs.