Advice needed about problem transaction.

I'd wait till tomorrow, at the very least. Imagine if they do send the head and give you a tracking number right away? From their point of view, it's probably a bit sketchy that you bailed at the last minute like this!

Personally, I would feel very bad if my personal anxiety about a hobby product led me to be uncharitable towards someone experiencing a genuine tragedy. If I can't afford to lose a certain amount of money, then I shouldn't be spending it in a doll anyway. There are so many horrible things that can completely detail a person's life, totally out of the blue, and being kind towards those in need is one of the most important things we can do as humans...

Those are my two cents!

 

Before you ask for a refund through PayPal, I would still try to get in touch with the seller again and let them know what you are worried about - be transparent about how the waiting time has an impact on how you feel about the transaction and why you are asking for a refund. If that doesn't make things move, give them a deadline to ship the item out so they know how much time there is until you'll be contacting PayPal. I know it's tempting to cashback right away but it's usually better to be nice about it unless you have concrete proof of being scammed.

 

I also agree. Give them a solid deadline. "If I don't have tracking information listing the item as with the post office by Tuesday, on Wednesday I will be reaching out to paypal for a refund."

 

I’ve been in a similar situation, many years ago on here unfortunately, where the seller was genuinely going through some issues and tried to be understanding but that only goes so far. As suggested you need to be politely firm with them too, be upfront about things, give deadlines and then leave the ball in their court. I felt like you about the head, felt sick to my stomach actually, but due to the circumstances I let them go through with sending it.

I’ve also been in a situation where the items I ordered never seemed to be getting dispatched only to find out when I contacted the seller that they’d had a family bereavement. I sympathised as I’d recently gone through similar but politely suggested they make other people aware of the circumstances and perhaps withdraw other sales until they felt able to deal with things again. That was met with a very mixed bag of replies going from a ‘Thank you for being so understanding, I shall look into that’ to downright rudeness and abusive messages saying once I received the items not to ever buy from them again!

It’s entirely up to you how you proceed as each situation is different but as long as you’ve been polite, clear and as understanding as you can be then how they respond determines the action you should take.

 

"Cant refund" isnt your problem. I would do the paypal thing immediately. if you said you dont want to go any further, that's the end of it. it doesnt sound like they're trying to make things right.

 

I would agree with waiting until tomorrow, since they said they would send it, and with giving a clear timeline of the actions you will take i.e "If I haven't received the tracking number by x, i will request a refund through Paypal" etc. I would give them a chance to see if they do follow through with what they said they would do, maybe, given the circumstances.

They definitely should've kept you informed about what was going on instead of making you wait a month with no contact and making you reach out for info, and if you said you no longer wish to proceed that should be respected as well. I know money can be tight, but it's their responsibility to send out items before using the funds; them no longer having the funds isn't an excuse to give you the run around.

 

If they don't give you a tracking number by tomorrow, and chances are they won't, it seems like a good idea to file the PayPal claim. You already talked to them, and to me is sounds as if they are brushing you off. That they said they can't refund sounds off warning bells to me. Good Luck! I hope that you get it sorted out.

 

Echoing some others, I think it's better to just file the claim now. Claims don't affect an account negatively unless it happens often, and they have 10 days to respond once the claim starts. So it guarantees in 10 days there will be a resolution.

Them not having the money to refund you isn't your problem. That said, you did make a commitment to buy, so I think sticking through the sale is the right thing to do in case the family emergency story is genuine.