BJDivas refund AWOL

As far as I know, you're probably going to have to file the chargeback in order to get anything from them. They may be a small business, but at the end of the day they didn't get what you paid them to get.

 

BJDivas unfortunately have a Dealer Caution on DoA for a reason.
I'd recommend having a look at their thread in Service Reviews. I haven't dealt with them personally, as using a US-based dealer makes no sense for me as an Australian, but customers often talk about slow or ignored communication, receiving the wrong item, being unsure if their orders were even placed, "in-stock" items not actually being in-stock, and getting tracking information but not having any movement from the parcel for weeks.

Unfortunately, if a dealer or dollmaler isn't responding to your messages, a Paypal claim forces them to do something or risk jeopardising their access to Paypal's services as business.

I agree with Haven of Dolls: you paid for a service and product, which Divas haven't made good on. It's their responsibility as a business to deliver the goods and services customers pay for. Paypal claims exist for these scenarios where communication stops: I had to open a claim on a dollmaker when they didn't respond to my messages for weeks and I was nearing the six month protection deadline.
I would suggest opening a claim – in the best case scenario, they respond and you get your full refund, in the worst case scenario, the claim times out and Paypal refund your shipping.

 

"Small business" is not an excuse to give people free passes to be unprofessional or not hold their end of the deal - at the very least, we (as a community) need to get better at recognizing where the line should be drawn and when. Of course things happen, things take long in this hobby, etc, but when it comes to issues like this with tons of similar scenarios/bad experiences to back up the fact that this is a habit of theirs, a pass of "small business" is not warranted. Your money matters too and dolls are no small amount of it. At the end of the day they chose to offer a service they are not fulfilling. And while they rely on others to uphold their end of the deal as well, it is their job to be professional and act as a liaison - which means also taking it upon themselves to resolve issues even if it comes out of their dollar - for the sake of the business they chose to open. But first, foremost and fundamentally, their job is to communicate in a timely manner and keep track of communication which they seem to be having more and more trouble doing.

There are several other threads about Divas on this section of ordering and shipping, including one person who was also in a situation wanting a refund. I personally have not needed a refund from them that I remember, but I've had some pretty horrible other experiences, but my advice is pretty general.

You should open a claim for the shipping. Not only will this potentially get you at least something back, it will go on record with PayPal so they can build a case, it will show Divas they can't be doing this and it will also open an avenue for you to talk to PayPal about it. Divas tends to need cases filed in order for them to act so there's a possibility you might open the PayPal claim and see the refund in your account pretty quickly, then the situation would be resolved. PayPal claims don't mean you hate someone, as castironteapot said they exist to open communication when communication stops.

Since Divas is the one who offered the refund, it shouldn't be too much of an issue and should be easily resolved, but I honestly wouldn't rely on waiting on them to give it to you.

 

I’ve had issues with them as well. After waiting for my doll for 10 months, they blamed the company for losing it and were incredibly rude about it. I later learned this is a common excuse they use. Just be cautious. I’ve even seen them try to rally people to spy and report on customers who spoke honestly about their poor service.

 

While you can still file a claim for the shipping, Divas will most likely be hostile and incredibly unhelpful with your original order if they ever receive it. There's been many accounts here and on the BJD Discord where customers filed a claim, and Divas will only help if you close it; however, by closing the claim, you cannot file another one again. Since Divas agreed to refund the original order, by opening a claim, you may put yourself in a situation where they will try to enforce their Ordering Policy where they will claim you forfeited your refund because you violated that policy: Ordering Policy – BJDivas

Unfortunately, they recently shared this on Facebook again to "remind" people of what will happen. (The threat of having you blacklisted from doll companies is also... something.)

Customers were able to get back partial layaway payments that were within the PayPal protection window of 6 months, but for payments outside that window, PayPal will not help you. If you paid by PayPal via credit card, you can file a charge back with your card company for undelivered goods. I've been successful in getting my money back for a layaway after Dust of Dolls stopped responding to me for 7 months, and other non-doll transactions where the sellers never delivered their goods. You will have to provide proof and documentation and go through their process, though. This also forces PayPal to open a claim. Please note that you cannot file a chargeback with your bank and PayPal at the same time.

 

I think you should've still been made whole, but I am glad to hear the loss was relatively minimal.

And don't worry about their blacklist. It's a ridiculous, empty threat. A lot of people who have been allegedly blacklisted by them still order through other vendors without any problem. It seems like it's there just to intimidate/bully customers.