Don't put your trust in Paypal

In another post I explained how disappointed I was with Laconic Records. To summarise, I ordered a controller from Laconic Records, the delivery company lost the package, but Laconic Records refuses to answer any of my communications. As the seller it is necessary that they contact the delivery company to initiate a lost package claim, but apparently they'd rather forget about the whole thing.

This was all very inconvenient, I had to pass up the chance to play at two shows i would have loved to attend. But I found consolation in the idea that Paypal's dispute resolution system would come out in my favour, eventually. To my great surprise, my claim was closed in the sellers favour.

Paypal, in their infinite wisdom, ruled that since the seller could produce the receipt from the delivery company with with my name and address on it, that was sufficient to establish that the package had been delivered to me. Despite having been alerted to the fact several times, Paypal somehow continue to overlook the fact that the delivery companies own package tracking system shows that the package in question has been delivered to an unknown third party.

I filed an appeal, explaining again that the package had gone missing and that the seller is the only party that can correct the situation. This was the start of an ongoing string of exchanges with Paypal's complaint department.

I keep explaining the same thing to different Paypal agents, each time my appeal is reopened, and then closed again a short while later. Deeply frustrating.

Today I found out that the case had been closed again. This time i didn't receive even an email notification that its status had changed. Here's the history log of the dispute resolution case so far, a sorry litany indeed!

Date	Actor	Action Details
5 Mar. 2008	PayPal	Case closed
5 Mar. 2008	PayPal	Appeal denied
26 Feb. 2008	PayPal	Case under review
26 Feb. 2008	Seller	Decision appealed
26 Feb. 2008	Buyer	Email sent to PayPal
26 Feb. 2008	PayPal	Case closed
26 Feb. 2008	PayPal	Appeal denied
26 Feb. 2008	PayPal	Email sent to buyer
22 Feb. 2008	PayPal	Case under review
22 Feb. 2008	Seller	Decision appealed
22 Feb. 2008	Buyer	Email sent to PayPal
22 Feb. 2008	Buyer	Email sent to PayPal
20 Feb. 2008	PayPal	Case closed
20 Feb. 2008	PayPal	Appeal denied
20 Feb. 2008	PayPal	Email sent to buyer
20 Feb. 2008	PayPal	Case under review
20 Feb. 2008	Seller	Decision appealed
19 Feb. 2008	PayPal	Email sent to seller
19 Feb. 2008	PayPal	Email sent to buyer
19 Feb. 2008	PayPal	Case closed
19 Feb. 2008	PayPal	Case under review
19 Feb. 2008	PayPal	Documentation received from seller
19 Feb. 2008	PayPal	Phone call with seller
17 Feb. 2008	PayPal	Additional information requested
17 Feb. 2008	PayPal	Email sent to seller
16 Feb. 2008	PayPal	Case under review
12 Feb. 2008	PayPal	Additional information requested
12 Feb. 2008	PayPal	Email sent to seller
11 Feb. 2008	PayPal	Case under review
7 Feb. 2008	PayPal	Additional information requested
7 Feb. 2008	PayPal	Email sent to seller
4 Jan. 2008	Buyer	Email sent to PayPal
1 Jan. 2008	PayPal	Case under review
29 Dec. 2007	PayPal	Email sent to seller
29 Dec. 2007	PayPal	Email sent to buyer
29 Dec. 2007	Seller	Tracking information received
28 Dec. 2007	PayPal	Email sent to seller
28 Dec. 2007	PayPal	Email sent to buyer
28 Dec. 2007	Buyer	Dispute escalated to claim
28 Dec. 2007	PayPal	Email sent to buyer
12 Dec. 2007	PayPal	Email sent to seller
12 Dec. 2007	PayPal	Email sent to buyer
28 Dec. 2007	Buyer	Dispute filed

To Laconic Records: please reconsider your approach. With a minimum of effort you could set this right and counter the bad publicity you're getting because of your inaction. Do the right thing!

Laconic Records: Think twice before dealing with this seller

Update: Laconic Records have finally sent a replacement unit!

In a nutshell: If you deal with Laconic Records don't expect them to cooperate when things go wrong, and don't assume that PayPal offers adequate protection against non-delivery of items you order on eBay.

Here's the long version.

In November 2007, while searching for a good deal for a Vestax VCI-100 midi controller on eBay I found the German seller Laconic Records offering one for a good price. Laconic Records are a mail-order and distribution company based in Dresden, Germany.

The Laconic Records representative I contacted with a couple of pre-sale questions I had about the unit answered politely and promptly which gave me confidence to go ahead with the order.

After the package did not arrive I found out that DPD, the delivery company, had made a mistake. Their package tracking system showed that the package has been delivered to someone with the surname BERG at the address of my neighbor. There is no one of that name in my block, an my neighbors have not received any packages for me. (BERG, if you're reading, please get in touch!)

DPD informed me that since the package appeared to have been lost, the only way to proceed was for the seller (Laconic Records) to file a missing package claim.

This mistake was in no way the fault of Laconic Records, and I expected full cooperation from them to help resolve the problem to our mutual satisfaction. I contacted them to explain the problem expecting the same professionalism I had experienced in their responses to my pre-sale questions but to my dismay my emails and phone calls were not answered.

When it became clear that Laconic Records were not going to cooperate I opened a PayPal dispute claim to attempt to get my payment refunded that way.

A few weeks later, to my astonishment, PayPal closed the dispute in Laconic Records'
favor. The curt email from PayPal said the following:

The seller has provided valid tracking information on the above case. As a
result of this, your appeal can not be granted.

Valid tracking information? The tracking information shows in no uncertain terms that the package has been delivered to an unknown third party. PayPal has a peculiar understanding of 'valid'.

This has important implications if it is reflective of PayPal's general policy: it means that if you order an item, and the delivery company delivers it to an incorrect address, you are at the mercy of the seller to cooperate with you and refund your payment. If the seller does not cooperate, you've lost your money and PayPal will do nothing to help you. This should seriously undermine trust in PayPal. At least I will never use their service to order a physical item again.

Since PayPal failed to help, I'm now looking for legal advice on how to proceed. And hoping that in the meantime Laconic Records decide to cooperate.

I will update this page as the sorry saga unfolds.

If you have a blog or website and you want to help me to publicise this story, publishing a hyperlink to this post using the link text 'Laconic Records' would be very helpful. This needn't be a full blog post, it could be a small footnote eg. "In other news: Mormo is having some trouble with Laconic Records". Thanks!

Update: 28.03.08 Still no contact from Laconic Records. After speaking with a lawyer I have sent them a formal letter informing them that if I do not receive a refund within seven days I will start a legal procedure against them.

Update: 11.04.08 Today, roughly five months since ordering the controller, a replacement unit arrived in the post from Laconic Records. I've decided not to go ahead with legal action.

In a note enclosed with the unit they asked me to remove this article from the site. I won't be doing that since the article is still of relevance to people thinking of doing business with this seller. My advice: don't do it.