Tim, G4VXE has just installed the APRS application iBCNU on his iPhone. I wish I could do the same, but my attempt to buy an unlocked iPhone that I could use on my existing network (since I did not wish to switch to O2) has turned into another reason to hate PayPal.
I have been ripped off by a crooked Irish firm called Dynamac Trade that was advertising "sim free unlocked iPhones" using Google ads. Their website looked slick and professional and had Blackberry phones for sale as well. No reason to smell a rat. But weeks passed, the firm did not respond to my attempts to contact it, and I still did not have a phone.
I filed a claim with PayPal and after just over a week I received this reply: "We have decided in your favour, however we were unable to recover any funds from the seller's account. We will make our best effort to recover the funds in question if they become available in the seller's account in the future." I wonder what the chances are of that?
PayPal may be fine for making small radio purchases from sellers you can hopefully trust, and it's normally the only option for buying things on eBay, but it's a risky way of buying things compared to using a credit card. If the buyer defaults on something that cost over £100 and was bought with a UK credit card you'll be reimbursed. My credit card even provides a 90 day warranty and accidental damage cover on items bought with it. PayPal is no safer than sending cash. No wonder so many people say PayPal Sucks.
8 comments:
Hi,
If you pay PayPal via a credit card you may have some comeback against PayPal. When I had a dispute I contacted both my credit card and PayPal at the same time. It may have helped because PayPal refunded me.
Steve GW7AAV
Bad luck Julian. Like you I use PayPal because there is often no other option, but I pay via credit card for additional security like Steve. Many credit cards specifically offer protection against internet fraud, and I use one of these for all my online transactions. I never use my 'main' card online. We all know the dangers but your tale of woe reminds us all to be extra vigilant. Hope you recover your loss soon. John G4HUK.
Thanks, John. My main reason for posting was to publicize this scam by Dynamac Trade and hopefully help others avoid it (their website is still up, though I'm not going to link to it.) Unfortunately I suspect that, like me, most people won't start digging for more info until after they have detected the odour of something fishy.
Julian, sadly I have been had by Dynamac too. I have filed a compaint with Pay Pal today but will no doubt get the same response. When did you file your complaint with them? I would be interested to know as surely if they have reason to suspect a company is scamming people they should block payments to them or report them or something to prevent other people from experiencing the same. Perhaps others had reported them before you. How frustrating. I am £285 down thanks to Dynamac Trade!!!
Wendy
Hi Wendy. I filed my claim a couple of weeks ago. There was a thread on boards.ie with postings from several people who had been taken in by this. One got a refund but the rest got the same answer I did.
Unfortunately that thread has been deleted from the forum so there is no way to know if the other unlucky people have managed to get anywhere on this.
The lesson would appear to be: don't do business with Ireland. Not only do they allow rogues to get away with scams like this but apparently they censor free speech when people complain about it.
Dynamac is still apparently claiming to sell discount Blackberry phones from the site blackberry bargains dot ie.
Hi Julian, yes I think my search for info may have led me to that forum only to find that the thread had been removed. I have filed my claim with PayPal and will just wait to see where It takes me but I suspect like everyone else who has tried, that it will be a big fat 'nowhere'!! Thanks anyway.
Wendy
A new thread has started about Dynamac Trade at boards.ie. Hopefully they'll keep this one open.
Hi there everyone, im so sorry for your loss of money through this scam website, unfortunatly i got taken for it too!!! Its beond a joke really when you think your safe using paypal to pay for it, then when something goes wrong you still cant claim for it back unless you have a credit card you paid it on which in my case i didnt i used a normal bank account card! They took my payment but i never recieved my iphone! I also left numerious emails with no reply, i wrote to them rang there contact number still with no joy, so i esculated a claim through paypal they were useless as canbe with no garantee to gettin my money back! I am not happy but what else can we do abt it to stop this????? And wouldnt paypal of clicked on by now abt all our claims and do more abt it to help us get our money back? Is redicious and im really annoyed but glad i am not the only one!
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