Paypal sent a collection agency after me, says I owe them $

[zylander]

First, here is some background on my dealings with paypal in the past;

Four or five years ago I sold a laptop on ebay for ~$1000. The auction went smoothly, I didnt leave anything out. Almost a month later the buyer emails me saying its having problems or he was missing something, I dont remember exactly what his issue was but he had a problem. Since it had been almost a month and I didnt know what he had done to it in that time, I politely told him to F off. He goes to paypal and files a claim saying the item was not as described, paypal eventually ruled in my favor. So then the guy files another claim saying item was not received. Unfortunately for me, by this time I no longer had the tracking number and had no way to prove the laptop was even delivered, paypal ruled in his favor. Paypal sent my debt to collections and I had to pay then $1000.


Fast forward to today;

This afternoon I got a letter in the mail saying that;
"The records of Paypal Inc. show that your account has a past due ballance of $601.69.....Our client has advised us that they are willing to settle your account for 50% of your total balance......If you are interested in taking advantage of this offer call me within 45 days of this letter. Your statement ammount would be $300.85 to clear this account in full. Even if you are unable to take advantage of this offer, please contact me to see what terms can be worked out on your account.



I dont know what the fuck this is. I havent used paypal for four years since I had that problem with the laptop. Can I just tell these people to fuck off, or just ignore them all together?


UPDATE:

I sent the collection agency (ER Solutions Inc.) a letter requesting proof of the debt and today I received a response including a letter from PayPal. The following is exactly how the letter looks;

PayPal account #:*************
Account creation date: Dec. 2001
Date of charge-off: Dec. 2004
Charge off ammount: $601.69
Total due: -$601.69

Date placed for collection with ERS: Oct. 2009

The above-captioned account has been referred to ERS for debt collection efforts.

As you know, when you opened your Paypal account, you agreed to be bound by the user agreement for paypal service (the "User Agreement") by clicking "I have read and agreed to the User agreement....." We are in receipt of your acceptance of the paypal user agreement. The amount due, which can be found above after "Total amount due", is justly and owing and remains unpaid.

The undersigned is a custodian of the records of this account. The undersigned states that the information contained within this notice is true and correct.

(1) Chargeback for $1,150.00 involving *******@aol.com
Transaction date: Apr. 2004

Paypal, Inc.

By: Jane L

This $1150 chargeback sounds like the the chargeback I paid for to a collection agency years ago, there were no other chargebacks. I do not have any records from the other collection agency. It looks like my options are:

1. Pay the remaining balance.
2. Continue to fight it (I have no records of any of this).
3. Send them a drop dead letter and forget about it.

Right now #3 is sounding real good. Does anyone happen to know what the statute of limitations for a debt is in California? Right now it looks like this debt is 5 years and a few days old.

 

[I Saw OJ]

Tell them to sue you.

 

[darkxshade]

YAPT

I've got a collections notice from paypal once, I ignored it... surprisingly it did not affect my credit but that was well over 5 years ago so I'm not sure how that'll turn out for you these days.

 

[Vette73]

Send them a letter asking to prove the debt. Someone here posted a good letter and site to help with this.

 

[FoBoT]

depending on the law in your state, this may be a "stale" debt, even if you DID owe it as one time

just mail them a drop dead letter (google drop dead letteR)

 

[crownjules]

First, here is some background on my dealings with paypal in the past;

Four or five years ago I sold a laptop on ebay for ~$1000. The auction went smoothly, I didnt leave anything out. Almost a month later the buyer emails me saying its having problems or he was missing something, I dont remember exactly what his issue was but he had a problem. Since it had been almost a month and I didnt know what he had done to it in that time, I politely told him to F off. He goes to paypal and files a claim saying the item was not as described, paypal eventually ruled in my favor. So then the guy files another claim saying item was not received. Unfortunately for me, by this time I no longer had the tracking number and had no way to prove the laptop was even delivered, paypal ruled in his favor. Paypal sent my debt to collections and I had to pay then $1000.

The guy files a claim that the item is not as described a month after the fact and loses. He then turns around and says he never got the item in the first place. So how did he know to file the first claim? I mean it's obvious the guy was scamming but it seems like common sense that this should have been pointed out to Paypal and been grounds to terminate the second "claim" of no delivery. If you did and still no go, then that's real shitty on their part.

 

[Adrenaline]

I had issues with paypal and told them over the phone they "Will NEVER receive one f***ing penny from me and go f*** yourself if you think you ever will". I informed them they were being scammed I was not about to allow the scammer to get me through them.

If they don't have your social security number this can't go on your credit report as fas as I know.

You most likely shipped via UPS or FedEx so call them up and se if you can get the tracking number. Then call paypal to give them the tracking number then tell them how you feel about them.

You don't have the emails either I take it? It has been 4 years.

 

[BurnItDwn]

Don't pay them a fvcking dime! Good luck with getting this resolved, and I hope they don't hassle you too much in the future.

 

[zylander]

Im under the same impression that if they dont have my SSN they cant go after my credit score, thats why I was wondering if i can just ignore it.

As for the original auction, I dont have the emails anymore. That was a long time ago on a different email account. I cant even remember if I shipped with USP or FedEx.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

Interesting. I had an almost identical situation happen to me, and never heard from paypal.

I sold a laptop on ebay, an older woman purchased it and immediately infected it with spyware. In her eyes it was "broken" within a week. After going back and forth on the phone over a few days I told her to send it back to me with a prepaid label and I would restore it. I stressed that it was due to her actions that caused it, she needs to find a best buy geek squad from now on, etc etc etc.

Long story short, of course, it gets infected and she ends up trying to deny the charge.

Paypal tried to withdraw the money from my account, and my bank gave me a call at 3am about it (THANKFULLY). They ended up having to close that account and open another one for me to keep paypal away. FWIW - paypal would not work with me AT ALL. I'm assuming that once the buyer's CC pulls the money from paypal they instantly take it from the seller.



Never again will I trust paypal. I'd rather trust a personal check.


Edit:

This was.... 5 years ago maybe? lol hopefully I don't end up in the same situation as you...



Good luck!!!

 

[zylander]

Interesting. I had an almost identical situation happen to me, and never heard from paypal.

I sold a laptop on ebay, and older woman purchased it an immediately infected it with spyware. In her eyes it was "broken" within a week. After going back and forth on the phone over a few days I told her to send it back to me with a prepaid label and I would restore it. I stressed that it was due to her actions that caused it, she needs to find a best buy geek squad from now on, etc etc etc.

Long story short, of course, it gets infected and she ends up trying to deny the charge.

Paypal tried to withdraw the money from my account, and my bank gave me a call at 3am about it (THANKFULLY). They ended up having to close that account and open another one for me to keep paypal away. FWIW - paypal would not work with me AT ALL. I'm assuming that once the buyer's CC pulls the money from paypal they instantly take it from the seller.



Never again will I trust paypal. I'd rather trust a personal check.

This is true, it happened to a friend of mine. Once the buyer issues a charge back with his CC paypal wont go after the buyer, only the seller.

 

[EGGO]

I'd go to Paypal and tell them about how he "knew" it wasn't as described and then didn't get it. Logic here should've been used on Paypal's part.

 

[Adrenaline]

Im under the same impression that if they dont have my SSN they cant go after my credit score, thats why I was wondering if i can just ignore it.

As for the original auction, I dont have the emails anymore. That was a long time ago on a different email account. I cant even remember if I shipped with USP or FedEx.

Call them both up. Spend a little time calling each one. If you get no information then I would not worry about it. I would put a little more effort into that part of it.

 

[SunnyD]

I wonder if it's possible to have them remove your SSN from their databases if you've given it to them. Hell, I wonder if it's possible to do that with all companies.

 

[Adrenaline]

Interesting. I had an almost identical situation happen to me, and never heard from paypal.

I sold a laptop on ebay, an older woman purchased it and immediately infected it with spyware. In her eyes it was "broken" within a week. After going back and forth on the phone over a few days I told her to send it back to me with a prepaid label and I would restore it. I stressed that it was due to her actions that caused it, she needs to find a best buy geek squad from now on, etc etc etc.

Long story short, of course, it gets infected and she ends up trying to deny the charge.

Paypal tried to withdraw the money from my account, and my bank gave me a call at 3am about it (THANKFULLY). They ended up having to close that account and open another one for me to keep paypal away. FWIW - paypal would not work with me AT ALL. I'm assuming that once the buyer's CC pulls the money from paypal they instantly take it from the seller.



Never again will I trust paypal. I'd rather trust a personal check.


Edit:

This was.... 5 years ago maybe? lol hopefully I don't end up in the same situation as you...



Good luck!!!

I had this same thing happen with a similar situation and Paypal just says forget the buyer and lets go F*** the seller. And when this happens the seller has very very little rights. You can't get squat for information out of them.

 

[Nik]

Fuck paypal. I will never ever EVER use them again.

 

[randay]

First, here is some background on my dealings with paypal in the past;

Four or five years ago I sold a laptop on ebay for ~$1000. The auction went smoothly, I didnt leave anything out. Almost a month later the buyer emails me saying its having problems or he was missing something, I dont remember exactly what his issue was but he had a problem. Since it had been almost a month and I didnt know what he had done to it in that time, I politely told him to F off. He goes to paypal and files a claim saying the item was not as described, paypal eventually ruled in my favor. So then the guy files another claim saying item was not received. Unfortunately for me, by this time I no longer had the tracking number and had no way to prove the laptop was even delivered, paypal ruled in his favor. Paypal sent my debt to collections and I had to pay then $1000.


Fast forward to today;

This afternoon I got a letter in the mail saying that;
"The records of Paypal Inc. show that your account has a past due ballance of $601.69.....Our client has advised us that they are willing to settle your account for 50% of your total balance......If you are interested in taking advantage of this offer call me within 45 days of this letter. Your statement ammount would be $300.85 to clear this account in full. Even if you are unable to take advantage of this offer, please contact me to see what terms can be worked out on your account.



I dont know what the fuck this is. I havent used paypal for four years since I had that problem with the laptop. Can I just tell these people to fuck off, or just ignore them all together?

its a scam. its a fake collections thing.

 

[ZickZJ]

Paypal is the devil.

No seriously this is true.

 

[bctbct]

Its a myth that they need your social security number. Name and address is sufficient.

 

[richardycc]

you need to find out the statute of limitations for debts in your state. most states are 3-6yrs, so you might be able to tell them to F-off.

 

[Q]

its a scam. its a fake collections thing.

I agree -- whatever number they provide is probably to some 3rd party company that obviously isn't Paypal, hence the "Oh we'll be nice and only make you pay $300!"

 

[AznAnarchy99]

First, here is some background on my dealings with paypal in the past;

Four or five years ago I sold a laptop on ebay for ~$1000. The auction went smoothly, I didnt leave anything out. Almost a month later the buyer emails me saying its having problems or he was missing something, I dont remember exactly what his issue was but he had a problem. Since it had been almost a month and I didnt know what he had done to it in that time, I politely told him to F off. He goes to paypal and files a claim saying the item was not as described, paypal eventually ruled in my favor. So then the guy files another claim saying item was not received. Unfortunately for me, by this time I no longer had the tracking number and had no way to prove the laptop was even delivered, paypal ruled in his favor. Paypal sent my debt to collections and I had to pay then $1000.


Fast forward to today;

This afternoon I got a letter in the mail saying that;
"The records of Paypal Inc. show that your account has a past due ballance of $601.69.....Our client has advised us that they are willing to settle your account for 50% of your total balance......If you are interested in taking advantage of this offer call me within 45 days of this letter. Your statement ammount would be $300.85 to clear this account in full. Even if you are unable to take advantage of this offer, please contact me to see what terms can be worked out on your account.



I dont know what the fuck this is. I havent used paypal for four years since I had that problem with the laptop. Can I just tell these people to fuck off, or just ignore them all together?

Wait.. did you really pay them ?

 

[Homerboy]

I agree -- whatever number they provide is probably to some 3rd party company that obviously isn't Paypal, hence the "Oh we'll be nice and only make you pay $300!"

You're not to in-tune with how collections works are you?

 

[Q]

You're not to in-tune with how collections works are you?

No sir, I have never been in debt....yet. Talk to me in 1.5 years then it'll be a different story

 

[thescreensavers]

well, I had a similar issue, like 130 bucks or something like that we owed PayPal. Luckily they somehow mixed our name and address up and so we simply said no one by that name lives here, which was true. They stopped calling and got nothing in the mail.

last time I used paypal, Dont trust paypal with anything they will fuck you over