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Comment by exodust | Hacker News Reader

"...so of course I could not provide proof of delivery for transactions that don't exist."

Perhaps I'm missing something here, but isn't proof of delivery meant to be documentation from a shipping company? Why is the OP trying to get proof of delivery from Paypal?

Edit - I now understand the resolution center does have a problem where transactions are not listed, so the form cannot be submitted. Still, he could find the transactions himself and email paypal the required documents. I would do that before coming to HN about it!

Something doesn't sound right about this story. The whole mysterious phone call in the evening etc.

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My understanding on that point is that he needed to see which transactions were the last 5 that he needed proof of delivery for and tried to find the details of the transactions (to then obtain proof of delivery from his shipping company). Upon trying to find these details he was unable as the paypal site wouldn't allow him to

Okay, so the resolution center failed to show the last 5 transactions. Seems like other people have this issue too...

https://www.paypal-community.com/t5/About-Payments-Archive/R...

That's sloppy of Paypal, but he could find the last 5 transactions himself from his normal history page, gather the required evidence and email paypal.

They do not accept emails, they email from service@paypal.com which is a no-reply address. The only way to provide them with tracking numbers is through the Resolution Center - yet in the resolution center they don't provide any transactions that they need tracking for. I emailed Paypal about this and they said they would send me an email with where to provide the info to, they did not send the email, they sent an Appeal Denied email yet I didn't even get the opportunity to appeal my case!

"they said they would send me an email with where to provide the info to"

If you have promises in writing, then quote those in future emails and remind them of the problem you faced in resolution center. Don't say "bug", but just that you need an alternative way to send proof of delivery.

I wouldn't mind seeing a screenshot of that email they sent to you promising to send you a future email. It's odd they would promise but not do it, considering they also made promises over the phone.

Perhaps throw together a blog page with screenshots and a timeline to illustrate more substantially their incompetence and your innocence! Let us know how you go!

It shouldn't be a huge stretch to imagine a customer service department having lousy or non-existent documentation. They said there was no record of the call, they checked again, then magically there was a record. Do you think it's more likely he imagined it or even lied about?

It could also be an innocent miscommunication between the two parties. E.g.:

- "Some guy called and said you're ok with me."

- "We don't have any record of that."

Both are right but saying different things. (ie seller was -called-, PayPal don't have any record that -the OK- was given).

You said it. "Magically there was a record of the call".

I don't buy it. This story shows signs of factual adjustment to make things look better for the OP. I'm happy to be in the minority on that position.

You are free to not buy it my friend, but one day Paypal will give you the hammer and you will see just how believeable this is. In fact, there are countless threads online with the same story. You've never had a rep from a big company say something and you call the next day and they have no record of that? It happens at least 3 times a year with my cellphone company, you must be very lucky!

All good. If you'd used your original HN handle rather than making a new one for this issue, and mentioning who you were and what your business is, that may have gone further in validating your story (for me at least).

Took me 2 minutes to find your post on Twitter, and from there your old handle and submissions on HN and details of your business. Your story now has more credibility. I'm all for anonymous opinions and discussion, but when it comes to seeking support in complaints against another company, it's best to disclose who you are (in my opinion).

I did say it, but I didn't say that. "Magically there was a record" meaning they had it all along and that customer service departments of that size are routinely slow to update or make simple mistakes, not that it fell from the sky as a small sliver of corroboration for OP's story. You'd sooner believe a stranger is lying from a throwaway account on a random forum than a phone jockey making a mistake...but at least you're happy.

Most likely those 5 transactions never actually existed. I'm saying this because it's a well-known problem that accounts sometimes gets flagged and you are requested to provide information about an transaction that never actually happened, I have encountered this myself (as a buyer). It lists a transaction number they want more information about, but you have never actually made any transactions at that time, and if you click on it you get a page that tells you that transaction doesn't exists.

Most likely there is a race condition somewhere in PayPal's backend that results in a transaction being partially logged to the wrong account, and then the inconsistent data makes the fraud detection system flag it.

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