How do I get my money back?

Vi5 · 04-15-06, 12:37 PM

I recently employed someone (who goes to this forum, don't want to name and shame unless I am put out of pocket) to do a job for me based on me not having the time.

We agreed on everything on 2nd April. He asked for half the payment upfront ($15) and I did this. He then asked for $1 so he could pay his hosting, I then sent him another $20 making the total payment $35.

Him: "

sounds good. i can have this done 2-3 hours :0"

I've sent him several requests via MSN and PM now and he keeps failing to meet deadlines. Tomorrow I'm going away for a week and when I return it's going to be hectic and I won't be able chase him up then as I will basically be working from when I get home till when I sleep.

I have threatened paypal chargebacks if its not done by a certain time and those times have passed.

Do I now email him asking for a full refund (I have given up on him completing the project) or do I just issue a paypal chargeback and hope I win?

Thanks, Andy

Paypal dispute filed

anne · 04-15-06, 01:04 PM

I would be inclined to send him an email tonight asking for a full refund, try to contact him on some form of messenger software if you can too.

Leave it till the last possible moment before you go before issuing a chargeback, but if you have given him plenty of opportunities to put things right then it sounds like you might need to issue one.

g1c9 · 04-15-06, 02:10 PM

What a jerk.

Josie · 04-15-06, 02:24 PM

Does he have any legitimate reason for not being able to complete the work?

IMHO, he should give you your money back if he can't complete it. Stuff happens in everyone's life, but he should be big enough to send you back your money if he finds he can't fulfill his end of the deal. If you can still use the part he has completed, you could always pay him for that portion, but if you need the whole thing to make it work (e.g. a website design that's partly sliced), he should do the right thing and give you back your money and have a decent reason why he can't finish.

If he's not willing to pay you back after another try at contacting him, you could do a chargeback via PayPal, but that may just delay closure for you by making you think about the situation longer. Best to make one last try and then just write it off as a bad thing and don't let it hold you back from moving on.

Even people with the best of intentions sometimes run into problems, but if he isn't willing to let you know what's up, he will likely be someone you just don't want to go through a chargeback with. Just my two cents worth of course.

**Max** · 04-15-06, 02:37 PM

Vi5,

Please PM me the user's username as well as proof the payment(s). I will gladly look into the issue for you. Unfortunately, don't expect us to be able to force him to send you the money back. If there is enough conclusive evidence, we will only be able to ban him from the forum so he will not be able to make anymore transactions through NBT.

Until then, for the privacy of the user, don't release his username over the forum.

Good luck!

Quicksilver · 04-15-06, 03:46 PM

I hope you get all your money back, sounds like a jerk.

Vi5 · 04-15-06, 04:16 PM

I would definitely not call him a jerk, if I did or didn't get my money back.

He did say he was in a busy time a few days after we agreed on it. The fact was he kept saying he was dealing with another client when I spoke to him that really got to me if anything did.

I also do understand people run into problems, I just cancelled 2 projects a day after I agreed on them as I underestimated other work I had planned.

Anyway it's all be sorted now, he even offered to send over $5 extra but I declined.

Thanks for the advise etc

**Baby Boy** · 04-16-06, 12:31 AM

Good thing he did refund, cause I've done ran into this problem and with it being an "technical" (online job) or whatever it was called, PayPal couldn't do anything about it because it was an online job... I can't remember how it goes but it had to do with something of the job being something they can't make a refund via, so I'm like... WTH, ok, then whatever.

anne · 04-16-06, 06:20 AM

Glad its sorted. I like to give people the benefit of the doubt, especially if they do rectify things as best they can. Its comforting to see the mods here willing to take measures to make sure people don't get stung though.

Vi5 · 04-16-06, 08:34 AM

After promising me a refund (when I made the post he said he was going through the transaction) and then claiming paypal would not let him, I have filed a dispute dismorning.

I asked for screenshots of these "errors" and once again I was promised but did not receive.

Hope I win both disputes (2 part payment).