Paypal transaction was reversed

[campbeji]

Hi all,

There are a few parts to this question;

First, I made a sale to another company. I am based in Northern Ireland, and they are in the South of Ireland. The transaction went through and we sent the products to them; they were then to send them to their client. I sent the products to them via Parcel Force, Parcel Force deliver the products to their counterparts in the south, a company called GLS. The service I use is supposed to be a next day delivery; however, on this occassion the item was delayed and wasn't delivered for a few extra days. The products arrived too late to be of use.

When making the order, I was informed of the deadline and my response was as follows "The lead time on this will be very tight, if the order was placed and paid for very quickly then we might be able to get them done in time but any delay or any delays in deliveries will mean that you won't get it by the weekend."

She asked for a refund, and I refused. There were quite a few emails back and forth, but in the end, I didn't give a refund

She then proceeded to ask PayPal to reverse the transaction, which they did. I can't blame PayPal, as they followed their procedure and contacted me twice; however, I missed the emails they sent to me.

So, was I correct to refuse a refund or not? I explained to her that there was a risk of delays, and since she proceeded with the order, I assumed that she accepted the risk; if she hadn't, I would not have accepted the order.

The second part of the question, This all happened a year ago, I have only realised because I am doing my accounts and couldn't get it to reconcile. At this point, I am wondering if there is anything I can do about it. I doubt that PayPal will do anything. I was thinking maybe the small claims court. It isn't a huge amount of money £186ish but it has kinda annoyed me.

Thanks for any help
Jim

 

[Nathanto]

So, was I correct to refuse a refund or not? I explained to her that there was a risk of delays, and since she proceeded with the order, I assumed that she accepted the risk; if she hadn't, I would not have accepted the order.

As annoying as it is, I think you'll need to take this one on the chin and write it off. Small claims court will cost you more money, time and stress and I think you'll almost certainly lose.

As this was a B2B transaction then technically it would depend on what your contract T&Cs with the other company state regarding late deliveries but in this case I don't think in practice it would affect the outcome.

In court the customer will simply state you were advised of the deadline and failed to meet it; neither of which you can dispute. I doubt the court will be swayed if you claim you assumed the customer accepted the risk. Similarly missing/ignoring Paypal's attempts to resolve the issue won't look good either.

I'd treat this as a relatively inexpensive learning curve and never accept a close deadline order again without an explicit agreement as to what happens if the deadline is missed.

 

[AlanJ1]

As annoying as it is, I think you'll need to take this one on the chin and write it off. Small claims court will cost you more money, time and stress and I think you'll almost certainly lose.

As this was a B2B transaction then technically it would depend on what your contract T&Cs with the other company state regarding late deliveries but in this case I don't think in practice it would affect the outcome.

In court the customer will simply state you were advised of the deadline and failed to meet it; neither of which you can dispute. I doubt the court will be swayed if you claim you assumed the customer accepted the risk. Similarly missing/ignoring Paypal's attempts to resolve the issue won't look good either.

I'd treat this as a relatively inexpensive learning curve and never accept a close deadline order again without an explicit agreement as to what happens if the deadline is missed.

I would also add the waiting of a year to realise wouldn't look good.
Chalk it up to a busines lesson for a small amount of money.