How to get reimbursed for something that was never shipped?

[brad]

Back in May, I ordered a bike rack (not a car rack, but a rack that attaches to the ground) from a small manufacturer in British Columbia. The rack never arrived. There's a chance that it was shipped and delivery attempted while I was out of the country for 10 days, but I didn't get any notice of attempted or failed delivery. I have contacted the manufacturer several times by email and left a few voicemail messages over the past few months, and have never had a reply. I paid about $325 for the rack with shipping.

I'm trying to figure out what my options are. Clearly I'm not going to get the rack, but I would like to get my money back. I paid with my Visa card via Paypal. Is this something I would take up with Visa?

[Four Pillars]

I would check with VISA. They seem to have good coverage for fraud, and this situation might fall under that category.

[brad]

Thanks, will do. The guy who owns the company told me he was going to be traveling himself for a few weeks and I'm actually worried that something may have happened to him because he was fairly responsive before that. I doubt that it's actually fraud but more likely he's not around or able to reply.

I'll give it a few more tries and leave him a message saying that if I don't hear back by September 1 I'll take it up with Visa.

[Barwelle]

I'm actually worried that something may have happened to him

Could go the opposite way too... that may be just what he wants you to assume so you give up trying to get your money back. If you haven't done so already, I'd do some online sleuthing to see if anyone else has been shafted by this company.

[Four Pillars]

I doubt that it's actually fraud

I would agree, but from VISA's point of view, if you pay for something and don't receive it - that might fall under their 'fraud' category, even though there is probably no intent from the store owner. Maybe he just messed up or is having some problems (as you say).

I need to look at this kind of bike rack as well.

[brad]

I've done a lot of online sleuthing and haven't found any bad reviews or comments so far.

The thing about bike racks: About 99% of the bike racks on the market don't work well with U-locks. I made the mistake of buying a standard rack a few years ago and I have to use cables to attach my bike because my U-lock isn't long enough to attach the bike to the rack (and short U-locks are always recommended because you can't fit a jack inside them to break them). I was trying to rectify this situation by buying a better rack, and this one is designed to work with U-locks.

[jack_momma]

I signed up just to reply to this.

Raise a claim with PayPal first. A chargeback with VISA will work perfectly, but it will be a chargeback against PayPal (since they were the intermediary) and they are liable to suspend your account and freeze any balances you might have, since you didn't raise the issue with them first (or since they'll think you're trying to pull a fast one on them, or for any number of reasons). PayPal apparently has good buyer protection of their own, so I think you'll be fine.

Best of luck.

[marina628]

you have 45 days to do a dispute with paypal.If the seller cannot provide proof of delivery they will give you your money and debit sellers paypal.OOPS your 45 days are over so now you need to involve visa but file the paypal dispute anyway although they will likely do nothing at this point.

[brad]

Happy ending to the story: the rack arrived today.

[Barwelle]

Wow that took a while! I wonder if they shipped it late, or if the delivery got screwed up somehow. Regardless, good to hear that you have it now.