For reference, this is the email I wrote which go a reply the same day (with refund).
Subject: Complaint about Butterfly Labs Inc. fraud
I have a complaint to file against a Paypal merchant, BF Labs Inc, (
[email protected])
This company is now famous on the internet for defrauding customers and has defrauded me of over $4,600
I bought physical goods on a pre-order basis in March and April on the understanding they would be delivered any time between 2 weeks and up to 2 months. I was not aware Paypal strictly forbids pre-orders. They proceeded to delay the delivery of these orders citing technical difficulties. They constantly give deceptive updates which I believe were entirely designed to cause the expiry of Paypal's 45 day limit on disputes.
Unfortunately, I believed their lies and gave them the benefit of the doubt. I then came to know one of the company's founders is a convicted felon who is still on probation for running a previous "long con" operation.
I eventually decided to give up and request a refund: emailed the company several times to request a refund, but I was summarily refused, and finally repeated requests are just flat out ignored. I still to date have not received delivery of my orders.
Here are the transaction ID
[paypal transaction ID list]
Unfortunately most of these payments were made with paypal balances so I am not able to initiate any chargeback via my card company.
I filed claims in the paypal dispute center but they were automatically closed because it's outside the 45 day period.
[paypal dispute reference list]
I came to understand that Paypal can escalate this issue to give a refund because basically Bf Labs Inc have broken the Paypal terms of service by selling products on a "pre-order basis".
My understanding is Paypal requires merchants to deliver goods within 20 days of an order being placed.
I would be very grateful if you could escalate this issue and refund my money. I have been a loyal customer for over 12 years and hope Paypal can protect us consumers from fraudsters like this.
Yours sincerely,
[name]
Paypal account: [my paypal email]
Paypal merchant ID: [my paypal merchant ID available in the profile section]
Tel [my phone numbers]