Hello-- No, this isn't music-related, but last week I made a first-time purchase through Grailed on a cardigan sweater. It was a cool, geometric, mid-60s-type sweater, and best of all: mohair! Or so I thought. I made the purchase via PayPal, and after receiving shipping info the next day from the seller, I messaged him to say how excited I was to be getting this cool mohair sweater, and if it's too big for me, I have had great luck spritzing mohair sweaters with hot water while laid flat and shrinking them to size. "Oh no, it's synthetic and not mohair. Won't shrink; I tried." Huh? The title of the page said "Vintage Style Mohair Cardigan," and definitely not "Mohair-Style Cardigan." The tag he added into the description was even "#MOHAIR." No mention anywhere in the description about the material actually being synthetic. The sweater arrived in the mail today, and sure enough, it's 100% acrylic per the bottom of the label (that he conveniently covered up with his thumb in the photo). What's almost comical is the exchange with the seller. I wasn't being sarcastic or rude; I just asked why he would list "mohair" in the title and make no mention of it actually being 100% acrylic. His response: "Take responsibility for your actions. Deal with it. I told you it's synthetic." "You did tell me it's synthetic...AFTER I made the purchase based on your description and AFTER you shipped it out to me." "Go away. LOL. I'm done dealing with you. If it was so important to you then you should have confirmed before buying. Stop bothering me." My brain was sprained at that point. *I* should take responsibility...? I should have confirmed that he really meant "mohair" when he put "mohair" in the title? I almost felt like I was being trolled. I sent a message with all the pertinent info to Grailed customer service. Can anyone with Grailed experience confirm this is like eBay, where they will clearly see the facts and issue me a return label/refund without hassle? Thank you...
No idea about Grailed, but if they haven't responded by now the signs are not good, so why not just open a claim with PayPal?
Let Grailed take care of it. Do not pay to return. Force seller to pay return costs. If Grailed does not step up, then go through PayPal or your credit card company. Make sure to take screenshots that show it being sold as "mohair" with no indication of synthetic in the listing. This is an easy SNAD (Significantly Not as Described) win with PayPal.
What payment method did you use? Hopefully it was a goods purchase through Paypal, in which case I would go directly through them and let them guide you as next step to take. It's ok to also contact Grailed, but I would start letting PP know what's going on.
You have six months with PayPal. No need to jump that gun IF Grailed offers customer service and resolution services.
It depends on how the purchase was made. If it was made through Grailed Payments, then yes he should go through them. If it was made with Paypal, then it should go through them. Grailed indicates on their support page that they can guide the user through the process if the buyer figures that's necessary. But clearly if the purchase was through Paypal, that's who you want to contact.
Not always. For example, on eBay, even if you use PayPal, eBay wants you to go through their return process first. But I know nothing about Grailed.
From Grailed's support page: "Purchases made with Grailed Payments are protected by Grailed directly. Learn more here. PayPal transactions are eligible for PayPal Buyer and Seller Protection. Our support team is on hand to guide you through that process."
Hello, and thanks to all for responding. This hasn't been the easiest thing to navigate, as the instructions have been ambivalent. I did finally get a response from customer support at Grailed, and they instructed me that protocol is to file a significantly-not-as-described claim through PayPal, which I did. Upon filing, PayPal then told me I had 20 days to "escalate" the case for their review; that was odd because I'd thought I just did that. I waited a day with no response from the seller, and then I went into my PayPal account and officially escalated the case. That was yesterday. This morning I got a message from the seller through Grailed telling me, "Get off of the Grailed platform. We don't need your type." I don't want to get into pointless back-and-forth warfare so I didn't bother responding. On the way home from work this evening I got a PayPal notification that the seller is offering a partial refund of $4 on the item. According to the instructions, I can accept the $4 which will close out the case, or I can deny the $4 and they will "continue review of the case and make a decision based on information available." Of course I have no interest in his $4; I never would have bought the sweater had I known it isn't actually mohair wool and I want to send this thing back for a full refund plus all my shipping costs. For those of you with return experience, is it not cut-and-dried that an article of clothing advertised as mohair that turns out to be 100% acrylic will be granted a return and reversal of funds? If stating a sweater is wool and the tag says it's 100% acrylic (I sent them a photo of the tag as well as a link to the seller's listing for the sweater) isn't the very definition of "significantly not as described," then I don't know what is. Thanks again.
Stay calm and don't correspond with the seller at all. Anything you say to the seller at this point can be used against you. Of course, anything the seller has said to you can also be used against him. The threat to get off the platform should be enough to get him shut down, if this platform is any good. But, at this point, just focus on getting your money back. Don't accept the $4. In all your correspondence be extraordinarily clear as to what the problem is.
Make sure to forward that seller's response to Grailed. Make them aware of this person, and leave appropriate feedback for them. I would bet Grailed does not want people like him on their platform. This should be a cut and dried case, and I would be pretty shocked if Paypal did not refund the total paid.
Thanks. Yeah, the $4 offer is less than I paid in tax for this item. I just declined through PayPal, and as they asked my reason for the decline, I stated that I bought this based on the assertion in the listing--twice--that it's mohair. No mention at all of acrylic. I affirmed that I would like to send this item back to the seller for a full refund, including all shipping costs. Checking my Grailed account now, there are 18 one-line replies from the seller that offer a dim view of humanity. "I bet you have many friends"..."I'm sure you live in your parents' basement"..."broke loser"..."talk to girls much?"..."I wish you bought this from me face to face because you would be getting SH****** back from me." Wow. I bought a mohair sweater that turned out to be acrylic and I want to return it due to the incorrect description offered in the listing. That's all. I added the entire screen-shot diatribe to the PayPal claim, and I replied to the Grailed customer service email from this past weekend with the screen shots, which I'm sure they have access to. This seller is psycho.
Agree. Ignore the seller completely, don't accept the $4 refund, and wait. PayPal will refund your full purchase price. The seller is completely in the wrong.
OP here. Wow. I’m at work, and I just got a notification from PayPal that they have denied my request for a return. Their 2-sentence explanation is there isn’t enough material difference between the seller’s description and the actual item to warrant it being “significantly” not as described. I’m shocked by this. Do I have any recourse, such as calling my credit card company and reversing the charge? Here a guy sells me an acrylic jacket stated to be wool, abuses and taunts me through time-stamped Grailed messages, and now I’m stuck with this non-wool jacket that I overpaid for under false pretenses? Any/all advice welcomed.
Call PayPal first. Appeal decision and point what the significant differences are. Don't bother mentioning that the seller was an a-hole to you. Keep things simple and clear. The seller stated the item was mohair, obscured the label showing otherwise and you only found out it was synthetic after that fact. If they give you flack, be persistent, but nice and cordial. You don't want to piss them off. It might be worth calling back if you have no luck with the first person. I once had to call three times before I got someone who understood the issue so it could be dealt with properly. If no luck with with PayPal, call your credit card company. Curious, did the seller respond to the claim on PayPal and if so what did he say? Could be that your comments weren't clear enough and he was able to wrangle his way out of it.
Hello Eddie, and thanks. From what I can see in the PayPal appeal history, the seller made no response, other than to offer a $4 pittance of a refund. I’m still in shock that a garment can be advertised as wool, and when it turns out to be acrylic/plastic, I have no recourse for having paid “wool” money for it. Is there actually a PayPal phone number where I can speak with someone in a position of authority? I’m at work now, but I will research this when I get home. This is exactly the same as selling a stereo LP from 1967, but falsely representing it as mono without including any photos to tip off that it’s actually a stereo copy.
@ROFLnaked Go to the help section, scroll down to the contact us link, click on that, scroll down (again!) and there will be options for you. You need to login now. I usually do it as a call back as it's fairly quick. I haven't called them in a while though so not sure how fast they are these days.
Thanks for your advice; I will do it when I get home. Hopefully I’m not throwing even more good hours of my life after bad… I feel like I’m in some alternate universe where I bought something through the internet on the basis of the seller's description, and then PayPal sides/rewards the seller by stating that wool & acrylic aren’t all that different.
I do not think that everyone understands that mohair is an actual material. They think of that as a style. Point out that it's a particular material--provide a screenshot of the definition, easily available on the Web. Then indicate that the item shipped was made of acrylic--not mohair.e Show examples of acrylic mohair items properly described as "acrylic mohair". Get someone on the phone and walk them through it.
This completely. Also, yes, call your credit card company and let them know what's going on and see what options they can provide And if you haven't already follow up with Grailed to make sure they understand that you have been abused and harassed by buying on their platform and that it is completely unacceptable. I assume they do not want that type of experience to be the norm, and that person, at the very least, should never be able to sell on it again.
Hello, and thanks again. I did bring this to the attention of Grailed via email; they reviewed our correspondence and told me that his messages did in fact violate their Code of Conduct and they will “take necessary action.” Checking now, I received a taunting email from the seller— “Thanks again for your purchase, buddy! Just got my funds released by PayPal! Really hope you enjoy wearing it!” Absolute insanity. I will try phoning PayPal when I get home, and I’m guessing I would have to stew over this until Monday before a phone rep from my bank/credit card will be available.
Send this message to Grailed. Credit card reps are available 24/7 for most companies. Bottom line it sucks, but take a deep breath and try not to aggravate you more then it already has. Karma is a bitch. Jerks like that will get what they deserve, We've all had this happen to us, and best to look at it as another lesson learned and be done with it.
Hi again, and thanks to everyone for taking the time to reply. It's reassuring to know that empathetic SH members are compassionate enough to listen to an anonymous fellow music aficionado whine. I did call PayPal and I finally got through to a live person who I can't accuse of being the most communicative CS rep I've ever spoken with. I explained the situation as succinctly and as clearly as possible; that mohair is a natural angora wool fiber, and that's what the seller put right in the title. I continued that the description was all of two sentences, with nothing about "100% acrylic" appearing in either of them. I also made him aware that the seller put hashtag: mohair right under the description. The CS rep put me on hold for a little over 5 minutes while he reviewed the internal case notes and checked the actual link I provided. When he came back, he told me that as the seller did not explicitly state "100% mohair" in the title and he made no claim at all as to the material in the description, that there "isn't enough here to re-open the case." I stayed calm and pointed out that per the photo of the tag that I supplied, the item is 100% acrylic and thus 0% mohair, so how is this different from me pulling out every polyester shirt in my closet and listing them online as "fine silk shirt" and selling them for $50 each? I reassured him that I'm not looking for a partial refund or any other sort of scam; I just want to return a not-as-described item for a refund. I can't wrap my head around how "mohair cardigan" in the title of an ad for a cardigan that is proven to be 0% mohair can be judged as too inconclusive to force a return. At that point he offered a one-time courtesy voucher for the entire amount of my purchase. I'm seething slightly less over being taunted every step of the way by this seller wh0 will face no repercussions for his reprehensible behavior, but as someone mentioned above, karma has a way of collecting debts. Thank you all one more time.
Buddy, huh? When he has to refund your money, you can write to him and call him "Pal" and thank him for the refund
