PayPal and the destroyed violin: 'we're looking into it' (update)

PayPal and the destroyed violin: 'we're looking into it' (update)

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norman lebrecht

January 05, 2012

After being derided in media, old and new, for its instruction to a customer to destroy a  precious violin before a dispute could be resolved, PayPal has buried its head in a bunker in the hope the storm will subside.

‘We’re looking into it,‘ bleated a flunkey. That’s all. Nothing from Lord Birt, who was lput on the board to deal with such stuff (is he still there?). How long does it take to verify the claim? Maybe they’ll adopt Virgin’s larcenous 30-day wait.

But by the time they’re done, the humanoid banking site will be a global laughing stock.

UPDATE: A second statement to the Guardian this morning adds no clarity or regret – just more flannel:

A spokesperson for PayPal said: “While we cannot talk about this particular case due to PayPal’s privacy policy, we carefully review each case, and in general we may ask a buyer to destroy counterfeit goods if they supply signed evidence from a knowledgeable third party that the goods are indeed counterfeit. The reason why we reserve the option to ask the buyer to destroy the goods is that in many countries, including the US, it is a criminal offence to mail counterfeit goods back to a seller.”

Comments

  • Barry Johnstone. says:

    Paypal’s grasp of reality is absolutely woe-full!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • Janey says:

    Well, they’ve done one thing well… they’ve successfully made themselves look worse.

    How are they going to authenticate the claim without the violin????? I don’t get this policy at all. Destroy a product before the claim is examined?

  • Emil Archambault says:

    THe policy makes sense. However, as someone mentioned on the former post, there is nothing as a counterfeit violin…

    Plus, try to authenticate a violin through Skype…

  • Don’t forget that paypal is far from being a bank, as I tell anyone who will listen! They are only a (very bad and high handed) money holding site.

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