GlitterSniffer Cosmetics: Paypal and FDA-New Information

There have been a couple of developments over the last few days with regards to GlitterSniffer Cosmetics handling of the recall.

A customer who had previously sent a letter from her attorney to GS (which was ignored) requesting a refund of $1,169.15 for all her products and her intent to pursue the matter civilly if it was not remitted in a timely manner contacted Paypal on Monday to inquire about possible recovery of her funds. The customer has several hundred GS pigments and was denied a refund by GS for all of her merchandise. When she inquired about her refund the company denied any of her products were unsafe, despite 92 of them being on the recall list. She then advised the company she would see them in court. The only response she received was a simple "<3".

The injury referenced in the message possibly related to use of GlitterSniffer Cosmetics were corneal abrasions to both eyes, sustained after use of pigments in the Charity Collections. It is unknown which pigments were used specifically, as the customer purchased all three (TWLOHA, GLAAD and ASPCA) and they came in a package together, unlabeled. The customer visited a physician, was unable to wear any eye makeup for a few weeks and continues to this day to have eye sensitivity, despite not having any issues prior to use of GS.

Read from the bottom up

She contacted Paypal at 402-935-2050 and was advised the following:

With the PayPal dispute process, at this point, if PayPal investigates, and if they determine there was fraud, PayPal will start issuing refunds on the claims in the order they were received until the account is out of money. This means, if there is no money in the paypal account, there will be no refunds from PayPal.
The dispute representative did tell me that people could file a small claims court case and have their attorney subpoena PayPal's records regarding a specific seller. If a judge signs off on the subpoena, PayPal would be legally obligated to turn over any and all information regarding a particular seller.
Since I am contemplating a small claims court filing, the information from PayPal would most definitely be of assistance in my case. I am planning to contact my attorney about the subpoena.

According to Paypal if fraud is determined then Paypal would begin paying out claims from money in the GS account until that money is exhausted, though it is currently barred from use by the company itself. This is at odds with the information provided by GS at the time the accounts were frozen, as they clearly stated customers would have to wait 180 days for refunds. Additionally, if a civil case is brought by any individual and a subpoena issued all financial records related to GlitterSniffer Cosmetics would have to be released in pursuit of the matter. Should anyone choose to pursue the matter in this way they would then be privy to any and all financial records Paypal has for both GS accounts. Information such as this could clarify where the money GS earned during its most successful years went, in addition to showing exactly how much was owed in claims and provide further supporting evidence of refunds both issued (currently count: one) and denied by the company.

I posted on May 10, 2011 about a phone call from FDA to a GlitterSniffer Cosmetics customer regarding the recall. The customer was contacted again by FDA on May 18, 2011, this time from the Houston Field Office, Dallas District. The content of the call was the same, and the customer was specifically asked about the recalled pinks. Unlike the last phone call the call was identified by Caller ID as being from FDA. FDA is still apparently pursuing the investigation into the handling of the recall by GlitterSniffer Cosmetics, and the investigation has now spread to a third confirmed Field Office, this time in the South Central portion of the country. The Dallas Field Office is the office I contacted back in January that took one of my original complaints and forwarded it on to the Detroit Office.

Recall/Refund Process- New Information

According to the email I received from Glittersniffer Cosmeticson on January 29 the Refund/Recall process is currently at a standstill as the company can no longer access their Paypal accounts and has to wait 180 days for any funds from those accounts to be released to them.

This was posted to the Glittersniffer Complaints Facebook page by an Admin who spoke with Paypal this morning regarding her refund:

I just spoke with PayPal regarding my outstanding claims against GlitterSniffer. I explained that a statement was posted that PayPal had frozen her accounts and, despite her having money to issue refunds, PayPal wouldn't let her with the frozen account. PayPal's official response: "That is not true. If a seller's account is suspended, for whatever reason, and they have money in the account to issue refunds, they can still issue refunds by calling PayPal and authorizing PayPal to issue the refunds. The seller has up to 180 days to issue these refunds on a suspended account."

This means that if Lela has money to refund, she would only have 180 days to issue the refunds, not that she can't issue refunds for 180 days. I'm not sure what happens if she waits past the 180 days.

Also:

According to PayPal, if a seller's account is frozen by PayPal, for whatever reason... if there isn't money in the PayPal account refunds can't be issued, but they can still add funds to the PayPal account & issue refunds.

Perhaps Glittersniffer Cosmetics has misunderstood what the process is. It might behoove them to contact Paypal again to ensure complete understanding, as I'm certain they want to refund everyone in a timely manner.

That does beg the question, though, as to why there is a six month turnaround time for refunds. Even if Paypal does not issue GlitterSniffer Cosmetics the funds from their accounts they are still in business and bringing in money, so there is nothing to stop them from issuing further refunds. A company check or bank issued money order delivered via certified mail would suffice.

Even after the 180 days is up and the Paypal funds are returned (providing this is indeed the case) this appears to be the route that GlitterSniffer Cosmetics would have to take to issue refunds anyway as they would be unable to use Paypal at that point either. So why is there a hold up? If the company has the funds (and they do, as they are continuing to sell products and proprietor Lela Warren has stated numerous times that she has taken on a second job to pay off the refunds) they should be remitted immediately to all affected parties. Using the Paypal issue as an excuse, once again, not to provide refunds shows the company's unwillingness to be proactive in this matter.

Issuing company checks or bank issued money orders via certified mail may be a bit more work on the company's part, but it would demonstrate their commitment to moving forward with better business practices. Their reticence to do so simply shows that not much, if anything at all, has changed.

Refund Process

There has been much speculation as to how the Recall/Refund process would work going forward as GlitterSniffer Cosmetics no longer has access to their Paypal accounts.

As it stands now the official FAQ for the recall still instructs people wanting a refund to invoice through Paypal.

I have contacted GlitterSniffer Cosmetics via email and am currently awaiting their reply. I am sure they will want this information out as soon as possible and will be forthcoming with the information.

A commenter on Facebook states she was told the following by Paypal:

"...when people file a claim with a seller and paypal rules in favor of the buyer they will refund that amount to the buyer and tack the amount onto the sellers account. If the seller does not get their account in good standing meaning without a negative balance then paypal will personally take legal action against the seller. If there are people who have not filed their claim they need to do so and the same applies for those claims as well. They also stated if there are any questions not to hesitate in calling them that they are more than happy to try to help everyone."

 Here is Paypal's contact information:

1-402-935-2050(a U.S. telephone number)

4:00 AM PST to 10:00 PM Pacific Time Monday through Friday
6:00 AM PST to 8:00 PM Pacific Time Saturday and Sunday
Please note that hours of operation may vary on holidays

 I will update as soon as I hear back from GlitterSniffer Cosmetics on what course of action they plan on taking for the Recall/Refund process.

Paypal

There has been much discussion as of late about Paypal and GlitterSniffer Cosmetics use of the service. Several people contacted Paypal to followup on their claims/disputes/money requests, and were told that the GS account was under investigation. I contacted Paypal as well to report that multiple accounts were being utilized and was told at that time that the matter would be looked into.

On January 23 Lela Warren, proprietor of GlitterSniffer Cosmetics, had this to say regarding Paypal:

A recording of that conversation was briefly posted to the GlitterSniffer Complaints Facebook page by Lela Warren, but was removed as it was unclear as to whether or not permission to record the conversation had been obtained.

This was posted today:

GlitterSniffer Cosmetics no longer has access to their Paypal accounts as the newest account was flagged by numerous people. It would seem that despite GlitterSniffer Cosmetics statement to the contrary on January 23 that by GS own admission today there was an investigation by Paypal that resulted in the accounts no longer being able to be utilized.

GlitterSniffer Cosmetics is now using Google Checkout as their means to continue business. It should be noted that use of Google Checkout provides very little consumer protection. Per their Terms of Service:

GPC will provide various tools to assist Customers in communicating with each other to resolve a dispute that may arise between Buyers and Sellers with respect to their transaction. If Customers are unable to resolve a dispute, we can mediate disputes between buyers and sellers if either party requests assistance. If this occurs, we will review the dispute and propose a non-binding solution, if appropriate.

Unlike Paypal the use of Google Checkout is at the buyer's own risk, and any attempts by Google to settle any disputes do not have to be honored by GlitterSniffer Cosmetics.

Paypal

I contacted Paypal yesterdayat 402-935-2050 as I recalled that my payment to GlitterSniffer for my products was not to their current email address attached to their account.

 

The email address I sent payment to was glittersniffer12186@yahoo.com. While it's true that GS may have simply changed their email address we know that currently they are using a second Paypal account under a different email address to continue doing business.

Per the Paypal user agreement:

2.2 Personal, Premier and Business Accounts; Types of Transactions. We offer three different types of Accounts: Personal, Premier and Business Accounts. You may only hold one Personal Account and either one Premier or one Business Account. By opening a Premier or Business Account and accepting the terms as outlined in this Agreement, you attest that you are not establishing the Account primarily for personal, family, or household purposes.

Depending on what account type is attached to glittersniffercosmetics@gmail.com, glittersniffer12186@yahoo.com, and the current account GS is using GS may be in violation of the Paypal user agreement.

I was transferred to the Fraud department and was informed that even if the use of the new Paypal account did not violate the Paypal user agreement that it still should not be used for issuing refunds from GlitterSniffer Cosmetics. Paypal has policies in place to protect their users, and their policy asks that these types of disputes be resolved with the originating Paypal account. If they are not, then GS can dispute ANY refund issued through the new account. They would not get very far, however, as (at least with mine) there was a note indicating that it was a refund and as such a dispute would be ruled in my favor.

It should also be noted that GS stance regarding refunds through the original Paypal account of glittersniffercosmetics@gmail.com is that due to account limitations they cannot send money from that account at the present time. While this may be true, it does not stop GS from reversing payments within a certain timeframe, as evidenced here:

As far as I can tell that timeframe is 60 days. So it stands to reason anyone with a dispute that made payment within the last 60 days could easily be refunded through a payment reversal on the original glittersniffercosmetics@gmail.com account despite the current account limitations.

Dropping a Paypal Claim

Though I have no interest in rescinding my money request I was curious about this offer:

I logged into Paypal, and with the help of their virtual chat assistant Sarah I was able to find out what recourse, if any I would have had had I dropped a claim:

It seems that once you close a Paypal claim there is no way of reopening it, and  as a consumer you are left dealing directly with the seller to resolve.

It should also be noted that per FDA guidelines for a recall that there should be no out of pocket expense for the consumer.

Thank you to the Facebook poster for sharing.