Refunded in Under 48 Hours: How She Ended a 3-Month Fight With an Online Seller via Official Letter

After three months of back-and-forth, a customer got her money back in under 48 hours. One single message was enough to change the seller’s mind.

Buying something online often feels like a chance to score a deal. But when the device breaks and the seller refuses to issue a refund, those savings can quickly turn into headaches. Even when you have solid evidence on your side, getting your money back isn’t always straightforward.

This is exactly what one user experienced after purchasing a Google Pixel described as “new” on Rakuten. Less than two months later the phone stopped working, even though there was no visible damage. She contacted Google and learned the handset had been activated nearly two years earlier and was a U.S. model, so it was no longer covered by the manufacturer’s warranty. She asked for a refund, but, according to her Reddit post, Rakuten argued she should have noticed the defect within 14 days. That’s a tough standard when the phone looks indistinguishable from a brand-new device.

After multiple exchanges, PayPal got involved and the parties agreed she would send the phone back in exchange for a refund. Then the seller claimed they’d never received the package. The buyer sent one last message: she reminded the seller that the shipment was insured for its full value and asked him to file and sign an official declaration of non-receipt with La Poste. If the parcel truly went missing, the seller should be able to confirm that in writing. And then the tone changed: “I was refunded in less than 48 hours after that message,” she says, adding: “We’d been fighting about it for more than three months.”

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What’s noteworthy here is that she didn’t have to take the dispute to court to get her money back. She simply asked the seller to formally acknowledge the loss so she could make an insurance claim on the shipment. Her account doesn’t specify whether the seller actually signed the document, but the refund arrived immediately after she made the request. That tactic can be useful when a professional seller insists they never received a return—so long as the item was actually insured and the required carrier procedures are followed.

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This case also serves as a reminder that in France the 14-day withdrawal period doesn’t erase all consumer protections afterward. The legal guarantee of conformity typically protects buyers for two years when they buy from a professional merchant. And when returning a product, keep the deposit receipt, tracking number and proof of delivery until you’re refunded. Those documents can be decisive if a seller later claims the package never arrived.