EDIT: Paypal sided with me on the dispute claim after I explained the whole ordeal to them.
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This company is a crapshoot. They claim that they will give you a refund if an item is not as described. "Item is "not as described"
An item is "not as described" if it is materially different from the item description or preview so you should expect the author to "tell it like it is" when it comes to the features and functionality of items. If it turns out the item is "not as described" you will be entitled to a refund."
That's their policy but they do not enforce it when you wish to get a refund. Nope, the support agent Vhon said this to me: "I have checked the form on my end, however, it still appears that the status is "In Progress", even though he specified that he's not granting the refund, it only means that the author has not yet finalized the decision of your request.
Note: Envato can only step-in to review your plea once a dispute has been raised. Dispute only applies if the author does not respond after a 5 day period AEST or if they have declined your request for a refund."
This is illegal, because what this allows is for any seller on this site to keep a buyer in limbo from getting their money by replying back to the buyer on and on OR simply not declining the request. This is a scam, plain and simple. And if I had known this, I wouldn't have bought on the site the first place.
With that in mind, my story is like: I found a wordpress theme I really liked for my portfolio that claimed I could set up in minutes thanks to drag n drop. Envato add on a 2$ for the Paypal fee which is against Paypal's TOS big time. I thought the fee was only for credit cards which is the norm but it's not. When I tried to set up the theme with the demo content, it was fine, but when I tried to edit them to set up my portfolio, I found out that it was way too difficult but I found myself forced to use the plugins else it wouldn't look as pictured, thus the item not as described. I contacted the seller thinking that they would understand but no, they were rude, unprofessional, sassed me, basically mansplained what plugins were (I've worked with Wordpress since 2010, I know what plugins do), the hours of theme making is, and said that since it was the plugin at fault, not their theme, it wouldn't be refunded. They kept my request as in progress and the support agent saw this when I tried to bring it up higher. They said they couldn't do anything about it.
So when I went to raise a dispute in Paypal after replying to the support agent that this system was bogus, very much illegal, promising that I will be taking my business elsewhere and to get my refund either way due to paying with Amex, I found myself locked out of my account.
This is their pattern, they refuse to help you and instead let them and the seller take the money. Look around on the internet, this is outrageously illegal.
You can imagine how livid how I was when I found out I was locked out of my account all for standing up to their shady practices and policies. I already managed to take screenshots, but doing this shows they don't give a flying flip, they just want the money. If i had known the horrors, I would've stayed to another site I use.
Finally having enough, I escalated the report to a claim on Paypal to get my money back and while I can go straight to Amex still, they need to stop bullying people who are too busy to handle this situation, instead letting them keep the money.
No, that's not how a service works. No legit business would pull this. I told you I was going to make you hate me, Envato. The more I spread this, the more people will be aware to stay far far away from your terrible business practices, if one can call it that :)
Do not use
Please do not purchase from Envato (Themeforest, Codecanyon, etc), there is better support with plugins where you buy directly from the (highly recommended) plugins website. Envato/Paypal creates a wall for sellers to hide behind. Do not use paypal to buy software, they do not cover it, you cannot make a claim on intangible items like you can with your bank, and your bank has more protection and is more on your side than paypal. Most banks insure you up to $100k so your money is safe.
About my experience, I recently purchased a plugin on envato, posted an issue on the plugins support forum, and received no response, no support at all. I even bumped my post in case the author did not see it and had the purchase code in my profile like the forum states. Then I left a comment to him on the plugins page on envato, yet no response to my support post.
After waiting 2 weeks, I asked envato for a refund. The plugin advertised support but I could not get in contact with the plugins support.
Mario, the support at envato responds,
"Remember: although we do encourage authors to provide free support (and most do to generate better sales for themselves and keep their customers happy), the reality is that authors are not required to provide support and it is their choice to do so. This is also true for item updates, as long as the item is working correctly."
Yet the plugin advertises the complete opposite and states nothing about not having support on the pluins page on envato where you purchase it. To me this is ilegal. I cannot get away with this with my business, why do they?
Then Mario asked me what the problem was with the plugin, even after I explained in detail that my issue was with no customer support and fraudulent advertising, 2 weeks later he tells me they couldnt duplicate the issue so they couldn't give a refund. Lol of course!
Also the comment I left on envato, about not receiving any support, was deleted by envato. That comment was 100% true, I never received any support, yet they delete it. They do not want negative comments because to hinders sales. Yet by deleting all the negative comments warning others, this falsely entices people to purchase crap, and you will get no refund for fraudulent advertisements.
DO NOT SUPPORT BAD BUSINESS!
DO NOT BUY FROM ENVATO!
DO NOT USE PAYPAL FOR PURCHASES!