Paypal Duplicate Refunds!

It took me over an hour total time, but I got my $6.00 back! Was it worth it? Probably not, but I was so annoyed -- I had to stick with it.

The Background:
I recently sold a cookie jar on eBay and because I'm always underestimating the shipping on jars, I decided to come up with a flat fee of $20. to include shipping/insurance. Because of the way I over-pack stuff, jars usually wind up costing anywhere from $14. - $18. to ship.

When I actually sent the jar, it only costs $12.05! It was probably because the buyer lived in a neighboring state, but I couldn't keep all that extra money. So decided to refund $6.00, the rest ($1.95) going to packing materials, etc. I did a partial refund via Paypal and thought no more about it, until later in the day when I went back to the Paypal account for another transaction. Whoops -- there were two refunds to the same buyer for the same amount. I know I didn't do it and $6.00 isn't that big a deal, but what if I refunded the entire amount for some reason? That could have really screwed up my account!

Contacting Paypal:
Have you ever tried to get help on Paypal (or eBay for that matter). It's a lesson in patience, exasperating and annoying. First I tried sending them a note via the Help section, nothing "fit" the description and it kept getting harder and harder to figure out what to pick as they take you through layers of "help topics" to choose from.

I finally sent the email, but by the next day I had no contact from them as to whether they even received the email. Not even a "we've received you're email and will respond, etc".

I decided to call by clicking on the Contact Us link at the very bottom of the page. I called, and again like the email, went through layers of recorded annoying questions. I finally just kept saying "Operator" everytime they wanted an answer. It worked, I was then on line for another 10 minutes or so for the initial hold time until a real person came on. I explained the problem, was put on hold twice more and was online for another ten to fifteen minutes before the problem was resolved.

At this time, I was told that duplicate refunds are a sporadic issue, but it appears Paypal is not sure what triggers the duplication. They asked numerous questions as to how I did the refund, etc., but that was the only transaction I did during that login session.

Resolution:
Paypal is refunding my money and it should show up in 24 hours (too long if the amount was a big one!).

Comment:
If this is an ongoing issue with Paypal, it should be easier to report it instead of spending so much of my time on their problem! And again, what if it was a large amount? That could really cause serious problems for some sellers.