Yesterday, I had a plumber come to my house to do some repairs.

We agreed on the price, he fixed the problem, and before he left my home, I sent him the full sum over PayPal.

He showed me the text that confirmed he had a payment from me, and then left, so I assumed all was well.

But all was not well.

This afternoon, he’s been texting/calling me non-stop, saying he didn’t receive the payment.

I have the PayPal receipt, but it says he “hasn’t accepted the payment.”

The money was taken out of my account and I have PayPal and my bank both confirming that I did what I was supposed to do and he literally just has to go to PayPal and accept the money.

He’s now claiming that he doesn’t understand how PayPal works, so he can’t claim the money (PayPal says that if he hasn’t claimed the money by 4/25, I will get an automatic refund).

And playing dumb has a price.

He wants me to pay him the full amount again, this time in cash. But I feel like this is a scam.

He could easily take my cash, and then accept the PayPal money, and get paid double what we agreed to.

AITAH for expecting him to figure out how PayPal works or wait until I get my refund and then I’ll give him cash.

I have no problem paying what I owe, but I already did that.

He shouldn’t have agreed to be paid via PayPal if he doesn’t know how PayPal works.

Here is what folks are saying on Reddit.

I wouldn’t even do that.

Bleh! Oh well.

True, but I bet this is a scam.

Good answer. How can he argue with that?

I agree, although people do lots of things without learning how they work.

No referral for you!

If you thought that was an interesting story, check this one out about a man who created a points system for his inheritance, and a family friend ends up getting almost all of it.