Paypal…My Morning Experience
First, let me say 2 things.
#1 is I take VERY SERIOUSLY, the handling of money over the internet. In my opinion, there is never a time where the customer is not right. The customers money should always be the most important thing for a business like Paypal and should always be protected. If an error has been made by Paypal or even the party themsleves, Paypal should make it right. Period. I do not expect a company to lose money or services based on a customers fraud or neglegience. But, the majority of glitches and errors shoud be accounted for and made right.
#2 the sum I delt with this morning was small $99. Not a large amount compared to others that have been in dispute for thousands. Still. Even if it was only $1, it was money that should have been taken care of and protected.
So, here’s the deal. I hardly ever use Paypal. in fact, if I don’t have to, I never sign in, I just pay for materials and finish the transaction as an anonymous party. Today, I recieved and email from a trusted source. This email gave me a link to Paypal to pay a bill. I clicked on the link and it took me to Paypal. I have always paid with a credit card (this transaction was for our church). It asked if I wanted to pay by card and I clicked yes to continue. This time, however, it asked for me to re-input my information. I checked it out and it looked legit (and was). I re-input my credit card information, confirmed the shipping and billing addresses and clicked the Pay button. There were no other options on this page for payment other than the credit card info I was giving them. The next page confirmed my payment. I then went back to the history page to print out my receipt and I saw this…
I apologize if it is small. What it says is that the $99 was being transferred from my personal bank account and once that was done, an e-check would be sent to the party I was paying.
WHAT?!?! After paying with the credit card, it instead made the transaction with my bank account.
Here’s where it gets good. I immediately called Paypal to report the issue. In total, I was on the phone/hold with them for over an hour. And, I had to call back at one point, becasue they disconnected me while transferring me. After telling them the issue, I was eventually transferred to 2 different people. the final person told me, “I don’t know why you’ve been on the phone so long. We can’t help you”. I was told that there was no way for them to adjust this transaction. I was also told it was my fault. I was told that I selected the check box that said “transfer from bank account” and also selected the drop down menu and the correct bank account number. SERIOUSLY?!?! At this point, I was extremely frustrated. not only had Paypal made a mistake, but they were blaming me for it.
But, it gets better. The bank account it was going to transfer funds from was an old account I had used years ago when I sold Jeep parts. That account didn’t even exist anymore. When I told the Paypal manager this, he got very frustrated and began talking of charges and fraud. He told me that I was trying to steal money from paypal to pay my bill. I COULDN’T BELIEVE THIS!!! He then told me that if that bank account did not prove to be real, that he would open a fraud claim against me and never allow my name or accounts to be used with paypal transactions. At this point, I just sat with my jaw open. Then he tells me, the only way to make it right is to give him appropriate bank account information, that we can then verify and use for this transaction. Obviously, I did this as I did not want my church or church accounts to be in jeopardy.
I was given NO SOLUTION. Told it was MY FAULT Told that this transaction is in effect and can NOT BE ADJUSTED OR CANCELED. Then, the transaction WAS ADJUSTED so that the money would be taken out of the correct bank account. Does this seem wrong to you???
At this point, I will never use Paypal again. the minute my transaction is complete, I will be deleting my account…
