Anybody else fed up with Paypal? (1 Viewer)

[Rachael B]

I'm done with Paypal. They have wrecked my account and refuse to repair it. Last summer after repeatedly pressuring me to become "verified" I made the mistake of doing so. At one point last spring I had to decline an online payment of $250 because at that point I refused to become "verified". After that, until I was so-called "verified", I was limited per month to use them, I forget the exact amount.
Anyway, back to last summer, I finally gave in to the arses and "verified" my bank account for cash transfers. I did so because I had plannd to sell some records on e-bay and wanted to always be able to use my credit card for e-bay purchases. Well I was happy for a couple of months. Let me mention here that they constantly barraged me with offers for their credit card last year.
In October, when my credit card from one of the nation's best financial insitutions, was renewed for another 2 years, they sent me an e-mail reminder that my credit card was expiring and to go update it. I did so, but when was finished they wouldn't accept my credit card. They said it couldn't be "confirmed". So, I had no credit card on file and suddenly my address was "unconfirmed" too.
Repeated e-mails and a phone call never got any answer about what was being "confirmed" about my credit card. Just trite answers and the rcommendation to "try" another credit card, and the obligatory gee thanks for being a wonderful customer!
There was a break in my haggling with them in November and December because of a severe illness happening in my family, so I didn't have time for their B.S. Another recent of e-mails and another recent phone call have gone nowhere. This company doesn't value it's customers, has piss poor to no customer service, and could care less that they've jerked me around. I quess they think customers grow on servers.
My final e-mail demanded they re-instate my credit card or close my account. They can't even be bothered to even resond. I given them two weeks too. Since they have a window into my checking account, I've opened another one. As soon as the checks arrive, I'm putting my money into the new account. I don't trust Paypal. I want nothing to do with them.
One of my better friends has a bud who sells on E-bay heavily but Paypal has wrecked his account too. This guy bought something on E-bay and resold it. It was alledged that the item he sold was stolen by the guy he bought it from. Paypal frooze his whole account. He asked them to unfreez everything but the funds in question. They refused. He got a lawyer to help him. The lawyer got nowhere with them and concluded that online activity has few laws and none he could figur out to use against Paypal.
All I can say is screw paypal, their behaviour with me is at very least immoral and boders or goes beyond legal. Class, can you say racketeering? That's good I like the way you say racketeering! Paypal has no scrupples......

 

[Greg_Y]

I no longer use PayPal either.
1. I was sick of paying the fees which were too high, IMHO.
2. I got ripped off when I bought something on eBay. They did little about it.
Alot of people don't realize that PayPal can and will take money out of your checking account and/or charge your credit card. Their "Terms of Agreement" is ridiculous.
I would suggest anyone who uses PayPal to check out these two pages:
www.PayPalSucks.com
www.PayPalWarning.com

 

[Michael*K]

I got ripped off when I bought something on eBay. They did little about it.

Did you talk to your credit card issuer? A friend of mine was defrauded on an eBay purchase and while PayPal did nothing, his bank agreed to void the charge.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Sorry to hear about the Paypal troubles. Damn glad I didn't buy into their "verified" status last year.

I go by the axiom: Never let ANYONE have access to your checking account. This is why I don't do direct deposit at my workplace (just cut me a check and I'll go deposit it) or allow my mortgage or utilities into my checking account either.

 

[Cal S]

What is the best alternative?

 

[Patrick Sun]

Just keep your monthly transactions under $200/month to keep your "un-verified" status with Paypal. That's what I do.

 

[Don Black]

The best alternative right now is Citibank's C2IT. It's free...for now.

 

[Scott_G]

Never give your Checking account - anyone can ACH money with the right info. The money is gone until they give it back or the the bank credits you.

Always use a Credit card.

 

[Rob Lutter]

Um, then... technically... could anyone that you send a personal check use your checking account?

 

[Don Black]

With access to the correct equipment, certainly.

 

[Rachael B]

:star: !!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for the outstanding links Greg!!! I spent the last two hours reading in sheer amazement. Paypal is past history for me. I joined them in the early days, I got $10 for my trouble. I'm truly flabergasted at what they've done to honest folks! I'm certainly glad that my family situation negated the e-bay business I was going to start and use Paypal to collect funds. I'm very lucky! It sounds like Paypal is financially crashing too. Best wishes!
P.S.- everybody take a look at Greg's links. Don't even dream of usig Paypal even for small transactions. Patrick did you read much of this stuff?

 

[John Besse]

I still use PayPal as it is the most convienent and the most practical. Minus their outrageous fees, and it's a great service!

 

[Matt Stryker]

I just went in and unverified myself, deleted all my credit card info, and then closed my account. You can do all that through the profile page.

I've been meaning to do that for a while, this has just sped up the process. I'm money-order/cashiers check only from now on.

Patrick (about direct deposit) - I was under the impression that direct depositors were forbidden to withdraw from your account, only put money in? If you give the info to a bill paying service thats another story, but I've never heard any DD horror stories.

 

[Graham Perks]

I got to admit, I'm on the opposite side from Patrick here.

I have as many bills as I can direct debited. I have my income going straight into the account too, plus part of my income going to a savings account. It's just so easy. I don't have to worry about bills not getting paid on time, or me losing checks, I very very rarely have to buy new check books (I think I've done it twice ever), and I save a ton on stamps! I save a ton of time when dealing with bills.

Don't let anyone access your bank account? What about the bank??!!! They have access don't they?

The banks are paranoid about people mis-using your account. The last thing they want is stories of people's money disappearing.

I've been doing as much as I can automatically for over 10 years now without a hitch.

Coming from the UK in 1995, I thought it was the strangest thing to see all these people lining up to deposit their pay checks in the bank. The system was so back-in-time that the banks had to advertise for people to sign up for direct deposit. I don't understand American's paranoia or fear of the banking system. Perhaps there's some history I don't know about.

I couldn't believe how backwards the banking system is/was here! At the time it was rare to find free checking here. The UK banks I'd just left were giving interest on checking account to compete. I was shocked as it seemed like their had to be a lack of competition amongst banks in the US. I would have thought there would be more competition and better deals for customers, not less. Eventually I switched banks here once my old one started charging me a monthly fee.

And I still don't get why, when depositing a check made out to me, into my account, I have to sign the back of the check! That's so weird! It's saying "yes I give permission to pay my money into my account"! Duh!

 

[PaulG]

I tried to open a PalPal account, but they could not verify my credit card. They couldn't, but no one else has trouble with it. So I tried to close the account, but I couldn't do that because they couldn't verify my credit card. This put me in a catch 22 situation. I wrote them a letter stating the catch 22 situation and that I was POed about their lack of any way to talk to a human to resolve my problem. I also mentioned I did not want to deal with an unprofessional organization as they appear to be. The letter also stated that I demand my account to be closed, and as of receipt of the letter by them, I would not be responsible for it. I sent it registered with return receipt. I received the receipt, and never heard from them. My card has never been charged, so I never needed to contact any states attorney office, which I would not have hesitated to do.

 

[Patrick Sun]

On ocassion, a company will deposit the wrong amount of money into your direct deposit account, and they have the right/power to take the money out of your account to set things straight because you gave them the right when you signed up for direct depositing of your paycheck. (And if the wrong, higher amount shows up in your checking account and you withdraw it before the company could take it out, there's another set of hassles as to getting the accounting on the money straighten out).

I like being in control of who I pay. Sure, I sound pretty backwards, but it's served me well, and I don't get some of the banking headaches others seem to get at the most inopportune times. The banking industry is well served by their lobbyists, and the larger banks are not looking out for the little guy. That's as far as I will go as to not get too eco-political about the US banking system.

IMHO, the direct payment of bills is ok IF you go online and click a few buttons on a webpage manually every month so that you still maintain control of your checking account.

I wouldn't even consider automatic mortgage payments either, but that's just me. In lean times, you just never know how you'll need to rearrange your financial resources.

 

[Stan]

I also backed off when they wanted to "verify" me. Tying my account to a credit card I can recover on is one thing, but direct access to my checking account, not a chance.

Funny thing is I seem to have a bigger and bigger limit with my unverified account. They threaten you with not being able to use them because your limit won't increase. However, I bought something a month ago and my limit had somehow increased to $1200.

It's nice to be able to instantly pay for an ebay purchase, helps my feedback rating, so as long as I don't get to carried away with my spending, I'm happy being unverified.

 

[Robert_eb]

I'm currently a premier member which means I get hit with thier fees every time I accept a payment from someone. How do I change my account so that I don't get hit with fees. I don't take in more than $200.00 a month so I really don't need the "premier" account. I went to the profile page and couldn't find the info to do it. Any help would be appreceiated.

 

[Michael St. Clair]

Join in the class-action suit against them!
http://www.msnbc.com/news/712822.asp

 

[David Oliver]

Well, I use an online Bill Paying service that has my checking account information and I think it is the greatest thing since sliced bread.