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You are here: Home / FU PAYPAL

FU PAYPAL

by | 31 Comments

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I have no idea what clowns have taken over at PayPal, but my account has been limited after ten years of use because they needed to verify where I live. I thought that was irritating, since they have a credit card and bank verified with them, and those two know I live where I live, but I did what they wanted and uploaded a copy of a utility bill with my address on it anyway. Two hours later, they send me this bitchy email:

Dear John Cole,

Since you are unable to complete the appeals process, access to your PayPal account will remain limited.

What do you mean unable? I did exactly what you asked for.

Reader Interactions

31Comments

  1. 1.

    roshan

    Dude, give paypal the full “Orly Taitz” treatment, nothing less will suffice. Justice Alito awaits your appeals.

  6. 6.

    Alien-Radio

    Meg Whitman’s clowns. Given how much a a clown she is, you can only speculate as to how shambolic the upper levels of management at that company are now.

  7. 7.

    fmbJo

    Is it possible these messages from PayPal are scams trying to get info from you for nefarious purposes? I know awhile back Ebay was being used in emails to get info.

  8. 8.

    beltane

    I know how you feel. Balloon Juice put my comments in Kain’s threat in moderation because I called myself Dr. Beltane. Why is your site violating my 1st Amendment rights?

  9. 9.

    Zach

    I’ve been banned from Paypal for several years because I don’t have information on what my bank account was several years before that… pretty sure it’s a scheme for them to avoid making good on accounts with small amounts of money in them.

  11. 11.

    Anne Laurie

    If you click ‘Contact Us’ (right-hand column, on the My Account tab), then click ‘Call Us’ (under ‘Speak to Us’) on the Contact Help screen, you get a PIN number to use when you call their ‘Primary Help Number’ (1-888-221-1161).

    I’ve only had serious problems with PayPal twice. Both times, I ended up calling the PHN. Both times, I got the impression from the (very helpful) call-center reps that this was more-or-less standard operating procedure.

    Their people are much more useful than their robo-systems.

  15. 15.

    Dan

    It could also be spam disguised as paypal to try and get info about you. I’ve gotten emails like that in the past.

  16. 16.

    Hysteron Proteron

    Paypal is teh suck.

    Small businesses, I have two words for you: Google. Checkout.

  18. 18.

    MTiffany

    @mai naem: Well now that Fox News can cut the RNC a check for a million bucks thanks to John Roberts and that strict constructionist Antonin Scalia, as a matter of fact, she doesn’t.

  19. 19.

    Tim in SF

    I had this problem with them once. I printed out every communication I had had with them as well as every document they wanted (I think 10 pages in all) and emailed and faxed it to them every hour until they confirmed I sent the information. Only took 3 work days.

  20. 20.

    TooManyJens

    uploaded a copy of a utility bill with my address on it

    Well, there’s your problem. Don’t you know you’re supposed to fax your credentials?

  22. 22.

    some other guy

    Paypal is awful. I used them a lot back when they were virtually the only game in town and I learned very quickly: 1) never EVER keep a balance on your Paypal account as it will inevitably and inexplicably be frozen at some point and you may or may not ever see that money again, and 2) never EVER give them your banking information because if you should get defrauded by a seller they will take first and ask question later– and by “ask questions” I mean “not bother responding to request for help.” Maybe they’ve gotten better in the past few years, but there are alternatives I can now use who haven’t screwed me over repeatedly so Paypal can DIAF for all I care.

  23. 23.

    Currants

    @some other guy: This. Had a fraudulent charge–for gaming–which PayPal notified me about as potentially suspicious. BUT the people I eventually got on the phone said “Well, when the company (who’d taken the money) confirms that you didn’t order it….” In other words, somebody else got to use my money for more than a week, and I had to pay the overdraft charges.

  24. 24.

    robertdsc-PowerBook & 27 titles

    Paypal has always worked for me. I’ve had one disputed sale through eBay that they handled for me in a satisfactory manner. I don’t know what the issue could be.

  27. 27.

    LiberalTarian

    You know what I find really odd? The Tea Baggers don’t give a crap that you can’t carry large sums of money on you when you get on a plane–you gotta go through a bank. The assumption is you’re a criminal, even if you can prove who you are, what you are taking the money for (for instance, the man I am thinking of was buying from a wholesale nursery), etc. THEY CAN TAKE THE MONEY FROM YOU, NEVER FILE CHARGES, AND KEEP IT.

    They don’t give a fuck if you have to carry a photo ID around with you everywhere you go (where were their cries to uphold the constitution when that man got arrested because he wouldn’t show a policeman his ID?). They could give a shit if some company like PayPal wants all your private data so they can track how you spend money.

    Nope, no story there. MOOSLIMS!! MOOSLIMS!!

    Fucking retards. Oh sorry, Sarah, did I offend you????

  28. 28.

    Paula

    They have to do this under banking regs and the patriot act. Doesn’t make it any better but maybe just understandable.

  29. 29.

    Mike G

    @LiberalTarian:

    And they don’t give a shit about the warrantless wiretapping of millions of people. Or the Feds spying on people’s library records. Probably because they’ve never set foot in a library and still think of telephones and “the internets” as a series of tubes.

  31. 31.

    S. Jackson

    I do computer security as part of my job. I’m worried you might have responded to a phishing email.

    Are you absolutely sure that you sent the info to the real PayPal, and not some criminal impostor? Was the original email to you really from PayPal? Did you go to their site using a bookmark you already had (rather than clicking on a link in an email)?

Comments are closed.