Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

SCOTUS: It’s not “bribery” unless it comes from the Bribery region of France. Otherwise, it’s merely “sparkling malfeasance”.

“They not like us!” (that’s for sure!)

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

It’s a doggy dog world.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

Usually wrong but never in doubt

T R E 4 5 O N

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Books are my comfort food!

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

Glad to see john eastman going through some things.

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

Let’s show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

In my day, never was longer.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

You are here: Home / PAYPAL IS THE WORST COMPANY IN THE WORLD

PAYPAL IS THE WORST COMPANY IN THE WORLD

by | 140 Comments

This post is in: 

I just want to say that PAYPAL IS THE WORST COMPANY IN THE WORLD, AND I WILL KEEP SAYING THAT UNTIL THIS REGISTERS ON GOOGLE AND THEY CONTACT ME.

Some backstory:

I’ve had this paypal account for ten years. I also had a debit card associated with it. I lost my wallet in July, and being the responsible party that I am, I contacted everyone to let them know this. My bank and other accounts had no problem with this, but not fucking paypal. Upon trying to get a new card, I learned my account had been limited. Why? Who fucking knows? So now, for the past two and a half months, I have been trying to verify I am who I am. This just makes me full of joy:

I’m verified, but limited!

I’ve spent the last two months trying to verify that I am the person they did business with for ten years, each time to be told that “Yes, you have provided the information we asked for, but we can not verify who you are.”

They have my bank info (same as it has been for ten years). They have a credit card (same one for eight years). They have an address. They have a copy of my driver’s license (same license number for 2o years). They have xeroxes of my bills. I HAD TO INPUT A FUCKING 6 DIGIT CODE I COULD ONLY GET FROM MY PAYPAL ACCOUNT BEFORE TALKING TO THEM.

And yet, I am told- “We’re sorry, the final decision has been made. You have provided everything we asked for, but we can not verify you are who you are.”

And then the stupid bastard told me I could start a new account, just using a different email address.

*** Update ***

Here’s a question for you. They claim they will send me the money in my account in 180 days after the account is officially closed. But where will they send it since they can not verify me? They can’t send it to my bank. That information isn’t good enough to verify who I am. They can’t send it to my credit card because, again, that information isn’t enough to verify who I am. Lo and behold, they can’t send a check to the address on my bill or driver’s license, because that is not enough to verify who I am.

Are they just going to walk down the street with cash in hand yelling for John Cole? I’m honestly curious.

Also, this is why drinkers live longer. If I had not had two glasses of wine I might be coming to join Elizabeth right now.

This is, bar none, the worst consumer experience I have ever had, and that includes the time I spent a week in Puerto Rico in the same Tommy Bahama floral shirt and jeans I flew in because the airline lost my luggage on the way, and instead of forwarding it to Puerto Rico, sent it back to Pittsburgh, where my flight originated.

*** Update #2 ***

If you have a website, I would appreciate your help making a google bomb. Use the title of this post and link back to me.

Reader Interactions

140Comments

  3. 3.

    The Dangerman

    Reminds me of a hilarious board that no longer exists (at least in it’s former form; that would be Fucked Company. Once the bloom came off the Internet rose, that was the place to watch the disaster unfold. On the theory of better to laugh than to cry….

    …and your post only reminds me of Meg Whitman (and the future of California as Fucked State).

  6. 6.

    morzer

    Have you called the fire department? I believe they remove cats from trees, so getting Paypal off your lawn/lazyboy ought to present relatively little difficulty.

  11. 11.

    Buzzybill

    Wow, there were 110,000 results on google for “PAYPAL IS THE WORST COMPANY IN THE WORLD”

    They might want to look into that.

  12. 12.

    Nylund

    At least they banned Pam “Atlas” Geller:

    Dear Pamela Geller,
    We appreciate the fact that you chose PayPal to send and receive payments for your transactions.
    However, after a recent review of your account, it has been determined that you are currently in violation of PayPal’s Acceptable Use Policy. Under the Acceptable Use Policy, PayPal may not be used to send or receive payments for items that promote hate, violence, racial intolerance or the financial exploitation of a crime.

  15. 15.

    Kirk Spencer

    Just to add a straw to that camel’s back, the last time you posted about this I sent an email through my account about your situation, pointing out that you have a large readership (and sometimes get quoted by people with larger yet readerships).

    Part of the response was:

    We appreciate the information that you have provided. Do not worry, I
    have forwarded your email to my supervisor and we are currently working
    on the issue that you have reported.

    Nope, Giselle, I’m not worried. I’m not the one seeing customers look for new places.

  16. 16.

    Greg

    They’ve still got $170 of my campaign contributions locked up from last year’s small town city council race. They want documentation that simply does not exist to prove that I was really a candidate. Several hours spent explaining Massachusetts municipal election law and how small campaigns are not organized through “campaign committees” has not helped. I get the same automated replies no matter what official documents I send.

    PayPal sucks. They suck big time.

  18. 18.

    Walker

    I stopped using them ever since I found out (the hard way) that they charge $25 for fraud resolution. Best to dispute the charge with the card itself (though PayPal no likey that).

  19. 19.

    singfoom

    I don’t know. Sure, they’re giving you a kafkaesque runaround but that’s kind of passively awful and par for the course. I’d vote for Comcast as the WORST COMPANY IN THE WORLD. I hope they get that figured out for you.

  21. 21.

    Ken Lovell

    Paypal is hopeless. They charged my credit card a few months ago with an unauthorised transaction, then took weeks to reverse it. I’m still waiting for the explanation or apology.

    Then they keep asking me to confirm my account by giving them my bank account details. At least they’ve got a sense of humour.

  23. 23.

    That's Master of Accountancy to You, Pal (JMN)

    Is this an open thread? If so, I want to bitch about facing $10,000 in plumbing repairs this week.

  28. 28.

    adolphus

    What do you expect from a government bureaucracy. Just privatize it and let the market work, um, wait, what? It is?

    The DMV has big lines with FAT people in it!

  30. 30.

    Squirrel

    I know it sounds trite and silly but report it to the BBB. Even Fortune 500s respond to those. I’ve never figured out why exactly, but NOBODY wants a bad rating with the BBB. Failing that, try small claims court. That may get their attention. If it doesn’t and they don’t show up then you win by default.

  31. 31.

    Mike B

    I think this is because PayPal implemented Sharia.

    Also, I heard they are run by ACORN and discriminate against white people.

    (I’m just trying to help out, John, by getting the Tea Partiers on your side. Everyone seems to be afraid of the Tea Partiers, these days.)

  35. 35.

    John O

    I *scoff*.

    Try the same process with the government, like in my example of trying to get a passport.

    At least you have options, John.

    I use these stories a lot when people tell me how inefficient and wasteful gubmint is. ALL large bureaucracies are inefficient, except the killing kind, and I’ll bet even those have their moments.

  38. 38.

    demo woman

    @That’s Master of Accountancy to You, Pal (JMN): Oh I feel your pain. Within 7 days my water heater needed to be replace and then the regulator broke flooding my wood floors. Fortunately, the insurance company let me do the repairs so I was able to recoup the few thousand in plumbing plus deductible that I was out. When I bought this house, I didn’t expect to have to do the same stuff twice. I have a septic and have several thousand put aside in case that goes.
    Yuk!

  39. 39.

    Alwhite

    PAYPAL IS THE WORST COMPANY IN THE WORLD
    PAYPAL IS THE WORST COMPANY IN THE WORLD
    PAYPAL IS THE WORST COMPANY IN THE WORLD
    PAYPAL IS THE WORST COMPANY IN THE WORLD
    PAYPAL IS THE WORST COMPANY IN THE WORLD
    PAYPAL IS THE WORST COMPANY IN THE WORLD
    PAYPAL IS THE WORST COMPANY IN THE WORLD
    PAYPAL IS THE WORST COMPANY IN THE WORLD
    PAYPAL IS THE WORST COMPANY IN THE WORLD
    PAYPAL IS THE WORST COMPANY IN THE WORLD
    PAYPAL IS THE WORST COMPANY IN THE WORLD
    PAYPAL IS THE WORST COMPANY IN THE WORLD
    PAYPAL IS THE WORST COMPANY IN THE WORLD
    doin’ my part

  40. 40.

    Nicole

    I’m sorry for what you’re going through, but the Sanford and Son reference made me laugh out loud. Well done.

  41. 41.

    TrishB

    You should contact the blog Consumerist. They might be able to publicize this and in the mean time, help you find phone numbers for people that may be able to help. They are associated with Consumer Reports these days.

  42. 42.

    mark

    It’s because PayPal is meg whitman and this is a leftwing rag that is pointing out crap on the right.

    I’ll try to post this for you in the next open thread higher in the comment count

  43. 43.

    Left Coast Tom

    They claim they will send me the money in my account in 180 days after the account is officially closed. But where will they send it since they can not verify me?

    I’m pretty sure they’ll send it to some radio station in California, ensuring that nobody here can turn on a car radio without hearing Meg Whitman explain that she’s spending money like a drunken sailor because she wants to control spending.

    I denounce you for contributing to that!

    I think I need to burn some more CDs from iTunes.

  44. 44.

    kdrtoona

    New tag line!
    Verified but limited.

    I went through all of this stuff a long time ago and finally I just gave up and stopped using paypal and ebay. Luckily, they didn’t have any of my money when I slapped my hands and walked away from the table.

  45. 45.

    General Stuck

    I like Paypal, never had a problem with them, so nolo google bomb for me. Maybe they are over 50 and read Balloon Juice.

  47. 47.

    demo woman

    The only time that I have used PayPal is for donations made to various folks on this site. I certainly don’t have a PayPal credit or debit card and I have to wonder why anyone would…but that’s for another day.
    Good Luck John, fixing the mess with PayPal.

  50. 50.

    meh

    If it makes you feel any better, I’ve got a paypal merchant account I need to close – been to lazy to do it for the last 2 months – so now I’ll close it when they as why, I will tell them because John Cole said you were the worst company in history. Worse then Haliburton. Worse than BP. Worse than a company that makes money videotaping infants being raped by wolves. They can kiss my $30/mo account fee and 3% merchant processing fee adios.

  51. 51.

    Derrick

    Apparently a gmail account I had from before there were invites “may have no been mine always” so despite the fact that someone else once claimed it and I didn’t verify it because I’m not them? Yeah, I need to file a police report.

    So yeah. I’m with you.

  53. 53.

    LikeableInMyOwnWay

    Said it before, will say it again: I tried PayPal, I found their practices to be bizarre, insulting, confusing, nonsensical, complicated, and stupid. Stopped using PayPal, and will not under any circumstances ever conduct any transaction that involves PayPal in any way. I made this decisions about 6 years ago and have never regretted it.

    PayPal is a parasite, a leech that attaches itself to ordinary and simple financial transactions and adds no value whatsoever.

    I do all of my financial activity online. All banking, bill paying, investment, tax preparation, loads of online purchasing, borrowing, transfers, everything, for about 14 years now, pretty much have little trouble with these things. I never want to go back to paper and snail mail. Online commerce is here to stay and I love it. PayPal is Satan, and must be destroyed.

    I wish you the best in your crusade against them. The world will be better off without PayPal. Not Saddam. PayPal.

  55. 55.

    anticontrarian

    If you have a website, I would appreciate your help making a google bomb. Use the title of this post and link back to me.

    Done, and done, for what it’s worth.

  56. 56.

    Platonicspoof

    __

    And then the stupid bastard told me I could start a new account, just using a different email address.

    PayDIAFPal at balloon-juice.com?

    Since I suspect a new account is more forms / more of the same problem, maybe you should just copy and paste your blog’s Paypal posts over at their blog.

    They need more colorful comments over there anyway.

  59. 59.

    Michael

    Shit, John, I’d just sue them for conversion in
    West Virginia, click-through venue and arbitration bullshit be damned. Let them send in a live body to defend it – you should get paid quick.

  60. 60.

    CynDee

    John,

    Does your area have a TV station that does “We’re On Your Side” investigative journalism things and then reports them on TV?

    In Tampa, we have WFLA News Channel 8 (see TBO.com).

    They have a team that investigates and publicizes consumer abuse experiences, and this gets action when a lot of things don’t.

    The wording of some of the messages you are getting from PayPal sounds like severely limited non-English speakers with no decision authority working for invisible Big Boys. Looks like we should all get out of PayPal.

  62. 62.

    FormerSwingVoter

    I guess I’m a bit late with this, but:

    Never, ever, ever, ever use PayPal for accepting payments. Just use it to pay other people.

    Maintaining a balance on PayPal is a terrible, terrible idea. They don’t have the same restrictions that banks do, like having to give you the money that’s yours.

  63. 63.

    danimal

    @Left Coast Tom:

    I’m pretty sure they’ll send it to some radio station in California, ensuring that nobody here can turn on a car radio without hearing Meg Whitman explain that she’s spending money like a drunken sailor because she wants to control spending.

    You owe Every Californian a new keyboard.

  65. 65.

    Violet

    I’ve only used Paypal to donate occasionally. I can’t even remember how long its been since I used it. Now I won’t. Can you close Paypal accounts?

    John, are you heading to wherever Paypal’s corporate headquarters are any time soon? Perhaps you could march in and insist to talk to someone who can fix your problem. And don’t leave until it’s fixed.

  66. 66.

    TooManyJens

    I was going to suggest that you tell your story to the Consumerist. While there, I got engrossed in reading this tale of fine customer service:

    When the owner of a Seattle beauty salon had her application for a loan from the Rainier Valley Community Development Fund denied last year, that was bad enough. When she later received what appeared to be a second rejection letter for the same loan application, she discovered that the reason for her inability to get the loan was that she is a “crazy ass bitch.”

    I think you’re going to need to step up your game. Get PayPal to call you a DFH at the very least.

  72. 72.

    MattR

    I loved this comment on the Consumerist thread that had a list of phone numbers to reach live people. Somebody mentioned that they were going to be near PayPal’s headquarters and volunteered to take a better picture for the Consumerist post. That led to this response from another commenter.

    You should bring a big chain and lock up about 10 of the most expensive cars in their parking lot with a large sticker saying “Notification of Limited Access”. Keep the cars locked for about 3 weeks so that you can do an investigation to make sure they aren’t stolen.

  73. 73.

    Eric U.

    the consumerist is a good way to test your blood pressure. I liked the one about how a cop lost his job when KFC wouldn’t refund his money. Jerks on both side of that argument. And the cabbie that locked the passenger in for 30 minutes when he wanted to pay with a credit card instead of cash was good too. Passenger tweeted about it instead of calling the cops

  74. 74.

    Comrade Luke

    Here’s my (current) PayPal experience.

    I’m trying to delete the one and only credit card associated with my account. I try to delete it and I’m told I can’t because there’s a pending transaction, which isn’t possible because it’s expired.

    So I try their online assistant, which is even worse than most; it’s literally just an automated Q&A thing that does a terrible job of guessing.

    So I send an email to them instead, and I get a return email that basically says “You should call us if you want help”.

    I can’t wait to delete this account.

  75. 75.

    frosty

    So… this looks like the internet equivalent of “Don’t pick a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel.”

    You’re still #2 on Google!

  76. 76.

    Paula

    I live in Omaha, PayPal is in Omaha. Should I protest for you? I don’t know how effective it be with just one person carrying a poster, but it could be funny.

  77. 77.

    dave

    I’ve used PayPal since before they were purchased by Ebay. I have a personal account and I’ve donated using their interface. I work for a non-profit and we have a merchant account to accept donations.

    Other than some annoying homeland security documentation I had to provide a couple of years ago I can’t say I’ve had any problems.

    Recently they tell us we can’t move more than $500 a month from the merchant account to the bank without providing more identification. I’m not sure all of this is PayPal’s doing▬probably it’s more homeland security bs.

  78. 78.

    Jake5

    I am a regular reader of this blog. I haven’t had too much experience with Pay Pal, but I appreciate the warning about the way they treat customers who are more involved. I may (or or may not) use PayPal for an occasional ebay purchase, but I will definitely think twice about relying on them for anything else.

  79. 79.

    ellid

    Get your lawyer involved. Specifically, have him/her send a demand letter requesting your money back by ___________ date, at which time you will go to court to recover what’s yours.

    Five gets you ten they’ll pay up.

  80. 80.

    Lysana

    #46 wonked up the formatting on Google Chrome. Still readable, but it shifted the comments a little to the left and made the text a little larger.

    So, FYWP and FYPP.

  81. 81.

    Martin

    @angler: I would like to point out that one company has bucked the trend. Apple’s resurgence coincided with their opening of retail stores. And rather than do some half-assed effort at it, they’ve invested heavily in the customer experience. It can still be maddening at times, but fully half of Apple’s employee base are in the retail stores and it’s fairly undisputed that the better Apple makes their customer experience, the better they do. Why almost nobody else can seem to learn from this lesson is a mystery to me.

  82. 82.

    Mona

    John: Follow the nice man’s advice and choose another email address, to wit: [email protected]

    You’ll be good to go!

    And ditto to the Comcast haters. Impaling, flaying over fire ant hills…too good for all of ’em.

  85. 85.

    db

    “paypal worst company” is bringing up this post as number one…. impressive

    also noticed that number two is a post debating whether lifelock or paypal is the worst company ever…. to be compared to lifelock at all is not good…. so I do think john cole is not the only one who has had it with paypal.

  86. 86.

    JenJen

    Holy shit, John. The whole time I’ve been following this PayPal saga of yours, I never realized that the core of the issue was they’d freezed your incoming funds.

    I’ve done enough eBay business with PayPal that I’m kind of surprised I’ve yet to have a problem getting my scratch, but this story is enough for me to be done with them, and, I guess, move over to Google.

    Maybe just start calling them PEEPEE. I’m feeling juvenile. Good idea to tweet this story as well as blog it, my beloved internet ruffians.

    As @The Dangerman reminded me upthread, damn, I miss Fucked Company.

  87. 87.

    MikeJ

    @db: It doesn’t really do anything if people searching for “paypal worst company”get this. They already believe. Better to googlebomb “paypal best company.”

  88. 88.

    Peter

    @FormerSwingVoter: Pretty much this. And if someone does send you money via PayPal (it can occasionally be handy for this; I used it to loan a friend fifty bucks so that she could pay her dentist), get it out of your paypal account immediately.

  89. 89.

    MikeJ

    @FormerSwingVoter:

    Maintaining a balance on PayPal is a terrible, terrible idea. They don’t have the same restrictions that banks do, like having to give you the money that’s yours.

    Not to mention that whole FDIC thing. They aren’t an actual bank are they?

    Perhaps we just need some regulation in online payment processors.

  94. 94.

    miss_kitty

    I had the worst time w/ Paypal + Newegg over verification. Had the paypal for years, got money, gave money and a couple of years earlier, Newegg sent me a computer, someone in another state bought.
    Then I try to buy Windows 7 at Newegg using paypal and get treated like a goddamned ping pong ball.., Newegg: “Paypal has to verify your addy” Paypal: “Newegg has to verify your addy.” Plus I have Comcast. Life does really suck some days. And I still have fucking Vista.

    :(

  95. 95.

    SciVo

    Almost a hundred posts in… so what’s the best alternative for what PayPal does? Preferably something commonly used by porn sites, since the Internet is for porn, there’s a good solid financial mass in the industry, and I’m guessing that they won’t put up with nanny state wannabes asserting their authoritah.

  97. 97.

    AhabTRuler

    A link to the current ranking of this post under ‘paypal‘.

    Is there a way to force google to show this post’s ranking without having to click through to find it?

  98. 98.

    DPirate

    Class Action lawsuit time. They’ve probably confiscated a few hundred grand like this over the last ten years.

  103. 103.

    Kathy

    Just wanted to add my paypal nightmare. I was helping with my daughter’s school auction. We were attempting to set up a pay pal account for people to buy tickets. As a non-profit we had additional hoops to jump through (or circles of Hell to descend to). Pay Pal wanted (among many other things) a copy of the school’s incorporation papers. The school was moved in 1969 and re-incorporated, we sent them a copy of those papers along with a letter from the principal and the development officer verifying that the school was not-for-profit. Apparently that wasn’t good enough. They needed (I kid you not) a letter from someone who was around when the school was originally incorporated in 1865 to verify that the school re-incorporated properly. What Douches! (It feels good to say that, when I was dealing with them I was surrounded by Nuns and I couldn’t use that word.)

  105. 105.

    Rosalita

    John, apologies if someone already mentioned this in the thread, I know I’ve given this to you before. Contact Consumerist.com ([email protected]) They may have the info that will allow you to deploy an EECB (Executive Email Carpet Bomb) that might get some attention. Even if they only post about it, it will get attention.

  106. 106.

    Aaron Baker

    I share your high esteem of Paypal. I had some expensive plumbing (is there any other kind?) done recently. The plumber insisted on payment through Paypal. I plugged in my card information only to be told the card had been flagged “for security reasons” and it wouldn’t be accepted. It has a $12,000.00 limit, and the balance on the card is nowhere near that.

    I had a number of shouting matches with Paypal staff on the phone; in the midst of swearing at them, I told them they could check my bank (that fly-by-night outfit, JP Morgan Chase) for a confirmation that the card is fine. They “can’t override a security flag once it happens”; but if I wanted to purchase a new card from them, I could do that. A bit more of this, and I slammed the phone quite vigorously into its cradle.

    This caused me no end of embarrassment and hassle with the plumber, who was unwilling to use any other service to run the card. If you have any plans to try to hasten the demise of Paypal, please let me know what they are and how I can help.

  107. 107.

    peej

    I accidentally used the wrong checking account for a Paypal transaction and didn’t have enough funds to cover the payment. Naturally, it bounced. Yes, that was my fault. But I found out during the process of trying to straighten the whole mess out that it’s virtually impossible to cancel a transaction in PayPal!! Even if you call their idiot customer service. I couldn’t even get them to switch the accounts for the payment (both accounts are verified).

  110. 110.

    PaulB

    I know it sounds trite and silly but report it to the BBB.

    This. I had a similar problem with trying to cancel a Microsoft Passport account. It didn’t get resolved until I finally, after weeks of dealing with incompetent and grossly underpaid customer service drones, reported them to the BBB. That got their attention and the matter was subsequently resolved.

  111. 111.

    merrinc

    @Kathy:

    That’s because the people in their verification department are a bunch of sadistic bastards who make the GOP look like the Sunshine and Sweetness Party of Yes.

    I am also very involved with a non profit and set up a PayPal account to accept payments for a one time deal. We’re talking small potatoes here – I was selling surplus event patches to other GS troops – less than $30 total. When I saw PayPal’s documentation requirements for non-profits, I set it up as a for profit account because I didn’t need that hassle for what I was doing. After I’d sold all the patches but before I could withdraw the money, they switched my account to non profit status and then started demanding paperwork. At one point, I managed to get a real human being on the phone who was most courteous and spoke English without an accent but even he was unable to sway the control freaks in the verification department. It took a couple of months before I finally jumped through enough hoops to get the $23 and change due me.

    When I cancelled my account immediately afterward, they wanted to know why. Um, I dunno – maybe because PAYPAL IS THE WORST COMPANY IN THE WORLD.

  115. 115.

    andynotadam

    I’m late to the party here, but I truly believe that Paypal is a criminal enterprise. They take and keep your money and rake in millions and millions on the involuntary float. I sold a bunch of expensive audio equipment and then couldn’t get my money out of them for BS reasons I have successfully banished from memory. I finally got my balance down to 14 bucks and that’s close enough to never ever ever ever have anything to do with them again. There so is a market opportunity here for some smart people to do it right.

  116. 116.

    YellowJournalism

    Paypal took a small amount of money from me because they couldn’t verify my account. I went through hell trying to verify it from proof of their 1 and 2 cent deposits that never materialized. The money was from my husband (fiance at the time) to help pay for our wedding, since we were in two different locations and Paypal was cheaper than Western Union for money transfers. When he asked for the money to be sent back to his account, they put him through a load of shit. We never got the money back. It wasn’t a huge loss, but it cemented with us that we’d never use Paypal again, and that was six years ago.

  118. 118.

    Pat

    Hi,

    I didn’t bother to read the comments, so maybe this was mentioned before. This same sort of thing happened to me, and I hate paypal for it.

    I had (and still have) $28.72 in my locked down account. They say the only way to get the money back is by doing a bank wire transfer costing $25 + whatever fees the bank would charge me.

    Hell, Paypal has an office 10 minutes away from my house. I even went to their office to try and verify myself or get a cash / check payment, but they refused.

    So fuck them!

    Keep fighting!

  119. 119.

    Mike

    I don’t use ebay anymore because I hate Paypal so much. Last time I sold a bunch of stuff, I sold some snot kid an old xbox game. He claimed that the disc arrived broken, so I told him to ship it back and I’d give him a refund. He wanted me to give him a refund sight-unseen, which I refused. He disputed it with Paypal.

    When Paypal contacted me for my version of events, I suggested that the buyer should send me back the merchandise and I would give him a refund. That was Paypal’s ultimate solution too. Only problem is that they termed it a successful dispute against ME, even though they used the resolution that I had suggested in the first damn place. The butthead buyer gave me bad feedback, then never mailed back the merchandise.

  120. 120.

    JT

    LOL

    10 years of paypal? Even after they shit all over everyone and stole peoples’ money, and basically did exactly what they did to you, to SCORES of other people, you continued to give them your money, thinking “I have no problem with them fucking people over as long as it isn’t me”.

    You got exactly what you deserved, and needed. You are obviously incapable of pulling support from a dishonest company as long as they are making you money, so you convictions are 100% selfish and egocentric, and able to be purchased for a small price. Maybe this the event that teaches you a lesson about taking a stand against evil BEFORE it goes after you, instead of after?

    At least that way you look like a decent person, rather than a whiney little bitch who gambled too many times and finally lost. 10 years of supporting a company that made fucking people over into an art form, and you had no problem funding them.

    You realize people like you are the reason they have the power they do? If people reacted to all wrongdoing with the same intensity as they did to wrongdoing targeted at them, things might be different. Instead, you empowered them, and now you’re getting exactly what you deserve.

  122. 122.

    John Cole

    @JT: How the hell was I supposed to know paypal was a bad company? I never heard anyone complaining and it had never been a problem for me. Christ.

  123. 123.

    Colin

    I mightn’t be as harsh as JT here, but if you frequent any discussion boards where people who buy/sell on the ‘net hang out, you’ll hear plenty of horror stories. The basic theme is that when they screw up you have no recourse. I forget exactly why now, but after having an acct for a while 5-6 years ago, I heard enough to convince me to shut it down.

  124. 124.

    outworldarts

    Good luck! I’ve posted on my blog.

    I unlinked my paypal account from my bank account last year after having to deal with their customer service. The last thing I need is paypal having any link whatsoever to my checking account.

  125. 125.

    JRoth

    Hey, John, hope PayPal takes care of you. But in the meantime, thanks for the suitcase full of clothes. I happened to be at PIT that day, and there was some decent stuff in there.

  128. 128.

    Kenny Boy

    Well, for what it’s worth, I closed my account and have made it abundantly clear that it’s because of this blog entry and the horror stories I’ve read over the years about their horrific service. Now they’ve surveyed me twice about it, and I’ve given them deplorable marks both times. I haven’t experienced these problems personally, but if they treat you like shit, they’ll treat anyone like shit. I won’t give them the opportunity any more.

  129. 129.

    timothy STOLDT

    Mr. Cole,
    After reading this I suggest writing your story to consumer reports. My Dad had an issue with turbo tax and long story short he wrote thy investigated they interviewed him turbo tax changed their software and refunded his money.
    hope this helps

    Tim S

  130. 130.

    Bob

    Your episode sounds eerily reminiscent of an experience that I had with Paypal. As usual, they made a gross error, but didn’t want to pay for it. When I told them that I had no intention of paying for their mistake, they seized my account, and any account that they could associate with my name; my son’s account, his mother’s (at a different address) , and the account of a business where I worked part time. In the realm of common sense, the only defense they could thrust at me was that their policy allowed them to rob us (for thousands of dollars). I fought for weeks for our money. I finally mentioned the matter to my brother, who was, at the time, a managing director of one of the world’s largest banks (he is also a high caliber financial attorney). He told me that by all appearances, Paypal relies on a combination of apathy, ignorance, and faux authority (bullying) to divide customers from their money. They deliberately craft policy policy that would never survive a constitutional challenge, and bank on the fact that John and Jane Doe could never survive the cost pain of a legal challenge. They tread all over the Constitution, and win by default. Anyway, they are also getting a bit too bold, and with that, they also get careless. They tend to back down if you pester them endlessly, and make it crystal clear that you have the understanding and the means to call out their glaring legal contradictions in front of a judge. Let them know that if they won’t return your stolen money, you’ll publicize every detail of the incident to the local and regional news’ “hall’s of shame”. And mean it! Banking greed and power don’t play too well in the realm of public opinion these days. Don’t lose your temper, and don’t be disrespectful to the reps. They’re just the lookouts trying to make a buck for themselves. I was expelled from Paypal, but I got my money back. If you appear to anything more than an easy mark, they don’t want anything to do with you.
    Paypal customers are in violation of the terms of service for communicating unfavorable or unflattering experiences… not saying nice things! Read the TOS. They are loaded with time bombs like that. They’re as power hungry, and as paranoid as Nazi Germany. Violate the terms, and you give them the right to seize your money. No one should ever do business with a company that stacks the deck like that.
    The good news is that when corporations get too fat to see their own feet, they usually trip and fall (think Enron and MCI WorldComm).

  131. 131.

    Derek

    I despise PayPal as well, so I feel your pain. I’ve gone through a lot of bullcrap with PayPal over the years and I absolutely hate using it unless I really have to. They have some of the worst customer service known to man and their policies & fees are a joke.

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