PayPal is the Devil

PayPal limited my account for no reason a few days ago (it's a good thing I don't keep any money in it). I can't figure out why, as I haven't sold anything with PayPal in 6 months, and I rarely buy things with it.

I called, they said they couldn't do anything. Then I told them to just close my account. Again, they said they couldn't do anything.

I'm just going to change my debit card and bank account numbers. I don't trust PayPal with them, even though I have a completely separate account just to use with PayPal. Their terms of use is scary!

Where is their corporate office again? I'm in a brick-through-the-window kind of mood.

Sorry, just had to rant somewhere.

Who else has PayPal horror stories?

Hundreds of them. They are the devil.

The entire team from the BABE rally agrees

I have two accounts. One personal and one for the business. I've not had any issues my self but have heard crazy stories.

I've had an issue or two with them, but they were promptly fixed. But i hear a lot of people hate PayPal.

I have never had an issue. I am kinda surprised they could at least not tell you why your account was frozen. If somebody had been accessing it, you should be allowed to know

They blocked a transfer from my Paypal account to my wife's PP account (something that was a regular occurrence when we lived apart) because we had used the same computer, then sat on the money for several weeks claiming that the "fraud team was looking into the matter but you can't talk to them, they don't talk to customers". Given that it was over a grand and rent and bills wanted to be paid I was getting a little irate...

The magic words that got the whole mess sorted out for my UK Paypal account was "You're FSA[1] regulated and you are required to have a complaints procedure when you are. Please send me a copy of your official complaints procedure by email within 24 hours".

For some odd reason both account were unlocked and the transfer was completed while the customer service rep was "trying to find" said complaints procedure.

Not sure who regulates them in the US, but it might be worth asking one of the phone drones - IIRC they have to tell you. Otherwise, if you're annoyed enough, there's always the possibility of a phone call to the state AG's office (although I seem to remember the one in FL being rather bank friendly) and possibly a chat with the OCC. No, not the TV chopper people but the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (as they're also regulating banks, they should be able to tell you who to talk to if they're not the right people) and the CFPB, although I'm not sure how active the latter is at the moment with Congress attempting to block almost anything to do with it.

[1] Financial Services Authority, aka the UK (consumer) financial watchdog.

I've had a few obnoxious run-ins with them.

The problem is that so many people use it, that i'm sort of obligated to use it. 90% of my transactions are smooth, the other 10% are plagued with total bullE36 M3 holds for varying amounts of time, and me banging my head in frustration while deal with i swear what must be the dumbest people in customer service on the face of the planet.

Seriously. The WORST customer service i've EVER encountered.

If the notification was an email without Tommy's name on it, it was phishing. I get them from time to time and report them to spoof@paypal.com. The reply has always been that it was phishing.

I'm clearly the exception I suppose. I've had nothing but success using the service since I started selling the camera dollies. I've even had to call them in person a time or two, and although I can't say that I loved the hold times, I eventually got a knowledgeable human who dealt with my issue like someone who understood the structure, not like someone who was simply reading a flowchart and a script.

Hopefully this means that there's reasonable sharp folks somewhere in the system. Maybe just call back until you find one of them?

Now, eBay? Don't even get me started...

jg