Paypal Fiasco In Progress - And I Have No More Hair To Pull Out

Customer No Service
1

I have literally spent hours and totaled more than 12 calls and transfers within PayPal to solve a simple problem. Only one call-taker went out of his way to understand and carefully document my issue. As of tonight it is still not fixed.

Briefly, The PayPal account was set up by the Treasurer of our Non-Profit to allow donations. We did not apply for the special rates for non-profits so lost a percentage of each donation, but that is on us.

Anyway, the account has worked for years accepting donations. I was listed as an Admin in the account also, but was not the original creator of the account.

The Treasurer died about the time one of our donors reversed charges on a donation. PayPal notified us of a $202 deficiency in the account because the link to our bank was one way pushing money to the bank but it seems to agreement was made to allow PayPal to pull money.

PayPal found out the Treasurer died and locked the account and sent the $202 to a third party collections company. I got involved trying to pay the $202 outstanding and have the account re-enabled so that we can accept donations again. The third party found out about the death and sent the account back to PayPal.

When I try to log in, I get a message saying the account is in arrears and I can pay to re-enable it. The only way to do that is to follow the link and LOG IN, which I can’t. They now say I have to pay by a one-time debit card payment. But before I can do that, I have to talk with the department that verifies identity so that I can be listed as the owner/new creator of the account and then I can pay and have the account enabled again. Except three times they say they will have the verification department send me a link to submit ID (even though I have my own personal PayPal account - where I’m verified already).

Each time I call in I have to give the last 4 digits of the Treasurers SS and then they ask if I am him. I stopped telling them why it is my calling and not him, because it lengthens and confuses the call taker. I also had to keep telling them that I have already sent a copy of the death certificate to their Nebraska address as requested.

I have copious notes and names and phone numbers but they are starting to blur together and I am about ready to tell them to SHOVE IT, but we need the donor documents from the accountant to give to our accountant and we would like to keep the account.

Before anyone chimes in and tells me that PayPal has a RESOLUTION DEPARTMENT, I know. They probably can address the issue directly and quickly. They don’t appear to have a direct inbound telephone number because it is for people who already have accounts and not for the general public. So to access the department, you just have to log into your account…

2

Lava, there is a term floating around the last few years that I agree with. It’s the shitifacation of America. Clark has used the term “customer no service” for decades and that’s kinda the same thing. When you have a problem with a product or service, good luck trying to find someone competent to help you. We’ve all called CS only to talk to someone half way around the world who you can’t understand and has no power to really help you. It’s very frustrating.

3

One alternative I have is that the organization just create a new account with a slightly different name. We could leave the old account alone and let Paypal eat the loss of $200 which they surely could. They certainly can’t collect from the “owner” of the account and they certainly have shown that they are not making it possible for me to take over he account and pay. However the organization wants to continue with the account as is, if possible. So I’ll try a few more calls before I give up.

We created a Zeffy account and Zeffy is different from Paypal for non-profits. Zeffy is totally free of charges, however, they encourage people to throw in a few extra dollars to cover their processing fees. That would be fine, however their website links for donations seem to require 3 donation amounts (not 1 or 2 or 4 but 3). That is kinda clunky for what we need and would have been easy for them to change in their code, but I am sure they have an altgerior motive for requiring 3 levels of donations even if they are all the same amount. I wonder if that issue is another ‘Customer No-Service’?

4

Have you considered contacting the CEO or other approprate executive at Paypay? The CFPB is of course currently not a option.

5

Good luck with “Customer No-Service”. I told Paypal to shove it, and cancelled my account, in '22 when they changed their User Agreement to prohibit account holders from “the sending, posting, or publication of any messages, content, or materials” that “present a risk to user safety or wellbeing” or contain “misinformation.” The policy notes that what counts as misinformation is at PayPal’s “sole discretion.” Violate the policy, and PayPal can deduct $2,500 from the offending user’s account. That’s $2,500 per infraction.

They back peddled and retracted the policy when users complained loudly on Twitter and the press started reporting about it, but by that time I’d already dropped my account on principle. I was shocked that a financial company would threaten clients with fines for posting on social media. Here’s a link to the story, if your interested: PayPal Says It Won't Fine Users for Misinformation But Will Fine Them for 'Intolerance'

So far I haven’t missed my Paypal account at all.

6

I finally received an email from Paypal asking for me to submit more documentation so we can change the account ownership. YEA!

When I was in support at a Fortune 100 company, we were very careful not to just blind transfer people, hoping someone would read the ticket information. We had 250,000 employees and although we had a number of different inbound telephone numbers, we also had 7 digit dialing to each empolyee Internationally, so that we could internally transfer someone without making the caller dial yet another telephone number. Almost all of those employees could be reached by an office number and extension. And yes, if an employee had to work from home, their office number could be forwarded to them.

Our President/CEO could be reached by asking for them. They felt if it was important enough that you had to ask for them, that they should be available. It truely was a different time then.

7

I’ve had and used PayPal for many years, with no problems, until last October. I ordered a pretty (according to all the pictures and fake reviews) table runner from a fancy FB site claiming to be in New Jersey, USA. The product I received from CHINA, was absolutely ugly and nothing like the advertised pictures. AND, my payment through PayPal was converted to a foreign currency without my permission (as of today, I still don’t know what country). I tried to return the product for a refund and had to follow through with a PayPal resolution, and I sent PayPal all the requested attached documents and pictures. To return the package, it had to go back to China, not New Jersey. Well that cost more than the product itself. PayPal chose not to give me a refund because I wasn’t going to pay the shipping. Shame on me for ordering from that company who claimed to be a US company, but shame on PayPal for not believing me and issusing foreign currency without notify me. i’m dropping PayPal and starting to use another service.