Are Paypal Incompetent

Bit of a loaded question but are PayPal one of the most incompetent companies on the web?

If you can be bothered reading to the end of this I am sure you will find your answer.


I signed up for their service in May after I bought something from Ebay, during that time there was a bug (accepted by PayPal and eBay) which meant when my account was created (part of an automatic process after my eBay purchase) it took the first part of the item I bought and used it as my surname…. So my name on my account was John Honda (I had bought some Honda decals for my bike)

It took me a month or so to notice this but when I asked PayPal to change it they asked me for my Id (Driving License), no problem that’s fair enough. I submitted my details and waited for them to fix the issue.

Another month passed and they still had not done it yet so I contacted them again to ask when it was going to be done. I called them and ended up getting through to a call centre in Ireland, I explained the detail etc. and the guy said he could see it on my account that I had submitted my ID to get my surname changed etc. etc. He assured me that it would be done in the next 48 hours.

Woke up the next morning and had an email from PayPal… Your account has been limited until we hear from you.. I called them and asked what the problem was. “You need to provide us with ID to prove that you are who you say you are” No problem, I have already provided you with my ID as I requested a name change on my account. “No, you need to provide us with ID to prove you are John Honda.. I just about fell of my seat.

After 30 or 40 minutes trying to explain how silly this was given that my account was one of the ones created automatically during the “bug” period and that I was NOT John Honda the guy said to me “Ok well we cant change the name on your account so just create a new account, provide us with ID (again) and we will transfer the balance. After trying to tell him how much of a PITA this was due to having to use a new email address etc. I gave in and said ok.

So I go ahead and create an identical account with the correct surname. Calls them back (quoting the ref number from my “Honda” account) and the guy says “ok I will submit this to the correct team and they will get your balance transferred.

2 days later I get an email (to the new email address) your account has been limited AAARRRGGHHH. Calls them again and gets through to limitations team. “Oh your account has been linked to another account that was limited” NO SH*T Sherlock it was ME who told you.

Despite numerous phone calls and 100% of the people on the other end saying “oh yeah, we can see all of the info on your account’s but we can’t do anything, your funds will be held for 180 days” I frustrated gave up despite there being around £500 in my account.

I read around the internet about their 180 day hold on funds and basically how no matter what you do you are screwed. Anyway, 180 days passed around start of November so I emailed them asking when my funds were going to be released….No Reply 7 yes 7 emails later (around middle of November) I get a reply saying “your funds can now be withdrawn.

Logged into the Honda account and tried to withdraw my funds….No dice, it just wouldn’t let me so AGAIN I contacted them. Got a reply on 1st December (yes 14 days after my last email) saying “you will need to provide ID to prove who you are…? Once again I called them

Who do they want ID for? John bloody HONDA

Seriously at this point I just blew a gasket, bad enough that they have made me jump through hoops for this long, held my money and basically screwed me over for nearly 7 months.

I went to one of those sites that list the email addresses for all PayPal and Ebay CEO’s etc. and just mail bombed them with a complaint (basically the same content as this post)

Gets a reply back from the Executive Relations team (no idea why they were the ones out of the 50 or so that I emailed that decided to reply)

“I have had a look into your account and you will need to provide us with ID to prove who you are” (yeah you know where this is going right….

After many many emails back and forward they EVENTUALLY accept that I am NOT John Honda so I can’t prove that I am and say ok well send us your own ID (despite me providing it twice already)

So I send them over my driving license, gets an email back a few days later “we can’t accept your driving license as ID please send us your Passport”

At this point I am seriously thinking that these guys are deliberately being obstructive, however I sent them my passport yesterday.

Gets an email today

“ok we accept your ID and will begin the process of transferring the balance of the “Honda” account to the proper account” AAARRRGGGHHHHHH these guys are supposed to be in the executive relations department, you would assume that they were a bit more intelligent than the call centre agents that just drool down the phone at you……..

So the end result is that even after all the information I have provided to them they have advised me that they are transferring my money into an account that is also limited.

These bar stewards have held my money for over 7 months and I am no further forward.


Are PayPal Incompetent?

 

I beat the crap out of mine, and my colleagues as well for that matter. I have literally never had an issue. Knock on wood but no horror stories here. I have a debit card on both as well. I pretty much do as I see fit usually.

I would further posit that.... right before I posted this, on a whim I scrolled up to see how many posts you have here. Oh, just this one.

Can you perhaps explain what would motivate you to join Digital Point forums to solely bash one of the largest and arguably, most useful companies on the planet, before even saying hello?

That is a serious question as well. I am by no stretch attempting to be funny.

Nigel

 

Nigel: I fully understand the guy's motivation. He just want to be heard. The frustration is simply too high. And I think that if his story is genuine, it is absolutely OK. People should know about these cases, if they are real. I have learned just a couple of days ago that mane people do not know that PayPal has many of similar issues. Many people think PayPal just works. But it seems it does not, there are just too many of these cases reported over the time. I have to admin, however, that my personal and business experience has been OK so far, without major problems (maybe except for their totally impossible API interfaces and developer support). There were minor problems for me too, like various delays when I had to contact their support like 5 times before the issue was solved ... but it was solved at the end.

This is all about the fact that you need PayPal and not vice versa. It is so popular that they can afford to lose you, they can even afford you to complain loudly on all kinds of forums and social network.

 

And so, claiming that Paypal is incompetent is the right title for this?

This guy was not bothered using an account with a fake name (A WRONG NAME) then deposit or receive £500 on it but when needed, then he is bothered that Paypal puts limits because nothing is correct in this account? I am sorry but I would do the same.

Would anyone else do that? Yes probably every single bank in the world!

Yet he can be frustrated how Paypal has dealt with his account but he also must understand that he is faulty, it doesn't matter if a bug happened for whatever reason, HE should not use an account which has incorrect informations.

 

A google search of "paypal Problems" brought me to your forum, i thought i may share my experience with others who had also decided to share theirs. I was not aware this forum required a certain amount of posts prior to one having a moan about something. I am glad you have not had any issues with Paypal i have no doubt you will at some point be exposed to their flaws.

The fact that an Anit Paypal website has made it into the top 3 in forbes magazine speaks volumes. Something i was not aware of prior to this year.

Thanks for the understanding, all i wanted was a place to get it off my chest. i think the only reason people "need" paypal is due to Ebay forcing the use of paypal. A question one should ask is if a company is so good at what they do why does their services need to be forced upon you.

Seriously, if you are going to comment on it at least have the decency to read the original post first.

"This guy was not bothered using an account with a fake name (A WRONG NAME)" Actually yes i was bothered, which is why when i noticed it i contacted them numerous times to ask for it to be changed (as mentioned in the original post)

"then he is bothered that Paypal puts limits because nothing is correct in this account?" the only thing that was not correct on my account was my surname. Address, Date of birth, Credit card number, email address and telephone were all CORRECT. So how you come to the conclusion that "NOTHING" was correct on my account is baffling.

"Would anyone else do that? Yes probably every single bank in the world!" If you went into a bank and THEY signed you up for an account with ONE detail wrong and then YOU pointed it out to them would you expect them to shut your account down (including freezing your money). i think any reasonable person would expect them to change the mistaken entry on the account.

"HE should not use an account which has incorrect informations." I guess mistakes dont happen in your world huh.

 

yes you contacted them, A MONTH LATER and I believe since you wanted to get that money, when you buy a car, do you have a look at the engine a month after your get it?

I have been a paypal user for over 10 years, same account, never have a trouble ever since I have dealt with a**hole who tried to f**k me up with fake credit cars, fake accounts and so on, I have had my account limited a few times because of people LIKE YOU yet every time I contacted paypal they never, NEVER, went against my will and always went my way since I HAVE ALWAYS DONE THINGS THE RIGHT WAY.

You played with them for a month, dealing with people cash using a WRONG NAME, as said even if it was a bug from them, YOU should have deal with that straight from the start, not when YOU decide it could be the right time to do it.

You are not bothered taking people cash using a wrong name but you do now bother that Paypal is playing up with you, you get what you deserve.

Also if you come around this forum for posting something and just listening to people who agree with you, you are definitly at the wrong place.

Go and complain on paypalsucks or something like that, loads of unhappy users over there and they will all be right behind you, giving you warm support!

I know cases 50x worse than yours, LEGAL CASES, people who have been limited because of users using fake names, fake credit cards, fake accounts and such and they lost 10x more than you. I agree with them because they done nothing wrong, they just dealt with bad people.

As said, I understand how frustrated how paypal is dealing with your account, yet you basically just have yourself to blame first.

 

Not the sharpest tool in the box mate are you. show me where in my original post i said i contacted them to get money out......clearly what it said was i spent 2 months contacting them just to get the surname changed.

maybe you did read the original post, its possible that you just dont understand it very well.

Do you always just reply to peoples posts by making stuff up? are you even posting in the right thread?

all the best

 

I had the same problems, well some of them. They wanted my address proof, SSN proof, name and address proof, etc. And it's a huge pain to try and scan in the right documents to them because I've tried multiple times and they have rejected what I thought was perfectly good proof I wasn't a robot or impersonator. Also, they froze my account, no transactions in or out while I am working on proving myself! So irritating!

So yes, I think while probably not the worst or most incompetent site online obviously, it's horribly annoying. I sympathize man, good luck in the future with Paypal. It's hard cause now so much online uses Paypal it's like you have to have it in some cases (think Warrior Forums) and it's only trouble.