My problem today is Paypal explained they would close all accounts by November 15th, so to get our affairs in order, and any remaning balances in these accounts would be transferred into the primary account. I did this, and stopped the automatic weekly transfer into my HS son's account and my college daughter's account before November 15th, 2016. Today there is still $90 in it and every week it is transferring the automatic amount I set. I was unaware.
Needless to say to this choir, but it has been a complete nightmare to revert back to how we did it before Paypal Student accounts. We even had one day in December when my daughter was stranded on a highway two states away without any ability for me to transfer money as quickly as I could have for her to pay the towtruck driver. She could have used her student Paypal instantly. THAT is what paypal messed up. THAT is what Paypal didn't understand and appreciate about this particular product. They ingeniously were one of the only companies set up in a way that could make THAT possible for parents in our country, and they undervalued it when collaborating this matter in their corporate offices.
That same early December afternoon, we opened up another account with a new company that has an iPhone app which looked like it would be able to accomplish the same thing. (I have a question for all of you about this new product at the end of my post.....) I transfered the money she needed, and we found out it within 10 minutes that it would take 3-5 days for her to receive it and be able to use her checking account debit card!!! She was completely stranded and had to wait for local or state police to help her. This delay in receipt was not clear in their explanations, but they will never be able to do it instantaneously the way Paypal could because of being more or less an outside courier between our bank and hers. (Holding checking accounts at the same bank would be a solution for some, but we have a very significant reason we can't leave ours, and we didn't want our children ever doing business with them so opened their accounts at another bank. Our bank lost all future business for our family when they broke the law with our mortgage and got a way with it, hurting the medical care of my family so significantly it would make your head spin. So there are valid reasons out there why some of us families can't do it this way.)
Today my daughter tells me, "Mom? I don't know if you noticed but they are still transferring money into my Paypal student account, and there is about a $90 balance in it." I log in just now and there it is. Nice job Paypal!! I've been struggling to get her money and here is $90 that could have helped her in December when she was stranded!!! You kept the account open but failed to allow her access??? Smooth move. (She tried her student card with the tow truck driver and it was declined.) You made it clear it was going to be transferred back to the primary account and close hers, but you didn't.
I too like all of you was severely disappointed in Paypal not taking a more customer-centered and respectful approach. Their stock may have been up, but that's because of the lack of real competition and it's privilidged inside position within the eBay community. However, competition is real and up & coming, and moves like this is what causes a business to lose it's foothold on it's base for the future, something Amazon understands clearly...and it never loses value in its stock. They know customers come first, and when shareholder's must, they find the right way to appease both. That's good business. Paypal "used to be" the only other company that came close in customer service. Amazon is forging ahead strongly, and Paypal just fell off the tracks.
Asking what we did as a parent before Paypal is not helpful. You never remove what has further advanced society and then tell it's members to not complain, because they survived without it before. As time changes, procedures in a family or a business change with those times and they rely heavily on the current technology either staying the same or improving. Never is it regressed. It's understandable we will become accustomed to the new way of doing things and it becomes the new norm after several years such as Paypal Student Accounts did. I never should be expected to be happy to have to go out and buy a cow, put it in my back yard, and go milk it each morning just so we can eat cereal and have our daily glasses of milk. If suddenly the convenience of our available milk supply were to vanish in thin air, I'd slap the first person who said, "well, how did we all survive before?" It's not easy to revert. Paypal met in it's home offices to discuss how to roll-out this change. I want to slap those employees who supported the notion, "Well, how did they survive before this feature? They can get by. They'll be upset yes, but they'll just go back to doing it like they did before." That was an incredibly destructive business decision and approach. Nobody, least of all Paypal, simply reverts to the way they did it before. That is not how advancement of society works. Ever.
As for that new company we joined, we are still using it with constraints and without the convenience of immediate access. Can anyone corroborate what my daughter told me? It is called Venmo, and they cannot do it as easily and immediately as Paypal did. You have to know ahead of time, days ahead, of how much money your kid will need. Your kid also has to have a private bank account in their name with a debit card to access it once it clears. Like I said, a middle-man who is simply a courier. My daughter told me she thought she heard/read that Venmo was owned by Paypal. If this was their "solution", it's another big FAIL. Instant access was what made Paypal Student Accounts great. This new app is the best we can find, and it left my daughter stranded on a major US espressway next to Minneapolis. Is Venmo owned by Paypal? Was this their brilliant idea? Does anyone know?
I look forward to the future competition. Paypal had better fix this quick, or they can sit back and watch their stock plummet.
