This is mostly a rant as I cannot take it out on anyone at PayPal as they are doing a good job of keeping an iron wall up between themselves and their customers . I find it unconsciencable for a company of PayPal's size to have such a poor mechanism for dealing with it's customers. Most responses are generic and canned. And usually do not address any specifics of an issue. And now I have had a rather odd problem/issue occur. And none of the menu systems are designed to handle it so I had to call. And when I called I was told they could call me back in 3-6 hours. Very sad. When I finally get a hold of someone the next day they were of absolutely no use. And what they assured me would not happen, did happen. Very, very sad. If this is how a large, profitable company treats its employees today then we are all in for a long road of pain and disappointment moving forward.
My problem:
Saturday (12/9) afternoon I receive an email confirming a transfer of $1000 from my personal checking account (at a different bank) into my PayPal account and that it would clear on the 12/13. After ensuring my wife was not up to anything I changed my password and then try to cancel it. But there was no option to do so like everyother bank I have ever dealt with.
So I call PayPal and find out they are very busy and I can either hold for the next available representative or they can call me back. Both options netted a wait time of 3-1/2 to 5-1/2 hours. So back to the website I go. On my phone as I am out when this all happens. Once to the 'Resolution Center' I choose the pending transfer as unauthorized and explain in the text box what the problem was. After submitting I tried calling again but it was still a several hour wait and would now be after 11pm for the call back.
Sunday (12/10) morning I go into my account and into the 'Resolution Center'. Open Cases - 0. Closed Cases - 0. Cases being Reviewed - 0. Every tab is showing me a 0 and when I click on them sure enough nothing is there. So I call again and we are now in the 20-40 min wait time. Hang up and wait. Phone rings about 30 min later. After confirming who I am the rep confirms that my issue is in the system and will be assigned to someone. When I told him it was not showing in the 'Resolution Center' he didn't hesitate to tell me not to worry that it was in the system and would be addressed. And that it would be resolved by the 18th. So I have two issues at this point. First, the electronic system they funnel us to is not showing my Case. And I cannot resubmit (I tried) because it gives an error telling me that the transaction already has an open case against it. Second is that they are telling me that they will resolve the Case AFTER the transfer is complete. I explain to the customer service rep that I understand that my money is no leaving any of my accounts. But it is very suspicious that a large sum of money is being moved from one of my outside accounts into PayPal and now one knows who set it up. And that to me it sounds like a setup for second move once the money is there with a bigger grab. He understands and tells me that 'they' will put a stop on the transfer before it completes even if they have not finished their investigation. Call ends and we all go about our merry lives.
Tuesday (12/12) I received an email that they have determined that the transfer was unauthorized. No explination as to how it happened. Who cares, right? And that they will 'refund' me the full amount. And today they did. They let the transfer complete. The unauthorized transfer. They 'fixed' the situation by allowing the UNAUTHORIZED transaction go through. And send me an email as though they did the right thing. This is how they are handling problems and fraud within their ecosystem. Between themselves and banks that their customers have linked. How are they dealing with fraud that reaches outside of this sphere? Very disappointing and very scary of you think about it.
To top it all off I have attempted to call them but you can guess how that has gone. And I looked for another number on the site. But you have to select topics to get to a number. I don't have a payment issue, receipt issue, ebay issue, business setup issue or any issue that matches anything in their lists. So no number for me! Fantastic isn't it!
