What a Con !!!

[melaniekarl]

I recently set up a PP account and attached a bank account.

My first withdrawal involved me paying a £5 fee. I had a bill I forgot about and needed to access the funds quickly so expected the money in my account the next day as this happens with my partners account.

Surprise surprise next day comes and no cash. It still shows as "pending" 24 hours later. On speaking to the absolutely atrocious Far East customer "service" I've been told that as its a new account the withdrawal is under security "review" and that it will be several days. What really sticks in my throat is that the £5 fee is not refundable.  There is nothing on the site that says this will happen and all I can see is a Paypal scam operating here.

I have e mailed with no response (no surprise there) and I'm absolutely disgusted by this blatant way of hanging on to my cash.Are they that desperate?  I was adding Paypal to my new website but there is no way that is going to happen and I will never recommend such a shoddy operation to anyone in business.

Anybody from Paypal care to comment?...preferably a comment thats not on the script the poorly trained Asian operatives work from.

[jonathanluchow]

this is scaring the crap out of me...ive nearly done the 18 day waiting period and i have no funds either..it says pending... but 0.00 available ballance...yes they are making a killling on the the interest (probably).. and this is truely robbery and not busines.. we dont have a choice and they arre surely exploiting this scene...gosh..

[HomeP]

Oh God.

I have just set up a website at great cost using PAYPAL as the payment method, rejecting the others as there was no monthly commitment and it seemed professional.

My clients have paid over £1000 last month, my first in business. I was overjoyed.

Then I withdraw funds to my bank 27th October, and it was Confirmed as in my bank with a date of Nov 1st given......but no money....I checked with bank....no sign.........I checked today.....no sign. Several calls to PAYPAL.....hopeless....seemed to be reading from a script. No customer service, just fobbs to go away.

I am in shock.

The bank cant help at all. Paypal wont do anything for 14 working days. Thats almost 3 weeks without money from a month ago.

it is a disgrace, PAYPAL YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED.

I HAVE FAXED MY COMPLAINT AND INCLUDED A STATEMENT SHOWING NO PAYMENT.

I  CONTACTED THE BBC WATCHDOG PROGRAMME WHO HAVE BEEN INUNDATED WITH COMPLAINTS, SO I URGE ALL THOSE THAT ARE HAVING PROBLEMS TO DO THE SAME.

They can not get away with this in this country. We have rules about Fraud.

Wish us all Luck.

Oh yes, and I am cash only now, and have pulled paypal off my site.

I am not with EBAY, and am sad for those of you that are. EBAY needs to look after its business customers alot better,

HomeP

[melaniekarl]

I sympathise....my cash eventually came through on Monday so it took a a whole week to transfer. Because I also sell on Ebay I am forced to accept Paypal (must check the legality of that !) and transferred funds yesterday....guess what....still "pending"

There is no excuse...its just plain deception. My account is verified with a linked bank account and I even funded a Paypal payment from my bank account so there can be no "security issues" that need checking. Just another delaying tactic.

I wias planning on using them on my website but thats a definate no no now...I would rather give Streamline and my bank my business. Even though banks are far from honest at least they rob you head on. I can also pick up a phone and speak to my business manager or somebody in the UK if there is a problem. If your website has done so well with sales in its first month they are worth looking at.

I was at a business thing over the weekend and didn't find anybody who had a good word to say about Paypal. These people have a lot more experience than me with long established websites and none of them would dream of using it as a payment option due to its poor reputation within the business community. Without Ebay forcing their customers to accept it I don't think they would survive.

[twin-mummy]

I would just like to say I've had a verified account for sometime now, and EVERY time i transfer funds i have had to wait more than a week (sometimes 2 weeks!) to receive my money.

I have also incurred bank charges because MY MONEY hasn't been transfered in time to cover bills! Just a tad unfair don't you think Paypal?

My husband is fuming and will be calling the BBC Watchdog this week also. How many times can one person be held pending for security reasons? Surely not for such small amounts of money?!

Paypal, seriously! You are playing with peoples lives financially! People get sick over less!!

Surely after a period of time has lapsed, or several transfers have gone through you (Paypal) would trust your customers are not criminals?! After all, we (the customer) trust you (paypal) with OUR money!! If it wasn't for us you wouldn't be in business. Also, whatever happened to 'the customer comes first'?! Shocking!

I've been given international awards for my customer service, but I would be ashamed to be part of yours!

Would someone responsible and with some sort of authority at Paypal please look into this and TAKE ACTION rather than make endless excuses. How many customer complaints will it take?! People are genuinely not happy with your service FOR GOOD REASON!!

PS your charges are extortionate!! But who has a choice if they sell on Ebay? Surely it's a persons right to choose what kind of service they want?!! Why are we not given any other options? Hmmmm! Morally wrong me thinks!

[DephNetPaul]

Classy Diva,

Please do not keep repeating your mis-information. All banks have signed up for the Faster Payment Service, this allows transfers nearly instantly with maximum of 2 hours.

For some reason PayPal are INSISTING on sending all of their payments using BACS, all of the banks are trying to move away from, that is the reason that payments take 5 days to get to your account.

--Paul

[PayPal_john]

Currently PayPal does use the BACS system to transfer funds, that is correct. That is likely to change at a later date as all banks are set up with the newer systems with no limits on the amount that can go through.

Since PayPal has to have a system that will automatically work with the majority of banks without errors we generally cannot implement everything the moment it is released. Currently BACS is considered the most stable and reliable method available for our purposes. Should we start to use the FPS system (which I personally would think is quite likely) then we will let our customer know in good time.

Please note that this is the transfer timeframe from your bank to PayPal and vice versa, if the payment is still 'pending' then the withdrawal is still on the PayPal system.

[melaniekarl]

OK John...I understand that. But why does Paypal have funds showing as "pending" for two or three, sometimes four days. When queried our intelligence gets insulted with classic scripted lines such as "A security review" and "anti money laundering legislation" which we all know is a crock.

If it happened to the first payment then yes, but to happen to most of the subsequent payments is ridiculous, especially when the bank account is verified. Paypal need to wake up and realise that business users in particular have cashflows. Those with websites can take a payment via their banks processing system today and have the money in their account 48 hours later. The Paypal system doing the same thing and taking a week is either very archaic or plain dishonest.

[twin-mummy]

Well if the staff working for Paypal are not having any trouble transfering their money, then either they are receiving preferential treatment or there is something wrong with our (specific customers) paypal accounts???

If it's the latter, then why are the customer service team at paypal not helping us resolve these issues???

Why are you all making excuses for paypal as a business, instead of assisting your customers to rectify problems??? Because it's clear there are problems with some customer accounts and not with others!?! True or not true?!

HELP US!!??!!?? ANYONE??!! Isn't that why it's called 'customer' services and not 'paypal' services??

Apologies for the sarcasm (i'm a mother of 2yr old twin boys, so my patience is tested daily - believe me!) but please understand it's very frustrating for a lot of people.

My bank charges were £82 because funds haven't transfered in the past, admitted i don't pay the £5 fee for a faster transfer (thank goodness - what a waste of good money that would be) but it took two weeks!! It should have been 3-5 working days!

To all the staff commenting on behalf of paypal! Please answer this question: if you were ANY of these customers, would YOU be happy about this level of service?! Honest answer?

[Jessejay73]

I notice that I am being also charged for the 'service' ... WHAT SERVICE ?? I have no idea, and the sooner there is a get out clause which means something, the better !!  .... Disgusted !!

[fideidefensor]

I am in full agreement with melaniekarl on this issue. I made a withdrawal to my bank account on Wednesday morning. I received an email from PayPal stating the timeframe for arrival would be 2-3 working days from then. I assumed that would include the day I asked for the withdrawal (Wednesday). Rather, I was told that my money would arrive by Monday the 6th of December. Thus, Wednesday wasn't included in the timeframe, Thursday and Friday passed, I wake up this morning - still no money. I am infuriated by PayPal's lackluster service and the lack of transparency involved in these transactions. The last time I withdrew money from PayPal it occurred within the timeframe as stated...I don't see what could be any different this time around? I am reluctant to call customer service based on the responses I've read in this thread, it seems they will just shrug their shoulders and tell me the responsibility lies with my bank now. Meanwhile, I suppose I'll just have to twiddle my thumbs while I suffer a mental breakdown from all the stress PayPal has caused me. One thing is for sure, PayPal works when I pay other people (instant) - when I want to withdraw money, it seems to give everyone a headache.