Cannot complete payment/phone confirmation.

[ColinMcC]

There are times where I really hate PayPal. This is one of them.

OK. So trying to buy something through Ebay. £200 value so not insignificant. PayPal account is verified and I've used it for years with few problems.

It pops up with the phone security check. Fine. No problem with that. Except that I realise I haven't updated my landline number. The one PayPal holds is out of date. So I click "Cancel". Head into the PayPal site separately to update my number. Update number. Restart the purchase on Ebay ...... and now the payment refuses to complete. Simply boots me out saying:

"This payment cannot be completed and your account has not been charged. Please contact your merchant for more information."

But gives me no way to resolve it.

The merchant on Ebay ONLY accepts PayPal.

PayPal gives me ZERO options to get my payment through, either via the Ebay purchase or through their own site.

Their "help" line is closed as it's a Saturday ..... and at 10p a minute to call is a blatant rip-off anyway.

So I'm stuck.

My phone number is now correct, so why the hell doesn't it give me the option to verify it and continue my purchase.

Sercurity is all well and good but there should be some way to verify a change I had to make so I can actually continue using the service.

Any suggestions?

Although, the item I was after was an excellent deal so it'll probably be sold out by the time PayPal get their house in order.

[kernowlass]

As the item was a significant amount paypal ran a security check to make sure you were the account holder.....but rather than be able to imput that info you went off and changed the number....that must have rang alarm bells so the transaction is unauthorised.

You need to contact paypal direct to get this sorted.

They are not closed on a saturday.

8:00 am – 10:00 pm Monday through Friday
8:00 am – 9:00 pm Saturday;  9:00 am – 9:00 pm Sunday
For Claims or limitations, hours of service are: 8:00 am – 8:30 pm Monday through Friday; 8:00 am – 6:30 pm Saturday; 9:00 am – 6:30 pm Sunday

[ColinMcC]

I discovered they were not closed on a Saturday (although the first phone contact page I found did not mention any weekend opening times .... which was why I thought that).

So I called them. She says "clear cache and try again in 20 minutes or so .... there is nothing on your account I can see or change". Not exactly helpful.

So I'll give it half an hour and try again.

And while I realise that making the changes I did may have triggered some security features, it should at least give me some way to accepy/verify/confirm the changes and let me continue to use the service, not just throw up a generally unhelpful message like it does. And I had to change the number. The one they wanted to call no longer exists. So I did'nt have any choice in the matter. They gave me the option to cancel rather than take the call ..... so I did. I followed their process and ended up in a "can't pay" loop with no obvious way to resolve it.

I test software, including payment and financial stuff, for a living. Ending up in a loop like that would not pass muster with me .....

Anyway. Cache cleared for now. Was told that at 13:50 GMT. Will try making the same purchase again at 14:30 GMT and see what happens ....

[ColinMcC]

And what do you know ......

Left it a full hour. Started with a cleared cache ..... and I get exactly the same message.

Lets see what "customer service" has to say second time round. They can't be any more useless than they were at the first attempt ....

[ColinMcC]

20 minute phone call to "customer services" later ..... and I'm no further forward.

Was offered "workarounds" involving sending the seller an invoice request which should apparently work. But was offered no explanation (other than "its our security system" which doesn't tell me anything) as to why I'm being blocked and no solution as to how I unblock myself.

Poor. Very poor.

I asked if this will happen if I try and purchase a high value item in the future. He didn't know.

Doesn't exacly fill me with confidence with a company who has access to my bank account.

Unfortunately, due to the close ties with Ebay, I can't just stop using PayPal (believe me, I would if I could) as that would effectively mean stopping using ebay.

I suggested they try googling my error message - "This payment cannot be completed and your account has not been charged. Please contact your merchant for more information." - and they'll soon see this isn't an isolated incident and resolutions to it appear to be few and far between.

I wouldn't release such an unhelpful system into production. Nor would I hire whoever does their usability testing as they didn't do a very good job.

I appreciate security is there for a reason and to protect us ...... but not to the point that it renders the system unsuable and neither the website nor customer services seem to have any way of resolving it. (A workaround is NOT a resolution. The guy on the phone seemed to have a hard time understanding that.)

[kernowlass]

Oh dear, did you ask to speak to a supervisor or someone more senior?

If you do find a solution please come back and post it here and others will benefit.

Good luck.

[ColinMcC]

After more googling I found a solution.

Pay through the mobile app. Tried it. Worked perfectly. Using PayPal, using the same bank account as the web version would not allow.

PayPal security system = FAIL.

[ColinMcC]

I asked him to log the problem as both a complaint and a failure in their system.

He said he would do both. Whether he does or not, I don't really care.

But their web system is still awful ...... security that blocks on one system but not the other??? (despite both being tied to exactly the same account and payment options?!?!? wtf!)

The error I was getting actually returns pages and pages of similar complaints in this forum. Thats where I eventually found the "use the mobile app" solution.

[ThePiston]

I'm having the same problem, but on both the app AND webpage. Called them today during biz hours, they said it was a security issue and they couldn't change it, that it could be on the sellers end. So I try yet another seller, also in Japan, returns the same loop of security check, 6 digit code, then back to security check prompt for sending a 6 digit code. I literally have lost out of 3 different items I wanted today as Natural Japanese Sharpening stones for swords are very quick sellers.

[Leondexter]

Yep, I have been having the same problems during ebays checkout. I am trying to search for workarounds and solutions to no avail. I tried paying through the mobile app and that didn't work either. This is incredibly frustrating and has made me miss out on some very good deals.