Unable to remove bank account; PayPal support is no help

[Drumshhh]

I have tried for the last 90 days to remove a bank account from my business PayPal account, so I can move it over to my personal PayPal account. It is the secondary bank account (the primary being my business checking account). Every time I try to remove the account, I get the following message:

"You cannot remove this bank account because it currently has a pending transaction. This transaction may take up to 3-5 days to complete, at which time you will be able to remove the bank account. Please try again after the transaction has been completed."

I called PayPal today and the 1st-level CSR told me the problem was that the account was set as the backup funding source for my Secure Cards. Sure enough it was, so I switched that over to the other (primary) bank account. Nice, useless error message, PayPal!

Even after doing that, however, I was unable to remove the account. The same error message pops up. So the 1st-level CSR forwards me to a 2nd-level rep in the Debit Cards area. He says there are no pending debit transactions and forwards me to the Bank Accounts section.

The guy there does some research and finds no pending transactions whatsoever. He makes some changes on his end and asks me to try again. No good. He asks me to clear my browser cache and cookies (srsly? whatever) so I do that and still no good.

After a little bit more on hold, here are the options he presents me with:

1) He can put in a support ticket and maybe it will be resolved in 24 hours or maybe it will take a few weeks. In either case, there is no way for me to check the status of the ticket, and I will not be informed when it is fixed. I must just keep trying every few days until I can finally remove the account.

2) He can disable the account on his side (after which it will be unusable for ANY other PayPal account), and then I can call my bank to have them change the account number (thus hosing up any ACH/EFT bill-pay setups I have with other vendors).

NEITHER OF THESE OPTIONS IS ACCEPTABLE, PAYPAL! You try to present your company as the premier web payment system, but you cannot even notify customers with SPECIFIC problems when those problems are fixed? If I treated my customers this way, they'd all leave!

I chose option 1, however I will be calling PayPal every day or two until they resolve this. I look forward to going through a dozen 1st-level CSRs repeating my problem and going through the same useless troubleshooting steps every time...

[Drumshhh]

Update: Called again today and after the level 1 CSR wasn't able to do anything, she forwarded me to "Jeff", a supervisor. Jeff was very helpful, though he too was unable to fix the issue.

What Jeff was able to do was to talk to the engineers and explain to me why I might be having this problem (something to do with my account being older, and PayPal upgrading their systems a while back). Jeff also told me that the engineers would call or e-mail me when they figured out what the problem was exactly.

That's all I can ask for! Why couldn't the first guy (the one who created the support ticket in the first place) do that? I'm still amazed that a company the size of PayPal doesn't have a ticketing system that can produce a ticket number for the customer to refer to, but at least I have a name and a promise of a callback. This is far and away better than "well it might take several weeks and you should just keep trying".

Fingers are crossed.

[bijou]

 Payal must be changing their procedures!? Yesterday, Sat July 10, I was checking my bank account and saw where Paypal charged my June seller fees of $283! I've been selling for 4 years now and I always use my Paypal funds to make the Ebay monthly fees on or about the 20th of each month, I always leave sufficient funds in my Paypal account to cover the fees and always expected Paypal to use my Paypal account 1st and my bank account as a backup, yesterday was a Saturday and it was just luck that I checked my bank account balance early and was able to withdraw the funds from my paypal debit card and deposit them into my bank account to cover this charge or it would have cost me an overdraft fee.

 I know what a hassel it is to deal with the ebay / paypal system and I just get my blood pressure up when I try.

 Does anyone know if this was a glitch in the system or is this going to be the game every month for now on!?

 I read the policies and I understood that your paypal funds would be used 1st and your bank account as a backup source, what changed!? How can this be set straight!? Does anyone in there care!?

[Drumshhh]

Update: Called again today, got the same story from the level 1 CSR. "Engineering" is working on it, no solution yet, no ETA, no type of contact with me is expected (that is, I must keep calling in every few days).

This is crap, PayPal. Your customer service blows.

The level 1 CSR offered me a workaround: call my bank and ask them to "cancel the direct debit agreement with PayPal". I called my bank, they said PayPal doesn't know what it's talking about. If the agreement is set up on PayPal's side, the bank has no visibility to the "agreement". They can see incoming transactions, but there is no "agreement" on the bank's end that can be canceled. As long as PayPal sends the correct DRN and account number, USAA will process the debit/credit. They don't check for any "agreement" with the other party.

PayPal needs to fix this. And when problems are so bad that they have to go to "Engineering", the customer should be given a ticket # and a number to call that bypasses the level 1 CSR folks. They're nice enough, but they have no ability to fix anything.

[Drumshhh]

Update: called again, spoke with level 1 CSR "Mel" and supervisor "JR". Same story.

Filed BBB complaint with Omaha office.

[tinal]

Hi there, I was just in your same situation and was afraid I wouldn't get my problem resolved. Fortunately, I did with the 1st level CSR after waiting on the phone about 5 minutes.  She said that she cleared the pending transactions (there actually weren't any) and to try a little later, I did it while on the phone and a miracle - it allowed me to delete both the bank account and the backup debit card I had associated with that account.  I had been trying for about a week to have that done.  First time I called though.   I have one more account I need to delete, but I will give it a bit of time then call back I figure.  Good luck on yours, it may be worth another call. 

[tinal]

Thanks!

 I always refused to allow automatic payments... I wanted to be in control when my payment was being taken!?

 I just checked the automatic payment optional,  I believe this is what you need to do to insure that your payment comes from your Paypal account 1st and your personal bank account as a backup source!

 We will see when the July fees are paid?

[Drumshhh]

Update: For what it's worth to other people, the location to use for BBB complaints (about customer service issues) is:

PayPal, Inc.
2211 N First St
San Jose, CA 95131-2021

The PayPal contact name listed on my BBB complaint has an Omaha phone number, but the Nebraska BBB transferred my case to the San Jose office.

BBB is now awaiting a response from PayPal.

[Drumshhh]

Update: Here is my BBB complaint:

Description

Re: PayPal account "xxxxxx (at) xxxxxxxxx.com". This account has primary and secondary linked checking accounts and I have been trying for the last 30 days to remove (un-link) the secondary account (<bank name> checking; acct # ending in XXXX) so that I can link it to a different PayPal account (my personal account, "xxxxx (at) xxxxxxx.com"). PayPal offers a "Remove" link on their website, but this link does not work. I have called PayPal numerous times over the last 21 days and spoken with at least six different CSRs and supervisors ("Jeff" and "JR" the most recent). The only answer I have been given is "the engineers are working on a solution, but we have no ETA and there is no way for you to check the status of your issue except to call back." I have not been given a ticket number. I have not been given the name of anybody following my case. I have not ever received any communication from PayPal on the matter. Every time I call, it takes 30-40 minutes to re-explain everything to the first CSR, then to the supervisor. The result is always "we're working on it, just call back later".

Resolution Sought

I want the issue with my business PayPal account corrected so that I can move this linked checking account over to my personal PayPal account. If this cannot be corrected quickly, at the least I want a ticket number or service request number and the name of someone I can call for a status update without having to wade through 30 minutes of "troubleshooting" with a level 1 CSR who doesn't have the tools necessary to help me.

PayPal's response 

Dear Mr. XXXXX, Re: Better Business Bureau Complaint ID #nnnnnnnnn  I sincerely apologize for the difficulties you have encountered while using PayPal. The company values your business and I want to do everything possible to resolve your complaint. I have reviewed your PayPal account and your recent inquiry to the Better Business Bureau. Please allow me to offer further explanation concerning your issue. I have reviewed your PayPal account, under the email address xxxxx (at) xxxxxxx.com. In reviewing your Account, I can see that PayPal’s IT Department has been notified of the issues you are having with your Account, and working diligently towards a resolution. Unfortunately, PayPal is unable to provide an exact timeframe as to when the issue will be resolved. Also, we do not have a ticket number or a contact person in on our technical department who can follow up with you regarding this matter. However, I contacted our technical team directly regarding your Account and requested an update. Once I receive any information regarding your Account I will gladly contact you. If you prefer, please feel free to contact me directly at xxxxxxx (at) paypal.com or you may call me at 000-000-0000. However, at this time I do not have any new or additional information to provide. Again, I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this situation has caused and I look forward to updating you about this matter. Sincerely XXXXXX,  Executive Escalations PayPal, an eBay Company

So, basically, "We're working on it; please call back later". Meanwhile, my bank account is locked and unusable. I'm amazed at the poor customer serivce processes PayPal has put in place. Even the most basic CRM system can issue a ticket number for serious issues. Even my company's internal bug report system issues ticket numbers that we give to users, and those users never have to go through level 1 CSRs if they have an existing ticket number. WTH PayPal?

As I mentioned in my BBB rebuttal, my only recourse it seems is to make daily or weekly calls in an attempt to get a status. And to make my experience as public as possible so other PayPal users are aware.

Perhaps if I generated $10K in monthly fees PayPal would sing a different tune...