warning burnt by paypal prepaid mastercard

[maclum]

I love paypal and have been using  monepak to add money with no problems. But I have recieved multiple emails from Paypal selling the benifits of the paypal prepaid mastercard so  I went to Walgreens and paid $ 150 for a Paypal prepaid mastercard thinking that I can use it straight away. 

I get home and try to activate it online.......but my social security, passport number and greencard number are not accepted ??????

So I call paypal and guess what, after entering all my card and personal information, it also does not work, then I find that there is no person to talk to, apparently paypal has bankers hours when it comes to actualy helping you????

So I send a email from their website and to my great surprise get a email back within minutes from a support person saying they realy want to help and will call me back immediately. Did they call back ????? no, so I rang the number they gave in the email and guess what, it went to voice mail they have gone home - again bankers hours.

So I went to the drug store that I purchased the card from, gave them my recept and asked them to transfer the money to a moneypak card. Bad luck, they were happy to take my money but cant refund, they called paypal as well and could not get any real person to talk to, how can that happen, can you imagine Walgreen not been able to talk to visa or american express???? that would not happen, but Walgreen could not get hold of anyone at Paypal.

So now I am left with a card that can not be activated, I receipt for $150 and a very bad tast in my mouth. Paypal does a great job with the actual transaction with the retail organizations for the purchase of goods and services but **bleep** at managing the mastercard pre paid process and should not agressively sell something they can not support, and in fact, that does not even work,

[maclum]

Update....

Paypal has responded to my complaint by email basically washing their hands of the problem. Their response is that any PayPal re-loadable Prepaid Mastercard starting with 5311 is run by a company called Netspend, therefore Paypal can not do anything. So just to be clear a card which is branded a Paypal card on all the packaging, a card that says Paypal customer on the actual card, is not the responsibility of Paypal????????? Clearly Paypal must of given permission to Netspend to use their name, and by allowing it to be branded Paypal so obviously should take responsibility regarding defective, poor or possibly fraudulent behaviour????

[maclum]

Final update...  It is fixed but I tell you it seems that Paypal really does not know how this system works. I was last told by Paypal that they cant fo anything as a company called Netspend runs the Paypal prepaid card (below is the email I got).

But the support options on the mastercard refers to the website paypal.com/prepaid or ph, sounds like paypal to me? So I rang that number and finaly got through to a real person. First I asked are you paypal or another company, they said we are paypal just another division?? who is telling the truth. Then they asked a pile of questions and approved my card. Apparently the steps you need to do are:

1. Buy the card

2. Call and get approved

3. Logon and get it activated  paypal.com/prepaid

4. wait 10 days for the real card to arrive

The instructions on the packaging for the card omit step 2 and only refer to steps 1, 3 and 4. 

More misleading information.

1. All the other non Paypal prepaid card displayed had clear notice at the back of the package of a mthly 4.95 fee. I thought great the  Paypal prepaid mastercard card does not have that fee. Wrong, you have to open a flap to see that fee, well my bad I should of looked everywhere in the packaging before buying.

2. The vendor charges $ 4.95 and paypal charges 4.95 as soon as you activate the card so be ready to pay $10 up front for the card.

3. I was told by the customer support person that they will keep on applying that $4.95 every month even if you have no money in the account, so don't just throw it away when you are out of money, you need to cancel it.

Last email from Paypal

Thank you for contacting PayPal Debit Card. My name is ........., and I understand you have a question about the PayPal Debit MasterCard®. At this time I do not see an active PayPal Debit MasterCard® on your PayPal Account. If the card that you have begins with the numbers 5311 then it would be a Pre-Paid PayPal Debit MasterCard® which is not run by us. The Pre-Paid PayPal Debit MasterCard® is run by a company called Netspend and their phone number should be listed on the back of the card. I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you.

[edmullins73]

Yeah, you speak the truth - This card is the biggest, most-annoying piece of crap ever

[tikitacky]

Yep. I waited over a week for the card that would 'arrive within 24 hours'. I cannot activate it. Sent in all the effing documents. Spent an hour on hold and then another 40 minutes speaking to a person who could have been a robot. I was told someone would get back to me in 6-8 hours. Nope. In the meantime I have past due bills and need my $1500 that they're happily holding on to. I HATE Paypal. It is one thing after another. How I wish there was an alternative to using them for online sales transactions. I've had a Paypal account for over ten years. And still, here I am dealing with being unable to access my own money.

[grizovic]

What was step 2 for you?  Who did you call to get approved?

[lford]

PayPal prepaid is down again..I just signed on at 730 it was working.  It is 900am and It is down again.  I am done with Papal and Papal prepaid.  How do you let a company use your name and logo, but when problems arise the main company can not do anything about it.  On the Papal site you promote a mastercard that which won't work if the site is down.  I don't blame Papal Prepaid I blame paypal for allowing a company to use your trademark and can't fix anything.  If this keeps up Papal will end up losing valuable customers because this is messing with peoples money.  This card is suppose to give an option of immediate transfer but if the site is down, I have paypal money in my account and need gas.  Well Im SOL......very annoyed..I also use paypal for my business..Im going to start shopping around for other companies like Square, and Intuit...There has got to be something better since the site I trusted as the best is not...

[lford]

Now its back...I can't handle the back and forth

[Bewareofprepaid]

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@lford wrote:

PayPal prepaid is down again..I just signed on at 730 it was working.  It is 900am and It is down again.  I am done with Papal and Papal prepaid.  How do you let a company use your name and logo, but when problems arise the main company can not do anything about it.  On the Papal site you promote a mastercard that which won't work if the site is down.  I don't blame Papal Prepaid I blame paypal for allowing a company to use your trademark and can't fix anything.  If this keeps up Papal will end up losing valuable customers because this is messing with peoples money.  This card is suppose to give an option of immediate transfer but if the site is down, I have paypal money in my account and need gas.  Well Im SOL......very annoyed..I also use paypal for my business..Im going to start shopping around for other companies like Square, and Intuit...There has got to be something better since the site I trusted as the best is not...

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I agree. Paypal is losing a business customer because it is misleading with information and then when you call say sorry that you misunderstood. THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO WAY TO INSTANTLY ACCESS FUNDS FOR CASH. All transfers to your bank or Bancorp Bank take at least 2 days and a check weeks.  Grateful I am only out the price of the card.  I could have used my own bank and debit card for free. I transferred the money to my bank. I would rather wait two days instead of 5 for the prepaid card with my name on it to arrive in the mail and then another 2 days to transfer funds to Bancorp Bank.

[MrSteppo]

I logged in here for a different purpose, and glad I did. This information is priceless, and provides an insight into the operations of a large corporation - their utter uselessness - when things go off track.