Double billing

[Pchow]

I had an upcoming charge, for which I a arranged for adding funds from a Canadian bank account; normally it does not take so long, but was not processed in time, and so Paypal initiated a second charge, which put the account into NSF, and eventually was returned. Now I'm sitting still with negative balances both in Paypal and my bank, no way to add more money immediately, and possibly due for a second NSF charge, if the original add funds request is denied.

1. Can I get recourse from Paypal for lack of information about this event (I waas rather shocked that they even allowed it to go through; a bank would not)

2. I started two help queries in customer service, neither of which are very fast, but one of them stated that there is a 'chat' available for faster resolution - is there really? I can't find it at all, only 'suggested help topics'. Thanks a lot to whomever can give me some insight - it's a bit difficult to actually telephone, I just can't afford even that just now

[sharpiemarker]

@Pchow 

https://www.paypal.com/ca/smarthelp/article/what-happens-when-an-authorized-payment-is-returned-for-...

Bank payments have to go through the motions of being collected and can't be canceled midway or not "go through" if there is not enough and avoid your NSFs, its not as if you're paying with PayPal balance and PayPal uses your back up card, its your bank balance and bank overdraft fees apply. There is no overdraft protection from PayPal with your bank account. When you selected a funding source, you agreed to payment of and with it and all the consequences that go with it. Perhaps consult with your bank to forgive one or all of them.

If you do not replenish your bank account at all to cover the bank payment then PayPal may charge your credit card.

[Pchow]

There was enough, if Paypal hadn't tried twice to get the same amount a money; there isn't a credit card to take other funds from, and help and support isn't helping at all. But I would still like to know, if there really is such a 'chat', where I can contact and work out this problem immediately, or are they actually referring to the complicated and inefficient thing called 'contact us'. As I say, at the moment, I can't phone them, and the first reply that I got from my contact was an automated response, telling me how to add funds. Not useful at all - there seems to be a 36 hour gap (not 24 hours, as suggested) between one email and the response. I really need to resolve this quickly, so I would appreciate as much help as I can get here. Thank you indeed Sharpiemarker for answering, but I don't think I'm very close to a solution here.

[PayPal_Cristina · Accepted solution]

Hi @Pchow, 

I am sorry to hear that. In the 'Contact Us@ section, you may find all the way to contact us directly. 

You may reach out by PM on Facebook or DM on Twitter.

I hope this helps.

Cristina

[Pchow]

Hi Christina,

Well, almost, I guess that I can't get further information here - in one of the most recent emails I received, again there was this quote, "Did you know you can also live chat with us? Just log into your account, go to www.paypal.com/us/smarthelp/contact-us and select an issue", but this time they included the information that it is only available at certain times of the day; maybe that is why I never saw any access to a chat.. But I'm still doubtful that any of this will help- now, there is probably no way that Paypal will compensate my very larege NSF fee, even though the Paypal process which resulting in being billed twice for the same thing caused the problem in the first place. Maybe I should join the thousands who go to court over this, many of them seem to be successful. Thank you for your time, Chrisitina!

[sharpiemarker]

@Pchow 

Re-reading what happened again, and based on my overall observations from incidents reported on the board, adding funds from a bank to PayPal is quite unpredictable and not the most reliable. That's why PayPal doesn't really encourage adding cash as much as they used to. Imhpo, anything to do with a bank transaction is unpredictable/unreliable. You don't know if a payment will clear or not or be on time. Once the process starts it can't be stopped, having to call the bank to stop it and risk your bank account not working with PayPal because you stopped payment. Just disastrous. Oh and the bank fees.

And the thing of it is, you don't have to add funds, just select the funding source during checkout. Also with the increased linking of PayPal accounts to automatic payment and billing agreements with merchants, I'd advise to adjust your automatic payment settings for any up coming or recurring payment transaction by choosing the right back up funding source if the PayPal balance is insufficient and let PayPal do its thing and charge the funding source direct. Just got to make sure there is enough In the funding source. No need for the extra time for adding funds to PayPal. Skip that. Or, make the transfer with way enough time for the funds to be added to your balance. A week to two?

On the other hand, many merchants may not accept bank payment due to it slow timing so sometimes you have no choice but to if you don't have a credit card to speed things up.

I would direct you to open a case with bbb.org under PayPal San Jose CA to get PayPal Office of Executive Escalations to look over the situation and see what they can do, but you're in Canada. I have seen international cases filed and what PayPal does is forward it to their North American office. Don't know what happens to it after that.