Yesterday, I used my PayPal business debit card to purchase gas at a local gas station. The payment went through without a hitch, or so I thought. Last night, I purchased something online, which also appeared to go through. Today, I received a message from the online vendor that the card was ultimately declined.
I logged into PayPal and noticed a negative balance on my account equal to the cost of the gas purchase. When I called PayPal support to find out why this didn't come from my bank account, the support representative informed me that PayPal was unable to get a response from my bank during the gas purchase.
Why did PayPal decide to let the transaction go through and create a negative balance rather than simply declining the transaction? I asked the rep if this was an option and she said it was not. Declining the gas purchase transaction would have allowed me to choose another card, make the purchase and then purchase from the online store later when PayPal could once again reach the bank. A temporary glitch would have barely inconvenienced me. Approving the transaction inappropriately has caused me to waste half an hour on the phone and the time it takes to post this.
When I asked the rep where to add a suggestion to allow choosing what happens when a bank cannot be reached, I was placed on hold again while she looked up an answer (after telling me "in the Help Center" was not enough for me since there I didn't see any obvious way to do so). This may be as close as I get since I'm still on hold and not sure how long I'm willing to stay on hold...
