What does it mean when a PayPal rep says he's going to "refresh" my account?

[augratin]

I have been having the devil of a time trying to link my bank.  I get to the point where PayPal says it will send those two small deposits to my account for me to verify, and then I say okay.  Then it thinks for a while and finally I get a message saying that "oops this kind of account needs a little extra help from one of our reps" or words to that effect, and asks me to call in.

So I call in, the rep seems to think everything is cool and doesn't see any reason why I'm having trouble linking the account.  He asks me for the routing & account numbers and says he'll link it for me.  Then after a moment he says the system (not sure what system) isn't cooperating and he's encountering some strange errors or something.  He says he will need to refresh my account, and that after 24 to 48 hours I should be able to do it myself.

The 48 hours is almost ended to I am getting ready to try again.  But I wanted to know what it means when he says he "refreshed" my account.  Has it gone stale?  And what about the message saying "this kind of account needs a little extra help..."  It's not any special kind of account; it's a normal checking account.

Thanks.

[PayPal_JonK]

Hello @augratin, 

Welcome to the PayPal Community Forum! I'm sorry to hear you've run into some issues linking your bank to PayPal. I'm not exactly sure what the agent was referring to, but I would recommend a couple things before trying Customer Support one more time. 

First, I'd recommend clearing your browser's cache, cookies and history to see if that helps. If you're still unable to link your bank after that, here are the most Common reasons you're unable to link your bank. 

If you still need to reach out Customer Support, here are the other methods available: How do I contact PayPal customer service?
 

Good luck!

 - Jon K

[augratin]

Thanks for that advice.  I did do those basic first steps many weeks ago when I started having this problem.  I didn't go into detail about the linking problem because I was interested only in the "refresh" thing.  But since you asked:

I get to the part where I put in my routing and account numbers in and then it says a security check is needed. It directs me to add a phone number to my account.  Problem is, my phone number is already in my account profile.  PayPal uses it to send me security PINs and notifications about incoming money all the time. It's the same number I've had in my account for years.

If I try to add my number (the number that's already associated with my account), the system hesitates for a moment and tell me: "sorry we can't use that number", or words to that effect.  

I have also tried to do this using the chat bot, or as PayPal calls it, the "automated assistant".  But when doing it that way, it hangs at the same point - the security check.  After giving the bot my account and routing numbers, it asks "would you like to do a quick security check?"  I answer YES and the bot just stops chatting with me at that point.

This is why I started calling in a few weeks ago for help.  And the PayPal supervisor isn't able to link my account either, when she tried to do it manually.  That is when the whole "we need to refresh your account" thing came up.

Well it's been more than 48 hours and I am still having the same problem.  The only difference I see in my account settings is that my phone number now appears twice, once as a mobile number and once as a "home" number.  I guess the PayPal supervisor did that, thinking it might help.

I tried to call back in but waited in queue for over 30 minutes (even though I called at 06:00 pacific, the exact minute the helpdesk opens) and couldn't wait any longer.  I will try again tonight and see if I can get through.