When completing an order with IKEA I chose to use my PayPal account and was offered the Pay in 3 option which in these more difficult financial times for many, I decided to accept. After processing PayPal came back with "oops there is a problem, please choose another method of payment". that can't be right, must be a glitch I thought so I repeated the process and exactly the same thing happened. 3 times would be silly I thought not realising it already was!!! Upon review I discovered that prior to not accepting the Pay in 3 transaction, the first payment (in this case over £150) had already been authorized on my debit card and not once but twice, once for each of my 2 attempts. This happened 10 days ago and I am still no closer to regaining access to the over £300 authorized to PayPal Pay in 3 on my debit card and hence my bank account. My bank can do little without the correct statement and associated information from PayPal Credit saying that they have voided/cancelled the transactions. I can imagine climbing Everest in swimming trunks might be a little easier than my experience in obtaining this from PayPal. What upsets me more than probably not having access to my money until the end of this month, is the manner in which this happened. To get the money authorized for the first payment before the deal is even accepted is close to fraud in my book and as far as business ethics are concerned then whoever designed this system ... is totally devoid of any. The bottom line is that if you plan to use the Pay in 3 option and have a debit card as your payment method, then DON'T. I will never use it nor will I use any similar type offers that come along unless there is a clear and public statement of a reversal of this you pay first and we ask the questions later policy. Anyway, it looks like the wardrobes will have to wait although I appear to have discovered something hiding in PayPal's.
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