This holiday, massive dickbaggery brought to you by PayPal

[Mojo]

I've had some terrible experiences with PayPal. Double charges for some things, which were never refunded, and an incident in which another PayPal user billed me $350 for a subscription I never agreed to extend. I called PayPal immediately upon seeing it and they told me that because it had already been charged, there was nothing I could do about it. Luckily my credit union was pretty good at putting up some blocks on PayPal transactions so that when the time came to attempt to pull $350 from my checking account, it was declined.

PayPal has always behaved as if they have some divine right to your money and that the bureaucratic system they have in place is impossible to correct. It's been almost 40 years since we put a man on the moon and yet with the massive amount of Revenue that PayPal has, they cannot be bothered to adhere to reasonable policies or decent customer service.

[hey]

It's been almost 40 years since we put a man on the moon and yet with the massive amount of Revenue that PayPal has, they cannot be bothered to adhere to reasonable policies or decent customer service.

What...?

[Mojo]

It's a reference to how they behave as if adjusting anything within their bureaucratic system is impossible when clearly much more difficult tasks have been achieved.

[Syntex]

Someone with some knowhow as to how paypal works make a similar service so they can go bankrupt because of the shit they pull.

[dejet]

unless I can pull funds out right then and there I wont use paypall to sell anything worth a damn.

Shit happened to me a few months back, put a 30 day block on funds, zero reason. When that happened I called them said nothing could be done. My answer was fuck off im using amazon/google checkout. Month passed and my random block was lifted ~_~ lol

[Silenka]

Is there any company that hasn't gone down the shitter in the past decade? If so, please tell me and restore a little of my faith in the world, I've been in negative faith numbers for quite some time.

[Yuri-G]

guess the grinch's heart melted a bit early this year

http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/06/tech/w...tml?hpt=hp_bn6

(CNN) -- PayPal has backed off an online spat with humor blog Regretsy after getting withering Web feedback for shutting down a drive to buy holiday gifts for children in need.
And the online payments service is even chipping in to help buy a few more gifts after temporarily shutting down the Secret Santa fund because the for-profit site was running it.
"(W)e can confirm that the funds have been released and we are working directly with the account holder on this matter," a PayPal representative said via e-mail. "We are also making a donation to Regretsy to help families in need this holiday season. We're very sorry this occurred."
Run by actress-comedian April Winchell, Regretsy is a snarky blog created primarily to mock what it considers awkward, ugly or otherwise head-turning offerings on the arts-and-crafts site Etsy.
But, perhaps in a bid for some good karma,the site maintains a charity fund that has given money to causes from breast-cancer research to Etsy community members in need.
Last month, Winchell, who uses the pen name "Helen Killer" on the blog, put out a call for community members who knew of children at risk of not getting gifts this Christmas. On December 1, she announced that 200 children had been approved and put out a call for donations -- one that she wrote raised thousands of dollars in a few hours.
"You people make me sick," she wrote, mocking, as she frequently does, the tone some Etsy users take when they find their work has been featured on Regretsy. "Funded. Overfunded, in fact. In just a few hours. We now have enough money to make gifts to the families, as well as these kids. Good job a--holes."
Then came the trouble.
On Monday, Winchell wrote that PayPal, which was processing the donations, shut down the drive because she had used a "Donate" button that she learned is only for nonprofit groups. She said she had a "very long and jaw-dropping conversation with an incredibly condescending representative," who told her she had to refund donations.
She wrote she hatched a plan to return the donations, then "sell" the toys that had already been purchased to the donors, only to be told that, too, violated PayPal rules.
PayPal said it has clear guidelines for any business that uses the service to collect donations. (The statement did not directly address whether Regretsy had violated those guidelines, saying it can't comment directly on accounts due to privacy policies). The representative said such guidelines are required by law.
"We appreciate that this can be an inconvenience, but we have a responsibility to all our customers -- both donors and recipients; or buyers and sellers," the PayPal rep said. "In this instance, we recognized our error and moved as swiftly as possible to fix it."
In a post Tuesday afternoon, Winchell thanked her supporters.
"I would also like to say that I did not expect this kind of global outpouring of support, and I truly believe that had you not all made your voices heard, no one from Paypal would have ever felt compelled to make this right," she wrote, noting that "Regretsy" had become a top trending topic on Twitter. "There is no real support or appreciation for the consumer anymore. The customer is always wrong.
"I am extremely grateful to all of you for your efforts. If Paypal is sincere about allowing us to make these gifts, you will have made a difference for 200 children and their families this holiday season."
In an email later Tuesday to CNN, Winchell said she'd had an "encouraging" conversation with PayPal and that they were still discussing a donation to the fund.
After responding to a CNN request, PayPal's blog was updated with a post with the same statement, attributed to Anuj Nayar, director of communications.

[Greatguardian]

It's a reference to how they behave as if adjusting anything within their bureaucratic system is impossible when clearly much more difficult tasks have been achieved.

I think he was referring more to how we put a man on the moon over 42 years ago, not less than 40. At least that's what stood out to me.

[Apelila]

yay, massively bad publicity forces a companies hand yet again.

[kuronosan]

[Necronus]

Not that it hasn't been said plenty already, but just to reinforce this fact for anyone who is somehow still naieve to PayPal practices:

PayPal can and will do whatever the fuck it damn well pleases with your money whenever they feel like it.. It may not happen to you, but be sure that at any given moment, they're probably holding an entire business hostage ... or taking funds out of a linked bank account from some poor guy they accused of scamming ... or running around NYC pepper spraying old ladies to take their change purses. Well, at least 2 of those 3 are actually happening, but you get the idea.

[Demosthenes11]

probably worse that they are doing just this and not changing policy for all accounts that get fucked like this, which is at least hundreds a year. fuck paypal

[Necronus]

probably worse that they are doing just this and not changing policy for all accounts that get fucked like this, which is at least hundreds a year. fuck paypal

Well, its not like this is a case of a business being stubborn about a stupid rule that they refuse to change. While PayPal would never publically admit it, they do it on purpose.

Banks let you store your money safely in order to use that money to turn a profit via loans, etc.

Paypal avoids many bank laws by creating unilateral and unfair lockdowns of peoples money in order to give itself 0% interest loans at your expense, while it undoubtedly using money to turn extra profits elsewhere. At least that's what I've read but have no soure material to back it up.


Therefore they'll never change their policies to avoid these situations, because they WANT these situations. So far, years and years worth of bad PR haven't stopped them or slowed down their business to cause any longterm effects. We'll all go back to forgetting about this by tomorrow and they'll go back to locking down some other poor saps money tomorrow as well.

[Demosthenes11]

Well, its not like this is a case of a business being stubborn about a stupid rule that they refuse to change. While PayPal would never publically admit it, they do it on purpose.

Banks let you store your money safely in order to use that money to turn a profit via loans, etc.

Paypal avoids many bank laws by creating unilateral and unfair lockdowns of peoples money in order to give itself 0% interest loans at your expense, while it undoubtedly using money to turn extra profits elsewhere. At least that's what I've read but have no soure material to back it up.


Therefore they'll never change their policies to avoid these situations, because they WANT these situations. So far, years and years worth of bad PR haven't stopped them or slowed down their business to cause any longterm effects. We'll all go back to forgetting about this by tomorrow and they'll go back to locking down some other poor saps money tomorrow as well.

I'm quite aware, and it's why this attempt to is an insult

[Mikus]

In a post Tuesday afternoon, Winchell thanked her supporters.
"I would also like to say that I did not expect this kind of global outpouring of support, and I truly believe that had you not all made your voices heard, no one from Paypal would have ever felt compelled to make this right," she wrote, noting that "Regretsy" had become a top trending topic on Twitter. "There is no real support or appreciation for the consumer anymore. The customer is always wrong.
.

This stood out to me tremendously. It is like the customer is always wrong. Every time I have a problem which is blatently the companies fault and I have to call them to correct it, I have to mentally prepare myself for the battle that will ensue.

It's like this even for the company I work for. I sell insurance and this weekend I got a cancellation notice for my own policy. The policy is in my wifes name. I called the payment center and played it off as if it was for my customer. I got told they didn't know why it was cancelled as there was funds in the account to pay the bill, not delinquint, etc. I asked what I should tell the customer. They said just tell them it's a misc. error and to just pay the bill. What a joke....

[Zalius]

standard paypal. regular people get $2000+ accounts frozen all the time for really seemingly insignificant reasons. basically, they will say "you did this, which is against our rules, so we need to freeze all of your money, even if $1,900 of it didn't come from this source. it will take us many months to decide whether or not to give you your money"

and then they will ignore you
for months
and tell you its pending
for months
and then you will call angry that they have your fucking money and nobody will tell you anything about it

at this point a lot of people will give up, some people have had accounts frozen for years. it's really fucked up but there's no real competition for them, luckily google is all up on that shit but google checkout has its flaws still. it's like a little embryo but since it's googles you know its got that adonis dna

[Yuri-G]

Well, its not like this is a case of a business being stubborn about a stupid rule that they refuse to change. While PayPal would never publically admit it, they do it on purpose.

Banks let you store your money safely in order to use that money to turn a profit via loans, etc.

Paypal avoids many bank laws by creating unilateral and unfair lockdowns of peoples money in order to give itself 0% interest loans at your expense, while it undoubtedly using money to turn extra profits elsewhere. At least that's what I've read but have no soure material to back it up.


Therefore they'll never change their policies to avoid these situations, because they WANT these situations. So far, years and years worth of bad PR haven't stopped them or slowed down their business to cause any longterm effects. We'll all go back to forgetting about this by tomorrow and they'll go back to locking down some other poor saps money tomorrow as well.

all I'm gonna say here is: I work for a bank, we work with paypal, and you have no clue how right you are. don't want to get into more than that due to paranoia.

[Drex]

give itself 0% interest loans at your expense, while it undoubtedly using money to turn extra profits elsewhere.
...
Therefore they'll never change their policies to avoid these situations, because they WANT these situations

that, along with hiding the fact that they spent/invested your money and they have to get it back before they can let you access it

[guartz]

*note to self; scrap paypal plans.

[Necronus]

Hmm, whats PayPal up to now: "PayPal founder backs visa-free floating city off California coast"

the massive floating city will serve as a haven and incubator for brilliant entrepreneurs and gifted individuals who would otherwise need to wrangle with the U.S. government to work or reside within the country.

Article


Edit: The article really gives me no real indication if this is a meniacal plot or an innocent but useful thing. I just posted it cause I saw PayPals founder mentioned.