Trouble With Paypal
I'm normally a fan of the online payment system Paypal, but recently they've taxed my patience quite a bit.
I should say first of all that I have a Paypal Premier account, which I use to receive payments from overseas publishers and some affiliate programs. I've had my account since 2003, but recently I've had a number of problems with them.
The latest episode took place this week, when I found out that, without any authorization from me, they had tried to debit a subscription payment of 10 UK pounds from my bank account and, when this failed, taken the money from my credit card instead. This is despite the fact that there was enough cash in my Paypal account to cover the subscription many times over. I assume I will also be charged a cash withdrawal fee by my credit card company now.
It doesn't end there, either. They then proceeded to remove the link to my bank account, which was there solely so that I could withdraw money to it (I have no need to fund my Paypal account in this way). And, for good measure, they closed two ongoing subscriptions, again without any instructions from me, so I now have to set these arrangements up again, possibly at a higher price as I 'unsubscribed'.
I phoned up Paypal's customer support line - an incredibly frustrating process in itself - and eventually got through to a young woman in a call centre in (I assume) India. After about half an hour, she finally informed me that they had debited my credit card because there was not enough money in my Sterling balance to pay for the amount in question - even though I had more than enough in my US dollar balance, and they have always transferred money automatically from the dollar balance in the past when required.
By this point I was losing the will to live, so I didn't bother asking why they had also cancelled two of my subscriptions and deleted the link to my bank account. I'm normally pretty even-tempered, but I'm afraid I made a rather sharp comment about Paypal being the Bank of Mickey Mouse, and hung up. Apologies to the young woman concerned, as I don't suppose it was her fault.
I still have my Paypal account, as I can't operate as an online writer without it. I've removed the link to my credit card, however, and in future will use the account to the minimum extent possible.
Anyway, I thought I'd share this sorry tale with you. I'm not saying don't use Paypal, but I do advise employing great caution with them. This is not the first time they have made changes to my account without my authorization, and getting redress from them - or even a simple explanation - seems almost impossible.
I should say first of all that I have a Paypal Premier account, which I use to receive payments from overseas publishers and some affiliate programs. I've had my account since 2003, but recently I've had a number of problems with them.
The latest episode took place this week, when I found out that, without any authorization from me, they had tried to debit a subscription payment of 10 UK pounds from my bank account and, when this failed, taken the money from my credit card instead. This is despite the fact that there was enough cash in my Paypal account to cover the subscription many times over. I assume I will also be charged a cash withdrawal fee by my credit card company now.
It doesn't end there, either. They then proceeded to remove the link to my bank account, which was there solely so that I could withdraw money to it (I have no need to fund my Paypal account in this way). And, for good measure, they closed two ongoing subscriptions, again without any instructions from me, so I now have to set these arrangements up again, possibly at a higher price as I 'unsubscribed'.
I phoned up Paypal's customer support line - an incredibly frustrating process in itself - and eventually got through to a young woman in a call centre in (I assume) India. After about half an hour, she finally informed me that they had debited my credit card because there was not enough money in my Sterling balance to pay for the amount in question - even though I had more than enough in my US dollar balance, and they have always transferred money automatically from the dollar balance in the past when required.
By this point I was losing the will to live, so I didn't bother asking why they had also cancelled two of my subscriptions and deleted the link to my bank account. I'm normally pretty even-tempered, but I'm afraid I made a rather sharp comment about Paypal being the Bank of Mickey Mouse, and hung up. Apologies to the young woman concerned, as I don't suppose it was her fault.
I still have my Paypal account, as I can't operate as an online writer without it. I've removed the link to my credit card, however, and in future will use the account to the minimum extent possible.
Anyway, I thought I'd share this sorry tale with you. I'm not saying don't use Paypal, but I do advise employing great caution with them. This is not the first time they have made changes to my account without my authorization, and getting redress from them - or even a simple explanation - seems almost impossible.
Labels: Paypal
Nick at 9:54 AM 6 comments links to this post 
