posted on February 18, 2002 03:08:15 PM new
If you have a complaint about Paypal here is a place that simplifies the process of contacting a media or government representative:
Things to remember when contacting them:
1. Be clear about what your issue is.
If Paypal has your money restricted then make sure to indicate how long and how much.
2. Make the issue important to them. A good example is that Paypal is operating like a bank yet isn’t licensed as one in most states. Also Paypal has not informed its users that it could face a court ordered shutdown in the event that Cert (patent infringement lawsuit) requests one for the duration of trial. This smacks of Enron/Global Crossings like behavior and many online sellers face ruin if they were to have their accounts disabled with large sums of money in them. Paypal also understates the risk of using the service, I am sure that most users don’t know that their accounts can be restricted at any time for any reason.
These are just suggestions use them at your own risk. J
posted on February 18, 2002 04:22:15 PM new
Here is the text of the letter I sent:
Dear Sir,
I want to thank you for your service to the great state of Virginia and I regret that I have to contact you under these circumstances. I currently have an account with an online payment service called Paypal (www.paypal.com). A month ago I received an email from Paypal that my account and several thousand dollars in it was restricted. I immediately contacted customer service and faxed them the documents that they demanded (copy of my drivers license, copy of a utility bill, and a copy of my bank statement) in order to resolve this problem with my account. Now a month later my account is still restricted and I have not been able to get an adequate explanation or legal reason from Paypal for this.
One of my primary concerns is a recent patent infringement lawsuit filed by Cert against Paypal. Paypal recently held a much-publicized IPO and filed a statement with the SEC that it expects Cert to file a request to have Paypal’s online operations suspended for the duration of the trial. Paypal has yet to inform individual account holders of this risk and I do not know what would happen to my money or the money of others held in Paypal accounts if this were to occur. Paypal has a user base of several million and several thousand sellers could face financial ruin if the service were suspended without adequate warning. Also, Paypal claims that though it maintains account balances for users that it is not a bank and is not FDIC insured, which in this situation compounds the risk to the individual account holders meaning that they could easily lose all the money in their accounts if Paypal were to face bankruptcy. I just don’t know what else to do and I thank you for any help with this issue that you may be able to provide.
