posted on April 18, 2002 01:58:00 AM new
Here's my PayPal "story":
I opened an PayPal account many years ago (I would say three or more) and went thru the then "off-line" verification process. Basically, PayPal sent me a letter via snail mail containing a code which I need to confirm receipt of the letter after I logged into my PayPal account. This was their old way of confirming my address.
I then confirmed my PayPal account further with my checking account and credit card. However, I had not used the account very much at all until about six months ago. I used this and my dad's account (also PayPal- verified & confirmed) to pay for ebay auctions. After doing quite a bit of buying on ebay (I used PayPal to settle most of these auctions), we have decided to try our hands at selling stuff we don't use (e.g. college textbooks).
Things went OK and we decided to upgrade my dad's account so that he can accept credit cards. The fees was too prohibitive and he eventually downgraded the account (this process was a little PayPal "Day"- & "Night"-mare in itself).
Having bought some items at lower prices several months ago, we decided to cash in and sell them on ebay. So this is how we began as active buyers and seller on ebay...
We accepted payment thru PayPal only to my dad's account since the auctions were listed under his name. Since there are so many PayPal users and many have chosen to keep some money there earning little interest there is, we received quite a few "direct" payments which allow us to settle auctions very quickly. At the same time, we continue to win auctions and pay for them with our PayPal accounts. Since our two credit cards were under different billing cycles (about two week difference), so we work that to the best of our advantage by transferring balances between the PayPal account and paying for auctions using the account that has a zero balance. Occasionally some money is withdrawn to my bank account but never to my dad's since I make most payments on the house.
Ok, that works great for us for about three months and we had done over 300 transactions successfully on ebay with absolutely no problem and paid for many dozens of auctions with our PayPal account.
The "Day"-mare begins when I received a phone call at work questioning a $5k withdraw to my checking account. It was not the first time that I transferred a rather large sums from my PayPal account to my checking account. The PayPal rep didn't inform me the purpose of his call and just asked whether the 5k was for a merchadise or not. I answered "no". Since I work in a very open area, I did not try to elaborate further. He then quickly said he will contact the other people who hold a PayPal account in my household and that was the end of the phone call.
I then logged into my PayPal account and tried to find out what happened. About 10-15 minutes after the call, I began getting emails saying that they will reverse this 5k transaction but again given no reasons. I then got more emails saying that some other payment transactions (without saying which ones) were also reversed and my account was placed on restriction.
I called their customer service the next morning and one of the reps hung up on me when he was unable to answer my question why they have restricted our accounts. I then faxed in their required documents in that afternoon hoping that they will lift the restirction fairly soon.
Well, they then sent me an email requesting the same info from everyone in my household. After looking into my PayPal account more carefully, my dad and I had made payments for ebay auctions (more than 7k in total) had all been reversed!!!
I faxed in more info, sent them emails and called them a few more times and to no avail. I am completely helpless and frustrated!!! And that's why I am still awake writing this message!!
So they hold over 5k of cash balance in my account and did not release over 7k to the sellers. Worse yet, since our accounts have been restricted, they are holding that 7k as well, which they should have just credited back to my credit card. So now I need to raise 7k cash to pay for the auctions and PayPal is holding over 12k of my and the seller's money.
This all began with the phone call last week and I have been losing sleep ever since. This "hanging" issue is also affecting my productivity at work and it is not the best time to be not performing your best at work!!!
I had thought about filing a suit with the Small Claims Court but they limit cases up to 5k which does not help me. Hiring a lawyer would no doubt be expensive and may not be of much help anyway.
Can anyone out there help me? Please... I hope I can sleep now after venting my anger a little bit...
posted on April 18, 2002 07:48:56 AM new
not sure i understand this part-did you transfer 5000 from your paypal account to your bank account??
what i mean is did you do it or someone hack into your account>
or your dad doing it on a different pc??
also when you transfer paypal fund between your and your dad paypal accounts,does paypal charge a fee??
posted on April 18, 2002 08:01:58 AM new
Here's the answers to your questions:
As far as we know, nobody had ever hacked into our accounts and made any unauthorized transactions.
I transferred 5k from my PayPal account to my bank account. In fact, that 5k had came from my checking account several weeks earlier. So it is MY MONEY and did not come from any PayPal payers (other than my dad). There is no way that this would be fraudulent.
I logged into both accounts at work and at home. So they would have to be different computers. Perhaps they didn't like to see I logged into both accounts on the same computer at my work and then at home!?
PayPal does not charge a fee for the transfers between our account. Both are personal accounts. Perhaps this upset them.
posted on April 18, 2002 09:16:41 AM new
i think many paypal users access their accounts from home,work,kinko and friends and neighbors's pc.
does your father access both accounts,and from where??
posted on April 18, 2002 12:00:00 PM new
Damon hasn't come to the boards recently, I would e-mail him at [email protected]. He is PayPal's "customer relations" persion I believe and he is almost always the only person that can ever help you.
posted on April 23, 2002 07:30:50 AM new
I sent my story to [email protected] last week but have not heard from him (yet!).
Yes, I need a lot of luck or a good lawyer. PayPal "complains" that some of the papers I faxed to them were illegible after one week. So no body looks at my stuff for a week!? Are they "buying" time so that they can permenantly lock our accounts after 90 days!?
Perhaps they suspect that I am a terrorist!? I will keep you guys updated! Please keep sending your ideas in!!! Thanks for your support!
posted on April 23, 2002 11:13:53 AM new
". I used this and my dad's account"
This is where your trouble start's.
Never ever use any account that is not in your own name.
"We accepted payment thru PayPal only to my dad's account since the auctions were listed under his name."
". Occasionally some money is withdrawn to my bank account but never to my dad's since I make most payments on the house."
Big mistake!
This is from paypals user terms of use.
"No Multiple Accounts. Should you register for more than one Personal Account, PayPal reserves the right to terminate all of your accounts and will restrict you from the system going forward. Users may register and hold one Personal Account and either one Premier or one Business Account."
Sounds like this is where your problem lies.
Registration Information. You agree to provide true, accurate and complete registration information and to maintain and promptly update your information as applicable."
" You agree not to impersonate any other person or use a name that you are not authorized to use."
If this is your dads account and you are pulling money to your account, this would set up a red flag.
Do hope that you can get them to help you out with this mess.
posted on May 5, 2002 02:22:51 PM new
Finally got an email from paypaldamon asking me whether this problem has been resolved yet. Of course not! He says he was on vacation. I sent him a long email explaining my situation. Hope he can help. Their customer service really sucks. They do not bother to reply to my inquires for over two weeks and not even an automated email or two, which they are very good at.
