nufsaid
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posted on January 3, 2002 12:45:56 PM new
Well, I picked up the debit card option at paypal and started using it. Everything worked great until 1 week ago. I tried to use my card at a local farm & home merchant. They were having trouble with authorizations that day and when they ran my card the authorization timed out before they got a response back. ( a quick note - I work for a major retailer and as chance would have it I actually wrote the authorization software that we use so I have quite a bit of experience with some of the issues that can arise ) I knew right away that this would be a problem. To get the 1.5% back paypal requests that you use the card in an off-line mode (tell the clerk that it is a credit card). This means you don't enter a pin but paypal still treats it like a debit card. They put a hold on the funds immediately. I had them try one more time and again the authorization timed out. So I went on to a different form of payment. Paid for the items and went home. Sure enough when I checked my account, Paypal had dinged it for the amount (about $40) even though I didn't pay for them with my paypal card. It has a status of pending, but the funds are not available to me. The real problem is that I wrote paypal customer support 1 week ago (through the web site support page) and they have yet to even acknowledge that they received the complaint. Let alone do anything about it. It appears that they do not have any customer support. If this were my bank I would pick up the phone and it would be taken care of in a matter of minutes.
If anyone has had a similar problem and can give me any advice or if anyone knows a phone number for paypal I woudl greatly appreciate the info. Thanks a bunch!
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rarriffle
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posted on January 3, 2002 01:02:09 PM new
I had the same problem a few weeks ago. The store ran it through twice and the authorization cleared on the second try. Paypal dinged me twice but it did clear itself a few days later. As long as it shows pending and you have sent an email you should be okay.
Damon will see it on this board though and help you out.
Good luck.
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anothertreasure
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posted on January 3, 2002 01:06:33 PM new
I used mine 3 or 4 times. Clerk swiped it, it cleared, I got my 1.5% no problem.
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bestattic
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posted on January 3, 2002 01:34:02 PM new
I use mine all the time. I did have one incident where a restaurant charged it twice for 2 different amounts, but between PP and the restaurant it was cleared up quickly to my extreme satisfaction.
B'
Angels 'n Stuff
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ccaswell
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posted on January 3, 2002 03:01:33 PM new
In about another week or so, you'll get a reply from PayPal advising that if the store doesn't follow up in a few days, your funds will be returned to your account in 30 days.
This happened to me twice and in both cases the funds were returned to the account in exactly 30 days at about 8am.
chc
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jalleniii
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posted on January 3, 2002 07:54:18 PM new
Happens quite frequently at the Post Office.
It has nothing to do with the card or PayPal itself but is the fault of the equipment used to swipe the card. The charges remain pending for several days and then are cleared out.
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nufsaid
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posted on January 4, 2002 09:22:18 AM new
Thanks for the info! I guess my real gripe is the total lack of service and 30 days seems like very long time to get it fixed. In the real world settlement files would be transmitted from the retailer to the financial institution within 24 hours (the retailers want to be paid). If there were technical problems 3 days would be the max. Wouldn't it seem reasonable to allow 7 days for the retailer to settle and then credit the account if they didn't. Paypal could always re-charge the account if the settlement came through later. It just seems a bit arrogant and not very customer friendly to me. After all we are the customers right!
I wonder if very many people are giving c2it a try.
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paypaldamon
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posted on January 4, 2002 01:44:15 PM new
Hi nufsaid,
You can have the merchant fax over information to have these auth's removed---
In order to remove the duplicate hold, we need a fax from the merchant
authorizing us to remove the hold. They will need to include the amount of
the charge, your name, and PayPal card number. It will need to be faxed on
their letterhead to 1-402-935-2235. Otherwise, if the transaction does not
complete, the funds will be credited back on the 31st day.
These issues are caused by the merchant.
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carat01
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posted on January 4, 2002 06:22:42 PM new
Had this happen to me at the Post Office, double charging, also got double back. Got the 800 phone number from PayPal website and called them - it was cleared before I got off the phone. Had to search a little to find number but they could not have been more friendly and helpful when I called. Was definitely impressed after all the horror stories I've read here about them. Give them a call and good luck.
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mrspock
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posted on January 4, 2002 07:14:27 PM new
WOW !! it happened to me today at goodwill they tried to run the card then said it didn't work and asked for another when i got home I signed on to paypal and showed one charge pending second charge denied (there werent enough funds to run twice } I sent paypal cust service a email about it this afternoon.
Glad to find this note here I know its not just me.
spock here......
Live long and Prosper
[
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mballai
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posted on January 4, 2002 07:46:12 PM new
ATM cards seem to cause problems with stores a lot. However, tying up one's money for 30 days is pure baloney. That's why my card sits in a drawer.
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nufsaid
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posted on January 6, 2002 04:43:06 PM new
Thanks you damon for the info. That is quite a bit of trouble to have to go through. It would be nice if after a week and half paypal cust service would have written back or even better fixed it. 31 days is ridiculous. As i said in the original post I know a little about authorization software and the problem may or may not be with retailer. More than likely the problem was on Paypal's side because their auth servers are not able to keep up. So with that in mind it would seem to me that paypal needs to look at it's own rules.
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goldpanner3
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posted on January 6, 2002 04:51:54 PM new
That's too funny....I use my card for shipping too and the Post Office has doubled me twice.
Just email Paypal, they have a form on their site and they'll fix it.
At least both mine were fixed by the next day when I got off work.
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