I Officially Hate PayPal
About five years ago, not long after first signing up for a PayPal account, I received the first of what would be many spam e-mails informing me of some problem in my account. At the time, I did not know it was spam and assumed there had been some kind of computer glitch as I hadn’t accessed the account in some time.
Instead of following the link on the e-mail, I went directly to PayPal’s home page to look for a contact number so I could speak to a human being about the problem. I could find none. And still can’t. It took me a bit of rooting around to find a phone number. Today, it only took three clicks from the home page. As then, I did not find an 800 number, but one with a regional area code. Thus, unless I lived in that region, I would have to pay for the call.
When I called several years ago to ask about the e-mail, I was left on hold for nearly twenty minutes, thus increasing the cost of my call. Finally, I was connected to a very polite woman who informed me about spammers sending out e-mails, claiming to be PayPal. I suggested they place a notice on their homepage, alerting users to such scams. She agreed it was a good idea.
Today, when I had another problem with PayPal (not as severe as before–and resolved without having to place any calls), I could not find such a notice anywhere on their website.
What frustrated me today was that when I attempted to transfer the funds in my account to my banking account, they told me it would take 4 to 7 days to effect the transfer. (I could not find a means to transfer them to the credit card I had on my account as I had hoped.) In this day of financial transactions so quick that I can make a withdrawal at an ATM just blocks from my apartment and find the funds deducted from my account by the time I return home to check my account online. such delays can be avoided.
Fortunately, I have long since learned how to distinguish legitimate PayPal e-mails and spam scams. But, I can find no evidence of PayPal doing anything to remind users of such scams. To be sure, they are not responsible for such scams, but how much effort would it take them to place a notice on their web-page which that customer service representative thought was a good idea.
But, given that other people use paypal far more frequently than do I would they have trouble distinguishing the real e-mails from the scans?
Given their delay in processing my transaction, it seems they have a scam of their own.
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Ebay is the same…no phone number and when I finally hunted one down, it was for the main HQ and they didn’t handle customer service issues. Ain’t technology great?
Comment by Hunter — June 18, 2008 @ 5:17 pm - June 18, 2008
Um, Hunter, PayPal is owned by eBay….
Personally, I think Google Checkout is much better anyway.
Comment by Joel — June 18, 2008 @ 5:58 pm - June 18, 2008
I use PayPal once every other blue moon for something neato on eBay. You must be talking about the tip jar. I could have sworn I read something on their site once about phishing expeditions or maybe it was elsewhere.
I’ve never paid attention to e-mails from either PayPal or eBay anyways. eBay supposedly sends me a few e-mails a month telling me that I have yet to pay for something. Given that I haven’t bought anything in 6 months and paid for it immediately, I don’t bite.
Comment by ThatGayConservative — June 18, 2008 @ 6:36 pm - June 18, 2008
I use PayPal constantly. When I have had a problem, I have gone either to the “help center” or the “security center” to make e-mail contact. You can get them on-line and ask for a phone call, which they quickly make.
I make a lot of Hotwire reservations and pay by PayPal and I have never had a hitch with PayPal and my gripes with Hotwire have always been quickly resolved.
I use PayPal more often than I use a credit card. I fully understand the frustration of hidden or absent phone numbers in a “www” world, but I find that calling a phone number means menu, menu, menu, hold, hold, hold, hold, click.
Comment by heliotrope — June 18, 2008 @ 6:57 pm - June 18, 2008
After a long spell of constant emails from phishing sites claiming to be PayPal, I cancelled my PayPal account just so I wouldn’t have to look at the spams just in case a real one slipped through.
If I make a purchase online from an unfamiliar source, I use BofA’s “one-use VISA number” where I get to set the limit.
I’ve recently gotten some phishing emails (claiming to be Dell).
I fished around on Dell’s site looking for contact info (I would think that these companies would want to shut down sites using their names) - but no contact info could be found.
The delay in funds sounds fishy to me.
Comment by Robert — June 18, 2008 @ 9:39 pm - June 18, 2008
Most companies with a website make it very difficult to find their phone number. It’s not just paypal.
Comment by Leah — June 18, 2008 @ 10:39 pm - June 18, 2008
#4
Oh Hotwire and Priceline folks were my favorite when I was working at Continental. When passengers wanted to change or cancel their tickets, both would tell their customers to call the airline. The reality was that these were bulk tickets sold to Hotwire and Priceline and there wasn’t a thing we could do with them.
Comment by ThatGayConservative — June 19, 2008 @ 3:54 am - June 19, 2008