PayPal Protects Crooks, Screws Honest, Innocent People
Written: Mar 01 '03
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Customer Service: |
 |
|
| Web Site Experience: |
 |
|
| Web Site Load Time: |
 |
|
|
Pros: Works great when it works - which is most of the time.
Cons: PayPal will protect crooks before they protect honest people.
The Bottom Line: I used to like using PayPal, transactions went smoothly. Now, I see it can be a vehicle for crooks and PayPal won't help you.
|
|
|
| MsHooterville's Full Review: PayPal |
This past Tuesday morning, as I was getting ready to leave home for my Dad's burial service, I check my e-mail and find that PayPal has made a payment from MY account to a thief. Not a small payment -- nearly $1,000.
Not to mention that I didn't even have a fraction of that amount in the bank account from which they said they made payment.
An Inside Job?
Could there be a coincidence here? PayPal is based in Omaha, where I live. My father's obituary -- which included my name -- appeared in the paper here. I've heard it said that thieves sometimes watch funeral notices and prey on people while they are too busy to notice these types of things.
But my opinion is that a great deal of fraud with online transactions comes from within companies who provide financial services for people (the vast majority of the time in an honest way).
My Daily Diary of PayPal Pain and Frustration
Tuesday: As previously stated, my first clue that I'd been robbed was an e-mail (sent in the middle of the night on Tuesday) receipt for making a PayPal payment. I get these all the time for honest transactions, usually within minutes.
But because of my father's hospitalization and death a week later, I obviously had not been doing any online shopping. The e-mail said I had paid someone with an AOL name and e-mail address nearly $1000.00, and that the payment had been completed. There was a transaction ID number, but it revealed absolutely NOTHING about the nature of the transaction, or what I had supposedly "paid" for.
It was about 6 a.m., and I immediately searched on the PayPal account page for a link to report the fraud. They're rather coy in the way they list those links at the very bottom of the page in small type, and call that link "Security Center." On that page, you'll find a menu of ways to contact PayPal, but you'll have to use your best judgment and their pre-selected menu (which may or may not address your fraud issue).
Not only do you have to be sure to find the transaction ID to report, but the referral ID (each transaction actually has two IDs, and you'll have to be sharp enough to get both of them). I also noted in the PayPal comments that there were not sufficient funds in the account to cover the fraudulent transaction.
Even though I reported the fraud within two hours, PayPal had not acknowledged receipt of my report by late afternoon. I reported it again, and this time, the links looked a little different. That time, I got an auto-response fairly quickly:
Thank you for contacting PayPal Customer Service.
In an effort to assist you as quickly and efficiently as possible, please direct all customer service inquires through our website(which is what I had done!).
Click on the hyperlink below to go to the PayPal website. After entering your email address and password into the Member Login box, you can submit your inquiry via our Customer Service Contact form. If you indicate the type of question you have with as much detail as you can, we will be able to provide you with the best customer service possible. If your email program is unable to open hyperlinks, please copy and paste this URL into the address bar of your browser.
The Burden of Proof of Defrauding is on YOU
I did as PayPal directed, even though it's exactly what I had done in the first place, and received the following response:
You have successfully submitted a claim of "Unauthorized Use of My PayPal Account". For your protection, your account access may be limited and all reported transactions pended.
PayPal will begin an investigation into the account, including contact with recipient accounts, corresponding sellers, and/or other victims.If the case is decided in your favor,you will receive a full refund of any reported transactions, as well as any related PayPal fees once the investigation is complete.
To complete the claims process, please follow these instructions:
1) Print this entire email, including your claim you submitted (shown below).
2) Sign and Date the document below.(there was no document, by the way)
3) Have the document Notarized (Notaries can often be found in your local bank).
4) Mail the document to:
Attn: Investigations
Unauthorized Use of My PayPal Account
P.O. Box 45950
Omaha, NE 68145
Signature:
Date:
Notary Stamp or Seal:
Thank you for choosing PayPal!
Yes, YOU do ALL the Legwork, PayPal Keeps Your Money
First of all, I had to contact PayPal a second time to get the affadavit they said was attached (on Wednesday). Finally, they sent it this morning (Saturday). They expect you to track down a Notary and swear you're not lying after they've tried to take your money and freeze your bank account.
Here is another e-mail from PayPal on Wednesday -- again, creating more work for me, and after I had already changed my password and security information:
PayPal is constantly working to ensure security by regularly screening the accounts in our system. We recently reviewed your account, and we need more information to help us provide you with secure service. Until we can collect this information, your access to sensitive account features will be limited. We apologize for the inconvenience, and we would like to restore your access as soon as possible.
For more information about the status of your account and for instructions on how to restore full use of your account,
please log in using the link below:
https://www.paypal.com/wf/f=ra_default
We encourage you to log in and restore full access as soon as possible. Should access to your account remain limited for an extended period of time, it may result in further limitations on the use of your account or may result in eventual account closure.
Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
PayPal Account Review Team
In the interest of keeping this review a readable length, I won't include two more e-mails from this lovely bunch of coconuts referring to my need to complete the affadavit they claimed they sent me on Wednesday, and which I finally did receive this morning.
A Friday Nasty-Gram from PayPal Wanting MONEY
After I told PayPal immediately that I didn't have enough money in the bank to cover the fradulent payment, and (VERY IMPORTANT) after calling my bank to alert them to the fraud so they wouldn't pay PayPal, I get the following e-mail:
You recently attempted to transfer funds from your bank account. (sorry, PayPal, that wasn't ME)
Your bank has declined the funds transfer because your account did not have sufficient funds available.
We will automatically re-attempt this transfer in 3 business days. Please fund your bank account immediately to ensure this transaction can be completed.
This is where it helps to have a small bank, and to know people at the bank who can help you. As soon as I was aware of the fraud, I e-mailed my bank and alerted them that PayPal would attempt to draw money from the account -- which they DID on Wednesday, my bank told me.
Normally, there would have been a variety of overdraft fees for me to pay because PayPal was attempting to take my bank account money even after being told that there wasn't enough money there. It also was two days after PayPal told me that they were in the process of reversing the fraudulent transaction.
What You Should Do if PayPal Does This to You
Call your bank and tell them not to pay the pending transaction. PayPal usually makes you back up your primary bank account with a major credit card -- and if your bank doesn't have the money, they will pursue your credit card funds.
Needless to say, this could be very expensive and result in horrendous charges if you are near your credit limit, or if you don't have sufficient funds in your bank account. And even if you do have the funds, you probably will need that money for little incidentals like food, bills, etc.
Notify both your bank and your credit card immediately if PayPal is trying to withdraw money from you to pay a thief -- pending a thorough investigation, of course!
Why I Chose PayPal in the First Place
PayPal is a great idea. You can use any bank account to send anyone with an e-mail address money. There are no fees for buying auction items with PayPal (the seller or recipient pays). It allows people to pay you with funds of their choice (checking account, debit card, etc.).
But after dozens of successful PayPal transactions, and now that I've seen their highly uncooperative level of customer service when theft has taken place, I won't recommend PayPal to anyone.
Recommended:
No
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
MsHooterville
|
 - Top 200 |
|
Member: Ms Hooterville
Location: Hooterville Green Acres USA
Reviews written: 596
Trusted by: 416 members
About Me:
News and feature writer, graphic designer and artist, wife and mother, small business owner.
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.