I would like to recommend to anyone who uses PayPal to cancel their account. They have completely lost control of the security of their information and so many people are losing money to hackers. Those people now include me. I am hoping and praying that this will all get resolved and be fine, but right now it is not at all fine. Here's my story...
At about 4:40 on Thursday I check my email. I get an email anytime a charge happens through PayPal and I have two emails from them that money was being "transferred" to two different people. One for $200 and one for $130. I immediately call my bank. They are less than helpful because the charges haven't posted to my account. I say, well, duh, I'm being proactive and I am telling you they are fraud and not to pay them. They tell me they can stop payment but that will cost me...so I say, so basically I get screwed out of money in all of this even though I didn't do anything wrong. The dumb bank lady recommends I just wait to see if they even post to my account and I apparently have a stroke and agree. I then call PayPal and while they are quite friendly, they tell me to submit disputes online which I do. As I am doing this, two more charges hit my PayPal account each to the tune of $400. Now I am pooping my pants because the first two are bad...but now I've just passed the $1000 mark...what the heck am I gonna do. So I now dispute 4 charges. Within an hour, the last two charges are resolved and I get notice that I will be refunded, which until today I didn't figure out that it sucks just as much that way, because what stupid PayPal is doing is taking the money out and someday...who knows when, I'll get my money back. Total scam in my opinion. So today I check my checking account...crap, there the charges sit in pending transactions...all $1130 worth of them. So I call the bank again and say don't pay em. Well, we can't do that now, you'll have to file a dispute. OK, fine. I cry like a baby. I call the bank back later, explain the situation again and say I need to talk to a manager or someone because how this has been handled is NOT OK. This lady is delightful, apoligizes for what has happened, tells me exactly what I need to do, and let's me know that the lady I talked to last night was (not her words) an idiot and she should have pushed me to stop payment even with the charges I would incur because those could go away if the fraud case is found to be true...well heck the lady last night certainly didn't help in any way shape or form. So, tomorrow morning I go to the bank to fill out the dispute paperwork and I will ask for "provisional credit" to cover the $1130 dollars til PayPal refunds my money. I gotta say, if they don't kiss my behind in every way tomorrow morning, me and my money are heading elsewhere. Also today I had to stop payment to Discover Card cuz now I don't have money to pay them. Now Discover Card was delightful, I called them, explained my situation and that I couldn't pay them right now but could I have some sort of extension for my due date without incurring charges. Sure, they can do that...how long do I have...it's indefinate, just pay when I can. Thank GOD for small amounts of good customer service.
My message to you after my long winded post is PAYPAL SUCKS and don't do business with them. Cancel your accounts with them. They are idiots with crappy security who are putting millions of dollars at risk (no not millions of my dollars, lol) I will be cancelling my account as soon as this is resolved...that's another piece of crap from PayPal...I can't cancel my account while the fraudulent charges are pending. Oh boy am I unhappy.
4 comments:
A few years, my banker advised me to open a second free checking account to use online. I don't have my main checking account hooked up to Paypal and I don't have auto draft protection on it. When ever I need to use Paypal, I can transfer the funds to that account from my main account. I wished you had been given that advice before this happened to you. Thank goodness for Discover their attitude makes the rest somewhat bearable. Hopefully your bank will have intellegent people who are easy to deal with when you go. I would open a new account right away and transfer you remain money out of that account right away.
Oh Keri....this is sooo wrong!!
I just read the thread on SCS about this, then I went to see if you had anything new for me to see on your blog (hint, hint....LOL!!), and I come across your story! Guess where I'm headed off to now.....cancelling both my paypal accounts!!
Hope everything gets resolved for you FAST!! (((BIG HUGS)))
or, maybe you can not be so horribly negative & realize that things like this happen in life. there are people out there who - for whatever reason - steal from others. the fact that someone hacked into your account and stole your money multiple times is not the fault of PayPal. yes, they could have dealt with the situation better and that individual woman who helped you the first time around could have been "nicer," but guess what, they have a business to run and money to protect, too, and I guarantee you that they took your claim (and others like it) VERY seriously. If they didn't, they certainly wouldn't still be in business and be the most popular online money management site in the entire world.
It sucks what happened and I don't disagree that it's horrible that people, like you, who are essentially punished & fined for the things that other people do (much like someone breaking into your house & you have to pay to fix that window and replace what they stole) - have to stop their comfortable, lovely lives and make a phone call or two every once in a while.
Leave PayPal if you want, but going around preaching that it's evil and that everyone else should follow your lead is a bit ridiculous.
I suppose my question would be... what alternative to you propose? How else are you going to transact online business?
I was recently the victim of credit card fraud. Most of my friends have been too. Did they stop putting their money in banks or stop using Visa or MasterCard or whoever? Nah. You just have to learn your lesson, work harder to protect yourself, and hope it doesn't happen again.
If you cancel your PayPal account, you may as well cancel all your accounts, keep your money in the mattress, and have people send you money orders for any of your business transactions. If you have an employer, you'd probably want to tell them that you're now only accepting your salary in cash... but then hope you don't get mugged.
Digital, analog, or otherwise, there is always someone looking to steal from others. It's part of life, and part of living in the world of the Internet means that you have to accept this fact and do your best to protect yourself, rather than expecting others to do it for you.
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