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Class Action Lawsuit Says PayPal Restricted Funds
trenton writes: "CNET News.com reports a class-action law suit was filed Wednesday in California Superior Court in Santa Clara County. The suit charges PayPal with illegitimately restricting customers' access to their money. The suit asks for an unspecified amount of damages. Have you been ripped off or locked out?"
I have used Paypal exactly once. And exactly once I got ripped off. Not a good record.
Now I was ripped off by the seller, not PayPal, so I think PayPal should have the right to do whatever it takes to stop fraud.
seems the editors think any bad thing a company does violates your "rights".
i'm extremely concerned because i've heard stories of users getting paid with stolen credit cards... what does paypal do?
assume you stole the card and try to launder the money to yourself, so they freeze and seize all money in your account AND bank account if you made a withdrawl
now i'm nervous to even accept paypal for anything
MARIJUANA, SHROOMS, X: ONLINE?! - E
Bastards did the same thing to me Monday. They completely botched my transaction because it was a time-is-of-the-essence matter. They accepted the credit card payment, then put a pending reversal on it the next day. I almost shipped the item I had sold, but luckily checked my email before doing so. They haven't even responded to my inquiry about the funds.
Hmm. Let's see. They don't want to abide by the rules that banks have to follow, yet they want to screw their customers even worse than a bank. Sounds like they want to have their cake and eat it too.
Does anyone have any info on how to become part of this class action suit?
"You done taken a wrong turn."
-Bill McKinney, in Deliverance
A friend of mine had accumulated a pretty good amount of money in his PayPal account from sales over eBay. When he tried getting his money out of his account, PayPal told him that his account was being investigated for fraud (or something like that) and that he wouldn't be able to receive his money until the investigation was concluded. He eventually got his money, but only after having to wait much longer than he should have. I knew something seemed fishy with PayPal when he told me what had happened, but I didn't think it had reached this magnitude.
I accept paypal for both merchandise and for subscription services on my website [warnign pr0n] and have never had a problem with paypal, but I do feel like they give more protection to me as a seller than to people who use paypal to buy things. I have only had one dispute with someone who purchased something from my site, but paypal bent over backwards to help me prove that the dispute brought against me was false, and made it very easy for me to supply them with documentation proving the user received what he ordered from my site. ] Although that might have to do with them wanting to protect their commision. spooky
yes i run a goth/punk/emo porn site.
The service they provide is excellent, but that should not be confused with the level of service they provide, which, I must say is sorely lacking.
They have buggy software. This means on occasion, more money is withdrawn from your non-PayPal accounts then you authorized them to take. Giving them access to your checking account is a horrible thing to do, double-dipping is widespread and if you have any checks that need clearing, well......you are in trouble - assuming they haven't overdrawn your account in the first place (did it to me).
Due to the sheer size of their user-base, and their inability to correct their problems, much less deal with the number of complaints generated by things that aren't their fault (action sellers taking money and running, for example) they've taken to a scorched Earth manner of dealing with problems.
Any sign of trouble - your account is frozen - along with any money that might be there. Too bad if you're in the middle of a huge transaction involving lots of money that you really can't afford to lose.
This is like using a nuclear device to wipe out an ant infestation. It causes much more damage to innocent users than you could possibly imagine.
You have a problem, even if it is their fault they might not fix it. Wait more than 30 days to complain that they stole your money and guess what? The money is gone forever, you will never get it back. They will not allow you to file a complaint about their rape of your checking account if you wait more than a few weeks.
To sum it up, PayPal provides a great service, but they have shown themselves to be incapable of actually providing that service with any great degree of reliability or accountability.
This lawsuit has been a long time coming. More power to the plaintiffs.
To unfreeze it, I needed to fax them:
Despite the glaring violation of privacy, I did get the account unfrozen in under 24 hours, and I did find them easy to communicate with. However, I do believe that Paypal needs to be regulated as much as your local bank.
When I first heard about PayPal a couple of years ago I thought "This is great!". Micropayments, done deal. I was excited and about to start receiving payments via Paypal.
Then I heard the horror stories about accounts being closed down and money even being reverse charged out of bank accounts. I stopped using my Paypal account before I even started, luckily.
Sure, you can do what someone else recommended--open a bank account just to receive PayPal payments and withdrawl the funds as soon as they come in. But at that point the hassle isn't worth it.
We still need a good micropayment solution. Something that is truly innovative and breaks paradigms. I'm not sure what it is, but whoever or whatever company comes up with it will be taking it to the bank.
I've had very good luck buying and selling with PayPal. I just wish I could get a debit card. I have a verified bank account with them but because they require a verified credit card and I don't use credit cards I seem unable to get a debit card. I'd love to be able to use PayPal as my main bank as I do most my shopping online and accept most my payments for my contract work as PayPal payments. It's a pain waiting 3-4 days to transfer to my bank so that I can pay for rent and food.
:)
I've been screwed by every big name bank I've had so I for one don't want PayPal to be more like a normal bank. I'm perfectly satisfied with them so far other than them being to careful with my money.
At what price learning? At what cost wisdom? The price is a man's peace of mind, and the cost is his life.
At the risk of bucking the trend here, the service I've gotten from PayPal has been pretty good. I mostly buy stuff online, and much prefer PayPal to sending a check, or, worse, a money order.
I'm disabled. Getting out to buy stamps, or a money order, is difficult. It takes several hours, and a few tries, to write out the envelope. Add to that, using snail mail from Seattle to anyplace *but* the West coast takes a full week. So, if I must pay by check, we've added a week's mail lag, then ten days for the check to clear, then it's a week more to get the item. By then, I've been dying to get it for weeks. Using PayPal cuts two weeks off of that delay. I like it.
The few times I've been paid with PayPal it's taken 5 days for my money to show up in my bank account, but they say that it might take that long. I wish they were faster - just how long does it take electrons to flow from them to my Seattle bank? - but they're likely making money on the "float", and I cannot begrudge them that perk.
Lemon curry?
I for one have never had a problem with PayPal, and I've been using them for over a year and a half. I've needed to contact them for support exactly once (yesterday). Get this...I call the phone number and a REAL PERSON answers the phone on FIRST RING! Not only that, but they are courteous and helpful and resolved my problem in under 20 minutes. I've never had such a good support experience in my life.
`fortune -o`
...has been anything less than fun. Somehow someone got my password and changed my primary email address, thus not allowing me into my account. Luckily I caught the e-mail that this happened (at least PayPal notifies you of that, even though everything else sucks....) and immediately transferred all of my money out of my savings account that PayPal was linked to, I then called the bank and they said they'd watch my account and I should open a new one to be safe. I also wrote to PayPal, but didn't get a response until 4 days later. By that time, someone has already tried to withdraw over $900 from my account. And guess what they told me to do in their support e-mail, they told me to log into my account and fix it! Hello! If the problem is my account was stolen and the username/pw changed then I obviously can't!
Luckily my bank is being good about it and are not charging me for those overdrawn withdrawals. Needless to say, I will never use PayPal again, nor will I ever recommend it to anyone! Avoid it like the plague!
Two wrongs don't make a right, three lefts do!
I had a seller back out on me after I'd already paid. Paypal was supposed to refund the $$ to me but refused. They said there was nothing I could do about it. I told the woman on the phone (after numerous calls) that there sure as hell was something I could do about it. I made the payment with me bank's check card. My bank's check card is a Visa Check Card and it affords all the same protection that any other card carrying the Visa logo carries, including fruad protection. I told her all of that and that I'd simply contest the charge and let Visa sort it out for me. She immediately told me to hold on the line and transfered me elsewhere. A guy quickly answered and was pissed from the word go. He was all but yelling. He spewed out some dribble about how if I contested the charge, their many lawyers on retainer would bring a suit against me and this and that and on and on and on. I laughed at him. Literally. And I told him I was contesting the charges immediately and a few other choice phrases. I contested the charges, my bank account was credited by the bank, and I never heard another peep about it. Screw me? No, screw you paypal.
Do you even know the bank rules for online merchants?
If you want to accept credit cards over the Internet it's tricky to get a merchant account.
When you do get one you have to have a reserve in your account at all times which card issuing banks can help themselves to if their cardholders dispute a transaction. In addition to that your bank will typically assess a $15 chargeback fee which just magically disappears.
Should your ratio of sales/chargebacks for any month exceed 2.5% or 1% US customer disputes Visa will fine you $100 per chargeback on top of that. Don't keep up your reserve and your bank will hold ALL your money for at least 6 months.
Starting to see PayPal's problems yet?
I can tell you they're not alone in feeling it's unjustified, but they have to pass this on.
http://www.websitebilling.com/pressrelease.html
The site is just filled with people who have no comparisons. Pay Pal acts just like any other credit processing company - no better, no worse.
They all freeze your accounts at the drop of a hat.
They all stick the seller with a loss when there is fraud.
They all hold your money in some stasis where you cannot access it, but you can lose it.
The only thing new paypal did was bring the nightmare of credit processing to the normal joe.
Chet
Perhaps they're dedicating too many of their staff to providing "dedicated" account managers to their bigger "VIP" accounts. They have special phone numbers ("don't give this out to anyone else, it's just for our special VIP customers") and real e-mail addresses and everything. They seem to be staff at the same (or yet another) call center out in Omaha, Nebraska, anyway, though - the home of telephone support outsourcing!