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Paypal Agrees to Consumer Protections

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the oh-all-right dept.

davidwr writes "Paypal settled a suit with Maryland and 27 states. Among other things, they'll conspicuously advertise a contact phone number and staff it 14 hours a day and be much more forthcoming about when they will debit your bank account. For those of you who think Paypal Sucks, well, starting soon it sucks just a little less."

5 of 136 comments (clear)

  1. finally by petermgreen · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The US is clamping down on thier branch of paypal, those who provide bank like services should be treated like banks.

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    note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register
    1. Re:finally by TykeClone · · Score: 4, Insightful

      But that's still not the case. If they were "being treated as a bank" the regulators would have said "thou shalt follow Reg E and all of it's consumer protections" instead of reaching an agreement.

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      A fine is a tax you pay for doing wrong and a tax is a fine you pay for doing all right.
  2. Consumer Suspicions by infestedsenses · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'm more interested in when they will be sued for blocking accounts based on "terrorist" last names.

    Human rights, anyone?

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    parasight.de
  3. Happy Days! by giafly · · Score: 4, Insightful
    "We hope this agreement with an industry leader will set standard best practices for Internet businesses across the country to follow," said Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott ... PayPal must also establish a conspicuous "Contact Us" link on its Web pages and provide a toll-free customer support number that operates at least 14 hours daily, according to the attorney general's office. - Star-Telegram Austin
    Standard best practices??? 14x7 and a toll-free number that probably only works within the continental USA? Welcome to 1950.
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    Reduce, reuse, cycle
  4. Re:i've had no trouble with paypal by ShannaraFan · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Up until 2 weeks ago, I would have said the same thing. I've used Paypal for about 4 years, bought/sold hundreds of items on eBay, paying exclusively through Paypal. I even had the debit card, which I used to take advantage of their cash-back for Visa purchases.

    In July, I sold an item on eBay, got paid for it, life went on. Second week of September, I get an email from Paypal saying that they had reason to believe this item was paid for with fraudulent funds, and asked me to provide tracking info, etc., for the item sold. I did, gave them everything they asked for.

    Two weeks later, I get another email from them, stating:
    "We have conducted a review of a payment that you received. In this case, returning the funds to the sender was determined to be the appropriate action, and we have completed a reversal of the payment. Good selling practices, like trackable shipping, prompt shipment, and communication between buyer and seller help prevent disputes."

    Huh? I provided them with a tracking number, delivery was confirmed, item was shipped the same day payment was received. I contacted the buyer (this person has purchased multiple items from me, I have no reason to not trust them), asked them if they knew anything more than I did. They have not received any refund from Paypal, and in fact didn't even know there was a problem.

    So, who was my money "returned" to? Repeated emails to Paypal have been ignored, so I've closed my account, I'll never use Paypal again.