Paypal Does it Again
You may recall that back in December, I had a series of infuriating exchanges with PayPal.
After collecting almost $20,000 to buy Christmas toys for needy children, PayPal forced me to manually refund every contribution, while keeping the fees of these transactions. When I balked, they attempted to freeze this money for 180 days, with no recourse, effectively ruining the holiday for 200 families.
Initially, Paypal’s justification for this was that I had used the wrong method to collect this money, but this was later dismissed as false by a PayPal executive.
What it really came down to was this: When you collect a lot of money in a short time, it triggers a review.
I have no problem with a review under these circumstances. My problem is with the way these investigations are resolved.
Once your money is frozen and you’re in panic mode, you are now at the mercy of the customer service representative, who is asked to make “a judgment call.” This is where it all breaks down. PayPal’s policies are so confusing that the representative inevitably grows frustrated at being unable to explain them. This escalates matters, and almost always ends up with PayPal collecting interest on your money for six months, while your business or project gets deeper and deeper into trouble.
After a worldwide public shaming in December, and again in January, when this violin story came out, I had hoped that PayPal would be much more thoughtful in making these decisions, especially when dealing with people who are attempting to assist charities.
Then today, I read about Steve Berry and Ben Morris, both longtime contributors to Dr. Who Magazine. For four years, they have been compiling a book of celebrity memories of Dr. Who called Behind the Sofa.
Every penny of profit will benefit Alzheimer’s Research UK. Everyone involved cares deeply about Alzheimer’s research. No one is getting rich. It is a labor of love.
Personally, I would have bought it just to read Neil Gaiman’s memories, but there are over 100 celebrities involved in the book, which has been selling briskly.
Too briskly.
As Steve says:
This morning I received a very short, very terse telephone call from a lady called Francine, who works for PayPal.
Francine informed me that the PayPal account associated with Behind The Sofa had taken a lot of money over a very short period. She explained that she had looked at the site and understood that I was taking orders for a book.
Francine explained that PayPal would be freezing my account, meaning that the project is stalled. The phone call was followed by an “account frozen” email.
Why?
Well, they won’t tell me the details.
Francine flat refused to provide me with information about how to contact them (by phone) to discuss to issue, or indicate how long my account will be frozen pending their review. She then terminated the call. I cannot use the account at all until PayPay deign to contact me.
Not one single penny of the money taken so far has been lost. I am endeavouring to find a way to discuss this with PayPal. In the mean time I would ask for your patience and, if you feel inclined, your support by Tweeting @PayPalUK and letting them know what you think of their customer service.
Oh, I think we can do that. Don’t you?
-Read Steve’s entire statement as well as the history of this great project on Steve’s website.
UPDATE: Paypal proposes a solution and it still blows.
UPDATE: 3/13/12 This has been resolved. Thanks for your help.
March 12, 2012 at 11:39 am
I bet PayPal’s employee break room is full of kittens to snack on when the daily grind of crushing people’s dreams gets too exhausting.
March 12, 2012 at 11:45 am
I can just picture their employees around the water cooler, dressed in evil villain garb… “Guess whose day I ruined today! Mwahahahahaha!”
March 12, 2012 at 11:45 am
Probably a row of babies to steal candy from, too.
March 12, 2012 at 11:45 am
No, it’s puppies, and sad children. Cats are a-okay by Paypal. In fact, they love cats so much that they’d rather you raise money for them than poor people.
March 12, 2012 at 1:09 pm
That’s because PayPal Customer Service is run by cats.
March 12, 2012 at 4:52 pm
Not just any cats. Siamese cats that spray your doorstep and taunt the neighbor’s dog so nobody can sleep at night.
March 13, 2012 at 5:40 am
Even my cats aren’t THAT evil. Well, just to the dog.
March 12, 2012 at 1:50 pm
Definitely the “donate” button also triggers it, when you’re a dog club. My club got put on review for adding a “Donate” button for a show trophy fund. Even though we’ve had a PayPal account for well over 12 years, and we are a not-for-profit group.
You know how much we raised with that button? Less than $100. It took me about a week to get it all straightened out. They make you jump through a ton of nonsensical hoops.
March 12, 2012 at 12:34 pm
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
March 12, 2012 at 1:03 pm
Damn you!
March 12, 2012 at 2:39 pm
You can’t be awesome if you don’t care about the proper use of apostrophes and enjoy typos.
March 12, 2012 at 3:05 pm
It’s not funny any more. If it ever was.
March 12, 2012 at 3:05 pm
What is up with the average-sized penis comments? Is this a joke in response to the last average-sized penis dude? If this somehow funny? Please, please explain.
March 12, 2012 at 4:18 pm
Nothing very interesting, I’m afraid. A weak and pitiful attempt at trolling in the last comments thread met the indifferent scorn it deserved, and this idiot is trying to prolong their meager 15 minutes of fame or something.
It’s like saying “First” only with penises.
March 12, 2012 at 5:13 pm
At least they didn’t do it in all caps.
March 12, 2012 at 9:52 pm
Now you’ve given me a fun idea for trolling youtube videos.
AVERAGE SIZED PENIS!!!1!
March 13, 2012 at 11:05 am
My penis actually prefers to come second.
March 13, 2012 at 3:16 pm
That’s what I thought, so in reply to the question of its humor, the answer would be no. Thank you for your help, kind mistress.
March 12, 2012 at 6:39 pm
Enjoy hell, D3v3l!
March 14, 2012 at 3:50 pm
I’M GOING TO YELL THIS IN ALL CAPS TO GET YOUR ATTENTION!!!
Why not use a site like kickstarter instead of the evil paypal?
I’m getting a copy of this book that hasn’t been printed yet. (awesome book btw). If it wasn’t going to get printed due to a funding shortage my donation wouldn’t have been actually charged to my cc account. Simple solution. Oh, and fuck paypal.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1809291619/what-makes-a-baby
March 12, 2012 at 11:40 am
I cannot believe that! You would have thought that they learned their lesson!
Off to twitter I go!
March 12, 2012 at 1:57 pm
Damnit! I’m going to have to make a Twitter account just to screw with these assholes.
March 12, 2012 at 11:41 am
That’s why I am with WePay…I bought something from ebay and Paypal took my money but didn’t let the merchant know that I had paid until I called and yelled and then she the merchant called and yelled. Ugh.
March 14, 2012 at 6:21 pm
You know, the exact same thing happened to me another seller….to think I had to kiss and make up on Etsy.
March 12, 2012 at 11:42 am
Paypal has fucked with the WRONG fanbase.
Allons-y, Whovians!
March 12, 2012 at 12:02 pm
March 12, 2012 at 12:11 pm
There just aren’t enough thumbs in the world!:-D
March 12, 2012 at 1:13 pm
March 12, 2012 at 3:02 pm
The world should be covered in score marks… And I shall forever associate the notion that the smiling PR face of Paypal secretly harbors this face behind it. <3
March 12, 2012 at 2:04 pm
I’m wondering if an informative email to the author of the article about April’s incident with PP might be in order? Sort of a follow up to the previous article?
March 12, 2012 at 3:08 pm
I wish I was familiar with the Dr. Who universe, so I’d understand why that shuttlecock has a plunger sticking out of it.
I hope that…reamer…thing…is destined for PayPal’s collective orifice.
March 12, 2012 at 3:57 pm
You are so unfamiliar with Doctor Who that you’ve never even seen an image of a dalek? Seriously? What planet are you living on?
March 12, 2012 at 4:29 pm
Planet Sar, in the Chasm galaxy, which is clearly not visible from all quadrants.
March 13, 2012 at 12:23 am
Is that where the fabled Orc Chasm is? I’ve heard it’s really hard for some to find.
March 12, 2012 at 9:55 pm
I’m with you. I’ve heard of it, but I know nothing about it. But I refuse to hand over my nerd card.
March 12, 2012 at 3:10 pm
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
March 12, 2012 at 6:50 pm
Aaaah Daleks!
How could you shut down something selling Dr. Who paraphernalia???
March 12, 2012 at 12:21 pm
God, you guys make me so proud to be a FJL. Seriously.
March 12, 2012 at 3:32 pm
Really. And this’ll bring in Neil Gaiman’s fanbase as well, and, considering it’s Alzheimer’s-related, Pratchett’s. Next, they’ll piss off J.K. Rowling. Oh, that would be fun, wouldn’t it?
Actually, they already pissed me off. I lost everything in the Japanese tsunami last year (not lying, wish I were). My friends banded together to get me a new laptop. They put the money in my PayPal account so I could buy a particular laptop that was on a great sale.
. . . and PayPal froze the account for “review”. By the time they let me get at my money, the laptop I’d wanted had sold out. Thanks, PP!
March 12, 2012 at 6:56 pm
Doctor Who, Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett…you listed my top three geek loves. XO. You get extra thumbs.
March 12, 2012 at 4:37 pm
PayPal: Trying to fuck more people than Captain Jack Harkness ever has.
March 13, 2012 at 3:33 pm
Alas, not in as fun a way.
March 14, 2012 at 1:50 pm
First read this article
PayPal Among Companies Nominated for Consumerist Worst Companies
and then go! Cast your vote!
http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y12/m03/i14/s03
March 12, 2012 at 11:42 am
Yet another reason why I am with WePay now.
March 12, 2012 at 11:44 am
You would think that they’d be happier when people sell more, since they therefore make more money. Apparently, you would be wrong. Dumb fuckers.
March 12, 2012 at 11:45 am
It’s like using your power Just Because You Can, not because you Should.
March 12, 2012 at 11:45 am
Paypal is CS is awful. Over the past 3 months I have been on the phone with them to get them to release holds on my account several times. Each time, I need to meet a different requirement to get holds removed. Most recently, the first CS rep I talked to said I met all the requirements and she would forward me to her manager who would remove the holds. The jerk that I talked to then proceeded to lecture me on how I’ve “made too much money in the past six months” (um, I’ve taken in 2,000 dollars in eBay sales that’s including shipping and doesn’t include my costs) and I’m a “new seller” (even though I’ve been on eBay–just not selling at a higher volume for over 10 years). Each and every time it’s a different thing and they continue to hurt my business by not allowing me access to funds with which I can buy more inventory.
March 12, 2012 at 12:14 pm
I just can’t fathom this shit. So basically if you want to actually have a successful business or cause that brings in lots and lots of money, don’t use Paypal because they don’t like that. Got it!
March 12, 2012 at 12:53 pm
I told the CS agent that and his only defense was “Well, I have holds on my account too.” It doesn’t make it better that Paypal doesn’t trust it’s own employees.
March 12, 2012 at 1:57 pm
The only possible reason I can think of that would explain this policy is that its there to stop people from trying to launder money through them, or something.
March 12, 2012 at 2:06 pm
I think it’s just because they’re douchebags.
March 12, 2012 at 7:17 pm
registered to reply to this…. Corvidae, NO… that is not a money laundering route… no one is trying to give up 5 points plus…
more conventional is art, jewelry “sales”.. some of the biggest Art Dealers out there have made a habit of it.. not even drug money etc, corporate stash and hide.
also I’ve heard that trying to take a bundle to Vegas and handing it to the house to hold, when your leaving and try and ask for a check, the answer is no, and they kindly hand you back your stacks… reason “we don’t promote laundering”..
or so I’ve heard…
I’m going to bet its their own regulatory bodies.. after all that internet gold BS, (that was laundering) the feds got well involved and probably have made it a legalistic nightmare for the operators, I’m sure they face crazy fines and audits, thus they graciously pass it on to the clients. Im sure their behinds are prodded alot. ergo, dont try and start a financial institution. no way feds aren’t counting their change!!
March 12, 2012 at 11:45 am
OMG seriously? Way to kick the hornets nest that is Regretsy Readers. How many times does the FJL army have to show up at your proverbial doorstep before you stop the douch-baggery that is your poor customer service?
Is there a Paypal UK Facebook? I try to limit my social media use and so far have steered clear of twitter.
March 12, 2012 at 11:48 am
Yes there is! https://www.facebook.com/PayPalUK
March 12, 2012 at 11:52 am
It looks like they have turned off the ability to view the comments left by others on their UK page. So I left it on their US page too!
March 12, 2012 at 12:12 pm
Is that why I can’t see my post? Does this effectively nullify people ganging up on them by agreeing with a comment? Cuz I’m betting we’re ganging up on them anyway.
March 12, 2012 at 12:30 pm
I just posted a comment on their UK page and can see many dissenters, maybe they switched it back on again?
March 12, 2012 at 1:33 pm
i can’t see any comments, so, like others, i’m commenting on every post PayPalUK has put up.
March 12, 2012 at 3:40 pm
The new Timeline profile “hides” user comments from view unless you elect to view them. Click the dropdown menu that says “Highlights” and select “Posts by others” to see what other people have been saying.
March 12, 2012 at 1:26 pm
i left the link to this story, and my message, on PayPal Canada, PayPal Mexico, PayPal Brazil, PayPal Germany, PayPal Netherlands, and what i assume was PayPal Israel.
asshats.
March 12, 2012 at 11:45 am
I would say I’m surprised at the jackassery of Paypal, but I’m not.
Is WePay available for UK customers?
March 12, 2012 at 2:28 pm
UK buyers can use WePay, but sadly no sellers outside the US… yet.
March 12, 2012 at 11:46 am
they did the same for donations for Katrina in 2005 (and that was in the millions of dollars) and with my husband’s business when he first started in 2007. just visit paypalsucks.com to read some horror stories. the reason they’re allowed to do this is because they are technically not a bank, so regulations do not apply to them. It’s a scam and i refuse to use paypal.
also, for the past 2 years they are saying my account is unverified, and when i try to verify they don’t let me in any of the ways listed. it’s mindblowing how they can get away with this shit.
March 12, 2012 at 11:56 am
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
March 12, 2012 at 12:00 pm
i guess you’re right. still, there’s a bit more oversight (though not much) over banks than over paypal.
March 12, 2012 at 11:46 am
I would sooner have someone send me a personal cheque and risk it bouncing than use paypal.
March 12, 2012 at 11:53 am
I would rather someone send me a bouncing Czech than use PayPal.
March 12, 2012 at 11:56 am
Ditto. When I tried to close my account, I listed the reason as “rampant jackassery.” Of course then they said there were outstanding transactions so I can’t close it. A personal check has never told me that.
March 12, 2012 at 11:57 am
Under those circumstances, personal checks just say “Account closed, refer to maker”. As expected, the usual reaction when seeing that stamped on a check is “GOD DAMNIT”
March 12, 2012 at 6:41 pm
I can never, ever close mine. I subscribed to a magazine, way back, and allowed them to make monthly charges every time they delivered a new issue. They folded a few years back.
I tried to delete my account, but because I authorized the charge, I can’t close it. I told them that the magazine was gone, and there was no way for me to get the charge to go away. Too bad.
So, I deleted all my cards. Still, it irks me.
March 12, 2012 at 11:47 am
Wow, I didn’t think it was possible, but Paypal just keeps getting classier.
March 12, 2012 at 11:47 am
April,
I just love you so much. You are a great roll model and the fattest, most jealous loser in the universe. Thanks again for distinguishing grass roots from astroturfing!
March 12, 2012 at 12:14 pm
April,
Something something ROLL something something FATTEST, something something something GRASS something something.
March 12, 2012 at 12:32 pm
Now I have the munchies.
March 12, 2012 at 12:33 pm
My name is Kitchen Bish and I support this message!
March 12, 2012 at 3:23 pm
That’s purely medicinal, right?
March 12, 2012 at 11:49 am
Oh look. Someone gave Matt Smith some eyebrows. I was just talking about that earlier today.
You really would think that PayPal would have learned by now. It seems they don’t -want- to make money. What do they do all day, then?
March 12, 2012 at 11:57 am
As a fellow eyebrowless person, I support Mr Smith’s facial bareness completely.
Also, I’m crap with an eyebrow pencil.
March 13, 2012 at 3:53 am
Personally, I think genetics did him a favor with the light eyebrows. As staggeringly strong as his jawline is (in school, he used to be teased for having ‘a face made of elbows’, bless him), strong eyebrows would have just been Too Much Face on the guy.
March 13, 2012 at 4:20 am
Good point! It’s a little distracting at some times when I watch the episodes, if the lighting is just right (or, as it were, just wrong).
But he actually looks a good bit like my cousin, so, I suppose I should be used to it by now!
March 12, 2012 at 11:49 am
I’m thinking Paypal Execs aren’t too happy these days: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/03/11/BANI1NJBCP.DTL&tsp=1
March 12, 2012 at 12:36 pm
Maybe they froze the conductor’s Paypal account because he was making too much money.
I’ll show myself out…
March 12, 2012 at 1:37 pm
Sorry, but that made me laugh! I know i wasn’t supposed to.
March 12, 2012 at 3:27 pm
“His death is under investigation.”
So…he’s frozen.
March 12, 2012 at 5:03 pm
What’s to investigate? This fucktard stood on the tracks using the same type of judgement we’ve come to expect from PayPal and got squished by tons of speeding metal. Case closed.
Now thumb me down!
March 15, 2012 at 1:06 am
Damn it, I just can’t thumb down logic!
March 12, 2012 at 4:14 pm
uh oh. every poster on here is going to be contacted for alibis…we need to get our stories straight stat!
aaaaaaaaaand i’m atrocious.
March 13, 2012 at 4:42 am
We all HAVE an alibi – we were on Regretsy at the time. ; )
March 12, 2012 at 7:36 pm
He was declared counterfeit and had to be destroyed in order to get a refund.
March 13, 2012 at 3:54 am
Laughing at this is totally worth going to hell for.
March 13, 2012 at 3:32 am
Karma indeed
March 13, 2012 at 4:42 pm
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
March 12, 2012 at 11:50 am
On a related note…
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/03/11/BANI1NJBCP.DTL&tsp=1
March 12, 2012 at 2:54 pm
Ack, sorry, accidentally hit thumbs down by accident.
I was about to reply…
Ain’t karma a bitch?
March 12, 2012 at 11:51 am
…Goddamnit, paypal.
March 12, 2012 at 12:07 pm
If I had a nickel for every time I’ve said that over the past few months, I would have enough for Paypal to freeze my account for 6 months.
March 12, 2012 at 11:51 am
April’s Army, at your service. What fucker are we doling out retributive justice to today? … DAMMIT, WUT? Thought we made enough of a fool out of these guys before…. What the hell, Paypal?
March 12, 2012 at 11:55 am
Consider a post requesting an explanation placed ceremoniously on PayPalUK’s facebook page. Hope to see y’all there!
March 12, 2012 at 11:51 am
You know, I try to look on the brightside of things, however this doesn’t really have many other angles to come at it from other than Disgustingly Evil. Paypal needs to step back and re-evaluate who they think their client base is.
March 12, 2012 at 3:17 pm
And who the hell they think THEY are?!
March 12, 2012 at 11:52 am
FJL’S OF DOOOOOOOOM GO GLOBAL!!!!!!!!!!!!
March 12, 2012 at 12:33 pm
RELEASE THE PUBLIC SHAME SQUAD!!
March 12, 2012 at 4:52 pm
Read that as “RELEASE THE PUBLIC SHAME SQUID!”
March 12, 2012 at 10:08 pm
I feel that as talentless, fat, jealous losers, we should already have a public shame squid at our disposal.
March 13, 2012 at 4:44 am
What about the “pubic shame squid”?
Alas, none of it will work if you’re using it on someone who has no shame.
March 12, 2012 at 11:54 am
I bet PayPal wishes they had a TARDIS.
March 12, 2012 at 11:56 am
Paypal are greedy pus balls of obesity and need to be POPPED!!!!
March 12, 2012 at 12:00 pm
and I REFUSE to Like their page to leave a comment!!!!!!
March 12, 2012 at 11:56 am
Oh, this will be my utter pleasure. Alzheimer’s killed my great grandmother, and my mother is showing symptoms of early onset.
March 12, 2012 at 11:58 am
I’m sorry to hear about your personal experience with the disease. But take solace. We’re all big fat jealous losers here, so our hugs are extra comforting (and our slaps ten times as meaty). There’s no way that PayPal can think they’re sidestepping anything.
Positive thoughts to you and your mom.
March 12, 2012 at 12:06 pm
My grandmother died with it, but I think it was more that she was just sad, confused and scared all the time that actually killed her. My GF spent every damn day in that small town Alzheimer’s ward with her for 2 years. Can some one explain to me why a town of 2000 people with one stoplight has enough elderly with this disease to warrant a specialty center? My great aunts and uncles who died in the eighties were crazier than shit, but they got to live out their lives in the one bedroom houses they had lived in for 40 years.
March 12, 2012 at 1:07 pm
Beeby, is she on any medication for it? I know there are many for early-onset. I wish you and her all the very best. (((((HUGS)))))
March 13, 2012 at 4:47 am
My stepdad’s mom has it as well – it can be as hard on the family as it is on the person with Alzheimer’s, especially depending on how the symptoms manifest. Here’s wishing you guys the gentlest possible path with this.
March 12, 2012 at 11:58 am
Paypal is terrible! I had sold an item online. I purchased postage, along with a tracking number. I shipped it, and somehow the wonderful postal service lost the box. Thew customer filed a complaint. I provided proof of shipping, and Paypal locked my account until I issued a refund. I was out my products, shipping costs, AND paypal’s fees.
March 12, 2012 at 2:51 pm
I ordered a book from England and it went missing in the mail. I had an email that it was shipped but either the English or American postal workers stole it, or possibly customs. There was no tracking as to which point it went missing. Book store refunded my money and apologized.
I don’t trust the post office. They destroy objects in the mail (marked a breast pump “fragile” in the mail and it arrived smushed and the battery case cracked – she said it looked like an elephant wallowed on top of it) or outright steal things. Don’t get me started on the time my sister sent me a gold pendant and it went missing for over three weeks then turned up the VERY NEXT DAY after my sister filed an insurance claim. Some fuckwad at my local post office was holding on to it hoping no one would notice it was missing.
March 12, 2012 at 11:58 am
How did the violin incident end, anyway? Was there any sort of resolution?
March 12, 2012 at 12:35 pm
None that I know of. The woman was overwhelmed by media attention and freaked out. She decided not to spek publicly about it anymore. Without constant public pressure on PayPal, they will never do the right thing.
March 12, 2012 at 12:43 pm
Pubic or public pressure? Although standing on the gonads of someone at PayPal may be the way to resolve this.
March 12, 2012 at 12:45 pm
God damn it. I always do that. And “teh.”
March 12, 2012 at 1:11 pm
No, you were right. Reddogbon was just inspired with an alternate method.
And knowing Amazon parrots, those gonads would have some awesome chunks taken out, ’cause not only is that a strong beak, but all hookbills live and LOVE to chew.
March 12, 2012 at 1:39 pm
I used to work for a very large library association, and a big part of my job was editing text sent to me by librarians for publication. “Pubic Library” was by far the most common mistake I had to fix.
March 12, 2012 at 3:33 pm
My biggest typosaurus is “musci.”
March 12, 2012 at 12:45 pm
Constant Pubic Pressure should be the name of your next book!
March 12, 2012 at 12:01 pm
Their headquartered here in Omaha, and I hear they are shitty employers as well.
March 12, 2012 at 12:02 pm
*They’re
March 13, 2012 at 9:44 am
Ah, a fellow Omahan.
Yeah, their constant ads for employment can’t be because of their phenomenal growth, can it?
March 12, 2012 at 12:02 pm
So disgusted with Paypals lack of attention to their customer’s.
Also find it ironic that every time I’ve come back to this posting the random ads at the top of your page have been for Paypal.
March 12, 2012 at 12:34 pm
It’s kind of wonderful. They’re sponsoring this post.
March 12, 2012 at 1:05 pm
The snake is eating its own tail. Awesome.
March 12, 2012 at 2:52 pm
Click on them, then! Each time you click, they have to cough up a slice of a penny or whatever.
March 12, 2012 at 12:03 pm
It disgusts me that companies like Pay Pal keep ripping people off and only ever do the right thing when there’s a media storm against them. They should do the right thing on their own!
March 12, 2012 at 2:13 pm
Yeah well, it’s the corporations being all corporation-y.
America! Fuck yeah!
March 12, 2012 at 12:05 pm
They’re really working their way through the fanbases, aren’t they? First Regretsy, now Dr. Who.
I cannot wait ’til they get to the Twihards.
March 12, 2012 at 12:08 pm
haha, if PayPal had hair, I feel like that’s the first thing they’d go for.
March 12, 2012 at 12:16 pm
Is it wrong that I kinda want to see how that plays out? Like, what kind of charity that would be?
“Click here to help Stephanie Meyer learn to read and write!”
March 12, 2012 at 2:44 pm
The ultimate geek fury of doom would be to mess with the Lord of the Rings fan base. Might as well be the equivalent of standing on top of a church roof holding a golf club while pissing on the crucifix at top the church. You’re going to get royally burned and wish you weren’t so stupid pull a stunt like that.
March 12, 2012 at 3:40 pm
“You cannot access World of Warcraft because PayPal has frozen the account used for payment.”
I’d pay cash to see what would happen after a few million players got that message.
March 12, 2012 at 10:15 pm
I’d pay cash and then hide from a safe distance. Preferably away from a computer with an internet connection. Like, Wyoming.
March 13, 2012 at 2:26 pm
Wyoming wouldn’t even be safe. My daughter lives there and has internet.
March 13, 2012 at 5:53 am
And the new Star Wars: The Old REpublic that just released a few weeks ago as well. Hell hath no fury… yeah.
March 12, 2012 at 12:09 pm
Haven’t you learned anything by now, PayPal? Don’t mess with geeks with a conscience!
March 12, 2012 at 12:10 pm
Has there been any updates regarding the PayPal/Violin fiasco?
March 12, 2012 at 12:12 pm
This is the latest thing that I have read about that. It was posted on March 1st, 2012.
http://howtusurvive.blogspot.com/2012/03/paypal-violin-update.html
March 12, 2012 at 3:17 pm
See #26.
March 12, 2012 at 12:12 pm
Might I suggest the hashtag #PayPalzheimers?
March 12, 2012 at 12:16 pm
Just added my two cents to the twitter wall-o-hate. Hopefully this will light a fire under some exec arses.
March 12, 2012 at 12:16 pm
I just tweeted them and I NEVER tweet (I’m uber-lazy like that). I even used the term “douchewaffle”. These people are fucking out of this world.
March 12, 2012 at 12:18 pm
I worked in an Alzheimer’s facility for years. Alzheimer’s is the saddest, most evil disease I can think of. It robs people of their memories and lives. I saw a husband who was devastated because his wife screamed when he entered her room because she no longer knew who he was. It hurt me so bad to see him cry and ask me why people are cursed with such a terrible disease. What Paypal is doing is despicable. For them to try to block this money is just pure hateful. Karma is a bitch. And she will find each and every one of the people at Paypal.
March 12, 2012 at 1:40 pm
Kudos for you for staying there for years. I wouldn’t have had the strength of character and would have been in tears every day.
That poor husband. He had to go visit her because he remembered her before the disease. I can understand why he couldn’t stop just because she didn’t recognize him. That’s heartbreaking.
I had a friend whose mom developed it and by the time they’d realized it (she was in a senior housing unit far upstate), it had gone far. Mary always thought that her mom knew, on some level, that something was wrong but with the disease, couldn’t understand or express it. That may be the most frightening thought I have about it—knowing it but not being able to do anything.
We don’t have a history of it in my family, as far as I know, but I’m still afraid of it.
March 13, 2012 at 6:00 am
My grandfather knew, up until the end, that *something* was wrong, but didn’t understand what or why.
The only thing we have to be thankful for in losing him to this gods awful disease, is that he went quickly (less than 6 months from diagnosis to death).
My mom says if they’d known what to look for, they’d have seen all the early warning signs and known what to do, years and years ago. That’s the problem- most people don’t know or understand how subtle this disease can be until it’s nearly too late.
March 12, 2012 at 3:48 pm
Amen. I did a stint in Alzheimer’s research, and it really is heartbreaking to see how people’s lives are affected by this disease. To freeze the assets of any charity is bad business, but to do so for such an important charity as this (and to risk pissing off all us rabid little Who fangirls and boys) is just downright stupid.
I’m no longer in the Bay area, so I can’t picket them in person, but I can raise hell on Twitter and Facebook, at least.
March 12, 2012 at 5:00 pm
I wouldn’t wish Alzheimer’s on an enemy. Then again, I would want my enemy to be EXQUISITELY aware of why he is wallowing in degradation and suffering and why he has earned every second of it.
March 12, 2012 at 12:21 pm
I’m pretty sure they figured out some way to stop this by now, but, about 10 yrs back I had my first paypal issue. They were improperly holding my funds for 90 days, and I was bent. So I ran my account balance to just under $5, then took my ATM-paypal card to a gas station and filled my truck for almost $70. Of course I adjusted my fund sources first so they couldn’t auto pay themselves; they needed me to manually send them the funds. Around twice what they owed me. It infuriated them to the point of sending me at least three emails a day the whole time. They called once, and insisted the money they owed me had nothing to do with the money I owed them. I did not concur. While I am pretty sure they must have figured out how to prevent this, there must be some way to ear-fuck them right back, anybody have a suggestion?
March 12, 2012 at 12:24 pm
Alzheimer’s Research? Maybe PayPal is just having problems remembering the results of their numerous past fuckups.
March 12, 2012 at 12:28 pm
Done.
They’ve turned off NEW comments, but you can easily post in an older one…and plenty of people did so.
March 12, 2012 at 12:29 pm
“Paypal: putting the sand in your lube”
March 12, 2012 at 2:40 pm
Mixed with a bit of Bengay for that extra burning sensation.
March 14, 2012 at 5:34 pm
PayPal: worse than having sex on Lake Michigan beaches. The rocky coast leaves painful sand in interesting places.
March 12, 2012 at 12:31 pm
I bought that book! It’s my money they’re fighting over. How exciting! Where’s my Sonic Screwdriver? I’m going to “fix” their computers.
March 12, 2012 at 12:35 pm
You’d think a company that works because of the internet would understand how damaging this sort of negative publicity is, and how quickly it can spread.
I assume they believe their market share is too high and their base to strong to be rocked, but the more shit like this happens the more their security will be chipped away at. If they don’t sort their review system out soon, they’ll eventually find consumer confidence so reduced they can’t win it back.
It may take a while, but it will happen.
March 12, 2012 at 12:36 pm
I soooo wish I could post a screen shot of my phone, as the little banner ad at the top was fopr PayPal! I loaded the fill site to comment and there’s a small PayPal ad on the upper right. One would think they’d ask for coverage everywhere BUT Regretsy.
March 12, 2012 at 1:42 pm
They’re nondiscriminating whores.
March 12, 2012 at 12:47 pm
you know, i wonder if this happens to Featured sellers. Sometimes they get thousands and thousands over a few days. How much does paypal think is a lot of money over a short time anyway??
In any case- the only reason they hold the money is to get interest on it. Pretty obvious.
March 15, 2012 at 6:13 am
There’s been some talk that they’re investing the held funds in short term high risk investment schemes. That would be the customer’s non fdic insured funds.
Furthermore, in early 2008 before they required paypal exclusively and banned all other forms of payment, they reportedly made around $10 Million per Q.
March 15, 2012 at 6:15 am
Doh! That’s $10 Million per Q in interest.
March 12, 2012 at 12:49 pm
I tweeted at them, and then realized that we need a hashtag. Any suggestions? #paypaleatsbabies? #paypalrapesagain?
#paypalsucks is probably simpler…
March 12, 2012 at 5:17 pm
Yeah, I just used #paypalsucks, simple and to the point!
March 12, 2012 at 10:21 pm
I’m all for #paypalrapesagain
March 15, 2012 at 5:55 am
LOL
Go look on urbandictionary dot com for the definition of paypal. It says “see assrape”.
Really, it does
March 12, 2012 at 12:52 pm
Using Paypal is playing right into the Daleks hands…uh, knobs…handles…antennae…you know, STICKING-OUT THINGS.
March 12, 2012 at 12:53 pm
… so what do we do now?
March 12, 2012 at 2:36 pm
We have Wesley “Fuck Machine” Crusher’s friend ass rape the UK PayPal customer service rep with its barb penis then make the rep lick the bloody santorum off its dick.
March 12, 2012 at 3:15 pm
I was thinking more along the lines of a strongly worded letter, or maybe a DDoS attack. But your way could definitely work, too.
March 15, 2012 at 1:19 am
If I ever have to bring up Wesley Crusher in any context ever again, that full name is what’s going to come out. And I am going to have the biggest bitch of a time trying to explain that “no no! It’s not me who thinks he’s a teenage fuck machine!”.
March 12, 2012 at 12:55 pm
Am I the only one dying to write some Wesley Crusher style fan fiction about “Francine”?
March 12, 2012 at 12:55 pm
I have a confession to make guys… my husband works for eBay. Well half.com anyway. But he told me that while eBay owns PayPal, most if not ALL of the folks here in Salt Lake absolutely hate those mother-effing, kitten and puppy kicking assholes. Lik everyone that I’ve spoken to HAE dealing and dread having to contact them. They all say that they are douchebags.
With that said, their customer service office is in Omaha, Nebraska. So, that’s who you are dealing with, self absorbed Nebraskan ASSHOLES.
March 12, 2012 at 1:03 pm
Well, Nebraska is the 8th least-densely populated state in the US, AND at R + 22.60, one of the reddest.
(Warning for the humor impaired: the paragraph below is sarcasm.)
The whole thing makes sense when you think about it. Charities, when you get right down to it, are “Communism” (a far-right notion of Communism, anyway) at its finest and they want to stop it. Ergo, we should thank PayPal for destroying the hopes of those Commie Alzheimer’s bastards.
March 12, 2012 at 5:22 pm
I used to work with a girl from Nebraska. She left NE thinking she was the absolute *shit* because she had two college degrees (an Associates and a Bachelors). Then she got here to NY and realized that people with college degrees are thick on the ground in this city. Let’s just say she was humbled.
Anyway, point being, that’s the employment pool they’re pulling from in Nebraska!
March 12, 2012 at 7:27 pm
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
March 13, 2012 at 4:24 am
Heheh. I’m aware of that. Hence the sarcasm alert.
March 13, 2012 at 5:39 am
Psst. Your sarcasm radar is broken. Might want to fix that.
March 12, 2012 at 5:02 pm
Do you think maybe if eBay accounts started getting cancelled en masse because of PayPal’s stupidity that it might force them to take steps to fix things?
March 12, 2012 at 1:07 pm
Those fucking bags of fucking fucks.
March 12, 2012 at 1:13 pm
So last time this happened I wrote a little Twillio script to robo-call Paypal executives with a canned message.
https://gist.github.com/1438636
Notes: For robocall laws in California, you have to call after 9 AM on weekdays, and you have to identify yourself. So change the message to say your name.
March 12, 2012 at 5:23 pm
Is there any way you can walk us code impaired FJLs through this process?
March 12, 2012 at 1:22 pm
Did this a while back, but missed my chance and was too late with it on the violin. Been saving it for just such an occasion:
March 13, 2012 at 4:01 am
The beautiful thing is that you must have known that PayPal would be along to give you a reason to post this within a few weeks of making this. Go on: make a few dozen more, we’ll eventually need them all.
March 12, 2012 at 1:27 pm
Now I have a visual that Davros is the guy on the other end of PayPalUK.
Just the whole attitude seems to fit.
March 12, 2012 at 1:52 pm
Oh, so the ass-whipping they got from Regretsians wasn’t enough, they’ve decided they want to try their hand at taking on Dr. Who Fans?
Good Luck with that, Paypal. For your next trick, kill a kitten and claim that JK Rowling told you to do it.
March 12, 2012 at 2:33 pm
With SOPA and PIPA sauce on it!
March 12, 2012 at 2:00 pm
This makes me so glad I’ve been too lazy to sign up for a PayPal account.
My grandmother died of/with Alzheimer’s. I didn’t get to see her much during that time (lived 5 hours away and in college), but the rest of the family (or at least the ones who visited regularly) said it was not pretty to watch her go through it. I don’t know if I would have handled it very well.
March 13, 2012 at 5:35 am
Last my grandfather last Sept to Alzheimer’s. No, it’s not pretty watching the person you know and love disappear before your eyes. I’m glad I got to see him one last time that June, as I live 11 hours away. Talking to my mom nearly daily for his last 6 months, made my heart ache for her, my aunt, my uncle and my grandmother, because they were the ones on the front line, so to speak. I do know that it was particularly hard on my uncle, as my mom said he only visited once and couldn’t handle it.
March 12, 2012 at 2:31 pm
PayPal. Because rubbing lemon juice on your paper cuts isn’t painful enough, so we’re going to slice your fucking hand open and pour lye on it.
“Feel the burn? Suffer you peons, and turn over your bank accounts while we skull fuck the poor children and sick elderly.”
March 12, 2012 at 2:34 pm
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
March 13, 2012 at 4:25 am
Nice try, Larry Page. ; )
March 12, 2012 at 2:35 pm
Just left mine: “@paypaluk There’s a guy in a wheelchair on my bus. Come and tip him out- you guys like dicking over the less fortunate.” Ugh. PayPal. FUCK THEM, THAT’S WHY.
March 12, 2012 at 2:51 pm
I started using dwolla (www.dwolla.com) after the Christmas fiasco. I highly suggest US customers looking into it. I’d love to see people use it instead of paypal.
March 12, 2012 at 5:06 pm
What if I don’t have any US customers? (Seriously – I want a replacement for PayPal badly, but a lot of my customers are in Asia and South America.) Do they do anything outside the US?
March 14, 2012 at 8:09 am
I used Dwolla for a while, but it’s hard to get customers to sign up for a new service. Instead I’ve been using WePay, which allows people to pay with a credit card without signing up.
I think it also allows international payments, as I haven’t had anyone mention otherwise yet.
(And if you sign up using this link, you get $10 in your account and I get $20 in mine, woo! My selfish link to WePay. I’m saving up to get a mattress, so referral monies help. The floor isn’t too comfortable.)
March 14, 2012 at 11:58 am
Cool! I’ll check it out. = )
March 12, 2012 at 3:27 pm
This really needs to be on an episode of The Big Bang Theory. Sheldon could kick PayPal’s ass. Can anyone make this happen in her/his artistic ability? Wil Wheaton?
March 12, 2012 at 3:36 pm
So, Emperor PayPalpitine is attempting to stop the Doctor from helping fund Alzheimer’s research. Who knew that real life and crossover fanfic would be pretty much identical?
March 12, 2012 at 4:15 pm
PayPal UK facebook spammed with links to Steve’s site. When they lock up my $450, hopefully Helen will float me a loan to keep my etsy reselling in business.
March 13, 2012 at 9:06 am
Whoa…FJL Army works in <24 hours: http://behindthesofa.myshopify.com/blogs/news/5846392-paypal-resolution
March 12, 2012 at 4:21 pm
Not even Daleks are this evil.
March 12, 2012 at 4:22 pm
Steve posted an update on his site.
http://behindthesofa.myshopify.com/blogs/news/5842484-paypal-protection-racket-update
Paypal’s “resolution” leaves one Hel of a lot to be desired!
March 12, 2012 at 4:59 pm
FWIW, a Paypal vice-president was struck and killed by a Caltrain last Friday morning.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/03/11/BANI1NJBCP.DTL&tsp=1
Regretsy KARMA.
I’m pretty sure it’s related to Regretsy, anyway. What else could it be?
(The high school around the corner usually has a few kids each year to commit suicide by CalTrain. There’s even a sign asking them not to do it.)
March 12, 2012 at 5:03 pm
Unfortunately, that was probably the one and only affable, kind, sane one.
I wouldn’t wish the Caltrain on anyone. A mass water-ballooning maybe wouldn’t go amiss, though.
March 12, 2012 at 8:47 pm
“Salvatierra was vice president of customer advocacy and operational excellence at PayPal.”
And he was suffering from mental illness. This explains (but does not excuse) so many negative things we have noticed about Paypal, especially lately.
http://www.mercurynews.com/peninsula/ci_20159824/paypal-exec-killed-caltrain-tracks-had-bipolar-disorder?source=rss
The family is accepting donations. I do hope they don’t use Paypal to collect them.
March 13, 2012 at 10:18 am
No, that explains nothing. Bipolar doesn’t make you an asshole. Of course you can be an asshole with bipolar, like this guy probably was, but it’s nothing to do with the fact that he was mentally ill.
March 12, 2012 at 5:07 pm
I keep seeing quotes from this article (not about the Caltrain death), but people need to be aware that the article is almost TEN YEARS OLD.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/09/07/BU232114.DTL
“A federal judge says PayPal, the fast-growing online payment service, has a mandatory arbitration policy that is unfair to customers who complain that their accounts are being mishandled.
“The ruling by U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel of San Jose allows customers to take their grievances to a jury rather than an arbitration panel. Fogel also refused to dismiss a lawsuit that seeks class-action status on behalf of thousands of PayPal customers nationwide.”
Ten years of this…TEN YEARS…
March 12, 2012 at 5:15 pm
I was admin of a message board and got screwed by these clowns. We had a donate button to take donations to run the site. For the privilege, people got a larger av and a free username change. Honestly, from non-mods, I don’t think we ever got more than $20/month and often not the hosting cost. So anyway, PayPal decided we were a “non-profit” because we were taking donations and wanted proof of our tax-exempt status. And I know this is a common grief.
OK, “donate” means charity. But what else should we call it? It’s not a payment. It’s just free money to be nice (and get some free web crap).
March 12, 2012 at 5:22 pm
I signed up for an account here on Regretsy just to be able to comment on this story. I was a Paypal user since 2001. Long story short, I cancelled all my PayPal accounts 2 weeks ago because of my personal experiences and also when I read about the violin story.
I refuse to use eBay and I refuse to use Paypal.
My recommendation for everyone else is to cancel your PayPal accounts. Paypal makes it very difficult to close your account, and they ask like 3 or 4 times if you are “sure” you want to close it.
Close it like this:
After Paypal login, browse to My Profile > My Account Settings
Find the Account category on the right side and click “Close Account”.
After you confirm, they ask for the reason you request closure of your Paypal account, to improve Paypal.
After you provide a reason you want to close Paypal, then they ask again for the final closure notice.
Now this is you last chance. All your outstanding transactions will be cancelled.
Goo luck to all!
March 13, 2012 at 7:22 am
LOVE your screen name.
March 13, 2012 at 8:49 am
Just cancelled and told them it was due to their asshattery!
March 12, 2012 at 5:41 pm
I have tweeted my displeasure to @PayPalUK. Perhaps we should all chip in and send them a pallet of Hillbilly Bajingo Wash so they can clean the sand out of their vaginas.
March 12, 2012 at 6:16 pm
…At least maybe this will help generate even more sales for the book?
PayPal makes looking on the bright side difficult >.<
March 12, 2012 at 6:25 pm
I am pretty sure Paypal has also fucked the non-profit cat rescue I volunteer 25+ hours a week at…I just don’t think they realize it. I saw their donation button wasn’t working and told the founder. She says that they are doing a ‘review’ for their non-profit status. I have a feeling this is going to cripple her shelter.
March 13, 2012 at 5:24 am
They’ve also done this ‘review of non profit status’ to a few Akita Rescues groups a few years back as well. Thankfully, Pay Pal wasn’t their only source of income, so it was merely a big inconvience, but still, it should NOT be happening.
March 12, 2012 at 8:16 pm
So glad I finally closed my PayPal account about a month ago. I had opened a store on Big Cartel but never made any sales so it was pretty easy to close out the account.
WePay is much better so far. Still no sales yet but at least it isn’t PayPal!
March 12, 2012 at 9:10 pm
PayPal is staffed by Toclafane.
March 13, 2012 at 4:03 am
I dunno. The Toclafane could at least claim some distant kinship to humanity. We’re really not seeing that with PayPal.
(Here come the drums, here come the drums!)
March 13, 2012 at 9:00 am
Well, the head PayPal person could be a Slitheen…
March 13, 2012 at 12:45 am
PayPal is a bank in Europe with its office in Luxembourg.
European customers are advised to contact their own bank first security authorities, if it has a dispute with PayPal.
Union Banking Supervision may require reports a European bank, in violation of consumer protection or law.
https://wfc2.wiredforchange.com/o/9042/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=8515
March 13, 2012 at 2:27 am
This makes me really want to rally a bunch of people to buy a shit-ton of stuff from some terrible popular Etsy store so that said steampunk-retro-upcycled-barnwood Etsy user’s PayPal account gets frozen, JUST to get the GREAT RAEEEGE of the Etsian Masses to turn on PayPal.
Of course, that’s probably some form of harassment. Or something.
March 14, 2012 at 8:21 am
I completely agree with this, if only so that etsy hurries and releases that credit card payment option to everyone (or allows use of other payment processors, like WePay and Dwolla).
March 13, 2012 at 3:26 am
OMG, We hold a big grudge against this company. It’s unbelievable that so much evil didn’t push them out of business.
We had to close our lil startup a few years ago because of account frozen for 180 days with $150.000 on it and also stealing hundreds of dollars with random automatic refunds of customers. Plain con, scammers !!!
We need to spread the word and find alternatives
March 13, 2012 at 4:58 am
Please check out dwolla at dwolla.com. Alternate payment system, processing over a $million a month now. Cost = exactly $0.25 per transaction, no matter the size.
Does not use the credit card processing systems at all – instead, uses the bank automated clearing house systems.
Please tell Steve Berry – he’s looking for alternate sources.
March 13, 2012 at 5:23 am
As someone who lost a family member to Alzheimer’s last Sept, this royally pisses me off.
March 13, 2012 at 6:21 am
As someone who works for Customer Service, Paypal’s Customer Service sucks. Their workers probably read from a script (common CS practice, but not for the company I work for), and freak out when you threaten to deviate from it. They need some serious overhaul and remember how to treat their customers.
March 13, 2012 at 6:35 am
I may be wrong, and someone please correct me if I am, but Paypal isn’t technically a bank, right? Do they legally have the power to freeze accounts if they aren’t a bank? I thought they were just a type of money transfer service.
Another thing- I had a customer to receive a few items from me. She filed a complaint with Paypal because it arrived a few days later than what she thought. Paypal made me refund her the money, plus she kept my items. Isn’t that considered ‘theft’. Se took something of mine without paying for it.
March 13, 2012 at 8:33 am
The more I learn about PayPal the more I like postal money orders….
March 14, 2012 at 2:33 am
If they weren’t so damn easy to counterfeit, they’d be fabulous.
March 13, 2012 at 8:37 am
The company was founded by a total douchebucket, so they are just carrying out his proud legacy.
March 13, 2012 at 8:53 am
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
March 13, 2012 at 10:44 am
Cool story about India.
You can’t have it both ways. If PayPal really believed this was shady, they should have immediately returned all of the donations. Instead, they tried to hang on to the money and they kept the transaction fees. So they can use money that violates their policies, but you can’t. I APPLAUD THEM FOR BEING SO DILIGENT
It’s not the policies on PayPal that are the problem. It’s how inconsistent and changeable they are, and how erratically they enforce them.
March 13, 2012 at 12:38 pm
And by the way, the PayPal Guarantee was created by PAYPAL. It doesn’t expire in 4 months because the government says so, it expires because that’s the time that PayPal chose. That means they could make an adjustment for a charity, or any other project that merited their support.
But that’s the problem. PayPal doesn’t suport their customers. They punish them.
March 14, 2012 at 2:36 am
FYI, as a former (US) banker, this is pretty much total bullshit as far as banks in the United States are concerned. Banks don’t automatically freeze accounts when they get full of money. There are VERY specific federal rules for when and what kinds of funds can be held, and electronic transfers are NOT the kinds of funds that qualify. Nice try, though.
March 13, 2012 at 9:53 am
As someone who worked in a call center for a while (I’ve blocked most of those memories..), I implore you to remember that the poor schmuck you get when you call Customer Service is just some college kid trying to buy pizza and beer. They have to try to understand and follow the nebulous and contradictory rules set up by the management.
Go gentle on the plebes. It’s the ones in charge who need the spanking.
March 13, 2012 at 9:55 am
It’s okay. These assbutts haven’t learned their lessons and probably never will, but there’s a very special spot reserved in Hell, just for them.
…in fact, there’s a lot of special spots for special groups. Puppy killers, kitten burners, PayPal people, the WBC and the Pope…and the people who eat all of the red Skittles in the regular bag, knowing damn well those are my favorite.
March 13, 2012 at 10:01 am
Christ. Is there, in fact, a non-douchey payment service provider? I suppose Google Checkout/Google Wallet is marginally (marginally) less evil, but since you can only use that from within the U.S. and UK… o.O
March 14, 2012 at 8:32 am
Nah, Google Checkout sucks. They won’t even let you accept money without having a business ID number (not a business tax number, but an ID number, as in you have to have your business registered in your state), and if you don’t provide it they just take all your money.
Or at least, that was my case. :/
I’ve been using Dwolla and WePay without any problems, and with WePay, people don’t even need to sign up for it to pay with a credit card. Dwolla is US only, though. They’re both super easy to sign up with.
(If you sign up for WePay with this link, you get $10 and I get $20. I’m saving up for a mattress so I don’t have to sleep on the floor anymore, every referral helps a ton. Sorry for posting this around. Floors suck.)
March 13, 2012 at 11:01 am
It’s not much of a resolution. Look at them still defending their actions, as if preorders are a strange and novel concept the public needs protecting from! I can’t believe they are not even making a donation to the charity – or an actual fucking apology. What cunts
March 13, 2012 at 11:09 am
I just closed my PayPal account. Here’s the note I sent them:
“Frankly, after the saga of Regretsy’s charity fund for Christmas, the Alzheimer’s UK fund, and the poor lady with the smashed violin, I was infuriated. But when a friend sent me money to pay for necessities when my boyfriend was very ill and near death, and it took a week for the funds to come through? And the bullshit I had to go through as an eBay seller, when I was counting on that money for the same reason? Fuck you, PayPal. I hope you go under and take eBay with you. Go to hell. You’ve frozen money that so many poor and needy people needed, you make bullshit “judgement” calls, and you fuck over both sellers and buyers on a daily basis. Fuck you and go piss up a rope. If you have a response, you may load it onto a rocket, climb on, and fire yourself into the sun.”
March 13, 2012 at 12:28 pm
Here’s my boyfriend’s comment on PayPal’s US page on Facebook:
“Dear PayPal,
I work for the American Porphyria Foundation. I am a well-connected activist who regularly deals with very powerful politicians, the medical activism community (including the APF, the Ronald Reagan Rare Disease Alliance, and the Fight for Autoimmune Alliance). Recently my girlfriend tried to sell an old coat on eBay to raise some money to buy basic necessities to keep me from getting so ill from porphyria that it would kill me in a matter of days; she also received some money from a kind old friend on a separate occasion when I was again in danger of dying from my disease. Your business practices are despicable and make no sense whatsoever, and because of your policies and ludicrous hoops to jump through, we were prevented from obtaining the money we rightfully were owed for quite some time…(cont’d)
March 13, 2012 at 12:30 pm
…by the time we finally received it, I was severely ill and had to be hospitalized. Consider yourselves as having invited the unholy fury of what many people have called “the pitbull of rare disease”– and my equally infuriated cohorts. We look forward to your public shaming and impending bankruptcy.”
Yet another reason why I love him! <3
March 14, 2012 at 5:25 pm
Hey Regretsians! oh-hell’s boyfriend here. After all my efforts for the American Porphyria Foundation and advocating for people with rare diseases, and much to the dismay of many APF employees, people with the disease, and many of my political and celebrity contacts, I was abruptly chewed out and fired by the director of the APF. Now I’m taking all my contacts and going rogue, I’ll get more done by myself. PayPal is on my shit list, too. I got some backup from other people who were “declined” to work with the APF and we’re going to change the future for people with this horrible disease– together! Any of you fat jealous losers are welcome to join me. You’re totally badass, I’d love a hand from the Regretsy army.
Love and smooches,
Joey
March 14, 2012 at 10:42 pm
I fucking hate Paypal. My mom runs and ebay business and sells glass antiques many of which are cookie jars. She usually charges around $12 for S&H which is cheap considering how much she puts into packing to make sure the item arrives safely. Sometimes she pays more than $12 to ship the item, usually though the post office charges her between $10-$12 per item the cost of the supplies is sometimes not even covered. Yet 5 out of the 500 or so she’s sold to complained that her shipping was too high (apparently they didn’t actually bother to check the label and see what the PO charged). As a result Paypal put a hold on her account. Mind you this had nothing to do with Paypal yet they still froze all of her income with the reasoning that she seemed to be running a scam with her shipping prices. The funds in that account pay my parent’s bills each month, so for the 2 months she had a hold on her account I had to support them. DOWN WITH PAYPAL!
March 15, 2012 at 12:01 am
March 15, 2012 at 3:34 pm
i am starting to think that their policy is now SCREW YOU AND HAVE A NICE DAY
good thing i don’t have an account with them and now i never will.
June 24, 2012 at 7:51 pm
Wow, these guys are almost as bad as Ocean Marketing. I never got a Paypal account. Seemed like too many middle-men to me. And now I never will.