posted on April 30, 2003 02:25:19 PM
I bought a $50. ebay item back in January. It was not as described and I returned it. The seller never refunded my money despite many phone calls and emails. I finally called American Express, explained the situation and disputed the charge.
Within 24 hours, PAYPAL put a “limited access” on my account. I cannot receive money, pay for any auctions or withdraw money from my PAYPAL account (luckily, I had no money in my PAYPAL account). I called PAYPAL. They told me that American Express had reported to them that there was an unauthorized charge on my account. In other words, someone placed a charge on my account other than myself and I reported it as unauthorized (btw, I verified with AMEX that this is not what they reported).
PAYPAL told me that to have my account reinstated, I needed to send them a copy of my driver’s license and a copy of a recent credit card statement. Since I felt very uncomfortable about this, I telephoned American Express and explained the entire situation. American Express felt that since I am such a good customer (I spend over $40,000 a year with AMEX, and about $2500. a month with PAYPAL thru amex), that they would just credit my account for the amount of the dispute and withdraw the dispute claim with PAYPAL.
I telephoned PAYPAL again and they emailed me an affidavit to have signed and notarized. They told me to fax it to them and to send them via mail the original. I faxed it to them last Thursday and mailed it to them on Friday with a delivery confirmation. According to USPS, they received it early Monday morning.
I called PAYPAL today to inquire on the status of all this. The first representative told me they were still waiting for a copy of my driver’s license and a copy of a recent credit card statement. When I tried to explain that I was sent an affidavit to sign, notarize, fax and mail to PAYPAL, the representative had no idea what I was talking about. I called again. This time, a gentleman told me that he sees my fax arrived on April 24, but it takes an average of 3-5 days for the request to complete. I told him this was the fifth day and he told me again it takes an AVERAGE of 3-5 days for the claim to be resolved.
HELP! I cannot believe I am going through this over a lousy $50. especially since I spend so much money every month with PAYPAL.
posted on April 30, 2003 02:34:36 PM
Only one, and it is a should have sort of thing - You should have disputed this through paypal, not American Express. I don't blame paypal for putting such restrictions on your account if you are disputing it this way. I once had an unauthorized charge on my paypal account. I contacted paypal, and within 24 hours it was removed. If you did not get what you wanted from them, then American Express would be the way to go...
posted on April 30, 2003 02:48:08 PM
you said,
PAYPAL told me that to have my account reinstated, I needed to send them a copy of my driver’s license and a copy of a recent credit card statement. Since I felt very uncomfortable about this, I telephoned American Express and explained the entire situation. ///////////
you should have complied with them and give them what they want.
paypal clerks receive many requests,you want to deviate and muddle things for them,then whine about delays.
what kind of people do you think work at customer service ??rocket scientist??PHD in customer service??
and how many requests do you think they handle per day??
posted on April 30, 2003 03:13:58 PM
This same thing happened to me last year. I disputed $3200 with my credit card for a purchase I made thru Paypal as Paypal would not help. Within a week, my account was frozen and I was selling more than 100 items per week and payment were coming in by the hour and I could not access the money. I continued to ship and Paypal made me pay them the $3200 to un-restrict the account.
posted on April 30, 2003 03:46:02 PM
Marc - I think tht your situation is a very good indicator of why if your actively buy and sell using PayPal, your should have two accounts. You should maintain a selling account that is a seperate entity from your buying account.
posted on May 2, 2003 07:20:01 PM
OR DONT USE PAYPAL TO BUY AN ITEM COSTING 3200.
USE YOUR CREDIT CARD DIRECT,IF SELLER HAS MERCHANT ACCOUNT TO ACCEPT CREDIT CARD.
