Usually this is a blog devoted to advice on writing, but tonight I need a space to blow off some steam. For well over a year, I’ve been actively using PayPal for online transactions. It’s an industry-standard for folks who transact on the Web, right?
Well, color me unimpressed and highly disappointed with PayPal in the wake of a recent customer service snafu in which I was the victim. After what I went through today with them, I’d be more likely to endorse the idea of buying auto insurance in Texas when you live in Minnesota, than I would endorse trusting PayPal to handle customer service professionally.
Here’s the deal:
On January 5, I had my wife use my PayPal Debit Card to contribute my share of the T-Mobile bill, which was $50. Should be easy, right? Well, not so fast.
The first time T-Mobile rang the transaction through, on January 5, they did not receive a correct transaction approval code back from PayPal, even though I had $55.00 in my PayPal balance, which should have left me with $5.00 remaining after the T-Mobile payment.
Since they weren’t paid, T-Mobile (without asking me, mind you, which is RUDE) rang the transaction through a second time. This time, they received the appropriate approval code, got paid their $50, and moved on, happily.
But my PayPal troubles were only beginning. You see, PayPal took out $50.00 from my balance on the first T-Mobile transaction, as a “pending” transaction, even though the wrong approval code was sent and T-Mobile was never paid. That left me with an available balance of $5.00.
Then, when T-Mobile attempted to receive payment a second time, the next day, PayPal paid T-Mobile $50, but took my balance from $5.00 to minus-$45, and initiated a wire transfer from my checking account for the remaining $45… even though the first transaction never went through.
I found out about this the next day, and after checking my PayPal backup funding source – my checking account – and realizing I didn’t have sufficient funds to cover the $45 charge that PayPal was sending my way. Keep in mind that the first $50 charge was NEVER paid out and the balance should have been available.
So, basically, PayPal was set to cause me an overdraft fee on my checking account. Like any good but upset consumer, I called PayPal up to get them to correct their mistake.
My request was simple: Either cancel the $45.00 transfer-in from my bank that never should have been issued, or pay me for the overdraft fee their mistake was going to cause. And it was a PayPal mistake, because T-Mobile never received the first $50 payment because of the approval-code error; they should only have been paid once and my account should never have gone below zero to initiate a back-up funding transfer in the first place.
I mean, I gave them TWO options to make things right. Either cancel the funds transfer that was going to cause me an overdraft, or pay for the overdraft fee their error had caused. Seems pretty simple, right? If you can’t do one, do the other.
Except here was my experience with PayPal customer service: my first time calling in, I was disconnected in the middle of the call. My second time calling in, I was told I’d dialed the wrong extension and I’d have to be transferred to “the correct department.”
Then, instead of getting the correct department, I was connected to a so-called “supervisor.” Well, that’s something, right? I mean, they have more leeway and are TRAINED to keep customers happy, right?
Not at PayPal. Instead, contradicting his own reps who I’d spoken to before, this “supervisor” made the wild claim that T-Mobile was lying – that they’d been paid the first time, but inexplicably CANCELED the transaction, only to run it again.
He then asserted, “We gave T-Mobile a valid approval code both times, they were paid both times, and so this is not a PayPal error.”
Pardon the impure language, but bullshit.
If T-Mobile had received payment the first time, they’d have had no reason whatsoever to cancel that transaction, nor would they have had reason to immediately initiate a second transaction the next day. This supervisor’s excuse simply doesn’t pass the logic test, nor the smell test.
What it boils down to is this: this PayPal “supervisor” simply didn’t want to pay for my overdraft fee, even though it was PayPal’s fault, so he lied his ass off, to cover his ass. It’s a weak, pathetic, feeble attempt to twist the facts, a terrible way to treat a customer, and an example of corporate arrogance and greed.
If PayPal were a company of principle, they would fire this supervisor for terrible customer service, or at least demote him and start him over like a new employee who needs to learn how to treat customers.
I told the so-called PayPal “supervisor” several times I felt he was being deceptive on the facts to avoid responsibility, and what I was asking for to make the situation right was not unreasonable, but he simply refused to budge, even though customer service reps prior to him had confirmed that T-Mobile was telling the truth.
So, I ended the call my telling the supervisor my planned response to his horrible customer service; I will be reporting this incident to every Better Business Bureau I can think of, and I may even report it to the Attorney General’s office.
This blog entry is the first step. Let the notice go forth: PayPal has HORRIBLE customer service and will lie, misrepresent and deceive to avoid taking responsibility for their own idiotic mistakes. Consumers beware! PayPal does NOT deal honestly with its customers.
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