PayPal Woes
PayPal customer service is driving me up the wall.
I used PayPal a bit when I was living in the US. After I moved back to Australia, it continued to work because I still had a US credit card. When that expired, I entered my new Australian credit card details.
Because I was registered with PayPal as living in the US but my credit card billing address was in Australia, they wouldn't let me use that card and put a block on my account because it had no verified credit card on file.
At the time, I just let it go and used alternatives.
But last week I wanted to use PayPal again: "Limited Account Access" "The credit card you tried to add to your account requires additional verification."
But under "How can I restore my account access?" It simply says "This limitation cannot be appealed."
Because the issue ultimately was the change of country, I looked under help for how to indicate a move. Simple: you just close your account in one country and open it under another. Problem: you can't close your account if you have limited account access.
So I write to PayPal explaining the situation. They send back a form letter saying "To return your account to regular standing, please complete the checklist items". THERE ARE NO CHECKLIST ITEMS.
So I write again. Same form letter comes back.
I write a third letter, explaining everything in detail. SAME FORM LETTER.
My latest post to them begins "STOP SENDING A STANDARD REPLY - THE INSTRUCTIONS IT GIVES DON'T WORK".
Hopefully they'll read that!
Oh, and I tried just going and creating a new Australian account with a different email address but they won't let me BECAUSE THE CREDIT CARD IS ALREADY IN USE.
Comments (5)
Peter Kirby on Aug. 6, 2005:
May be more trouble than it's worth, but you could possess 2 credit cards?
John Cowan on Aug. 9, 2005:
Notoriously Paypal just doesn't give a shit, and ignores everything you tell them. If all goes well, the service works, but the minute something goes wrong you have absolutely no recourse.
bret on Aug. 10, 2005:
James: you need to google "mail forwarding" and get yourself a street address in the states. It's cheap. You also should nominate your blog for the WA Blog Awards; http://notthewest.com.au/blog-awards-nite
James Tauber on Aug. 10, 2005:
Hi Bret
Hopefully we'll catch up at a Meetup one of these days now that I'm back in Perth. Note that the problem is not a lack of US street address (I have that at work) but a US credit card. Which I forwent because it was too hard to pay off.
As to a nomination - I'd be honoured if someone else nominated me but I'm not holding my breath :-)
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Last Modified: Aug. 5, 2005
Author: James Tauber
anonymous on Aug. 5, 2005:
Oh my gosh that is so retarded! If I ever move out of the country I'll be sure to close everything out first. Sheesh.