After a 6 week battle with Paypal, my account limitation has finally been lifted. I had almost $7,000 in there sitting for 6 weeks with absolutely no security that I would get it back. Unlike other annoyances I write about, this really freaked me out. That is a lot of money to me and my business and even though it was rightfully mine, I was powerless to get it.

The thing is, I don’t actually really mind that Paypal limited my account. I would rather they did that than find out they welcomed in some fraudster with open arms, but the way they go about it makes their customers feel so vulnerable, I now completely understand how those people who create ‘I Hate Paylpal’ sites feel.

1. It is Paypal POLICY to limit EVERY new account that received a large amount of cash (and $7k is determined to be large

This is to stop international thiefs and suchlike filtering money around the world and I think that is probably a good idea.

BUT

If it is policy, maybe they would like to TELL me it is policy, so I can do a couple of small transactions first or decide to use another method. Even if they don’t tell me before hand, when the account is limited, maybe that would be a good time? The most frightening thing for me is simply the not knowing and the fact if they chose to, they could wipe all record of me and my money and WHAT could I do??? Take them to court? If they JUST let me know. I wouldn’t panic.

2. Paypal Doesn’t Communicate

When a large company has stopped you accessing your own money for about 3 weeks and you have done everything they have asked of you and you STILL haven’t heard from them… You start to wonder if this is about security at all or if it’s really about getting interest on someone else’s money. Because I’m not in the mood for conspiracy theories, I will put this down to bad communication.

I emailed sooooo many times. I called even more times and was faced with the MOST ANNOYING mechanical answer service I have EVER experienced. I received a list of options, none of which was what I was after and none of which led to an actual person. I literally spent half an hour figuring out how to hunt down an operator on each phone call and if I made the wrong choice, I’d get “Paypal thanks you for your call… Goodbye.” … And be forced to start the process again.

When I ever got through to an operator (I think that was 3 times) I ALWAYS got hung up on while they transferred me between departments. It was a nightmare and more so for their operators who surely must answer calls to find their customers not only with their initial complaint, but a barrage of abuse about their phone system.

On the upside, every Paypal PERSON I talked to was very helpful… Even if they didn’t always do what they said they would.

Paypal also requires a fax machine to use (yes for an online service) I don’t even OWN a fax. They also don’t email you to tell you if the documentation you supplied was incorrect and even when you specify on your fax that you have uploaded the documentation to the correct place, they don’t check, so you have to spend another week going through the heirarchy just to point out that it’s where they wanted to to be all along… Man oh man. Just remembering those times makes me frustrated.

3. Paypal Loses Customers

I’ve used Paypal before, I haven’t really thought about it, and I assumed the weirdos with their weird hating Paypal sites were just idiots who mucked up somehow. Now I know differently. If I ever do use Paypal again, it will be hesitantly. I’d rather pay the extra $25 fee banks charge for international payments (which is a crime in itself) than risk losing my money or not be able to access it.

Which is a shame, because it’s such a good theory. On the upside, I now completely understand my parent’s generation and their nervousness at trusting “the internet” - this will surely help me do my job better?