Dearest Paypal,
I want to take this opportunity to thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for randomly limiting my account last night. After all the phishing emails I’ve gotten claiming my account had been limited, it was a refreshing change to get a real one. Now I know the difference and I can tell all my friends.
I guess all the hoops I jumped through to accept payments on my business website were just practice, since the acceptance of a payment through my website is what triggered the lockdown. Admit it – that phone call with 20,000 questions about my business was just because you guys like talking to me, wasn’t it? Now I get to repeat the experience again and I’m so excited!
The requirement that I submit a business license is an awesome touch, considering I live in a state that doesn’t require a business license for what I do. If I was a betting kind of girl, I would bet money that I’ll go through a complicated process to educate the Paypal staff about the laws in Kentucky, then I’ll get to participate in a convoluted series of steps to fulfill the requirement in another way. I’m PUMPED!
I also enjoyed the second email explaining that I can’t use my debit card or withdraw money from my balance until my account is unlocked. That’s great since I planned to go buy groceries today; I guess you guys have been reading my blog and know how much I hate grocery shopping. I appreciate your proactive stance in helping me avoid a trip to Walmart.
The best part of all is that these emails conveniently arrived after customer service hours so I wouldn’t be tempted to call and take care of the problem immediately. It just shows me how dedicated Paypal is to letting me get work done instead of wasting time on needless activities like buying and consuming food.
Paypal, you have really outdone yourselves this time. I applaud your commitment to wasting the time of small business owners like myself. Without you, I might accidentally become productive or (gasp!) make money. And of course no one wants those things to happen less than you.
Love, Andrea
Ouch! Sorry to hear that they've been messing up in such way. What an inconvenience. Hope you get it fixed soon. And that you can buy some food!
ugh. That sucks! I'm so sorry!! Paypal can be a bitch sometimes-I had to go through an exaggerated process just to use the thing to send a payment over ebay.
I have gotten literally hundreds of those phishing emails so I just delete them. You would think they would send the email in the morning so you would have a chance to resolve the issue.
My account is on its 3rd freezing now. I'd be content to just say screw them and shut it down if it wasn't for the fact that I have money in the account. I definitely snickered the entire way through this post!
A couple of years ago, I set up a paypal account for a nonprofit I work with. Paypal required a nonexistent license, plus a copy of the state's receipt for the filing(30 years old).
It took 3 weeks, but I finally convinced them to click the link to the secretary of state's site and see(in seconds!) that we actually existed.
So sorry to hear about your problems with paypal. If it helps you feel any better, thousands of people are having similar issues of having their accounts frozen. Louis C.K. even at one point had his account frozen when it began growing to over a million dollars in $5 video sales. I think that might have been the most publicized occurrence of criticism towards paypal.
I believe PayPal is wary of you newfangled internet entrepreneurs. trying to make a living online….pfffttt.
I will never use PayPal again. Ever. I can't even begin to document the amount of problems I've had with them.
Switch to square. I use them for all my credit card processing and never ever had a problem.
lol… Another priceless letter and one you should send! I didn't know you were from KY! Me too 🙂
Ick and I was just going to send you a payment for web stuff today! Should I hold off?
That's so dumb…. but I do love these letters
Ha – Love it. I'd love to see Paypal's actual reaction if you forwarded that to them.
Wow- I never realized so many people had issues with paypal. Based on all of the things I've read, I assumed paypal was kind of the "golden child" of transacting online. I'm sorry about your experience and I hope they work it out soon. I love that you're so honest about this stuff.
Ridiculous! Sue them if possible for all the mental trauma.
Oh, that sounds horrible.
Didn't you get the memo. It is now against the law to be too successful too fast. You must be cheating somehow, that is the only explination.
That sounds horrid! Hope it works out soon.
Paypal Seriously Sucks!!!
My experience with them has been a nightmare. I had Paypal suspend my account and claim it was because it was linked to another Paypal account with a negative balance over 3k. My ID had been stolen in early 2000 (hard to pinpoint exactly when since I didn't start recieveing notices from creditors/law firms till 2003 stating the accounts were opened in 2000-01).
Anyway once I provided Paypal with the police reports and affadavits I got a call back from a supervisor. I was told I am still responsible for the negative account because "It is your responsibility to protect your information". So basically it is my fault (according to Paypal) that this happened to me. To this day I still recieve emails/calls/letters telling me to pay up. I do love my Bill me later account but just found out they are now a Paypal company so I am sure it's just a matter of time before they figure it out and closed that down too.
I just got one of those, too! I think they get a kick out of changing their policies and losing their own clients.
Damn, that must be incredibly frustrating. I hope it's resolved soon! Also, I find it hilarious that the ad at the end of your post is advertising PayPal.
Wait but you missed the part about how it takes more time to get from a PayPal account into a bank account than the other way around!
Oh no!! Were you able to get groceries? That's so ridiculous, Andrea! I've never experienced any issues with paypal, but I do get those phishing emails a lot. I'd probably have deleted it, too.
-M
Is there another way of payment or does Paypal have the monopoly? We only use it for ebay and minor things, but I'll have to reconsider if we ever decided to take it for business.
Sorry you're having such trouble with Paypal. It really can be a pain in the neck. Hope you get all the kinks out asap 🙂
And the VERY first ad under the post? You guessed it: PayPal! Make 'em pay, that's what I say! 🙂
Seriously, I hope it gets resolved quickly. Please post an update.
Andrea, you are sooooooo funny. I hate that you are going through this nonsense, but you have the most amazing way of talking about it!