Pay Pal ripoff crooked idiots poor customer service Internet

PayPal is a company which makes no comprehendible sense regarding it's rules to it's customers. I have a personal PayPal nightmare I will try to sum up briefly which makes the rebuttal from Chris inaccurate pertaining to PayPal's credit card policy, that is, if Pay Pal's policies made any sense at all.

Over 2 years ago nominal amounts of money were sent to me through PayPal from various internet survey/research groups. I belong to many of these reputable groups which pay small amounts to people who take surveys/try products/offer feedback on various products. I never heard of PayPal before and was informed by 2 different legit companies that they would pay me through PayPal "an easy to use" payment method via the internet. I was told there was no need to take any action(sign up for Paypal) until the funds were deposited for me. I chose to briefly check out the Paypal site before agreeing to have my funds sent to me this way and from a 15 minute overview of the site I learned it was "fast,convenient, and easy to use." I also learned that it was correct that I did not need to join Paypal immedietely, I could do so when my payments were sent, and that I could use my money in numerous ways (request a check for a small fee, pay utility bills, pay for online orders at select websites, etc.)

Sounded fine to me so I took no action. Weeks later when $4.00 was deposited in PayPal for me from a survey group, I received notification from both the survey group and from PayPal. PayPal's email basically stated "someone sent you $4, sign up for your paypal account now to start using all of PayPal's conveniences, request a check, etc. OR sign up at a later date (I am unsure of the time limit, maybe 1 year), but the money will not be available for my use until I sign up, a quick easy process.

I decided to sign up immedietely just to ensure my payment did not get lost, but I had no intentions of using or requesting my money until my balance reached at least $20 (which I expected to be within the next few months, since I was taking about 1-3 paid surveys per month averaging $3 to $20 payments. In the past I used to receive my payments in the mail directly from the survey panel within 8 weeks of the survey and I never had a problem, I just had a lot of small checks so when they switched their payment method to PayPal it sounded good since I could accumulate the money and then get a larger check all at once.

When I signed up for PayPal that day using the email link for my $4 payment, I spent at least an hour reading all of the benefits and policies of the site. I read the entire agreement and all the Most asked FAQ's, as well as many other FAQ's topics. I learned that I could request a check at any time and $1.50 would be deducted from my funds as a PayPal service fee, I could have the money sent to a bank account thru direct deposit or I could open an interest bearing Paypal account and leave the money with them(like a bank)allowing a small amount of interest to grow on it before withdrawing. I intended to request a check in the future and pay $1.50 to them but I figured I may as well wait until the balance was about $30 before requesting since the $1.50 charge is the same whether I request $4 or $30(why pay them $1.50 for each payment I receive, better to build them up first).

This is the VERY IMPORTANT part: (sorry so long,but details matter) At that time (over 2 years ago) it did NOT STATE ANYWHERE in the sign up application, the contract or most asked FAQ"S or anywhere I read through on their website ANYTHING about a customer who receives money through PAYPAL HAVING TO DISCLOSE PERSONAL CREDIT CARD or BANK ACCOUNT INFORMATION TO REQUEST FUNDS. It told me all about HOW I COULD USE MY FUNDS in the various "convenient" manners and how I could request a check at any time, it also mentioned that I could CHOOSE to have my money sent to "my" bank account" and I could also CHOOSE to apply for a PAYPAL credit card. BUT NOWHERE in anything I read when I joined did it say that I NEEDED A CREDIT CARD OR BANK ACCOUNT IN ORDER TO EVER SEE THE MONEY THAT WAS SENT TO ME!!! Well, that is in fact the case, although I did not find out until about 4 months later. When my balance reached about $24, I requested a check. Suddenly I was told I needed to CONFIRM my home address and the only way to do so was to provide them with a credit card number or a bank account number.

Is anyone here as confused as me? Money was sent to PAYPAL for me, Paypal then invited me to join and made everything sound so easy. I let my balance grow and had more money sent to me, then I requested my check, intending to pay the $1.50 fee and receive a mailed check and I was told I could not do so without one of those 2 "verification methods". After 100's of emails to customer service and no helpful answers I received an out of state telephone number which I called. I explained that I had no credit cards or bank accounts and I was not asked for this when I signed up, I just want my money. When I signed up I used MY STREET ADDRESS, my phone number, my email, my passwords, etc. etc. Now, I want MY MONEY sent to mY ADDRESS and I can confirm it IS ME since I am calling from MY HOUSE PHONE and you are welcome to call me back to prove it is the same number used when I joined, and since I am requesting my check to the SAME address I joined with, what's the problem, obviously it's me.

I got nowhere, I was told that I must use a credit card/bank account and did any fmaily members close friends have one who would do this for me. I was told this was for address verification and to protect me. I replied "if I give you a friend's credit card #, it will have their address on record, not mine so how does that verify me? I was told they would send the check to whomever's credit card # I gave. After 100's of complaints and getting nowhere I gave up until a year later when I was so aggaravted, my balance was about $30 now and I wanted my money. I finally gave in and used a friend's credit card #(with permission) to request my funds. By doing so, all of the personal information I fileld out when I joined PAYPAL (address, phone #, etc) was now of little effect or meaning to them, all they wanted was a credit card number and eventually they sent a check to my friend in HIS NAME, to HIS ADDRESS. Tell me how this makes any sense at all?

He could have been a fraud and just by giving his credit card # he was entitled to my money!! Nothing else mattered!! I forgot to add that before all of this came down to that point, I even asked if I could just put the money toward my electric bill since it was for MY ADDRESS, the SAME ADDRESS I used when I Signed up, and if they are so hard up TO VERIFY MY ADDRESS to ENSURE THAT it nobody is stealing my PAYPAL money, then why not just apply it to MY ELECTRIC BILL since obviously it is me, why would a person sign up for an account, receive money and then request the money be used to pay a bill for the address on THAT account if it is NOT them? Do you follow me? PAYPAL SUCKS!!

So the rebuttal about the credit card does not follow with PayPal's practices since they allowed an unrelated individual to retrieve my money from my account and have it sent to his address without any type of consent or anything from me, all that needed to be done was to sign into my account with my password, request the check and give the credit card #. But for over a year they would not send MY MONEY TO MY HOUSE OR LET ME PAY MY BILLS WITH MY MONEY!! I just checked their site today and they still do not make this info readily available when you sign up.

P.S. After all of my initial complaints, they updated their "agreement" to include this infformation in fine print, I am certain they did so because of all of my complaints but they still make it nearly impossible to know this until you try to request your funds.

PayPal is a company which makes no comprehendible sense regarding it's rules to it's customers. I have a personal PayPal nightmare I will try to sum up briefly which makes the rebuttal from Chris inaccurate pertaining to PayPal's credit card policy, that is, if Pay Pal's policies made any sense at all.

Over 2 years ago nominal amounts of money were sent to me through PayPal from various internet survey/research groups. I belong to many of these reputable groups which pay small amounts to people who take surveys/try products/offer feedback on various products. I never heard of PayPal before and was informed by 2 different legit companies that they would pay me through PayPal "an easy to use" payment method via the internet. I was told there was no need to take any action(sign up for Paypal) until the funds were deposited for me. I chose to briefly check out the Paypal site before agreeing to have my funds sent to me this way and from a 15 minute overview of the site I learned it was "fast,convenient, and easy to use." I also learned that it was correct that I did not need to join Paypal immedietely, I could do so when my payments were sent, and that I could use my money in numerous ways (request a check for a small fee, pay utility bills, pay for online orders at select websites, etc.)

Sounded fine to me so I took no action. Weeks later when $4.00 was deposited in PayPal for me from a survey group, I received notification from both the survey group and from PayPal. PayPal's email basically stated "someone sent you $4, sign up for your paypal account now to start using all of PayPal's conveniences, request a check, etc. OR sign up at a later date (I am unsure of the time limit, maybe 1 year), but the money will not be available for my use until I sign up, a quick easy process.

I decided to sign up immedietely just to ensure my payment did not get lost, but I had no intentions of using or requesting my money until my balance reached at least $20 (which I expected to be within the next few months, since I was taking about 1-3 paid surveys per month averaging $3 to $20 payments. In the past I used to receive my payments in the mail directly from the survey panel within 8 weeks of the survey and I never had a problem, I just had a lot of small checks so when they switched their payment method to PayPal it sounded good since I could accumulate the money and then get a larger check all at once.

When I signed up for PayPal that day using the email link for my $4 payment, I spent at least an hour reading all of the benefits and policies of the site. I read the entire agreement and all the Most asked FAQ's, as well as many other FAQ's topics. I learned that I could request a check at any time and $1.50 would be deducted from my funds as a PayPal service fee, I could have the money sent to a bank account thru direct deposit or I could open an interest bearing Paypal account and leave the money with them(like a bank)allowing a small amount of interest to grow on it before withdrawing. I intended to request a check in the future and pay $1.50 to them but I figured I may as well wait until the balance was about $30 before requesting since the $1.50 charge is the same whether I request $4 or $30(why pay them $1.50 for each payment I receive, better to build them up first).

This is the VERY IMPORTANT part: (sorry so long,but details matter) At that time (over 2 years ago) it did NOT STATE ANYWHERE in the sign up application, the contract or most asked FAQ"S or anywhere I read through on their website ANYTHING about a customer who receives money through PAYPAL HAVING TO DISCLOSE PERSONAL CREDIT CARD or BANK ACCOUNT INFORMATION TO REQUEST FUNDS. It told me all about HOW I COULD USE MY FUNDS in the various "convenient" manners and how I could request a check at any time, it also mentioned that I could CHOOSE to have my money sent to "my" bank account" and I could also CHOOSE to apply for a PAYPAL credit card. BUT NOWHERE in anything I read when I joined did it say that I NEEDED A CREDIT CARD OR BANK ACCOUNT IN ORDER TO EVER SEE THE MONEY THAT WAS SENT TO ME!!! Well, that is in fact the case, although I did not find out until about 4 months later. When my balance reached about $24, I requested a check. Suddenly I was told I needed to CONFIRM my home address and the only way to do so was to provide them with a credit card number or a bank account number.

Is anyone here as confused as me? Money was sent to PAYPAL for me, Paypal then invited me to join and made everything sound so easy. I let my balance grow and had more money sent to me, then I requested my check, intending to pay the $1.50 fee and receive a mailed check and I was told I could not do so without one of those 2 "verification methods". After 100's of emails to customer service and no helpful answers I received an out of state telephone number which I called. I explained that I had no credit cards or bank accounts and I was not asked for this when I signed up, I just want my money. When I signed up I used MY STREET ADDRESS, my phone number, my email, my passwords, etc. etc. Now, I want MY MONEY sent to mY ADDRESS and I can confirm it IS ME since I am calling from MY HOUSE PHONE and you are welcome to call me back to prove it is the same number used when I joined, and since I am requesting my check to the SAME address I joined with, what's the problem, obviously it's me.

I got nowhere, I was told that I must use a credit card/bank account and did any fmaily members close friends have one who would do this for me. I was told this was for address verification and to protect me. I replied "if I give you a friend's credit card #, it will have their address on record, not mine so how does that verify me? I was told they would send the check to whomever's credit card # I gave. After 100's of complaints and getting nowhere I gave up until a year later when I was so aggaravted, my balance was about $30 now and I wanted my money. I finally gave in and used a friend's credit card #(with permission) to request my funds. By doing so, all of the personal information I fileld out when I joined PAYPAL (address, phone #, etc) was now of little effect or meaning to them, all they wanted was a credit card number and eventually they sent a check to my friend in HIS NAME, to HIS ADDRESS. Tell me how this makes any sense at all?

He could have been a fraud and just by giving his credit card # he was entitled to my money!! Nothing else mattered!! I forgot to add that before all of this came down to that point, I even asked if I could just put the money toward my electric bill since it was for MY ADDRESS, the SAME ADDRESS I used when I Signed up, and if they are so hard up TO VERIFY MY ADDRESS to ENSURE THAT it nobody is stealing my PAYPAL money, then why not just apply it to MY ELECTRIC BILL since obviously it is me, why would a person sign up for an account, receive money and then request the money be used to pay a bill for the address on THAT account if it is NOT them? Do you follow me? PAYPAL SUCKS!!

So the rebuttal about the credit card does not follow with PayPal's practices since they allowed an unrelated individual to retrieve my money from my account and have it sent to his address without any type of consent or anything from me, all that needed to be done was to sign into my account with my password, request the check and give the credit card #. But for over a year they would not send MY MONEY TO MY HOUSE OR LET ME PAY MY BILLS WITH MY MONEY!! I just checked their site today and they still do not make this info readily available when you sign up.

P.S. After all of my initial complaints, they updated their "agreement" to include this infformation in fine print, I am certain they did so because of all of my complaints but they still make it nearly impossible to know this until you try to request your funds.

PayPal is a company which makes no comprehendible sense regarding it's rules to it's customers. I have a personal PayPal nightmare I will try to sum up briefly which makes the rebuttal from Chris inaccurate pertaining to PayPal's credit card policy, that is, if Pay Pal's policies made any sense at all.

Over 2 years ago nominal amounts of money were sent to me through PayPal from various internet survey/research groups. I belong to many of these reputable groups which pay small amounts to people who take surveys/try products/offer feedback on various products. I never heard of PayPal before and was informed by 2 different legit companies that they would pay me through PayPal "an easy to use" payment method via the internet. I was told there was no need to take any action(sign up for Paypal) until the funds were deposited for me. I chose to briefly check out the Paypal site before agreeing to have my funds sent to me this way and from a 15 minute overview of the site I learned it was "fast,convenient, and easy to use." I also learned that it was correct that I did not need to join Paypal immedietely, I could do so when my payments were sent, and that I could use my money in numerous ways (request a check for a small fee, pay utility bills, pay for online orders at select websites, etc.)

Sounded fine to me so I took no action. Weeks later when $4.00 was deposited in PayPal for me from a survey group, I received notification from both the survey group and from PayPal. PayPal's email basically stated "someone sent you $4, sign up for your paypal account now to start using all of PayPal's conveniences, request a check, etc. OR sign up at a later date (I am unsure of the time limit, maybe 1 year), but the money will not be available for my use until I sign up, a quick easy process.

I decided to sign up immedietely just to ensure my payment did not get lost, but I had no intentions of using or requesting my money until my balance reached at least $20 (which I expected to be within the next few months, since I was taking about 1-3 paid surveys per month averaging $3 to $20 payments. In the past I used to receive my payments in the mail directly from the survey panel within 8 weeks of the survey and I never had a problem, I just had a lot of small checks so when they switched their payment method to PayPal it sounded good since I could accumulate the money and then get a larger check all at once.

When I signed up for PayPal that day using the email link for my $4 payment, I spent at least an hour reading all of the benefits and policies of the site. I read the entire agreement and all the Most asked FAQ's, as well as many other FAQ's topics. I learned that I could request a check at any time and $1.50 would be deducted from my funds as a PayPal service fee, I could have the money sent to a bank account thru direct deposit or I could open an interest bearing Paypal account and leave the money with them(like a bank)allowing a small amount of interest to grow on it before withdrawing. I intended to request a check in the future and pay $1.50 to them but I figured I may as well wait until the balance was about $30 before requesting since the $1.50 charge is the same whether I request $4 or $30(why pay them $1.50 for each payment I receive, better to build them up first).

This is the VERY IMPORTANT part: (sorry so long,but details matter) At that time (over 2 years ago) it did NOT STATE ANYWHERE in the sign up application, the contract or most asked FAQ"S or anywhere I read through on their website ANYTHING about a customer who receives money through PAYPAL HAVING TO DISCLOSE PERSONAL CREDIT CARD or BANK ACCOUNT INFORMATION TO REQUEST FUNDS. It told me all about HOW I COULD USE MY FUNDS in the various "convenient" manners and how I could request a check at any time, it also mentioned that I could CHOOSE to have my money sent to "my" bank account" and I could also CHOOSE to apply for a PAYPAL credit card. BUT NOWHERE in anything I read when I joined did it say that I NEEDED A CREDIT CARD OR BANK ACCOUNT IN ORDER TO EVER SEE THE MONEY THAT WAS SENT TO ME!!! Well, that is in fact the case, although I did not find out until about 4 months later. When my balance reached about $24, I requested a check. Suddenly I was told I needed to CONFIRM my home address and the only way to do so was to provide them with a credit card number or a bank account number.

Is anyone here as confused as me? Money was sent to PAYPAL for me, Paypal then invited me to join and made everything sound so easy. I let my balance grow and had more money sent to me, then I requested my check, intending to pay the $1.50 fee and receive a mailed check and I was told I could not do so without one of those 2 "verification methods". After 100's of emails to customer service and no helpful answers I received an out of state telephone number which I called. I explained that I had no credit cards or bank accounts and I was not asked for this when I signed up, I just want my money. When I signed up I used MY STREET ADDRESS, my phone number, my email, my passwords, etc. etc. Now, I want MY MONEY sent to mY ADDRESS and I can confirm it IS ME since I am calling from MY HOUSE PHONE and you are welcome to call me back to prove it is the same number used when I joined, and since I am requesting my check to the SAME address I joined with, what's the problem, obviously it's me.

I got nowhere, I was told that I must use a credit card/bank account and did any fmaily members close friends have one who would do this for me. I was told this was for address verification and to protect me. I replied "if I give you a friend's credit card #, it will have their address on record, not mine so how does that verify me? I was told they would send the check to whomever's credit card # I gave. After 100's of complaints and getting nowhere I gave up until a year later when I was so aggaravted, my balance was about $30 now and I wanted my money. I finally gave in and used a friend's credit card #(with permission) to request my funds. By doing so, all of the personal information I fileld out when I joined PAYPAL (address, phone #, etc) was now of little effect or meaning to them, all they wanted was a credit card number and eventually they sent a check to my friend in HIS NAME, to HIS ADDRESS. Tell me how this makes any sense at all?

He could have been a fraud and just by giving his credit card # he was entitled to my money!! Nothing else mattered!! I forgot to add that before all of this came down to that point, I even asked if I could just put the money toward my electric bill since it was for MY ADDRESS, the SAME ADDRESS I used when I Signed up, and if they are so hard up TO VERIFY MY ADDRESS to ENSURE THAT it nobody is stealing my PAYPAL money, then why not just apply it to MY ELECTRIC BILL since obviously it is me, why would a person sign up for an account, receive money and then request the money be used to pay a bill for the address on THAT account if it is NOT them? Do you follow me? PAYPAL SUCKS!!

So the rebuttal about the credit card does not follow with PayPal's practices since they allowed an unrelated individual to retrieve my money from my account and have it sent to his address without any type of consent or anything from me, all that needed to be done was to sign into my account with my password, request the check and give the credit card #. But for over a year they would not send MY MONEY TO MY HOUSE OR LET ME PAY MY BILLS WITH MY MONEY!! I just checked their site today and they still do not make this info readily available when you sign up.

P.S. After all of my initial complaints, they updated their "agreement" to include this infformation in fine print, I am certain they did so because of all of my complaints but they still make it nearly impossible to know this until you try to request your funds.

Of course Pay Pal did what they did, they cannot use a credit card bearing another's name (your mother's) to send funds from your account, both MUST be the same (for your protection). The system automatically got an authorization from your credit card company to send funds from your credit card to the account of the person you purchased the merchandise from. It made no difference this caused your credit card account to go overlimit, the credit card company does have latitude to allow this, based upon your credit and payment history with them.

Hard lesson learned here. Pay the $39 and go on with life.