Date: Tue, 17 Jun 2008 10:48:39 +1000

First, while I still have your attention, my demand: please transfer
my Euro credit balance to my bank account at no cost to me.  I will
make a formal complaint to the ACCC on Friday, 20 June if the matter
has not been resolved by then.

Please read this message fully before answering.  If there is anything
unclear, please ask questions and don't jump to conclusions or invent
convenient explanations.  When you have understood it, please take
appropriate action.  Given the prior history, I would recommend
escalating this problem to a second-level support person.

This is a follow-up to my last communication, a couple of days ago.
You have not responded.  Based on my prior experience with PayPal, I
am not attaching the prior correspondence, since nobody seems to read
it anyway.  If you have lost it, I'd be happy to forward it to you.

My complaint, which four people have managed to ignore:

  On 12 June, I paid for an eBay purchase with PayPal.  My credit
  balance was not enough to cover the total cost; according to your
  policy at
  https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=xpt/cps/popup/FundingMixEducation-outside
  , under these circumstances the credit balance would first be used
  up and the remainder taken from my bank account.

  Instead, I was given no choice but to pay the entire sum from my
  bank account, leaving my credit balance untouched.  The interface
  gave me no option to change the funding source, as is normally the
  case with PayPal.  This may be a problem with the eBay interface: I
  was given no option to change the source.

  I consider this to be a bug in your software and therefore asked
  you, and ask you again, to transfer my credit balance to my bank at
  no charge to me.

  The responses I received showed a mind-boggling level of
  incompetence:

  - The first person explained to me that my credit card would not be
    automatically debited.

  - The second person was unable to trace the matter and asked for all
    the documentation again.

  - The third person told me, incorrectly, that my Euro balance would
    not be automatically converted to Australian dollars.  I have paid
    for AUD and USD purchases on eBay from my Euro balance several
    times over the last couple of months.  I replied with details one
    such example, https://history.paypal.com/omitted. You only need to
    check my account to confirm this.

  - The fourth person clearly read neither the message nor the details
    of my account.  She replied with the same nonsensical reason,
    adding the incorrect claim that my credit balance was in USD.

In the meantime I have received a customer satisfaction survey
relating to this case.  You will understand that I replied "very
dissatisfied" in almost every case.  I am keeping a log of the matter
at http://www.lemis.com/grog/product-review/paypal.php , which will be
updated as the matter proceeds.

Greg Lehey