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I've been using PayPal for years. When it works, it's good, and it usually works. That's very good, because when there are problems, “customer support” is a disaster. I think it's fair to say that I have never received a useful response from them.
In the middle of the most recent fiasco, I received a message asking me to take a survey. I've quickly put this page together so that I can refer to it from the survey; I'll add other problems at a later date. The rest of this document is taken from my online diary.
| Thursday, 12 June 2008 |
As the next part of my new brewery setup, bought a couple of stockpots on eBay and paid with PayPal. I have a balance of about € 100 with them, about AUD 170, but the pots came to $250. According to the PayPal policy, which is almost impossible to find again on the web, they should have taken the balance as partial payment and debit the rest from my bank account. Instead they left my balance untouched and debited the total sum from my bank account. What a pain! Does this mean that I have to spend exactly the sum in my balance to get rid of it?
| Friday, 13 June 2008 |
Got a reply to my complaint about the PayPal payment telling me that I had done it wrong, and if I had wanted to use my credit card, I should have done so. Clearly my prejudice against PayPal is well founded: I never mentioned a credit card, and they completely ignored my message. Sent an appropriate response.
| Saturday, 14 June 2008 | Images for 14 June 2008 |
Also a letter from PayPal, ignoring all previous correspondence and asking for exact details. I don't know why; these people never read anything anyway. Sent it all off, with some more clarifications. I'd be astounded if anything came of it.
| Sunday, 15 June 2008 | Images for 15 June 2008 |
Also a letter from PayPal, explaining why my credit balance was not used for the last transaction: it was in the wrong currency, and PayPal doesn't automatically change currencies, at least in the opinion of “Robert”. The only problem is, he's just plain wrong. All of the previous payments to eBay since March were processed in this way. The only difference in this case was that the balance wasn't enough to pay for the entire transaction.
Sent a stiffly worded reply asking people to first read my message and check the facts before making this sort of claim, and got a pretty quick response from “Liza”, who told me:
Upon reviewing your account, I can see that the balance on your PayPal account is in US Dollars and not in Australian Dollars that cause the system not to use the balance as you have sent payment in Australian Dollars as no Australian Dollars on your PayPal account the US Dollars is not used.
The grammar is original in more senses than one. Not only did she repeat “Robert”s nonsense, she got the currency wrong—my credit balance is in Euros. Another stiff message in reply, along with URLs and screen shots of the previous transactions. I never cease to be amazed how stupid these responses are—I don't think I have ever had a sensible reply from PayPal.
| Monday, 16 June 2008 | Images for 16 June 2008 |
I'm still waiting for a follow-up from PayPal, but I did get a mail message (with single line paragraphs, of course, which I have fixed here):
On 06/14/2008 I replied to the email message you sent regarding your PayPal account. As part of PayPal's commitment to excellence, I want to make sure I met your needs in my response. Would you please take a minute to answer a few questions to let me know how I did?
...
Thank you for your help!
PayPal Customer Support
Commitment to excellence, indeed! I didn't even get enough information to identify which of the four people who mishandled my case was meant. Followed up the survey, of course, which timed out in the middle—for once, not a problem with my Internet connection—so went back and wrote down the more important questions (in italic) and responses:
Please tell us why you feel that way about your likelihood to recommend PayPal.
PayPal is frequently the only option, but the service is *TERRIBLE*. I have now sent four messages to try to resolve what appears to be a software bug, but the people responding seem to have no idea whatsoever. They ignore my messages and invent incorrect answers, even when I point to the incorrectness. If it were for service alone, I would most definitely recommend NOT to use PayPal.
I have started collecting information about the most recent problems at http://www.lemis.com/grog/product-reviews/paypal.php. This will be updated as the issue proceeds (I can't expect to be able to say "progresses").
What could the representative have done differently to earn your satisfaction?
Read the message, understand the issue, and act accordingly.
This is not the problem of a specific representative. I have had four different replies on this issue, three of which addressed the wrong problem, two of which invented incorrect explanations, one of which was done after I had explained that the explanation was wrong, and one of which asked me to repeat everything, and none of which addressed the issue I have raised. I am planning to make a formal complaint to the ACCC (you know what that is, right?) about this issue unless the matter is resolved by Friday, 20 June EST.
I have equally little faith in this customer satisfaction survey. I suspect that, like every other communication I have had with PayPal (this is the third such incident), it will disappear into a black hole.
Why do you feel that your issue was not resolved? (This one reminds me of ELIZA—maybe it's “Liza”)
I have already answered this question. Your customer service representatives completely ignored the problem and invented other problems and reasons. My issue was the use of the existing credit balance, which was in Euros. One thought it was about credit cards (I didn't use the word "credit" anywhere), one thought the balance was in US Dollars, and two (incorrectly) stated that there was no automatic conversion of currency. All four representatives ignored my original demand, to transfer my credit balance to my bank account.
| Tuesday, 17 June 2008 | Images for 17 June 2008 |
After more than 24 hours, I still had no reply from PayPal, so I sent another message asking for resolution after first reading the issue. I got a pretty quick reply from “Tonya”—unbelievably, repeating the same nonsense as the previous two people, only now claiming that I had both USD and Euro balances, which together would be enough to cover the costs. She also pointed to https://www.paypal.com/au/multicurrency, where I read:
Buyers:
- Pay for purchases in your selected currency.
- Payment is automatically converted to your desired currency.
- No need to hold a balance in another currency to send a payment.
And that's exactly what the last three people have claimed won't happen automatically. I have difficulty fathoming that there are that many stupid people in one place. Sent yet another message. About all I can do now is keep persevering and either get a score of the number of stupid answers, or—just possibly— resolution. I have little hope.
Only a little later I got the next reply—“Liza” again. Judging by the grammar, it's the same “Liza” who mishandled an earlier exchange. Like all the others, she didn't read the message, and she gave a reply that both addressed the wrong issue and was incorrect. This time, though, she also decided that I had balances in two currencies. Another message to them, and a separate one to the possible supervisors.
| Wednesday, 18 June 2008 | Images for 18 June 2008 |
24 hours after my last message, still no response, possibly because there was nothing to misunderstand. Send out another one, effectively with the same demand, just formulated slightly differently. In view of the apparent inability of PayPal personnel to follow texts of more than a couple of lines, followed it up with 5 messages, each containing one paragraph of the message.
I very quickly got a reply which astounded me. It made no incorrect assumptions and seemed to have understood the issue, and it brought a plausible explanation: automatic currency conversions only work if they involve the entire sum. On this occasion my credit balance was in Euros and the bank account was in AUD. It also included a phone number to call, which I'll certainly try next time I have problems: 1800 073 263.
This distinction looked so close that it would have been easy for me to miss it, so I went back and checked. No, they just said that no automatic conversions were made. In any case, that should close the matter.
| Thursday, 19 June 2008 |
That should really have been the end of the matter, but my individual paragraphs also got responses. None saw any connection with the original message; I suspect that PayPal does not maintain any kind of continuity. And, of course, they were inaccurate as well.
The first one ignored the text “at no cost to me” and gave me instructions on how to transfer my money to my bank account (“withdraw”). My reply made that clear by doing what any sane person should do and put the original in context with the reply.
The next one made exactly the claim that I had been making all along, but missed the point that the transaction must be in a single currency, as I pointed out in my reply. She did say that she would have the funds transferred to my bank account, which is what I had been asking for all along. I wonder how that will work, given that I have been told that this is not possible.
| Friday, 20 June 2008 | Images for 20 June 2008 |
The current matter with PayPal is really over, but today I got yet another message, noting that part of the problem had been that I didn't get a choice of how to pay for the item, and promising to forward the matter to the “technical department” for resolution. I don't think that implies that I'll hear back from them, but it's good do see some follow-through.
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