Paypal Problem

[KathyLove]

I have been using Paypal for several years now and never had anything like this happen.

A customer sent me about $100 and I received an email confirmation from Paypal, and so did the customer. She sent me a copy of her email confirmation from Paypal. Everything seems correct - right email address, correct Paypal address (doesn't seem to be a spoof as the link takes me to my correct Paypal account). But the money is not there! And nothing from that customer is there, and there is no payment from ANYONE for the exact amount of money she sent. That seems to be all of the variables I can think of. It was taken out of her bank account, not a credit card. So it is gone already. It must be in cyberspace someplace.

We both sent emails to paypal last week, but neither of us have received any reply whatsoever. I may advise my customer to ask her bank if they know what to do about it. I can't find any telephone # to talk to a live person at Paypal, so not sure what else to do besides send another email.

I know people have complained about Paypal problems, but not sure if I have seen this one come up. Let me know if you have had problems like this and know what to do about it. Or does anyone know a telephone # to actually talk to a real person there? Are there some real people there?

Sorry if this is in the wrong section - it isn't EXACTLY a bad guy post, but it sure isn't a GOOD GUY post, either! So please just move it if it is in the wrong spot.

Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[Mike Greathouse]

Kathy,
I've done a lot with Paypal, but I've never heard of a scenario like that.

Here is the number for Paypal Customer Service: 1-888-221-1161

Good Luck,

 

[Mike Greathouse]

Kathy,
By the way, you'll need this info when you call:

Your telephone number
Your email address
The last 4 digits of your credit card or bank account registered with PayPal

 

[KathyLove]

Thanks!

I have to leave for the day now, but will try that tomorrow morning. That will get me started - thanks a bunch!

 

[gmherps]

Hope you get this resolved Kathy.
Keep us posted.

 

[hhmoore]

Another thing to check is whether it was paid by direct withdrawal or echeck. I had a refund issued by echeck once, and the money didn't post to me for almost 2 weeks. Hopefully, it is something that simple.

 

[reptilebreeder]

Another thing to check is whether it was paid by direct withdrawal or echeck. I had a refund issued by echeck once, and the money didn't post to me for almost 2 weeks. Hopefully, it is something that simple.

I think this is more likely. If it had been a redirected spoof/phishing link they would have cleaned her (customer) account out, not just taken the $100.

 

[Karen Hulvey]

If you're paying by echeck, it looks to you like you've made an instant payment but in reality it takes about a week for it to actually go through. I accidentally paid by echeck once, (still don't know how I did it) and it took a week for the money to show up in the seller's account. The email I got from Paypal said, "You just made an instant payment to . . . . "

So I called the seller a couple of days later looking for my animals and he told me that I paid by echeck and it would take a week for him to get his money. I even sent him my email from Paypal saying I'd just made a payment instantly.

The seller was right. Somehow I didn't make an instant withdrawal, like I always do, but sent an echeck. I'm still baffled on how I did that.

 

[mdbalderas]

Paypal and ECheck

As a seller that was sent a paypal payment via echeck recently I can say the following from experience. The sellers paypal history will show the payment from the buyer in the history list and will display a status of "Pending" with a details link allowing you to see the expected clearing date. Once the echeck clears the status will go to Cleared and the Seller will recieve another update email from PayPal saying the payment had cleared. Since Kathy hasn't stated either of these things as happening I would not think it to be an "ECheck" issue.


Mike

 

[Chris@TSE]

Sounds rather strange, I have never encountered such a problem. Do you have a business account set up with them Kathy? If so when speaking with them I would request a direct representative. We have a number and extention to a specific individual we deal with whenever an issue arises using PayPal. It does not happen often, but when issues do arise they are handled immediately and most of the waiting is bypassed completely. The personal contact or account administrator was offered to us sometime last year, I am not sure how they choose who gets them or if it is something every business account is offered but it cannot hurt to ask. At least if you have any issues or concerns in the future you can bypass the tedious pool of 'telemarketer' type people in the customer service center. Let us know how everything works out.

 

[Alias47]

I actually has something SIMILAR happen this year...
It was due to a missing period (.) in an email address...
I was the buyer...the seller sent me an email with their paypal email address...I copied and pasted it and made a payment...which was immediately taken OUT of my bank account...

Seller never received it...and the payment showed up as transferred and UNCLAIMED (which means the seller hadn't verified receiving the money)...

Didn't figure out what was happening until I called Customer Service and they pulled up the file...did a little checking and realized the address was missing a period.
I had to go online and cancel the transaction...which was easy since it was unclaimed...
Took 4 days for the money to REAPPEAR in my checking account...so I could resend it...

Sounds like you have gone over everything with a fine tooth comb....
Of course...I thought that I had too...

 

[KathyLove]

Mystery Solved!!!

I knew it would be something simple, but just couldn't think WHAT!

After a LOOONG wait on the phone, the rep who finally answered figured it out pretty quickly. My customer somehow got hold of an email address of mine that went to an old PERSONAL Paypal account that I only used once or twice, and pretty much had forgotten about. The money was resting there quite comfortably!

Still don't know why Paypal didn't answer the emails from me or my customer, but the phone rep was very helpful. So I guess Paypal gets to keep their (so far) perfect reputation with me. (speaking of my experience only - I know others have had Paypal problems)

Thanks to Mike for providing the phone # and to all the others who offered advice. This is just the way I hoped the BOI would work.

Thanks!

 

[reptilebreeder]

My customer somehow got hold of an email address of mine that went to an old PERSONAL Paypal account that I only used once or twice, and pretty much had forgotten about. The money was resting there quite comfortably!

Cool. Kind of like, when you find a $20 in the pocket of an old shirt or pair of pants, that you haven't worn in a long while.

 

[KathyLove]

I received an email reply from Paypal today!

They sent me the same telephone # that Mike gave me a few days ago, along with some other info about contacting them.

Better late than never, lol!

 

[cyberfrog]

The first time I ever used paypal years ago I made a $300 payment and paypal took the $300 TWICE! Needless to say this wreaked serious havoc on my account, checks bounced, it was a mess. The only response I got from PAypal was Sorry, your funds will be transferred back in 7-10 business days. I never used them again until after the ebay buyout, since then I have had no problems but I do not give them direct access to my checking account, I just do debit card payments from a sellers request for payment.

 

[jlexotics]

Paypal Screwed me out of $600 I will never do business with them again. Many people don't deal with them because of sites like: www.paypalsucks.com I know there are a ton of sites just like it.