this is some scarey shit. i have never had a problem and have had 100's of transactions but now i'm getting a little worried.
here is a link to a forum that can answer many of your concerns.
http://www.paypalsucks.com/forums/showforum.php?fid=3
i am posting the FAQ from this site here. let us know how things work out for you.
What is PayPal's phone number?
Contact Information for PayPal:
Their toll free number is (888) 221-1161
Another toll free number is (800) 836-1859
Yet another toll free number is (877)672-9725
Their regular line is: (650) 251-1100
Their fax line is: (650) 251-1101
Their mailing address is:
PayPal
P.O. Box 45950
Omaha, NE 68145
Their corporate offices are at:
1840 Embarcadero Rd.
Palo Alto, CA 94303
US
The Nebraska office is at:
Paypal
11128 John Galt Boulevard
Omaha, NE 68137
(402) 935-2000
(402) 935-7733
Search the forums for additional contact information.
How do I close my PayPal account?
You'll have to log into your account first. Then click on "help," then "contact us" and then on the left click on "account basics," then "my profile," and the right bottom you'll see "How do I close my PayPal account?" We also recommend that you remove any checking and credit card accounts before you close your account.
They froze my account and demanded that I fax them documentation. I did, but they said they didn't get it. Now what?
Welcome to the world of PayPal customer service. At one time we were told PayPal only had one fax machine. That's right, 12 million supposed members, 2 million active sellers and only 1 fax machine? Others have been told the same thing in the forums. Our advice: get all the documents they ask for. Make 2 copies of each. Create two sets of documents and put each sent into a large brown envelope and mail them certified mail, Return Receipt Requested, to the two addresses we have for PayPal (above) with a letter explaining the situation. If they give you another address to send to, make a 3rd set, and send it also. But you should send them certified mail, RRR, so you can prove that you did, and when you did it. When you get your green cards back in the mail, if PayPal has not resolved the problem, make copies, and write your letter to the Attornies General of your state, California and Nebreska. Include your letter to PayPal, your copies of the green cards and a letter asking that the AG's start an investigation. Don't bother playing the fax game. It's either a con on their part, or they keep their fax machine in the monkey cage at the San Diego zoo. (Or the CEO's office, not much difference.)
What other service can I use to accept card cards if not PayPal?
See the Options Page. We also suggest going back to checks and money orders until you find a suitable alternative. If you do enough volume in sales, then a merchant account would be a better choice, (on the options page) but you'd need to do at least $500 a month to make it worth your fees.
Why do you hate PayPal?
We don't hate PayPal. (Okay, maybe a little...) We were one of their earliest users, and we "toughed it out" like everyone else during those days. We stayed loyal to PayPal during the outages; the crashes; even the ugly "orange on white/orange on gray" website. ;-). What we don't like is how they have treated us and others since those early years. We'd be very happy if PayPal would stop abusing people, start recognizing traditional banking laws, and get rid of the fee to transfer paypal funds from user to user. (non-credit card funds.) We also don't like being hung up on when we call (a frequent occurance if you read the forums) and we don't like the stupid (and we do mean stupid) responses from their first level "customer service" representatives. Issues that could be solved in 5 minutes takes weeks, even months to be resolved. Also the automated email messages that have nothing to do with your questions are annoying too.
Then why are you trying to "bring them down?"
We are not trying to "bring them down." We want PayPal. We need them for our business. We loved the idea that the "little guy" could now compete with the bigger, faceless, corporate companies. But here's the problem: you can't do business with a company that doesn't respect your rights. You never know what egg shell you might step on that will explode the mine that is known as PayPal.
I've been ripped off by PayPal, what can I really do?
Click Here (Please only use this information for legitimate complaints.) At a very minimum, you should write a letter to your state's attorney general, and the California and Nebreska attornies general informing them of your problems with PayPal.
How do I join the class action lawsuit?
At this point, you are probably already part of the suit just because you are a member of PayPal. But you should click on "links" and then the lawyers listed there. If we find other legitimate suits that have been filed, we'll put their links there also.
Has anyone actually won a law suit against PayPal?
Based on the email we get and at least one media report, yes. A man in California sued to have his account "unfrozen" and money returned. We don't have any more details than that. Others have emailed us stating that they hired an attorney and the attorney's original contact was enough to get the Paypal account in order.
Why are so many people angry at PayPal?
Read the forums.
Are you part of PayPal?
No, not even close. We have zero affiliation with PayPal. We don't work for them, we don't own any of their stock; they don't own any part of us. We are just users of their service like everyone else. Just users that a) got tired of their treatment and b) motivated enough to put up this site.
Can you help me resolve my problems with PayPal?
We provide information to help you resolve your problems with PayPal. We provide contact information that PayPal makes difficult to find. We also provide additional phone numbers and addresses that are not publically made available. We provide forums where you can talk to others who have been abused by PayPal and share ideas. We also provide media contacts if you'd like to try and get your story out to an even bigger audience. We also provide information on how to contact government agencies and lawyers that may be able to assist you in your fight with PayPal.
How do you know that PayPal employees really come here?
Every webserver on the net maintains it's logs. In those logs is various information about you, your ISP, how you found this site and other information. For instance, your IP is: 65.214.226.238 . Clicking on your IP will tell you who "owns" your IP. Actually all this is done automatically for us via our log program and it simply shows how owns the IP in question and tabulates them. In addition we have been able to cross reference posters to this site back to AOL and Earthlink accounts. In fact, we can go even further and find the location of the origin for the user. Sometimes we have traced them back to Palo Alta or Omaha. (PayPal's central office and service center.)
How many times does PayPal come here?
On average, 0.6% of all our visitors are from a PayPal owned IP.
How does that compare? That doesn't sound very high.
AOL is the largest ISP in the world. They account for 3.3% of our visitors. (on average). Other large ISPs like ATT, IBM, RoadRunner, COX, etc are in the 0.5-3% range. Each of those has millions of users. PayPal has 318 employees in the US, and another 100 in India. So based on the numbers, PayPal users are 15,000% more likely to come to this site than the internet community at large.
Can't they "hide?"
Sure, and that's what makes the numbers very conservative.
What should I do?
We are not lawyers and we can't give legal advice. We recommend that people keep their PayPal balance as low as possible. Remove funds immediately. Also, use a second banking account for Paypal and as soon as those funds are in there, move it to your main account. Be prepared to stop using PayPal at any time. "Un-tangle" yourself from them. Yes, it's a huge hassle, we know! Their shopping cart and buy it now buttons are great times savers. Just realize if your account gets frozen, paypal allows your customers to continue sending you money at the same time they stop you from withdrawing it. (This is almost certainly illegal. It's called "conversion" and is a crime in all 50 states. In addition, your customers will probably start complaining to you because they paid, but you didn't send their items.) You might not even be able to access your account to verify payment, change or remove your email addresses, or even deny payments. Now you are seeing the big problems with PayPal.
I have a question or comment not answered here. What should I do?
It's preferred that you post it in the forums but you can also contact us directly. (Please note: if your question has been answered above, we will probably not reply, as we have no more information to give you. We cannot contact PayPal on your behalf to resolve your problems. This is something you'll need to do.)
