Paypal Sucks

[Ogrebonz]

I've been trying for days to order tow hook brackets from Hi Country. For whatever reason they are only using Paypal for online orders. Well, I have a Paypal account that I hadn't used for a long time. After lots of fun finding the password (my own fault) I get this message from them:

Oct 26, 2009: We have reason to believe that your account was accessed by a third party. We have limited access to sensitive PayPal account features in case your account has been accessed by an unauthorized third party.

Great, so I TRY to resolve it by letting them charge me $1.95. Two days later I get the code number on my bank statement and I go pack to Paypal. Now they want a faxed copy of my bank statement AND a copy of a utility bill!

In this age of rampant identity theft they think I'm going to give them MORE personal information for them to have hacked!?

My wife is a software engineer for a small firm specializing in programming for online sales. She absolutely freaked when I showed her what Paypal wanted.

Now I have to find a different place to buy the tow hook brackets from, since Hi Country didn't reply to my request to find another way for them to take my money. In these times of economic hardships I find it insulting that they don't want to make an effort to accept some of my hard-earned money.

Oh, and since my Paypal account is limited, I can't remove my credit card number from it, or cancel the account!

 

[alex22]

Let your credit card company know what is going on and see if they can deny any request for funds from PayPal.

That is why I have a separate bank account for my PayPal account and only keep the minimum balance in it.

 

[Hellbent]

i've heard from several folks that hi-country is longer making/selling the xj brackets...? too bad, i really liked the last set i bought. on a side note, have you tried CALLING paypal? i had an issue about a year ago(the only one i've ever had-been using pp for years), i called them and they were VERY helpful. i was amazed! 20 min on the phone got everything straightened out.

 

[joe_peters]

Are you sure that message (a**uming email) from PayPal is genuine? I get a lot of spoof/phishing emails that look very real.

Did you call PayPals fraud department and talk with them about the message BEFORE you let them get a payment from you--and if they got a payment, they would know you are legit, and they wouldn't need additional info.

I think you should contact PayPal by phone before someone has fun with your money. PayPal would have your bank account number, and your address. I'm pretty sure you are about to get screwed, and not by PayPal.

 

[WB9YZU]

Edit: I Joe posted while I was typing. ^^^.
All the emails I used to get like that from "PayPal" were bogus. . Did you read the email header to make sure it was actually PayPal?

I have never had an issue with PayPal. Infact they have backed me up when a vendor tried to stiff me for a purchase.

Ron

 

[snail]

just for those reasons i only have my debit card linked to paypal and have denied their requests to add a bank account. im pretty sure they dont have direct access to that account with the card

 

[tbburg]

If paypal has a credit card #, they don't need your bank acc.#. Do not send it to them. X2 on the phishing scam. Paypal has NEVER asked me to send them a bank acc.#

Also, is there a reason you can't call Hi-country, and order the parts you want over the phone/pay by CC?

 

[Hellbent]

i think they're^^^ right. after re-reading and thinking about this, unless we're misunderstanding what happened, it sounds there's a phishing boat parked outside...

 

[ChiXJeff]

You've been phished. Successfully.

For starters, change your PayPal password *NOW*. You'll also want to call your credit card company and tell them that you've been phished.

As far as phishing itself goes, *NEVER* click on a link in an email to a financial institution. EVER. Always start in your browser, at their home page, and follow their links to log in. If your bank/credit card company/PayPal/etc. need to contact you about suspicious activity, they won't be emailing you a link to log in (and won't ask you for your password either.)

 

[kastein]

X2 on what Jeff said. I get an email from ANYONE who has access to my money, I open a web browser and go directly to their page manually - and verify that their SSL certificate is valid (your browser should warn you if it isn't.) Following a link in an email is a terrible idea, for instance, here's a link:

http://www.paypal.com - where does this go? Not paypal, that's for sure.

If allowed me to post pure HTML instead of bbcode, I could even make the status bar at the bottom of the screen read http://www.paypal.com when you hover over the link (all it takes is a little javascript in one of the properties of the anchor tag.) It is TRIVIALLY easy to make links look like something they're not - about five years ago there was even a bug in Internet Explorer that allowed one to spoof the full contents of the address bar as well using some special characters to hide the real URL.

Have your card deactivated and get a replacement sent (you may be able to get one at your nearest branch by walking in with proper ID) and call up the paypal fraud dept as soon as you possibly can.

 

[Ogrebonz]

All great advice and very helpful. My card is safe and I was actually getting email from Paypal. My wife designs websites and tests software to help prevent just this sort of abuse, and she's satisfied that it's legit.
I did get an automated reply from Paypal, and that gave me instructions on how to email them (and not get another automated reply). If I don't get satisfaction from that my next step will be a phone call, but come on.. 20 minutes? This is insane.

Hi Country emailed today and offered to run my card directly over the phone. As soon as I have some free time during the day I'll be ordering my brackets. I had asked before all of this began if the brackets were still available and they are. Other than only using Paypal I have to issues with them so far. They seem to be making a decent attempt.

 

[AIbandit]

My first step would be a phone call to paypal. Don't play email until you at-least verify.


P.S. Paypal doesn't suck when used safely and correctly it's a handy tool.

 

[stumpXJ]

P.S. Paypal doesn't suck when used safely and correctly it's a handy tool.

I am a bit biased due to some REALLY bad stuff with paypal, but I have to disagree with ya here, Paypal indeed does suck. I have had roughly nine thousand transactions with them (with my old business), the bulk of which were just fine. But, when those other few dont go like they should Paypal sucks balls. Believe me. Its just a matter of time before you get the screwing.... but feel free to keep using them. I know they work for a lot of folks.

Do a google search for 'paypal sucks' and enjoy the reading.

~ James

 

[kastein]

Paypal screwed both me and a friend of mine... me for 60 bucks as a buyer, him for a thousand as a seller. Long story short their dispute resolution "system" is a sham and I refuse to deal with them if I can avoid it through any means possible.

 

[Darky]

I've had one dispute on Paypal and it was resolved quickly. No complaints from me.

 

[Ogrebonz]

Just got another reply from Paypal. They won't do anything until I send them my bank statement and a utility bill. Looks like my bank will get a call from me tomorrow cutting Paypal off from access to my account.

I swear that buying my last house was easier than this.

Let me say this again: I'm not about to give them more personal information when they only want it because of an attempt on their security may have failed!

 

[Darky]

Call them. Quit screwing around over e-mail. If you've been phished then of course they're going to want more personal info. Call Paypal or go to their site directly, but definitely CALL them. Let them know what's going, find out if it's legit. If it's not, then they need to know so they can do whatever they do (send a message warning people or whatever). If it is legit, it's up to you if you want to send them more info. I'm in your boat that legit or not, I wouldn't want to send them more info.