I haven’t posted on here in quite a while. We’ve been busting our hump on the new and exciting Lizardwebs site. In this case though, I’m thinking this isn’t quite a rant, but I’m not sure I want to muddy up my front Lizardwebs site with it.
I got a “Your account has been limited” message from Paypal yesterday about 1o minutes after purchasing a domain via NameSilo. I’m not sure if this was causal or if it was coincidental. I suspect coincidental but.. I’m just going to slap this up on my site for future reference and to point out the ludicrous and pretty questionable behavior by PayPal. This was my response to the support person named Austin who earlier responded that he can’t inform me of WHY my account has been basically closed. I NEVER got any kind of heads up on what actually is the problem here. “You broke our law, but we can’t tell you which one.” WTF? What kind of company can actually operate like this???
I will actually post the original email I sent to them – but this has caused enough annoyance for the day already, and will end up wasting way too much time in a schedule that is already overloaded.
All I know is that I will be ACTIVELY seeking out an alternative to PayPal. I suspect it’s a necessary evil, but there will be a competitor at some point (if not already) and I will be the first one on the bandwagon.
Email follows:
You know what Austin, this is about ludicrous. I am no different from thousands, tens of thousands and maybe even HUNDREDS of thousands of other internet marketing people that PayPal counts on to make some of their millions every day. Yes, I buy services that are not quite as simple as paying for a sweater for Auntie Em – though I do and HAVE used my account for that too at times. MY contractors have been getting paid via PayPal for years now, not via a normal paper check. I know this current account limitation isn’t due to ME selling bad services, or fleecing people via PayPal as I don’t sell any services via PayPal. And have never GOTTEN even a complaint ANYWHERE about our services that I’m aware of. I will never trust my hard-earned money in the coffers of ANY company that operates like this.
This can ONLY leave me getting hammered for BUYING a service from someone that your company doesn’t like. The further ludicrous part of this is that if you don’t like and are penalizing MY behavior, since I don’t sell, then obviously I am being penalized for doing business with a company that PAYPAL has authorized and for whom PayPal is currently accepting payments. “We’ll take money for them, but if you USE them? Wow, we’re going to ding you.” What kind of business operating process is THAT?
There are very few companies that I require, though many I have tried at points, and it might just be helpful to know which companies SHOULD BE avoided – or that have a track record of having issues. Unfortunately when the entire WORLD is my shopping center, it is impossible to know directly each and every vendor that is used – and all I can do is hope for the best when I purchase from them. But if YOU don’t like them, then I probably DON’T want to be doing business with them either and a heads up MIGHT be a nice thing. Obviously though that’s “giving up the farm” to maybe LET me know who I should NOT be doing business with.
Sort of like telling your kids to NOT go to the house over around the corner with weird sculpture in the front yard. Not uncommon to GO knocking on a door in your neighborhood UNTIL someone gives you a heads up that it might be just NOT the best place to go. This is pretty much like watching a kid go past that weird sculpture up to the front door. Then watching the evil clown jump out the door, grab the kid screaming and hollering, jump back in the house with the kid, and watching the door slam shut. Silence and creepiness ensue. And PayPal? Well, they just stand silently at the road and mouth the words – “Hate when that happens. Warning him would have prevented that, but it would have potentially promoted future circumvention of our policies.”
Thanks for nothing Austin and PayPal. Apparently I’m not the only one to have this happen – the internet is absolutely rife with stories of this kind of behavior from PayPal. Since I do work for a lot of customers on a LOT of websites, mark my words, I have worked on the LAST site that will accept Paypal anytime in the near future.
Follow
