An Unbelievable Paypal Story

by Banned 81 replies
124
I've had a Paypal account in good standing for 6 years selling primarily websites and graphic design services, with an occasional ebook (but rarely).

Lately I've been working 3 ecommerce sites selling physical products rather than digital products. They are all still new and being worked on and two of them have around 1,000 products in them. Since they are built on Woo Commerce, I've purchased a lot of the extensions available for Woo Commerce. While I was browsing the extensions, I noticed a Paypal Advanced extension and did some research into Paypal Advanced. It allows you to accept both Paypal and credit cards on your website and is a actual merchant solution.

I decided to apply for Paypal Advanced for one of the sites in the survival gear niche. The site sells survival food, gear, tools (such as knives), first aid kits, etc. What happened next was a real mess.

Paypal acceptable use dept. reviewed the knives on the site and didn't like 6 of them and asked me to remove them. I removed them immediately and then started reviewing the knives myself (I had imported a csv file of the wholesalers entire inventory, so didn't really review the knives myself). I ended up removing another 200 knives from the site that weren't a good fit for the survival niche, although they were completely legal knives. Only certain knives are against Paypal's acceptable use policy, but they don't define which types are or aren't.

After I removed all those knives, I get a notice that Paypal has limited my account pending acceptable use review and they declined my application for Paypal Advanced. Two days go by and I call them both days and get nothing on what I need to do to remove the limitation to my account.

Then last night I get an email saying that my account is closed. All this simply because of Paypal activity initiated by me applying for Paypal Advanced.

During this limitation, I decided to scrap the idea of Paypal Advanced and applied for some merchant accounts. Figured I would see who accepted my application and go from there. Well, all three accepted my application but what happened next is the real kicker.

I decided to write a post on my blog about the Paypal experience. I then looked up the name of the Paypal President and noted that the most accessible contact info for him was his Twitter account.

This is the fairly new President of Paypal, David Marcus. There have been numerous stories on the net about David Marcus and his intention to change some policies and corporate culture at Paypal and do things differently. You can read one of those stories here: PayPal president makes house-call (or email) to smooth over customer dispute | VentureBeat and here: Paypal President Marcus Vows Change at Payments Giant - Tricia Duryee - Commerce - AllThingsD

Sounds good right? Well, it's not just talk. After making my post, I tweeted the url to David Marcus, President of Paypal this morning. What happened next was almost immediate and stunning.

Emails started rolling in from all kinds of Paypal people ... limitation removed, account restored, knives all fine now, Paypal Advanced now approved. I received 3 phone calls from high ranking Paypal executives apologizing for the mess and doing everything they could to get me up and running on Paypal Advanced smoothly and quickly.

The second caller disclosed that my blog post "went straight to the top" to the President.

This is an amazing story, at least IMO, of a man at the top of an enormous company who actually listens and monitors customer satisfaction and vowing to make culture changes in the company, actually does exactly that.

I'm not saying that this would work for everyone who has closed accounts or limitations. There are accounts that are unrecoverable and business models that they don't support and will not support, but when they make a mistake, it's not as difficult to be heard and are not as inflexible as they appeared to be. This change in Paypal is coming from the top down, and I was very impressed after a couple of frustrating days to have the problem conclude this way.
#main internet marketing discussion forum #paypal #story #unbelievable
  • That is a great story! I read through the post expecting a sad ending for you...but then again sad endings are what is often expected by some people when dealing with PayPal.
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    • Banned
      I expected the same, but was very pleasantly surprised.
  • WOW! That really is amazing!

    It's great to see that you were able to get the attention of the right people so quickly.

    I'm glad this story has a happy ending and six years of a good standing account didn't turn into another horror story.

    Good job taking action and saving your account!
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  • This is an excellent example of not giving up. Even if it looks like you're screwed, there might be an alternate route. Good stuff.
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    • Thats a really great story ....

      i am also having some limitation problem with my paypal which i am using for more than 2 years now .... as i changed it to business one now ... but in my case the customer service was really great ........ i hope that this limitation stuff will be over soon and i dont have to tweet to the president .........
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    • Good of you to take the time to share those experiences in detail Suzanne. I always have a nagging worry that they can do something irrational and devastating without warning. It's reassuring to hear such positive feedback and a good result for something that could so easily have ended badly.

      Terry
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  • Just as you were thinking that Paypal had the knives out for you.


    .
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  • Wow. I'm pleasantly surprised by the ending to this story. At least someone at Paypal cares about fixing their screwy business practices. Good for you Suzanne.
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  • I'm guessing one of the reasons about why he is at the top is because he does actually listen to people's problems and works to fix them. Congragulations man!
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  • Wow this is truly an amazing story, I thought this was going to end ugly. I always felt Twitter was not really a place to make money, but believed it was the perfect place to reach big people that you would not normally reach under normal circumstances
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  • Banned
    I've been busy all day with these emails, phone calls, Advanced integration, etc. but I just checked my Twitter acct. and found this

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    • I really wish I could remember the thread, but there is at least one guy that knows exactly how to pull the strings with paypal when things get rough.

      There is a certain certificate or something similar that paypal has with each state to allow them have their online presence there. And if a complaint is made directly with the state government office where they have that certificate (without that certificate, paypal can't do business in that state) 9 times out of 10 you'll get your account back.

      If ANYONE knows the thread I'm talking about, please post it.
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  • Glad to hear that your issue turned out for the best!
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  • Superb Job! Instead of coming on here and crying, you went to the top and used social media to bolster your case. Great, great work.

    Excellent result as well.

    I used to be a news reporter, so I know that going to the top works. It also works when you can amplify your grievance via Twitter.

    I had a similar experience with a much smaller company and resolved it by contacting the CEO directly.

    But after your post, I expect Marcus will be hearing from some other warriors. I hope he's ready.!
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  • This isn't the first I've heard of this. I've read at least 3 or 4 similar stories in the past few weeks in which the Pres was tweeted and account limitations or rolling reserves were lifted within 48 hours. Definitely good to hear!
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  • Good on him for fixing a problem THAT SHOULDN'T HAVE HAPPENED in the first place.

    Paypal's left hand doesn't know what its right hand is doing, and this is a perfect example of this. Thankfully the new guy at the head of PP has some common sense, hopefully we'll be hearing less and less stories of these unfortunate situations happening.
  • It's great that David handled the situation well, but it shouldn't have happened in the first place! Hopefully David will start training and informing these employees better about account limitation, and their own policies for that matter. I want to see regular employees in PayPal having a clue about these kinds of things. It seemed to me like every time I called in I would be teaching them how their system works - until after hours of frustration when I was moved to speak with more knowledgeable staff.
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    • Banned
      No corporation that large will operate without making mistakes, and I'm sure mistakes will continue to be made, but responding to and admitting and fixing mistakes is good enough for me.

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  • I am surprised with the story ending. Thanks for sharing your great paypal story.
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  • Suzanne,

    You handled this all wrong. You were suppose to come on the WF and whine and cry about how big an idiot PP is and ignore any and all recommendations given. :-)

    Thank you so much for proving there is a level headed way of handling things yourself. I just love smart independent people.
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    • Troy... I never realized you were an ass kisser until now...
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    • well, it doesn't always end like this.. and 99% of the 'recommendations" are from people who haven't actually been through the PP ringer.. well intended they may be, but more often then not the person going through it has long ago tried such 'obvious' approaches as "call and explain, be nice"

      I had PP troubles several years ago that cost me dearly, and there was not a human to be heard from.

      every time I tracked down a phone or email for a real person, i was told "we only provide support online".. which meant canned copy/paste replies, asking me to show pictures of inventory I had sold months earlier (to prove I had it)! hello??!! I sold it months ago! How am I supposed to go back into time and take those pictures and prove I had it and didn't scam the buyers? why isn't the ebay feedback for those items sufficient to show I actually delivered the product to the customer? idiots..

      it literally took over a year to clean up the mess.. and in the meantime my business collapsed, I lost my home, had my car repo'd, etc..

      I'm glad their current CEO is knocking some heads there.. it's about time.
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  • When I've started reading the story i thought: "another paypal limitation"... thing that i've seen a lot on the forum.

    But the finish left me amazed.

    Nice work sbucciarel and nice work president of paypal (if you're reading this too) )

    I will trust Paypal more now, although i never had a problem with them.
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    • Good result, well done.

      It's a pity another large company (who shall remain nameless!) is not as caring of it's customers.
  • I had also received an PayPal "account closed" email possibly last year. In my case, it was the executive that failed to understand my side of the story. Maybe, they don't want to take any risks and implement their rule books by words rather than by the spirit. I wrote to their top executives and then my account was restored. You just need to tell the top guys. Their call centres won't help.
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  • Banned
    Yeah ... it worked out well in the end and I really love the Paypal Advanced check out. It's so integrated with the site that the customer appears to have a checkout experience without bouncing over to Paypal. Of course they do, but it doesn't feel that way.
  • Well done Suzanne and well done Paypal.

    I love happy endings but like a lot of others on this thread I didn't see this one coming.
    Great initiative and thanks for sharing the story.

    All the best,
    Paul
  • Banned
    Well, when my account was limited I applied to 3 merchants thinking that only one would be acceptable and approve me. All 3 did so now I am awash with merchant accounts (two of which I'll probably get rid of).

    But for the site I mentioned, I wanted the Paypal Advanced, plus I like having as many options available as possible. Some of the items on my site are very expensive, so having the "Bill Me Later" option, along with Paypal and credit cards available there is a real plus.
  • thanks for posting this and letting us know. i can't speak for everyone else but that really helps us take a deep breath. its been a lot of years of unfair terror. I hope this means all this is gonna stop and really bad people will be stopped from marketing not folks trying to be honest as they can.

    I've always thought give people a second chance and thats what paypal was refusing to do . It was always when is the axe gonna fall because I made an unintentional boo boo.

    Who in their right minds would deliberately do anything wrong if you are just doing marketing online?

    Even as I write this I still feel nervous. It really has had a negative effect on us.
  • Wow ! I'm really surprised !
    for years I read bad things about paypal, how they rudely close or limit your account, hold your money (mine included, even just couple hundreds bucks), etc.

    I hope this is not the only one case, may the others follow

    thanks for sharing!
  • This reminds me of about 6 years ago...I ordered a new cable box from my cable TV company for some additional services or something. The guy came, took the old box and gave me a new one. Next month I get a bill for $300 for the old box, and they said I didn't return it.

    No matter how many phone calls and who I spoke to they would not remove it from my bill, as if I needed an extra old cable TV box.

    So I went online and found the names of the top 10 people in the company and just did a firstname.lastname@company.com guess at their email addresses and sent off emails with my story. Next day one of them had it removed from my bill. Victory!
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  • Banned
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    • Wow - I expected a super bad ending to this story but I was super surprised to hear how it ended for you. I am so glad for you and hopefully this will also help out other people. I have heard many horror stories about PayPal even though I have never had a problem with them.
  • Thanks for that post. That is extremely promising! I've been dealing with PayPal for about 5 years and for the most part have been extremely happy. On the rare occasion that I need customer service it had been awful...possibly the worst of any company I've ever dealt with!

    I'm glad to hear that you got this worked out and that the new Pres is taking action!
  • Thank you for sharing your story Suzanne. VERY eye-opening. I've had few bumps in the road with my PP account over the years, but nothing that wasn't solvable with a phone call or two.

    Your story has a very relevant point and that this is: you demonstrated the power of being proactive and also thinking outside the box. You didn't give up. Though I do agree with some others that you shouldn't have had to do all that to get your issue resolved.

    I hope the CEO did some follow and reviewed their best practices instead of just fixing this one issue. Only time will tell.

    RoD
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    • Banned
      I just sent my blog post url. It just stated all that occurred and suggested alternatives if this happens to you.

      Even the execs who called admitted that. Mistakes were made. They corrected them and I'm sure it was/is just another step in the direction of changing policy and methods for the better.
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    • After reading horror story after horror story concerning Paypal here in the WF over the years, it is refreshing to read a post where someone obtained positive results.

      I am pleased that Paypal is moving towards working with account holders when they have issues in a prompt manner. I really got tired of reading about people having their accounts frozen and fighting with customer service to be heard.

      Kudos to you. Great job. I wish you much success in your business.
  • Suzanne this is GREAT to hear! I know PP issues strike fear in the hearts of many. I never understood why any company would embrace and prefer a "company is always right" policy. Glad you got your account sorted out.
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    • What an amazing story. I was NOT expecting the end that concluded it.

      In fact, I'm almost speechless.
    • Thanks for posting this
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  • Very good! I worked in the airline industry about a lifetime ago and was employed by a large and well-known regional airline. At that time, the company was owned by just one individual even though it had (then) over 800 employees.

    The man who owned the company told everyone that he was always accessible and to please call if any problem. He freely gave out his personal phone number.

    One day, I had a fairly serious problem at work and decided to see if he was serious. So I called him at 0600 and lodged my complaints. He was very patient with me and explained the reasons for doing things the way we did. Nothing changed but I came away from it with a much better understanding of certain procedures etc. and to this day I highly respect him even though it was long ago and he long since sold the company and moved on.

    Hats off to David Marcus and PayPal for a change. Its been a long time coming!
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  • Lol, but seriously I think David Marcus is doing the right things to help marketers. Many of my peers have gotten their reserves lifted after a tweet and some convo with David himself.

    Cheers,
    Lester
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    • A truly great story - I wonder if this could become contagious? Maybe we will here stories of Mark Zuckerberg doing similar things when people have issues with their fanpage or Larry Page helping out with Adsense accounts being banned
      Although I've not been the victim of any of the above, it is a concern as too often I've read where it's happened often for unfounded reasons.
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  • That is awesome!

    Maybe PayPal is finally going to change some of their crazy ways.

    Suzanne, would you mind sharing your blog URL? I would really like to read the post that changed PayPal's view on the situation.
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    • Banned
      To be fair, since the situation was resolved so outstandingly, I removed the post and replaced it with a duplicate of this post.

      EDIT: Just wanted to add that I didn't lose my cool or resort to screaming and shouting. Just stated the facts and alternatives. Same with my phone calls. I just sought clarification and solutions calmly. Getting all angry and yelling about it would have been counter-productive, IMO.
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  • Good to hear such thing. Seems like all the odds has turned out to be benefits. Best of luck.
  • The story is somewhat appalling--you are denied acces to a different account set up, told to remove products that you sell; then, with no reason given, your account was limited, and then closed.

    YOU HAD TO NOTIFY THE CEO OF THE COMPANY THAT THERE WERE SHENANIGANS OCCURRING IN YOUR ACCOUNT, AND ALL OF A SUDDEN, FROM THE TOP, YOUR ACCOUNT IS FIXED.

    That says to me that the company has truly gone down hill since I was a major paypal player.

    Clearly the new CEO and his changes are desperately needed, because if he had to initiate your account being corrected from the top, then there are shady business practices and a culture of deception and dishonesty that has clearly been accepted within the walls of paypal for some time.

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    • Banned
      I don't see deception or dishonesty. It was more about snowballing miscommunication, especially between separate departments of a very large company.

      Whether or not I should not have had to go to the top doesn't matter. How many top executives do you know that are approachable? Me, not many.

      In addition, I've had 6 years of great service using Paypal prior to this, so it's easy for me to count this as a momentary glitch in a business relationship that has otherwise been beneficial to me.
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  • What an amazing story. I was pretty sure once Paypal closed your account it was game over!

    The power of social media! AMAZING
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    • Banned

      Social media was just the means of communicating to someone that I did not have an email address for. It was more the power of an executive who is willing to listen than the power of social media.

      I don't have a large Twitter following and am not an influential Twitter'er or even blogger, so it was more about just giving a shout out and hoping that I would at least get a review of the situation. I'm sure that my little Twitter account wouldn't be heard my many ... just one was enough.
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  • There's been way too many Paypal (true) stories and I almost wonder how these (CEO's/Big Timers) get to where they are b/c many of the stories I've come across are common sense type issues like 2+2 everyone gets 4 except them,they get 3 or 5. I'm thinking like, these guys are heading up MEGA, mega, corporations and many are/seem to be complete Jack wagons. It's really refreshing to see a story like this one. Best wishes with your ecommerce sites.
  • Kudos to David Marcus.
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    • Interesting story Suzanne. Glad it was resolved and you can go back to "business as usual."
      Paypal Advanced is a nice feature for e commerce
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  • Don't depend on PayPal only. Diversity few payment processor services.
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  • man great story!

    I am firm believer in going to the top of the food chain (when possible) to help solve your problems - I'm glad to hear that the president is active and does keep an eye out for problems like this
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  • Great story. Sometimes you really have to put up a fight get results. Im glad this worked out for you. I very rarely hear of Top Executives handling this sort of this sort of thing themselves. Speaks volumes about his character and yours. Thanks for sharing.
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    • Very happy you got your account fixed. It must have been a stressful experience.
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    • Banned
      Whether or not it should have happened it was resolved and apologies were made. I'm good with that. I've had a 6-year long run with Paypal with zero problems prior to this.

      As an aside, there is a Twitter account for AskPayPal @ https://twitter.com/AskPayPal for these types of issues. David Marcus copies them on complaints.
  • Suzanne - Outstanding. Thanks for sharing this experience. You handled the situation perfectly. Very glad you were able to break through and get it resolved!
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  • Suzanne,

    That IS good. But I did the same sort of thing with Roche Diagnostics and the FDA. I wish we knew if it was because the new guy is a nice guy, or he wanted you to do something like this. Roche was afraid the FDA would shut them down or something.

    Steve
  • It should be noted that those who break their TOS will still get no love from Paypal either way.

    But sure, if you have done nothing wrong then you should take it to the top. Am glad it worked out so well for you. The funny thing is because of what has happened your account is probably in much better standing than it was had none of this happened.

    This new guy seems to be a good move for Paypal. He has something a lot of people are lacking nowadays -- common sense.
  • The OP's story indicates the new Paypal management is sensitive to bad PR about the company going out over the Web, and its negative effect on good will generated by the company. These reversals of stupid decisions shows the company is trying to correct the poor impression the account closures/limitations give off.
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  • Amazing story, Suzanne. That certainly ups my faith in the new PayPal changes promised by David Marcus. When he gets everyone on the same page from top to bottom, things should be a lot smoother at PP. Thanks for sharing that.
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  • Great result...I came to this thread via a link in a Facebook group...so already knew the outcome
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  • Suzanne - BEST. POST. EVER. Thanks for sharing!
    #1 - You're brilliant for tweeting him and..
    #2 - it's nice to hear about the seemingly positive changes at Paypal after all the crazy nightmare stories that we've all heard for years!
    I'm calling you if Paypal ever gives me trouble!
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  • I'd like to thank the OP also. After reading it, I followed the exact step and twitted and crossed my fingers.... 48 hours later, I just received an email which reads:

    "Dear xxxx,

    Thank you for contacting PayPal via @AskPayPal Twitter account. If you did not contact us via this method, please reply to this email as soon as possible and let us know.

    I have good news! Your account was reviewed and your access has been restored on your PayPal account xxxx.

    I am sorry for any inconvenience you may have experienced. If you have any further questions regarding your PayPal account, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us via email or Twitter.

    Thanks for reaching out to us!

    Sincerely,

    PayPal Twitter Support"

    Thank you, Suzanne!!
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    • Banned

      That's great news. Glad to hear it!
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  • 124

    An Unbelievable Paypal Story

    I've had a Paypal account in good standing for 6 years selling primarily websites and graphic design services, with an occasional ebook (but rarely). Lately I've been working 3 ecommerce sites selling physical products rather than digital products. They are all still new and being worked on and two of them have around 1,000 products in them. Since they are built on Woo Commerce, I've purchased a lot of the extensions available for Woo Commerce. While I was browsing the extensions, I noticed a Paypal Advanced extension and did some research into Paypal Advanced. It allows you to accept both Paypal and credit cards on your website and is a actual merchant solution.