Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Restaurant at the End of Universe Hitchhikers - Meridian Equipment Warning to PayPal users

You will need to write a letter to Paypal's complaints department:

PayPal
Attn: PPEL Customer Complaints
P.O. Box 9473
Dublin 15
Ireland

Partial text from my letter:

In response to your helpdesk email ‘Disputes (Routing Code: (***) (***)`, I am requesting a copy of all documentation relating to the above complaints and their appeals be sent to me at the address above.

This documentation will form part of a complaint against Paypal that I am making to the UK Financial Ombudsman. I would therefore be grateful for a prompt response to this request.

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Include any relevant details so that Paypal know which transaction you are talking about. The Ombudsman directed me to ask for all documentation, which is something Paypal must supply upon request. They have 8 weeks to comply (they completed my complaint within 4) after which the Ombudsman will act without the information.

Link to Ombudsman complaints procedure:

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/consumer/complaints.htm

Hope this helps.

Mark

Mark,

Thanks for the help it is much appreciated.

Keith.

Can anybody enlighten me as to the source of this new-found generosity? Did the ghost of Christmas future arrive late this year?

I'm guessing it's UK (perhaps Europe) only, and was probably forced by an ombudsman somewhere.

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We would like to let you know of an important announcement affecting all PayPal account holders in the UK.

Effective from 9 July 2008, PayPal will change its fee structure to make it more attractive for our UK customers to send personal payments. We are pleased to announce that:

PayPal will not charge a recipient (regardless of their account type) of a PayPal payment if that payment was funded by the sender's bank account or PayPal balance and it is designated a Personal Payment

PayPal will apply a fee for payments received for Personal Payments or Commercial Payments if such a payment is funded by a credit or debit card, however for Personal Payments funded by a card, the sender will have the option of paying the fees for that payment

Also, PayPal will no longer require its customers to upgrade from a Personal Account to a Premier or Business Account once it has received a total of �250

Consequently the following amendments to the PayPal User Agreement will be applicable for UK customers:
Clause 8 will be amended (where relevant) to provide that:

Receiving Personal Payments which are also Balance/Bank Funded Payments will be free

Receiving Personal Payments and/or Commercial Payments which are also Card Funded Payments will be charged at these standard rates:

Blah blah......

I think the important point is, that eBay payments are not classed as personal payments. Therefore the vast majority of paypal transactions will continue to attract a fee.

"Commercial Payment" means a payment which is not a Personal Payment (including, without limitation a payment associated with an eBay item and/or other goods or services).

"Personal Payment" means a payment made for the purpose of either your personal, family and/or household affairs.

Aaah that makes sense - thanks!

I've got a feeling that I'll be creating a new account that I can maintain as personal and not upgrade to business. Unless they allow us to downgrade.

Just thought I'd redress the balance a little. I recently bought a lego car for my son (you know the one - the chassis with the red reclining seats, gearbox and 4 cylinder boxer engine). I paid my money and waited... nothing. The sender had used standard post with no tracking. I did the decent thing, sent reminders for a while, and finally escalated to a claim after being ignored for weeks.

It was impossible to prove either way, but Paypal awarded me the claim. The seller had shut down their accounts, but I was paid eventually (Probably through buyer protection).

I'm glad it was just �35, but it's also nice to know that they did the decent thing.

Well, it took me 12 months to get �15 off them. I made a claim against a very abusive seller, as they were a power seller - paypal found against me to my horror. After sending an email listing how obvious it was that i was being scammed they then found in my favour and said they cant get any money from the sellers account as they do not have any. I pointed out that the seller was quite happily still selling on eBay using paypal and not to give me any more excuses as they had used all sorts inc just ignoring me.
Well, they agreed his account was recieving monies but they couldnt take any money from his account as that would be against the law and they cant refund me as its between me and the seller.
Anyways after lots of frustration they said they would pay me back, they paid a fiver, then wouldnt pay the rest, tried to ignore me again. I rang them, spoke top someone who "really cared" but said they couldnt do anything as they were just "customer support"??!!! Anyways after giving them an earful of logic they agreed i was to get a refund and that as i had been so inconvenienced i would get a fiver as a gesture of goodwill.
After 12 months, many emails, telephones calls i just about got most of the money back, but definitely no goodwill gesture fiver. They ignored me to date 18 months later.
Paypal frustrated me so much that i chased and chased them. the point is not the money, its when an organisation is willing to take your money and basically blatatatly lie to you and blame you becuase the other party has given them more in fee's than you have.
Really dont like paypal. In my opinion they are an unethical and very dodgy cowboy company who think that they are not bound by any laws thus making up their own rules as they go along.

Anyway rant over lol

Sorry to hear about that. In my case the seller and I had virtually identical feedback, although I had more from selling (which perhaps biased it towards me). I also mentioned the fact that I'd be pursuing a credit card chargeback if I didn't get my money - which I guess is going to end up costing either paypal or the seller either way.

From then on I've never bought anything without changing the payment method to credit card.

As far as I understand it you have no recourse to your credit card company with regards a PayPal transaction gone wrong. Paypal take the payment from your card and *they* pay the seller from your Paypal account; the credit card company is not involved in anyway in the subsequent purchase, thus your only point of contact in a dispute is Paypal. I'd love to be wrong but I don't think that I am.

Basically, buy with Paypal and say goodbye to all of the consumer protection built into credit card purchases.

Mark

I personally think Mark has got it right with ref to nil consumer protection. However, in the case of a fraudulent transaction, would you not be able to get monies from paypal via credit card co due to its nature and the fact that paypal would have had charged a fee?

Mods, you may feel inclined to move this from the general discussion forum to elsewhere, but I consider that this deserves the widest possible circulation for anyone considering buying or selling and considering using PayPal as a means to move money from A to B.

I am compelled to post my recent experience with PayPal because I consider myself one of those people who is law-abiding, honest and who believes in playing by the rules. In a nutshell, I value my integrity and have always believed that if you play fair, others will treat you accordingly.

I have bought and sold items on eBay since 2003 and have a 100% positive feedback rating of 152. I have also maintained a Verified Premier PayPal account for the same length of time and regularly use this service to pay for items I buy online and as a means of receiving payment from buyers for kit sold on eBay or elsewhere (cheques are not always reliable and not everyone wishes to travel and collect and pay in cash.

At the beginning of July 2008 I advertised an IsoTek GII MiniSub on the Hififorsale classified ads website and was contacted by a buyer from Edinburgh (I live in Hampshire).

We agreed a sale price of �325 and the buyer sent me an e-cheque via my PayPal account which appeared to be a secure medium and would allow me to send the item as soon as the buyer's payment cleared.

When I tried to transfer the funds to my bank account, PayPal sent me a message informing me that because I had received more than $1300 USD my account (I have recently sold some hi fi on eBay for �500) access was limited and I would have to complete additional security steps to comply with European anti-money laundering laws!

On 12/07/08 at PayPal's insistance I confirmed my bank account details, linked and confirmed a credit card, changed my password, provided business information (I do not operate a business!) and changed my security questions & answers. The final hurdle was to verify my address by PayPal phoning me and asking for a security code. Well, the phone rang and promptly disconnected. As a result, PayPal state that I failed that security step and on 22/07/08 they sent me a letter containing a six-digit security code that I will have to enter on my account to comply with their checklist of tasks.

I contacted (with much difficulty) one of their 'customer services' agents who told me that they could not telephone my home address because the computer could not be overridden and I would have to wait for the letter to arrive. Not very helpful at all!

By 10/08/08, the letter had still not arrived and I made a complaint to PayPal. The response was that the letter was being processed in the USA???????? and could take up to three weeks to arrive. They acknowledged that I had been inconvenienced and as an alternative option, I could fax copies of my utility bills to PayPal as a means of satisfying them that I lived where I do!

I duly faxed all the required documentation on 11/08/08 and received an acknowledgment stating that the documents could take up to five days to process (for f**** sake!).

As of today (16/08/08) my PayPal account is still locked and neither my buyer or myself can acces the �325 that Paypal are no doubt earning interest on (together with thousands of pounds worldwide as I have since learned that this is a popular strategy of PayPal).

My buyer is frustrated because he has parted with his money and is waiting for his item. I am frustrated because I cannot access the funds and I am obligated to hold the item for my buyer, therefore not able to sell it to someone else.

After a bit of internet research I was horrified to learn of others who had fallen foul of this thoroughly disreputable company. Some links are here:-

http://www.paypalsucks.com/
http://www.paypalwarning.com/
http://www.aboutpaypal.org/

Having in the past, used PayPal to send �800 to Canada and �2500 to Italy for purchases via Audiogon, I thank my lucky stars that my sellers accounts were not frozen in the same way as mine is now! Imagine having that much money tied up for months on end with no hope of an early resolution!

So there it is, my tale of woe and a warning to anyone using PayPal that it could easily happen to you too!

Once I get this cleared up I shall cancel my account with these crooks.

Steve