Michael Roebuck's Blog

Woo-Hoo! I got the name changed on my client's Paypal account. If you haven't heard my dilemma, you can read all about it here: PayPal Customer Service.

Thanks very much to Alex with PayPal Australia and Mike with Yahoo who both contacted Jen at PayPal. She called me and changed the name while I was on the phone.

While talking with Jen, we both realized that the problem was not handled as well as it could have been. I should have been able to talk to someone higher up when needed. I'd like to know what happened to the supervisor who was supposed to escalate my situation though. I don't see any evidence of him following through.

This still leaves the question of what to do when you need help. Should you blog about your one bad experience and not talk about the numerous positive ones? I am not one to blog about everything that doesn't go my way but this seemed to drag on and on. Had it not been for my blog post, I probably would still be fighting with customer service trying to get the account changed. That is just not right.

Fortunately, Jen is high up enough with PayPal that not only can she see my challenge, but she has the power to do something about it. Hopefully this can lead to certain changes and future problems can be resolved faster and smoother.

So what can you do? Follow up. If the first call doesn't seem to solve the problem, call back and ask to speak with a higher up. Apparently, higher ups are able to receive calls. Stay on the phone until you get someone who can assist you further. Also, get names. I wish I had all the names of everyone I spoke with. Not to slam them, but to allow PayPal to give proper training where needed. For all I know, I got some newbie who had good intentions and tried to help me, but didn't know the correct path to take. By allowing PayPal to train them, this wouldn't happen to the next guy who had a problem.

As Alex from PayPal Australia pointed out, Change takes time and PayPal is a large company. However, not so large that he didn't know who Jen was another Continent away.

All in all, my problem got solved and hopefully some good will come out of it. I've been a fan of Paypal for several years and this was my first major bad experience with them. Not too shabby when you look at the big picture.

Labels: paypal