Michael Roebuck's Blog

I have written several articles on the need to accept Paypal as a payment method. People want additional methods to pay and Paypal seems to be a great method. And it works! Unless you need something changed on your account. PayPal Account Management is awful.

I have a client who needed the account name changed as the employee listed was no longer with the company. Seemed easy enough. On May 29, 2007 I faxed a copy of the new drivers license and utility bill along with a statement of what we needed changed. This was faxed over and I thought I was done.

Apparently PayPal needed more information and sent an email requesting this. Since all email from Paypal goes in the spam folder, we never received it. I found out after I called to follow up that they also wanted a copy of a bank statement. Fine, I re-faxed all the information to them.

Am I done now? Nope. Apparently PayPal needed more information, but don't plan on getting the email request they send as it gets filtered as Spam. You have to call them and funnel through the automated system to get a live body to check on the status. Apparently they need more information. This time they want a credit card statement, copy of paystub displaying social security number and a letter on company letterhead stating we wanted a name change. Keep in mind, we aren't changing the company name but only wanted to change the name of the employee listed on the account. This was faxed over on June 21, 2007.

Am I done now? Nope. I called PayPal again after a few days wondering what the status was and they tell me they now need a copy of the signature card from the bank. Interestingly enough, this employee also tells me that it's easier to set up a new PayPal account rather than try to change the name. He told me exactly what I needed to do. I find it nice that employees are telling customers how to get over on the system because even the employees know it sucks. I'm determined to get this changed though. And I don't want to loose the history with the existing account.

Funny though, On June 25, 2007 I received an email from PayPal asking for me to answer a survey about my experience with PayPal. The letter reads, "As part of PayPal's commitment to excellence, I want to make sure I met your needs in my response. Would you please take a minute to answer a few questions to let me know how I did?" Well, I told them how my needs were not met. Apparently that was all they wanted because I haven't heard back from them. Apparently "Commitment to Excellence" means something different to me then it does them.

Anyway, Today, July 2, 2007 I call again wanting to know the status and the PayPal guy tells me they sent me an email today wanting more information. I can't wait to see what they want now. Unfortunately, I can't tell you because the guys computer is running slow and he can't pull up the information. I give him my email address and he assures me he'll send it within a couple minutes. He actually follows through with his word and I get an email several minutes later. Apparently, now they want a copy of the Social Security Card as well as a paystub. What, the paystub displaying the Social Security Number isn't enough?? Here's what they wrote:

"Please submit a clear copy of your Social Security card and a recent pay stub displaying your SSN and the address matching your PayPal Account. Please ensure that your Social Security number is clearly displayed on the documents you send.

In order for us to complete the verification process, please print this email and complete the fields of the Social Security Affidavit below. Once completed, please fax or mail the information to:...."

You have got to be kidding! So, I call them one more time. After sitting on hold for 32 minutes, I ask to speak to the verification department and as usual get told they don't accept phone calls. I then request a supervisor. I get a supervisor who I tell my story to and he assures me that he can see that they have all the documentation and I don't need to fax anything over. He will contact the verification department and explain what I told him. He then says to wait a couple days and the name should be changed. I won't hold my breath because I want to live long enough for this change to go through. As I hang up the phone, the PayPal supervisor tells me to have a nice 4th. Is he being sarcastic or just trying to be nice? Who cares, just get my account fixed!

My next step is to start some tests with Google Checkout. Perhaps Google Checkout will generate similar positive results and I can suggest all my clients stop using PayPal and switch to Google. This is ridiculous.

Labels: checkout, google, paypal