I have a small but thriving eBay business. To transfer funds from my PayPal account to my bank account takes up to three days. So it seemed logical and helpful for me to get a PayPal debit card. I ordered one (they call it an “application”, but if you’re a verified PayPal member, I can’t see that they’d decline you; after all, it’s a debit card, not a credit card).
It arrived today, with a sticker on the front that said I needed to log in to my account to activate my card. Now, I totally understand the need to do this. Keeps some bastards from swiping debit cards that have been mailed, and buying stuff with it. So, I log on, figure out which page to access to activate my card. The first thing you have to do is enter the card number, then select a PIN. So I do this, and get a message that “This action cannot be performed with this card; please choose another card”. Of course, I can’t do that, because I don’t have another card. I try it one more time, in case I typed in the numbers wrong. Nope. Same message.
I find a customer service number on the back of the card (sonsabitches couldn’t even have a toll-free number! Doesn’t matter to me, as I have unlimited long-distance, but still, WTF?) I call customer service, and am informed that this is a problem they’re having right now. They don’t know what’s wrong, but are trying to fix it. In the meantime, their “workaround” solution is to cancel this card, and send me another one. :smack:
I recognize that, in order to be an eBay seller of any regularity, you pretty much gotta have PayPal, but damn I hate them sometimes.
PayPal can be a pain in the ass sometimes, but I have to admit it has been tremendously handy. I also have a PayPal debit card, and it’s been great if I want to order online, or if I’m low on local funds but have some leftover funds in my PayPal account. I did have a problem when I initially tried to verify my account though. They could do it over the phone instantly, or by mail – naturally I chose mail. So they give me a PIN to dial on the phone when their automated system calls. And call it does. It asks me to enter the PIN and press pound. So I do, and … nothing happens. Thinking that maybe I dialed too early or had to wait for a beep or something, I dial it again and bit pound. Nothing. Just silence. No confirmation or anything. I try once more to no avail, and then just hang up. Ultimately, PayPal (online) informs me that the phone confirmation failed, and they’d have to mail instructions to confirm my account. Took two weeks to get that, and only then was I able to finally go the final step to get the debit card.
I have the PayPal Visa Debit Card. The back-up funding is PayPal Buyer Credit. So it can also work as a credit card. Nice.
That is nice. This one I’ve got (and presumably, the one they’re sending me) is a MasterCard. I don’t recall having a choice, but probably would have gone with the MasterCard, anyway, as our bank debit card is a Visa. For some reason, every so often, my supermarket will give me a $4.00 coupon good on my next purchase, if I pay with my MasterCard. Never had one. I guess now I will.
I work for a bank. The number of customers who have complained to me about PayPal is ridiculous, and the number of times I’ve had to sort out a mess THEY caused… ahh!
I hate PayPal with a passion.
I didn’t know they offered a Visa option. Is this a new thing? When I got mine (about a year and a half ago) it was Mastercard only.
My mistake. I meant MasterCard 