PayPal - Ugh!

When I purchased tan arm covers from Robin on EBay, I had heard several times about purchasers being charged twice through PayPal. Therefore, I was extremely careful to do nothing twice. Now PayPal insists that I did do something twice and further insists that I would have to go through Robin to get a credit. Shortly after the purchase (May 27), I received an e-mail from PayPal asking for authorization to charge. Since I had already received an e-mail receipt from Robin, I e-mailed her. She wrote back that she was having trouble with PayPal but would straighten it out, not to worry, I would not be double charged. I promptly deleted PayPal's e-mail. Since I have heard other war stories about PayPal, I wanted to alert this group. Personally, if the only way to order something is through PayPal, I will choose to do without.

If there is anything out there, I would hope you would post it here. If not, this may just be another Communist conspiracy against me and my friends, all of whom have a shady background anyway. :wink:

By the way, American Express simply eliminated the charge.

 

Why can't we post something on a larger scale? I mean, does anyone know how PayPal got started? What niche they fill? What are their motivations? Are they just a way to make E-Bay more difficult/easy? I don't see any reason for them to be. Everybody has credit cards, or do they? Do they have an additional charge to the merchant over and above what the credit card companies charge when they are both involved?

When I talked to the guy at PayPal he knew it was on American Express because he referenced the fact as we talked. Yet he didn't suggest I do what I did, call AE and cancel the charge. I guess in my limited view of life, I just see PayPal as a pile of s..t in the path of progress instead of a legitimate piece of the puzzle.

 

I found this on Google:
"PayPal is the most widely used service of its kind. However, a number of users have had frustrating situations with PayPal authorities. A controversial aspect of PayPal is that they have a policy and history of closing accounts and withholding funds for reasons that they will not disclose. Another controversial aspect is that PayPal is not subject to normal banking regulations, which means that users do not have many of the legal safeguards they would with conventional banks."
Also, there have been complaints about complaint resolution which I guess is my main beef. Since they are not subject to normal banking laws, there are bound to be problems.

I also found out that their business story is an amazing business example. But the real question to me is are they mucking up customers more than they should?

 

Okay, my final post on this. I didn't get the answers I wanted here so I have continued to Google this. My final conclusion is that PayPal came about to fill very legitimate business needs, and was founded by some really forward thinking guys, but the fact that they are not regulated by banking laws has resulted in their not being a net benefit for the consumer on a number of occasions.

 

Mucho thanks to Hybrid_Dave. What a web site. Anyone checking it out, if you want to really see something include in your visit to the site the video from CBS.

I guess I softened too quickly. When the lady on the video, who had used EBay to sell her art work, finally had her account unfrozen, $1400 was gone and PayPal will give her no explanation. In spite of the mass of info implying that PayPal may be crooked, I still don't believe they were, especially after being bought out by EBay. I believe they are just a BAD idea.