Paypal Issue: Limiting my account – The Process

So last month, I get an email letting me know my paypal account has been limited. Odd I thought. For what?

My last issue was with Bank of America and someone stealing my identity to make purchases. It was a very, very tough battle…but I came out victorious. My persistence in bugging the hell out of the investigators paid off – I asked the right questions. And guess what? I never got a clear answer. Off to Paypal…

So I log into my account to see what the deal was, where I was immediately greeted by this statement:

Your account access has been limited for the following reason(s):

May 19, 2010: Recent account activity has made it necessary for us to collect additional verification information.

Hmmm…let’s see here, let’s have a look-see. Ok, May 19th, 2010. Received payment of less than $5.00 Mind you, the “activity” on that day (the payment) was not astonishingly high nor different from any other payments I get. My account is in great standing, I am a premier member and verified. But I guess $5.00 is alarming to Paypal. Well…fine, I’ll just click that “Resolution Center” text link to fix this. Easy right?

First, look at the top two boxes. “What can I do while my account access is limited?” compared to “What can’t I do while my account access is limited?” Essentially, what they are saying is – sorry, you can just keep putting money in our pockets, we mean your account, but can’t use it. So….what good is my Paypal account if I cannot:
1) Send Money
2) Request Money
3) Sure I can accept payments…but you CANNOT take out / use ANY money from the accepted payment.

Sigh…eh, stupid. Whatever, I’ll just move on. I’ll just do what needs to be done; it’s probably a minor mistake or something. I’ve been using Paypal for years now, they’ll help me out. So I click on “Confirm Location” it gives me the chance to update/edit my phone number so they can call me and give me a verification number to enter and resolve that section. Cool beans and simple. I enter the number and hit save…but my number is not saved for some reason. It then moves forward saying it is calling my number (old one that is now defunct; not the new one I entered where I tried to save) and basically, I get screwed. Now Paypal is sending a letter to my current address to “confirm” everything. It is now June 8, 2010. No letter.

So, “resolve issue with related accounts” I go. It states I have a balance on a previous account? A very old account? Ok, I will look into. I tried logging into it and then hit a wall – I can’t see what the freak they are talking about! Because they won’t let me in that account cause it’s limited too! Really?

Ahhhhh!!!! “Check email for additional required documentation” is next. Two options here, send in a bunch of documents or contact them. The “documents” are as follows:

Photo Identification (Driver’s License, passport, Military Identification Card), utility bill, bank account statement, and credit card statement.

Oh my baby jesus. Are they kidding me? ALL that? I chose to contact them. When contacting them, I specifically addressed each issue – I even numbered them.They were very general questions, questions that needed answers. After two emails, all I get are your typical CS replies. Replies that do not answer any of my questions; all they do is basically regurgitate what I already know. My very first question was addressing my recent account activity. What exactly was the recent account activity that made Paypal limit my account? Paypal would know. But they couldn’t tell me.

So I am trying my luck, especially since I work in the digital marketing/social sphere. Twitter Paypal here I come. I hope Paypal answers some questions here to help me out. Bank of America finally helped out and concluded that I was NOT responsible for the purchases…that was after the investigator read my blog post and I reached out to BOFA on Twitter…This is how I feel right now about Paypal:

We’ll wait and see what Paypal says. Paypal, please change my mind here. I really like monkeys.