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Paypal is doing my head in...Aaaargh
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15 posts in this topic

Ok this is a strange one, even for Paypal, after dealing with them for ever... I'm now totally clueless.

Maybe some enlightened soul here has had the same misfortune and can give me some advice or at least a comforting pat on the shoulder.

 I'm afraid due to a technical error I made two payments twice.

I tried to pay $345 to a boardie using my Visa card. I got an error message from Paypal that I couldn't pay using this card and had to try another source of payment. So I tried with my Mastercard (both cards have been on file for years and all info is up to date) and that one was denied as well.

I was forced to make the payment using my bank account...and that went through without a hitch.

Ten minutes later I needed to pay a cell phone bill and again went through paypal and tried my Visa card again, this time for €15. Again the card wouldn't take and again I paid using my bank account. Payment now went through.

I got a mail from paypal telling me "Your card issuer declined your 15,00 EUR; please contact your card issuer). I did not get this email for my payment of $345 a few minutes earlier. So I phone my bank and they tell me that both payments from my Visa card have gone through to Paypal...and then a second time from my bank account. They also tell me they can't put a stop on the Visa payments.

When I go to my paypal account there is no trace at all of the payments I made using the Visa card, only the ones I did using my bank account. But my bank tells me that the Visa payments indeed were paid and will be deducted from my account...and that there is nothing wrong with my card.

I also used two different machines for the two payments, so it can't be a browser/cookie/computer issue on my end.

So this puzzles me..

1) Why was I unable to pay using two seperate credit cards (Visa and Mastercard) when both are fine according to the bank.

2) How come the payments with the Visa card did go through, paypal told me they were unable to process the card and there is no trace of them to be found in my paypal account.

3) Why did I get a "card declined" email for one of the payments and not for the other, even though both went through. I checked with the parties I paid and both only got paid once, even though according to my bank I paid twice.

 

And of course How do I get my $345 and my €15 back, as they don't appear on my paypal account as being paid, but my bank assures me that the payments using the Visa card have gone through.

Oh and Paypal helpdesk here stops at 5 PM...and I made the transactions after that. If nobody here has a clue, I'll hopefully be able to contact them tomorrow, even though they are only open during the hours that I'm at work. :(

 

Edited by chromium
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I would consider contacting PayPal first and asking about the transactions and if they give the run around call back the bank, consider calling it fraud and file charge back on the CC. The bank draft could be harder , but if it too has not processed as it should again sounds like a fraudulent transaction.  Banks will try to deny errors, but fraud they have to address. 

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49 minutes ago, onlyweaknesskryptonite said:

I would consider contacting PayPal first and asking about the transactions and if they give the run around call back the bank, consider calling it fraud and file charge back on the CC. The bank draft could be harder , but if it too has not processed as it should again sounds like a fraudulent transaction.  Banks will try to deny errors, but fraud they have to address. 

Yeah that’s the plan. Give PP the chance to put it right, if not then I’m calling my bank again, ask them to send me the form to submit to Visa and then let Visa get me my money back which I know they will. I don’t need the bank drafts reimbursed as they show up in my PP account and reached their destination. Only thing that bothers me is that PayPal could close my account once I sick Visa on them. 

Still very strange that these two payments just disappeared into thin air and I am now weary to pay anything through PP, last two times I got a warning my cc was no good and the purchase couldn’t be completed but the money was taken from my card anyway without me knowing it. 

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When was this? Occasionally this will happen, but the phantom payments will drop off the system in a few days, usually within 5 business days. Either way, not much you can do right now. When you see it's properly generated, you'll have a transaction ID. Present that to Paypal, and they'll have something to track. If not them, you will be able to follow it up with your card provider. Your money is not just lost in the aether. There is a way of getting it back. It's just probably too early, as I'm assuming it's only just happened? 

If the people you're speaking to are reluctant to help, or attempt to push it back onto you, politely ask to push things higher. You aren't the first person to have this happen. It can be solved. 

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First, you should start a thread.  Check. 

Second, I wouldn't go gangbusters (an american euphemism for headstrong enthusiasm and action.  You're welcome, furriner.) on filing for fraud with Visa just yet.  Give it a few days and see whether it: 1) shows up in Paypal; or 2) (more likely) drops off your bank records.  That is, are you sure the bank isn't seeing an authorization.  I've seen a number of Visa charges (outside Paypal) that were declined by the Euro websites that appeared in my bank's records as pending transactions.  (I just wanted to use a parenthetical one more time). 

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47 minutes ago, NP_Gresham said:

Should there be some sharing of personal information to the boards?

I have all his deets already.  But the trifecta could involve a home address, collection inventory and a vacation schedule. 

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Seeing as the Swiss are getting involved as well, it's maybe prudent to write a follow-up.

So I contacted Paypal at 9 AM this morning, less than 5 minutes on hold and the nice gentleman on the phone insisted that

A) The payments didn't go through

B) My bank was wrong.

Took me a while to convince him that my bank was not lying to me and I got kicked up to his supervisor. He also told me that my bank "might" be wrong and what they were seeing was probably "payment pending" (it was not) and that the fault was with my bank as they had declined the payment from my credit card. I managed to keep a cool head, mainly due to my training of playing " Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Spock " and told him his logic was wrong as not only was my Visa card denied from bank A, but also my Mastercard from bank B. And the odds of both happening at the same time would clear out a Vegas casino in minutes. Confronted with the logic he took the only action he was trained for...and put me on hold.

A few minutes later I spoke to a third person who told me that Paypal had been having issues with all credit card companies for the past day or so and they were taking steps with the various CCCs to "put things right" and he advised me not to use Paypal with a credit card until things got sorted out...wow someone actually admitted it was their fault. Of course he couldn't tell me when the issue would be fixed but told me that yes, my money had been processed from my Visa account but it would never be accepted by Paypal and it would be automatically reimbursed to me.

So right after this (yes I skipped work this morning) I called my bank again. Had to tell the whole story from top to bottom again and was told again that they could see that both Visa payments went through (so not "pending") on their side and told me to download a form to contest the payments and send it back to them as "Paypal isn't to be trusted". He then tried to get rid of me, but I felt like ditching work some more so I asked him why he was seeing the payments on his side but I couldn't see them when I logged into my Visa (bank) account...oh boy this was a whole new ball of wax. He asked me if I was sure I couldn't see the transactions and then..put me on hold.

When he came back he told me that if they could see the transactions and I couldn't that it meant that the transactions either hadn't reached Paypal or would never reach Paypal, or were not "accepted by Paypal" and if this was still the case on Friday my card wouldn't be charged and the phantom charges would magically disappear from their end as well. So I asked him if it wouldn't be a better idea to wait it out for 5 days before I used the nuclear option ?

It took him a while but in the end he agreed that if the charges do not show up on my online account before next Monday, all would be well and there would be no need to start contesting the charges.

So there you have it, I've switched from playing "Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Spock" to Patience and hopefully all will turn out well without a single bit of human interaction.

Edited by chromium
Metaphysical Paypal Payments (patent pending)
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11 hours ago, Mecha_Fantastic said:

When was this? Occasionally this will happen, but the phantom payments will drop off the system in a few days, usually within 5 business days. Either way, not much you can do right now. When you see it's properly generated, you'll have a transaction ID. Present that to Paypal, and they'll have something to track. If not them, you will be able to follow it up with your card provider. Your money is not just lost in the aether. There is a way of getting it back. It's just probably too early, as I'm assuming it's only just happened? 

If the people you're speaking to are reluctant to help, or attempt to push it back onto you, politely ask to push things higher. You aren't the first person to have this happen. It can be solved. 

You were right on the money (thumbsu Too bad it's my money, but I'm now confident I'll get it back.

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2 hours ago, chromium said:

So there you have it, I've switched from playing "Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Spock" to Patience and hopefully all will turn out well without a single bit of human interaction.

I suspected I could goad you into a wall of text.  Next, Professor Falken, how about a nice game of:

101792.jpg

Edited by Transplant
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9 minutes ago, 1webslinger said:

Call J. G. Wentworth, it’s your money and you want it now!

That commercial comes on all the time on the buzzr channel lol 

Along with shriners hospital...

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