Paypal Problems in the Philippines 8

Before I go deep on the things my friend and I found out about Paypal's limited access account, let's go back to the original topic which is what happened to my friend after his account was frozen because of Paypal's limited access notification to him.

So we contacted the seller from where my friend bought the item. The seller confirmed that there is a problem.

--- On Fri, 7/9/10, xxx wrote:

From: xxx
Subject: Re: Fw: Re: Welcome, xxx!
To: "xxx"
Date: Friday, 9 July, 2010, 10:20 PM
Something is wrong with the transaction.
Please check your paypal account and the bank's credit card connected to the paypal account.

Paypal said you did not authorize this transaction...

Again, it's better to OPEN first your paypal account.
Then call up the bank regarding the transaction on your card amounting to P xxx.
Please DO NOT use logic in this. Just do as I say above.

Thanks,
xxx

At this time, we cannot figure out where the money is. According to our bank, our credit card was surely deducted for the amount we paid while the seller also claims that he did not receive the money because our Paypal transaction was not authorized. My friend went back to his Paypal account and read for the nth time the instructions he found in the Resolution Center Tab. By the way, this tab is found in between the History and Profile Tab.

In a nutshell, my friend was asked to do the following things:
1. set up security questions
2, verify proof of name and address - sent a scan of billing statements
3. authorize transaction - which means to verify that the buyer (my friend)was really buying something from the seller
4. confirmation of credit card - a verification code of Paypal sent to the credit card company plus 1 dollar payment that is refundable
5. a password change

My friend was able to get all the information ready by July 13, 2010. It took him four days to prepare the documents, pester his credit card company for the Paypal verification code and research on what was safe from him to do. He knows it is inevitable to send personal documents but it is necessary to verify his name and address. So he chose to send the billing statement of his credit card company. He also added a billing statement of his telephone bill just to show that he has other regular subscription as well. He did not scan personal identification anymore such as government-issued ID's. There were two options to choose from to send these documents: either you can attach the scanned documents to the website or you can fax it. My friend opted for the first one. It was just like attaching a photo in Facebook. Although if the file size of the picture is too big it will take time to attach it or may even result to several failed attempts of attaching the document. There is no advice from the Paypal site as to the limit of the photo size should be but just the same we lowered the resolution because it was taking more than 10 minutes to attach one page of document.

After completing the five tasks Paypal asked my friend to do, it was shown that we have completed four out five of the steps successfully. It shows a label "Completed" beside each task. The only thing that was not completely resolved was the verification of the name and address. For this, my friend and I thought that it is only logical that they cannot verify right away so we just informed the seller that we are trying to resolved the verification process and to extend more patience regarding the matter.

There is also an opened case regarding the transaction. When my friend clicked on the open case, Paypal listed the things it did for us to contact the seller. Unfortunately, I cannot attach a printscreen of the process because it will divulge personal information but let me just summarize it here.

Date Actor Action Details
Jul 15, 2010 PayPal Transaction reversed and case closed
Jul 15, 2010 PayPal Email sent to seller
Jul 12, 2010 Seller Response received from seller
Jul 12, 2010 PayPal Email sent to seller
Jul 10, 2010 PayPal Email sent to seller

By the time I am writing this letter, this case have jumped several steps. No worries, for those waiting for specific details I will gladly provide that in my subsequent blogs.

Basically, what I want to show here is that while Paypal was contacting me it was also trying to contact my seller. As you can see, e-mails were sent on July 10 and 12. My friend bought the item July 8 and was able to complete the tasks to be able to lift his limited access account by July 13. Paypal noted that the verification of the name and address may take a few days (we cannot remember the exact number of days). Hence, it is the only pending task.

So at this time all we have to do is wait. While waiting, my friend poked here in there in his Paypal account just to really familiarize himself on the site. He found out this useful information.

Steps to Resolve Your Case

Unable to determine case status

At this time, we are unable to determine which steps you have completed. For an overview of the dispute resolution process, please review the "Steps" on the left.

Step 1 - PayPal identifies transaction for review

PayPal is constantly monitoring site activity and reviewing transactions. This payment has been selected for review and is being investigated.

Step 2 - PayPal reviews transaction

PayPal reviews the details of transaction and may request additional information from you.

Step 3 - Payment is completed or reversed

Depending on the outcome of the investigation, the payment will be completed or reversed.

(To see past cases you can go to the Resolution Center tab, click the drop down menu of View and choose which case you want to open such as Open cases, closed cases or all cases. I find this tab very very helpful. For this Kudos Paypal for thinking of something like this.)

Step 3 is the most crucial for my friend's case by the way and I will tell you more about it in the next blog. See you then.