Hi all,
We are writing this post because, despite continued efforts on our part, Paypal have still not resolved an issue that cropped up for us on 15 May and that affects some of you, our members.
If you are an upgraded StatCounter member and you pay us via Paypal, please be aware that you may not receive your StatCounter invoice for some time. This is because Paypal have been unable to provide us with a complete payments file since 15 May.
While we know that all services can experience “bumps” from time-to-time, there is no excuse for repeatedly ignoring your customers over a prolonged period of time.
The apparent absence of concern or interest from Paypal with regard to this issue has severely damaged the reputation of this company in our eyes. Our support tickets to Paypal are answered with a generic “I’m sorry but we don’t have an update for you at this time” – this is simply not acceptable!
Note that to compensate for the poor service being provided by Paypal, we will be manually (!!) creating as many invoices as possible over the coming days, however, we estimate that we will be unable to create invoices for approximately 10% of our Paypal subscribers until such time as Paypal gets its act together.
We are considering removing Paypal as a payment option entirely for new subscribers to StatCounter due to:
- The time and costs that we will incur as a result of the problems with Paypal;
- But in particular as a result of the inconvenience it causes to you our members
Since wasting time and resources on Paypal issues, means we have less time to devote to you and to improving our service… is it time to show Paypal the door?
Update: To avoid confusion we would like to clarify that, we have, of course, been in regular phone contact with Paypal in addition to submitting email tickets. Assistance has not been forthcoming via either contact method.
Update 2: In an effort to make contact with Paypal via another avenue we posted on the Paypal Developer Forum yesterday. There has still been no response from Paypal although it appears that other tickets posted after our one have been answered.
I’d seriously recommend Google Cart / Payments. I too had many problems with PayPal. Google is just a painless and quick way of resolving the PayPal list of problems.
Its time that PayPal got a serious kick in their never regions and people realise that their are better options brought by people who don’t have their head shove up each others backsides (ie PayPal & EBay)
Never had a problem with them – fingers crossed!
PayPal has been nothing but a headache for me personally. They’ve gone so far as to defraud me of money via reversals on legitimate sales transactions regardless of what documents or information I send. It’s a joke the strangle hold they can put on your web business, and I learned this first hand.
As an upgraded StatCounter subscriber my vote is for showing PayPal the door. I’ll gladly sign up for whatever other billing service StatCounter chooses to go with once you dump PayPal. I trust Aodhan and the crew at SC will find a quality billing alternative that actually cares about it’s customers.
– Colin McGrath
While the PayPalSucks website may have an inflammatory name, the owner of the site did meticulous research in his arguments against PayPal.
The reality is, based on PayPal’s Terms of Service agreement, they can freeze your account, and your money, for as long as they want, any time they want, for any reason they want. Their TOS is a legal nightmare.
The company is incredibly unethical, sleazy, and underhanded. Has anyone ever wondered why it takes five days or more for funds to clear? In this age of instant electronic transfers, it’s ridiculous. But holding on to your money for five days nets them five days worth of interest… multiplied by millions and millions.
The owner of PayPalSucks also has listed a very detailed, well-researched list of alternatives to PayPal, including pros and cons.
I guess what I’m trying to say is this: I recommend Statcounter to every single solitary webmaster I meet. Not only because the program is truly superior — but because I have tremendous admiration for the owner of the company, the people who work here, and the utterly honest, ethical way Statcounter does business. I try to run my business that way, too.
Here in the US, sadly, we have a great many companies that are all about greed, dishonesty, and sleaze. PayPal is one of these. I choose to support companies like Statcounter. Your company seems to understand that it’s possible to make money, good choices, and do the right thing, too.
I think moving away from PayPal would be yet another good choice.
StatCounter Team Response:
Hi Barbara,
On behalf of Aodhan and all the StatCounter Team I’d like to thank you for your kind comments and support. You words have brightened our day amidst all this Paypal trouble!
Many thanks for taking the time to comment.
StatCounterJen
I’ve been using PayPal since their inception (I was an X.com user first) and I’ve never had any issues with them whatever. I use them primarily as my bank. As a freelancer, my clients that don’t pay by direct deposit, pay me via PayPal. The only issue I had with them was MY fault by not having a valid phone number on file and when they tried to contact me about a potentially suspicious activity on my PayPal Debit Card, they suspended my debit card until I contacted them with the correct number. I use them for all of my website functions that require payments and my PayPal debit card is my primary source of payments. They have always been top notch at answering my queries, usually within 12 hours.
I have to completely agree. These guys conned me out of $1400 ! I hate them to their core. Evil starts with an E. Sometimes the E is BIG and then sometimes it is in small letters (eBay).
I think they are the most EVIL corp in this world. Probably the worst in the entire Universe 😉
Ken
I don’t do business with PayPal. That’s cost me a few advertisers for sure on one site. Recently, I did a story for a freelance client Beneath the Brand about PayPal’s security issues. And I don’t use some affiliate advertising because they will only pay you through PP. I think the company has problems that aren’t being addressed. I also get frequent SPAM/phishing mail re PayPal and I know it’s fraudulent because I don’t use the service.
On GoogleCart, I don’t know anything about it, but Google has consistently delivered quality service on everything I’ve used through them and it’s all been free.
All I can say is I hope you work it out. You want to talk to media and be written about, let me know. I have an upgraded account with StatCounter and as a matter of fact, I wrote about your service and my positive experience about it in my regular column at Web Savvy for The Writer magazine.
Best regards, Kay B. Day
StatCounter Team Response:
Many thanks for your support Kay – it’s appreciated!
Just finished a freelance project.
Client tried to pay promptly.
PayPal blocked payment for no reason.
A week of headaches and phonecalls and expense, finally got the cash.
Seems to happen about 15% of transactions.
They suck.
A competitor WILL kill them within 5 years if they don’t shape up.
GoogleCart looks promising.
I HAD ben using PayPal to process payments on my company website for about a year. Then, one day, they shut my account access down. I couldn’t withdraw money from my own account. I couldn’t transfer between accounts. I COULD still add funds to my PayPal account from my bank. It should be noted, that while PayPal had shut down my access, they were continuing to take their fees from my funds!
After THREE months, 7 phones calls and literally countless emails back and forth, my access was restored. It turns out that the problems were due to someone miskeying something on their end. They got my SSN crossed with my husbands name. No matter what document I sent them, it was not the right one. I asked repeatedly for a supervisor, but was told that I would have to tell the same story to the person who answered the phone, and then go to a supervisor. I wanted to tape record it and play it into the phone. There seemed to be no shortcut. I got constant emails from them stating that they were “reviewing my documents”. After a week of review, I would be denied with no explaination.
I hope to never have the misfortune of dealing with PayPal again. There were no appologies, no refunds of their fees and nothing but headache. I run a small business from my house and they were able to shut me down for three months with a single misplaced keystroke.
Thanks PayPal for all your sincere help and great customer support!
Ever see the website www.paypalsucks.com, you’ll find many unhappy people there. I too use them when I have no choice, but I have been screwed royally by them! They could care less about you as a customer. Owned now by ebay, they corner payments on ebay and will not allow you to use or even type Google Checkout in your listing. I love Google Checkout, so far I have no complaints about them.
You can call Paypal till your blue in the face….you won’t get anything done becuae they JUST DON’T CARE!!!!
It is worth asking: Have you called PayPal on the phone yet?
Their “Contact Us” page provides you with a temporary web PIN to get through to support faster since they can verify your identity. I know Statcounter is not based in the USA, but if it is that important, I believe an international call is not such a big step. Email support tickets usually won’t ever get the same attention as phone contact.
Here is their phone number:
“For general PayPal account inquiries, please call us toll-free at: 1-888-221-1161.”
StatCounter Team Response:
Hi SC User,
Thanks for the information. The problem is that our first contact with Paypal *was* by phone and we have spoken to them several times since – but still no joy I’m afraid. More info on how the case progressed is here.
I’ve been using paypal to accept client payments for the past 7 years and I have yet to have a single problem. There was only a minor hiccup when I got married, but a simple phone call cleared it up. I’d suggest if you are not making headway with their online customer service, pick up the phone and talk to them.
PayPal is awful… I have been using them to process my payments and invoices and I run into SO many problems! You can fax them every damn document and piece of information they ask for, and it’s never enough. All you get is some bull shit auto responder e-mail telling you they are “processesing documents”.
Paypal is going to come crashing down, if they don’t shape up and a competitor with a better service comes along.
Years ago the undispuded nr 1 credit card biller was Ibill, their customer service was awfull and their arrogance legendary. People started to flock to the better service of CCBILL and Ibill went under.
Paypal keeps freezing my account, if I use it outside my home country, how insane is this in 2008? And their customer service doesn’t even want to take into account this complaint. What a contrast with my bank (Fortis), I pointed out a feature that was lacking from their online banking, they wrote me back saying it was a good point and they’ll probably have it with the next update.
I’m rooting for Epassporte
If only some of the mega international corporate types would value their customers like they value breathing. Don’t they know their customers like StatCounter are their life’s blood?
StatCounter users who are also PayPal users know they need to verify banking info to establish an account. PayPal is not infallible and 100% secure. I have had an account breach once and thank God it was stopped before too much damage was done.
However, StatCounter users here in the U.S.A. please take my word for my experience, paying using your visa card is fine. I believe my payment was cleared even faster than going via PayPal (24 hours, I think.)
I have been dealing with PayPal for about three years for payments from clients for two businesses, as well as my own payments for various services, and in all that time, I have had only one minor glitch, which ended up being the bank’s responsibility. It did take a bit of hanging on the telephone to get things sorted out, but even though it wasn’t their problem, PayPal refunded me the service charge.
Ebay on the other hand, is a different story. I won’t deal with them to purchase or sell anything any longer. Had one very ratty situation with one of their online merchants, which went to arbitration and ended up costing me money I shouldn’t have had to pay. So Ebay will never see my business again, on either side of the sales counter.
Since at this point, I don’t use PayPal for Statscounter, it isn’t an issue for me here. If it comes to the point of needing to pay at some point, I’d prefer to use PayPal, rather than to have to set up yet another account through a different online merchant service. Every new account opened just improves the odds that someone will capture your private info and exploit it.
That’s my take on things.
Sheila
I’d seriously recommend Google Cart / Payments. I too had many problems with PayPal. Google is just a painless and quick way of resolving the PayPal list of problems.
Its time that PayPal got a serious kick in their never regions and people realise that their are better options brought by people who don’t have their head shove up each others backsides (ie PayPal & EBay)
Just my 2 pence worth.
Mike
Sounds like another story to go on http://www.paypalsucks.com/
Here’s an alternative service: http://www.merchantinc.com/
I don’t know how good they are. I’ve never used them, but I saw the link on paypaysucks.com.
I have been keeping track of the uproar on around the web about PayPal’s PR ever since Techcrunch posted a lenghthy account of what was going on !
Ironically a few weeks ago I did recommend a friend to PayPal because of it’s security.
Now, I’m hoping there there is a similar yet reliable service out there for online shoppers out there because personally I don’t like to use a credit card.
Regards
Yes, its time!!!
These people have harassed people from all over the world. They always they have higher authority over their customers. They dont listen to customers and always have a impression that their customers are some sort of theives. They blocked my account twice and just 2 days ago they freeze my account and said they will not be able to restore, i gave them every sort of document they asked. They have no reason why they should freeze my account. When i asked them the reason for freezing my account, they said its a threat to other customers of paypal.. sheesh. They hold up our payments too. Iam a small time businessman and cant take paypal to court. i have husband and kids too..
I hope they burn in hell for what they did to people around the world.
sorry if i being emotional and sorry for my broken english!!