How many of you keep tabs on what's going on with your bank account? Do you trust the companies you do online business with to take out only what you authorize? If you don't regularly monitor the activity on your accounts, well, of course you should.
Last month I noticed a Paypal deduction for about $36, but I couldn't recall what it was for. I have to say that the ability to pay after delivery has muddied the waters a bit here, because a Paypal deduction on my bank statement doesn't tell me to whom the money was sent, only that Paypal deducted it. I have to keep my own records, which I do. But I couldn't find neither order receipt nor order confirmation for any such amount.
There was nothing on my Paypal activity webpage, so I became concerned. I filed a suspicious activity case in the Paypal resolution center, received an auto-email reply with a case number, and was told I'd hear back within a certain amount of time.
Two months passed, I'd heard nothing, and there was no record of either open or closed cases on my resolution page. Eventually I found a phone number, punched in my case #, and got a recorded message informing me that in July
2016 I'd made a claim for so many pounds sterling but the case was decided in favor of the seller. HUH????? I looked back through my July 2016 activity, found one purchase I'd made from Great Britain, but for a different amount. However, I'd received the product, was happy with it, and in checking my bank account, they were indeed paid. If I was trying to get my money back I think I would have remembered that and pressed the issue long before a year had passed!
The only way I could protest was to open another case file, but that one has been dismissed as well. I was told I would find more information on my resolution page, but that says I have zero open cases and zero closed cases, so there is no record of any of it. Of course these email notifications come from no-reply email addresses, so there is no way to ask questions.
In browsing complaints on the Paypal community forum, I see increasing complaints of folks feeling scammed. I realize some of these will be sour grapes, but I don't think it's sour grapes to have a legitimate concern about why Paypal helped themselves to money from my account and isn't being forthcoming with enough details to convince me that it was a legitimate deduction. Fortunately I'm only out $36. But it could have been $136 or $336 and there would have been nothing I could do about it, especially since Paypal doesn't need my authorization to do this.
Do you remember when price scanners first hit the stores? People were suspicious of them so stores would give you the item for free if it scanned differently than the price on the shelf. Now I find items regularly scan for higher than the price on the shelf. Sometimes they'll correct it at the cash register for you, sometimes they won't. But that's assuming you catch it.
Another thing that bothers me are those introductory gimmick prices. So many months for one price and then the regular price. Except that the fine print rarely discloses what the regular price is. Charter got us on that one, but with a different twist. If you pay attention to Charter adverts, then you know they offer 12 months discount and then the regular price. With us, the price with up again after our second 12 months at the "regular price." When I called to find out what was going on, I was told that was our agreement, i.e. a second price hike after 24 months. But no where have they ever advertised that, and of course it was all done over the phone so we have no documentation. I think I would have remembered something like that!
And here's one more. Do you keep track of those "authorization holds" placed on your account any time you use a debit or credit card? Usually these are for the exact amount of purchase, but some restaurants, hotels, motels, and gas stations add on anywhere from $25 to $100 or more above the purchase price. We learned about these several years ago when our bank statement showed we'd been overcharged for a motel room. Usually these holds "fall off" when the bank processes them, but sometimes they don't, as in our case. Fortunately Dan was able to get a live person to tend to the problem and we got a refund, but it was a hassle nonetheless.
Folks, are you paying attention? It's so easy to shrug off a little here and a little there, because it's such a battle to correct a problem. No, I'm not hollering "conspiracy," but the larger any system gets, the easier it is for mistakes, glitches, sloppiness, lack of caring, or downright dishonesty to cause problems. And the larger the system, the more layers of bureaucracy get piled on to increase it's ineffectiveness at solving problems. With our entire economic system being reduced to digital numbers on a screen, it's a disaster just waiting to happen.
This is two rants from me within four weeks! I must be getting ornery in my old age. 😁
