PayPal problems

[Mr Allen]

Topic.

Every month, usually on or around the 22nd, I pay $9.99 to Singsnap.com for unlocking all the Gold songs to sing, but the payment from my PayPal account often fails even though I budget for the monthly subscription to make sure there's enough on my card to cover it.

I've tried changing the payment card on my account, and that seems to have cleared it up as they're going to try again to take payment tomorrow, but what do I do if it fails again?

I have Googled the problem.

I am considering cancelling the Gold subscription due to the fact the recorder doesn't work in Google Chrome browser due to a security issue.

 

[xudo]

I would first contact PayPal. They may be able to tell you why the payment sometimes fails. I have found them incredibly helpful when I have had a problem in the past.

 

[Mr Allen]

Problem is, the price every month varies depending on the exchange rate between the Pound and the Dollar at the time, so sometimes if I've had an expensive month it might fail because of lack of funds, but as I said I do try and make sure there's enough to cover it.

 

[Judge]

IMO the only hedge you can establish between the rising British Pound and the US Dollar is to keep much more money in your PayPal account to begin with. Not simply enough to cover monthly transactions.

From what I see in the financial news the British Pound isn't likely to stabilize up or down any time soon.

As for all of Google's problems and limitations relative to their browser and OS, you're stuck with them as long as you remain "married" to their intended low-cost hardware and software platform.

The only real choices I think you have are to either to accept such limitations as most Chromebook users probably do, or begin saving money to buy a hardware and software platform that actually meets your appetite for technology.

 

[Mr Allen]

I just had 2 emails from PayPal and Singsnap, they tried to take payment again and it's failed! I need to contact my Bank about my card, because it failed on Amazon last week when I tried to buy a book, I had to use my other card.

However, at the current exchange rate of 88p to the Dollar, there's more than enough in my account to cover a $10 subscription.

Anyway I Googled the UK phone number for PayPal earlier, rang 'em up and contrary to what @xudo said, they couldn't have been much less helpful IMO.

 

[Mr Allen]

IMO the only hedge you can establish between the rising British Pound and the US Dollar is to keep much more money in your PayPal account to begin with. Not simply enough to cover monthly transactions.

From what I see in the financial news the British Pound isn't likely to stabilize up or down any time soon.

As for all of Google's problems and limitations relative to their browser and OS, you're stuck with them as long as you remain "married" to their intended low-cost hardware and software platform.

The only real choices I think you have are to either to accept such limitations as most Chromebook users probably do, or begin saving money to buy a hardware and software platform that actually meets your appetite for technology.

As much as I would love to purchase a Windows PC, Laptop or Desktop, my IT Expert Brother says Windows is too much of a risk nowadays for viruses and Malware and refuses to offer technical support if I get one so I'm kind of stuck with the Chromebook because I need his support.

I would still have PayPal problems on ANY OS though so it makes no odds.

 

[Judge]

First and foremost, you've posted before about other issues in the past related to your bank card. Yeah, you need to contact them and determine once and for all what the problem actually is. It would be a shame if your bank account itself has been compromised and no one wants to admit it. And being able to balance your account on a regular basis may also help in avoiding losing track of any funds going in or out of your account. Something most people don't do, often to their own detriment at some point.

Blaming various links in the chain of purchases or soliciting for help here remains a waste of time if in fact your account was compromised at the outset. Equally any time you make an online transaction there's always the possibility of your personal data being taken, with or without proper security protocols. No matter what operating system your computer uses. Don't depend on ChromeBook alone to save you from becoming a hacking victim.

Deductive logic. Stay away from online transactions altogether if you cannot resolve such issues, and always be cognizant of the limitations of your computer. You seem to have endless problems with technology. Time to seriously consider why for your own peace of mind.

 

[Mr Allen]

my SingSnap account has been cancelled apparently, by them.

I just had an email and I was literally like, WTF?! Anyway I posted a topic about an hour ago in their "Website Suggestions" section about negating PayPal completely and paying by Debit/Credit card and they offer that service already apparently so I set up auto-renewing payment on my Debit card, whether it'll work I don't know.

 

[Judge]

my SingSnap account has been cancelled apparently, by them.

I just had an email and I was literally like, WTF?! Anyway I posted a topic about an hour ago in their "Website Suggestions" section about negating PayPal completely and paying by Debit/Credit card and they offer that service already apparently so I set up auto-renewing payment on my Debit card, whether it'll work I don't know.

That's really bad when a vendor cancels your credit. You need to run- not walk to your bank and attempt to trace the source of all your problems in sequential order.

To determine if there's some kind of "bottleneck" with legitimate funds, or whether your account is being siphoned from either at the bank or along the way online.

 

[Mr Allen]

That's really bad when a vendor cancels your credit. You need to run- not walk to your bank and attempt to trace the source of all your problems in sequential order.

To determine if there's some kind of "bottleneck" with legitimate funds, or whether your account is being siphoned from either at the bank or along the way online.

Both my Parents have authority to speak to my Bank regarding my account due to me being Aspie and not having the required patience to talk to the Bank's Foreign call centre or to them over the counter.

 

[Judge]

Both my Parents have authority to speak to my Bank regarding my account due to me being Aspie and not having the required patience to talk to the Bank's Foreign call centre or to them over the counter.

Don't expect the bank to go over every transaction in your account. That's something that MUST be done on your end. Whether you or your parents, one of you must painstakingly determine if your money is being effectively siphoned off somewhere and not specifically accounted for.

Which could well explain the difference between the money you think you have, and a lack of funds determined by your creditors.

In the most literal manner, "do the math". This is where you must start such a process of troubleshooting rather than just blame other entities in a chain of financial transactions. A pain in the arse for sure, but there you have it.

 

[Mr Allen]

It's not just PayPal either, the card I use for online purchases failed on Amazon last week, I had to use the other card and account, which strictly speaking I shouldn't use as it's the one from which all my Household bills go out on such as rent, gas/electricity/TV License/Sky TV/Internet provider.

 

[pjcnet]

Paypal are less than great and so are their customer service, I've had similar issues when I was paying a hosting company every month, every now and again it would fail for no apparent reason and I'd have to pay them manually when I found my service suspended even when there was enough money in my account. Their customer service is 90%+ automated and even if you get as far as sending a custom message the reply is nearly always a standard reply. You can call their customer services by phoning 0870 042 0845 or preferably use their freephone helpline number on 0800 358 7911, you can speak to a real person if you are clever enough to negotiate an awful menu system that does absolutely everything possible to get you to deal with an automated system instead, I seem to remember giving up and repeatedly spamming 0 constantly ignoring all messages until it finally put me through to an actual person, but I'm not sure whether this still works as it was ages ago. Be prepared to wait in a long queue for up to 20 minutes at times, but I think they work long hours and could be there even now on Sunday evening in the UK.

Best of luck!

PS: See http://www.paypalsucks.com/ and read why Paypal isn't as good as many people believe. I suppose they're okay until something goes wrong, that's when many realise how s**t they really are. Also no-one should ever trust them with a significant Paypal balance as they seem to think it's their money if they decide to suspend your account which may not even be your fault, they have even put numerous businesses into very serious financial difficulty while they can't access their own money, pay bills or take Paypal payments. There are many shocking stories and complaints.

 

[Judge]

It's not just PayPal either, the card I use for online purchases failed on Amazon last week, I had to use the other card and account, which strictly speaking I shouldn't use as it's the one from which all my Household bills go out on such as rent, gas/electricity/TV License/Sky TV/Internet provider.

Deductive reasoning. If the problem transcends several vendors over different cards, it's more likely that the issue resides with your bank. Not the vendors- or the cards or even perhaps PayPal.

Again, begin your troubleshooting efforts with the bank. And be prepared to balance your account so you have a proper point of reference in determining where and what the real problem may be. Try to get a bank statement as soon as possible so you can attempt to mathematically reconcile what has gone into your account and what should have gone out of it based all your known expenditures.

 

[Mr Allen]

Paypal are less than great and so are their customer service, I've had similar issues when I was paying a hosting company every month, every now and again it would fail for no apparent reason and I'd have to pay them manually when I found my service suspended even when there was enough money in my account. Their customer service is 90%+ automated and even if you get as far as sending a custom message the reply is nearly always a standard reply. You can call their customer services by phoning 0870 042 0845 or preferably use their freephone helpline number on 0800 358 7911, you can speak to a real person if you are clever enough to negotiate an awful menu system that does absolutely everything possible to get you to deal with an automated system instead, I seem to remember giving up and repeatedly spamming 0 constantly ignoring all messages until it finally put me through to an actual person, but I'm not sure whether this still works as it was ages ago. Be prepared to wait in a long queue for up to 20 minutes at times, but I think they work long hours and could be there even now on Sunday evening in the UK.

Best of luck!

PS: See http://www.paypalsucks.com/ and read why Paypal isn't as good as many people believe, although I suppose they're okay until something goes wrong, that's when many realise how s**t they are.

I've pretty much stopped using eBay because it insists on PayPal for payment, which I can kind of see their point, I used to pay for everything by cheque when I first started on eBay years ago, and there was more than 1 time the cheques went "walkies" in the Post, so I was forced to set up a PayPal account for online payment for buying and selling.

 

[Mr Allen]

This morning I bought an item on eBay UK with my PayPal account and it went through fine, so I suspect the problem is because SingSnap.com is International.

I've asked on the PayPal Community anyway.

 

[SDRSpark]

This is an old thread so I want to ask if anyone have had problems with paypal lately? Is it an ok option to pay with or is it a hellish nightmare of finacial stress?

I very rarely have issues with it. One time years ago I had an issue, it was because a non-functional receipt/invoice was generated. I inquired with a vendor as to why my product hadn't shipped yet and they said I hadn't paid. I showed my receipt and they pointed out that the number was just a bunch of zeros...oops. I hadn't known that. So they invoiced me again, I paid and it was fine. That was over a decade ago.

Granted, I use credit cards through PayPal 99% of the time (extra layer of protection there, if there's an issue the credit card company will go to bat for you) and I use Paypal as a buyer, not a seller. I have received funds from friends with no issues however.

 

[maycontainthunder]

I haven't used Paypal for a little while. Their signin system was changed to having to get a code over the phone to sign in... very quickly got fed up with that!

 

[SDRSpark]

I haven't used Paypal for a little while. Their signin system was changed to having to get a code over the phone to sign in... very quickly got fed up with that!

A lot of places are going to that. I haven't seen it on PayPal yet.

I hate it, I understand WHY they do it but I have a hard enough time remembering login info without having to jump through extra hoops.

I think peak 2021 for me was being unable to complete a purchase because I couldn't prove I wasn't a robot at checkout.

 

[Progster]

This is an old thread so I want to ask if anyone have had problems with paypal lately? Is it an ok option to pay with or is it a hellish nightmare of finacial stress?

I use it all the time and don't have a problem with it.