[SERIOUS] Suing Paypal [/SERIOUS]

[Siddharth Rout]

Is there anyone from San Jose, California?

Can any one recommend me a good lawyer from there?

[kleinma]

I wouldn't waste my time if I were you. Whatever lawyer you get won't be able to do much against whatever army of lawyers they have. Besides whatever happened to you to make you want to sue them is probably covered somewhere 20 pages deep in the user agreement you accepted when you made your account.

[Siddharth Rout]

They owe me $261.00 which I am not able to withdraw...

[kleinma]

so you have 261 as your paypal balance, but it will not let you withdraw to your linked bank acct?

[Siddharth Rout]

Yes. Paypal is not even letting me register/Link my bank account. I have sent them many emails in the last 8 months but they haven't helped me....

[kleinma]

Can't you just request a check?

[Siddharth Rout]

They don't have that facility. If there is then I am not aware of it...

Let me check their website again...

[kleinma]

Are you actually in California, or are you actually in India like your profile says?

[Siddharth Rout]

I am in India

[kleinma]

I suppose that could have something to do with the limitations/differences you have there. I am sure the site works differently for US only type transactions and bank accounts. I have no idea how international stuff is handled.

[baja_yu]

I'm not sure how it works in the US, but you should be prepared to cover all the costs of the litigation from start, and expect to get it back only after the trial is over, and you actually win. In the other case be prepared to pay their and the court costs too. Not sure if all that is worth $261.

[Siddharth Rout]

I'm not sure how it works in the US, but you should be prepared to cover all the costs of the litigation from start, and expect to get it back only after the trial is over, and you actually win. In the other case be prepared to pay their and the court costs too. Not sure if all that is worth $261.

You have a point... and that is the reason I wanted to take a professional opinion from a lawyer based in Cali.

[Milk]

I doubt $261 would cover much more than a standard letter from a typical lawyer.

Is this is a bank account / paypal issue?? Are they saying you can't have the money or saying that you can't link your paypal account to an Indian bank account?

[honeybee]

Why not just spend the dough on something you need? Paypal is a fairly common payment gateway, so you can pay from this account for any ebay or other purchases.

.

[Siddharth Rout]

Are they saying you can't have the money or saying that you can't link your paypal account to an Indian bank account?

The problem is they are not saying anything...

I have a bank account with 3 major banks and I have tried activating them but it is a problem with Paypal and they are keeping mum about it!!!!

No resolutions have been offered by them at all and I have their emails as proof

Now the question is do email hold good in US Courts?

[Siddharth Rout]

Why not just spend the dough on something you need? Paypal is a fairly common payment gateway, so you can pay from this account for any ebay or other purchases.

.

Wish I could do that....

They have restricted my account so can't even use it...

[baja_yu]

Did you try using Skype or a direct call to them? You will get answers directly that way, and much quicker.

[Siddharth Rout]

Won't an International Call from India to US be very expensive?

[kleinma]

You think suing them will be cheaper?

[Siddharth Rout]

But I do stand a chance or don't I? Probably this is the reason why I wanted a professional advice....

Anyone from there?

[kleinma]

To be honest, some guy from India contacting an attorney in the US to sue a giant company like paypal over 261 dollars, is not going to get you very far here. That is just the reality of it. The lawyer would need to be paid well over 261 bucks before he would even look into the matter. Like others have said, you would have to actually win a case (and we don't even know right now that you even have a case) in order to TRY to get court costs and legal fees paid back to you.

It sounds like you have a suspended paypal account, and you can say you have no idea why, or that paypal is screwing you over, but they don't just go suspending accounts randomly. Something with regards to your account status had to change between you first opening it, and now.

[baja_yu]

Actually, with most lawyers, that advice costs too. And it's possible (dont know for sure, dont use PayPal) they have Skype as a contact support option. If not, skype credits are cheap, you can call the US for 1.7 cents per minute using Skype.That gives you almost an hour for $1. I looked at PayPal, they have phone support, but I cant get any details unless I log in, and I dont have an account.

[kleinma]

Being that skype is owned by ebay, and paypal is owned by ebay, you would expect them to. However I don't think paypal has much in the way of a consumer line call center (I know they have contact info when you have business services through them).

Can't oversees callers call toll free US numbers for free, or does that not work over seas?

[baja_yu]

Can't oversees callers call toll free US numbers for free, or does that not work over seas?

You may be right. I think calling toll free numbers using Skype is also free. So if they have one, there you go.

[Siddharth Rout]

The only number they have is

PayPal Customer Service:
1-402-935-2050

Does anyone have a skype id of paypal?

[kleinma]

If you can call toll free numbers, try 888-215-5506

[Siddharth Rout]

Do I have to use that from skype?

[baja_yu]

Do I have to use that from skype?

Yes, if you want the call to be free.

[kleinma]

I don't know. That is a toll free number to call paypal customer service, and I don't need to use Skype to call it, but I also don't know how things work in India, and if from India, you can call US toll free numbers or if they are blocked on the US side of things, etc..

It can't hurt to try to call it from a regular phone...

[baja_yu]

Try from Skype first. Toll free numbers are (usually) not toll free if called from outside the country they are issued in.

If you try it from a regular phone, if it is not toll free, you will get a recorded message saying so, so you can end the call right away and avoid paying a large bill. In my country, we get billed for listening to the message to, so don't try it to often

[techgnome]

If I was still at my old job, I'd offer to stop in on my way home - the call center is just down the street from where I used to work. But now it's a trip to the other side of town and isn't easy to get to from here.

-tg

[EntityX]

Coolsid I would just be as patient as possible. Keep trying to contact PayPal. I've used PayPal for years and haven't ever had any serious problems with them. They may have a very good reason for doing what they have.

[BackWoodsCoder]

1.) If you're suing for less then a 1000$ your case would go to small claims court
2.) 90% of small claims cases do not require an attorney
3.) However almost all small claims cases require you to be present during the proceedings

Even if you were to take them to court the cost of your airfare would negate the reason you went. Now, you could bank on the fact that most major companies would rather settle out of court for small claims rather then fight them, but still it would be a lot better if you just called the company and found out what you could do (as has been said numerous times lol). Provided you haven't violated their user agreement you are entitled to your funds.

Good luck, pay pal CSR's can be a major PITA to work sometimes.

[Harsh Gupta]

Just call them up. From a regular mobile phone with regular service (Airtel or similar), charges will be around Rs 7 per min or something like that. Some even provide you service like pay Rs 100 and make international call for Rs 2 per minute.

Or you can visit a nearest Sify center and make a call from there. They charge you like Rs 5 per minute.

An international call to US from India is quite cheap nowadays.

[penagate]

In my opinion, you are stuffed.

PayPal is not a regulated financial institution. I don't believe they have any legal obligation to pay you anything, even if they say they will. The only angle I can think of to tackle them via is bad PR and there are so many complaints about PayPal already out there that I doubt they even care.

[Siddharth Rout]

They may have a very good reason for doing what they have.

Then they should tell me what that reason is instead of keeping mum!!!!

[dee-u]

Can't you send the amount to someone you know?

[Nightwalker83]

They owe me $261.00 which I am not able to withdraw...

Unless, I am mistaken you should be going after your bank. They don't have withdrew facilities. Also, what is the reason they owe you the money? If it was because you sold something over the internet are you sue the buyer isn't shifty?

[Siddharth Rout]

@Dee-U: Post No 16
@NW: No I didn't buy anything. I am a freelance coder. Also I spoke to my bank. They informed me that it was a problem with Paypal.

[demotivater]

Contact the Better Business Bureau. File a complaint with them via the net, they will harrass them a little bit for you. Either pay pal replies to your complaint or they don't. If they don't, they get a bad mark from the BBB. Not a huge deal, but can sometimes be effective in making the company respond. I've done it several times with good results. (not against pay pal, but similar situations)

http://sanjose.bbb.org/Home.aspx