Nick
Pick any other company: TLDR at beginning of review. Rest is context for your benefit
TL:DR; I was better off using an different organisation offering the same service that I chose with little consideration off of a "top 10" list and spending a couple of minutes looking into both the negative and positive of their customers. I recommend you invest this same 5 minutes of time and potentially avoid the same negative experience many of us have had with PayPal. Note_1: There is no recommendation regarding any organisations or industries in this entire review other than my recommendation, or lack thereof, for PayPal based upon my lengthy experience with PayPal. Note_2: [Pre-emptive message to PayPal support if they choose to respond to this review]: No, PayPal - I have no interest in returning to business with you in any capacity or recouping the funds you refused to reimburse me for after all 4 inquiries you maintained the voucher I used did not exist, irrespective of me providing -all- evidence requested. At the time of this review that same voucher is still present on my account page. The rest of this review is in the following order: 1) My most recent experience with their support teams. 2) An summary of what I have learned about PayPal's service from my experiences over the past few years. 3) Specific advice on how to come to your own independent informed opinion as to what sort of electronic payment model would yield the most reliable and accountable service for anyone irrespective of case (seemingly in depth, but worth including in this review if you're interested) 1) PayPal offers vouchers. I see the vouchers in my account. I read all of the terms, conditions and instructions. I make a purchase with a voucher exactly as instructed. Voucher does not get applied. I raise complaint. PayPal says voucher does not exist and never did. I send screenshot of voucher currently still available in my account. PayPal support: "Thank you for your request, we would appreciate feedback on your experience with our support team" Me: open same request again. *exact same process happens again with different support staff* Voucher still in my account, full payment for my purchase has been processed. Me: Request refund for services not as advertised. PayPal legal team email: Based on the information we have to date, we have to deny your claim. Included in email: My transaction ID, transaction amount, dispute case ID, dispute amount, transaction date. *voucher still present in my account* Also included in email: "If You Have Additional Information Please Send it to Us" -After I had sent all previous chat logs, screenshots and transactional data to them in my dispute. Me: Create GDPR request to PayPal support for all my personally identifiable data. *7 days later* - no comment from PayPal to indicate they have received or initiated my request. 2) For discrete payments, PayPal provides the basic functionality all of the other companies in its field do. PayPal's adherence to their own policies has been unreliable and inconsistent in my experience with them over the past few years. Additionally - also in my experience and even in the best of times I am personally unable to determine with certainty whether PayPal operate in compliance with industry regulation (circumstances outlined previously in this review - GDPR request). 3) Instead of, like I had done with PayPal, inspecting the policies, terms and conditions of services offered [with regards to compliance regulation concerning the data governance with respect to data controllers and processors - a topic I am well-read on], after a little consideration I picked another company that on the face of research I had done (like with PayPal) seemed to be equally compliant in the same industry - I was surprised to experience far better service standards with regards to the functionality included in the service, quality of the service and although I haven't required to interface with any of their support teams - that in of itself is an improvement. Having done and having continued to research payment services it is undeniably evident that a better approach to financial transactions is to utilise a different service model entirely for any and all electronic payments. If, like me, you have independently sought an alternative service for your personal electronic payments, thoroughly investigating the following 3 buzzwords will result in learning of a vast range of financial services that boast inextricable complete accountability of service standards and funds. Blockchain, Immutable Ledger Mandatory piece of wisdom: Be the change you wish to see, lead change by example. It has been said that you cannot force a horse to drink but you can lead it to water - less often considered however is that forcing a horse to water is equally as determinantal as forcing it to drink.



