Worst Customer Service I’ve Experienced: Paypal and Ebay

I simply had a question as to why my bank account says there were two $31 overdraft fees from Paypal (not a fee from my actual bank).  I have always had a positive balance on my Paypal account, so I thought it was weird.  Then I realized why it may have happened.  I needed to add $1 to my Paypal account to have enough to pay my Ebay invoice.  The $1 never finished processing because my insurance company withdrew from my bank account even though I requested they not make automatic payments anymore…but that’s another blog post for another day.  Plus I’m dumping that company soon anyways.  So because of the unauthorized payment, my bank balance was a negative.  Therefore, the $1 transfer to make up the difference to pay my Ebay invoice wasn’t in my account.  And of course I asked to transfer $1 from my bank account actually days before I had a negative balance, but for those who don’t know, it takes Paypal 3-5 days to finish processing a transaction.   So, if I indeed got an overdraft fee from that, of course I would want to know and surely I’d like to know why there’s a second $31 fee.  If it was because of the $1 transfer, then I’m actually fine with that, I chalk it up to one of those situations of well….”that’s life”. 

Anyways, in my attempt to clarify the reasons for two $31 fees, first, I call Paypal.  The representative seemed very nice.  However, after being put on hold, she hung up on me.

So, I call back and get stuck on the phone with a ruder representative.  After basically telling me he don’t know what’s going on, he gets super defensive saying I can’t get that money.  By the way, I NEVER asked for the money back, I didn’t even use the phrase “dispute charge“.  I even told him before he started looking into my account that I simply want to know the reason for the 2nd charge.  My theory is that he didn’t know what the hell to do so started getting annoyed.  He even hung up quickly.

Next, I call Ebay, because I noticed Ebay never actually took funds out of my bank or Paypal account on April 29th like it states on the website.  So I thought, hmmm maybe they have been trying to process this and that’s what caused the second $31.  So I call Ebay and get stuck on the line with someone who is either still working on their language skills or is very very new to the job.  He also kept repeating what I said slowly and then suggesting I look at my account.  Each time I had to correct him and remind him why I called.  Then he agreed with me every time I had to correct him, basically pretending like he knew what the issue was.  Ultimately he comes up with the idea to have a 3 way call with me, him, and a Paypal representative.  He specifically said that he would call me in 2hrs.

So, I waited 3hrs, then I just started working on a jigsaw puzzle I was doing.  He called me at 3.5hrs later.  That’s not even the worse part.  I miss his call and he leaves a message saying to call back at “1 dash 843“….no other numbers mentioned.  The rest of the message went on and all I could hear was other customer service representatives in the background.  On top of that, I missed his call again while trying to listen to his first voice message and he left another message! It gets better.  This time he says to call back at “1 dash, 843 no I mean 8…..4…. 1 dash 8342404260″.  So I call the number and I get that automated message saying the number I dialed is not in service.  Assuming he really meant “843″ instead of “834″, I tried that and it didn’t work…some girl answered the phone in a very rude way so then I got scared and hung up. Lol

So……I had to start all over and call the main Ebay customer service line.  I tell the guy what happened and he tells me the guy I talked to before never left customer service notes about what we talked about and why or even what my issue was.  So then he basically proceeds to come off as though he doesn’t even know what to do, so he just says that he’ll call a Paypal representative.  Once again, after staying on the phone a very long time the hold music turns off and then he hangs up on me.

So, I decide to just call Paypal and I got in contact with a great representative.  It took her less than 5minutes to tell me that I got a second $31 fee because of the $1 was still processing.  Apparently a transfer processes twice and if the money isn’t available in your bank account then Paypal cancels the transfer order.  At least that’s what she thought.  She did begin the sentence with “what I think that extra fee is from…”.  But hey, it’s better than nothing and that’s really sad when her response is the best I can.  I basically gave up and decided to just work on my jigsaw puzzle.  30 minutes after everything, I look on my computer and see the Ebay invoice charges went through, so at least I no longer have to worry about that.

These representatives better hope I don’t get an email asking about the quality of customer service.  I do fill out those surveys.  This was the complete opposite of the great customer service experience I wrote about with Citi Cards a while ago.  I don’t know if Ebay outsources their customer service, but that was ridiculous.  As far as Paypal is concerned, they may need some oversight on a couple of their representative. 

Clueless, Much?

So my dad clearly hasn’t been paying attention to me much, because what happened today probably shouldn’t have happened.  Story goes yesterday, I needed money for gas to go on a job interview.  My dad gave me $50 for gas, which is awesome, but my car takes at least $45 to fill up.   He knows this.  Then he says the gas should last me 8 days…um…okay….

Additionally, he said he wanted to have lunch.  Instead of not having lunch while I was already downtown, he wanted to have lunch the next day.  So I come all the way downtown to go eat at a place he wants to eat and it’s completely crowded on the streets.  Not only that, but it’s the most annoying place to try to find a parking space.  It’s the greektown casino area in Detroit near all the restaurants are.

The main issue was parking, all the parking lots cost $10 to park which is ridiculous.  I didn’t even know how long I would be there.  I didn’t know if he needed to go to work after lunch or if we’d be there for 30minutes or anything.  Considering the fact that I’ve been starving and not eating much because I have ZERO income and don’t even qualify for government assistance, I was frustrated at the fact that he knew this yet chose to eat at a place he knew was crowded and cost to park.

Eventually I ended up so far away from where the restaurant is that it wasn’t in reasonable watching distance.  Mind you, it was also pouring down raining.  Then I ask (texting him in my car) if we could just eat lunch in another part of the city that’s less crowded like Midtown or Eastern Market.  The answer was essentially no because he’s already there and he brought a friend.  At that point, I was through, I probably would have cared if it was just me and him, but a friend?  Everytime we go to this restaurant he brings this one friend whose name I don’t remember and I don’t even know what her purpose is for being in my space.  Like why am I even looking at you?  Why are you talking to me?  I already feel socially awkward in general, why do I have to feel further socially awkward and not feel like I can talk openly to my dad because this being who has no purpose in my life is there!?  Eventually he asked if I would pay $10 and he could reimburse me.  Apparently he didn’t get the hint that I have NO money! Zero income means no money or cash on me.

Anyways, 10 minutes later while I’m sitting in my car as it’s raining, he texts me to see how much parking is closer by the casino.  Again, I went back over there and told him it was still $10.  Then he tells me to call him, then I call him and he doesn’t answer!  So I text him the price and then he states, “I thought you had money”.  Really?! Is that why I’ve been driving around for an hour looking for somewhere close and cheaper to park?  What drugs are we on today?  Eventually, I said that I’m leaving and going back home.  If he can’t realize that having no job means having no money, accommodate his only child by choosing to eat at a place that doesn’t require paying for parking, not make it worse by bringing a friend around all the time whose name I can’t remember, or not at least leave the restaurant to pay for my parking at the lot, then it certainly wasn’t worth me even coming all the way downtown.  So not only did I waste a lot of gas traveling downtown for absolutely nothing, but I wasted gas searching for parking that I couldn’t find!

I like my dad and all, but sometimes he thinks he knows it all and he doesn’t…it’s very frustrating and I hope he works on that at some point in his life.  Now once again, I’m starving because I don’t have any money to buy food.  I usually don’t let my financial situation ruin my spirit, however when others are completely oblivious to it after I tell them, that’s when I’m not happy.

More Art Found At The Thrift Store: George Barbier

I recently found two awesome George Barbier (1882-1932) illustrations at Salvation Army.  Goerge Barbier is a well known French illustrator and the genre of art is called Art Deco.  Art Deco is “in” right now and I’m happy I found these.  If these don’t sell on ebay then I’m certainly keeping them for my home.  I’m selling them separately but whoever gave them to the Salvation Army clearly came from the same set.  Both are matted and they’re the same size.  Check them out below and click on the picture to go to the ebay page to view a close up of the items and more pictures.  Also below is another random picture I found that isn’t by Barbier….but it’s cut so I got it.

Incantation 1922 by George Barbier

Le Feu 1925 by George Barbier

Here’s the cut out picture I found also.  It’s unsigned,

Check it out on eBay

John Frederic Lloyd Strevens Original Painting Up For Grabs

I picked up this painting by Strevens because I think it’s gorgeous even though there’s some paint chips and scraps.  John Frederic Lloyd Strevens (1902-1990) is a British artist and mainly did oil paintings.  Here’s some more information from another blog and you can see his other works of art

Strevens painted formal portraits but was especially noted for his pictures of women, flowers and interiors. His work was exhibited at the Royal Academy in London, and the Paris Salon, where he gained an Honourable Mention. He had several one-man exhibitions in England, Spain and widely throughout the U.S. The Harris Museum and Art Gallery, Preston, holds his work. A retrospective exhibition was held at Epping Forest District Museum in 1991.
Strevens had vivid memories of the late Edwardian era, of women in long white dresses, horse-drawn carts and quiet, dusty streets in east London where on a Sunday the only sound other than church bells was the tinkling of upright pianos in the front rooms of rows of terraced houses. The sense of time passing was central to his vision, and a deep nostalgia born out of the quiet elegance of the Edwardian era, which came to an abrupt end with the First World War.

John Strevens paintings typically go for hundreds to thousands of dollars online however that is for paintings in really good condition.  I am selling my painting on eBay for anyone who either wants to restore it, for a collector, or someone who just loves this painting as is.   It also comes with a nice  frame.  More details about the condition of the painting is on the ebay page.  There is currently one bidder with a couple days left.  So grab this painting at a low cost while you can.

eBay – John Strevens Original Painting

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly: Recent Customer Experiences With CitiBank, TurboTax and GoDaddy

The Good – CitiBank (Credit Card Service)

Last year, I had issues paying my credit card bill so I was put on a reasonable payment plan since I wasn’t making enough money when the seasonal research job ended and I wasn’t eligible for unemployment insurance in Illinois.  Because of a glitch in TurboTax’s system (I’ll talk about that experience next), I didn’t receive my tax return quick enough to make one months payment.  Since I couldn’t pay my credit card bill, I cancelled the payment arrangement.  The guy over the phone explained everything to me when I called in.  He said if I stop payments then I won’t be able to go on a payment arrangement again.  Which is fine, I knew that when I called in to cancel the payment plan.  By the way, calling in and cancelling is the only method to cancel this type of payment.  Anyways, I assumed the guy cancelled the payment plan like he said he did.  So I hung up and even filled out a survey saying my experience with him as a customer service representative was good!

So February goes by, no money taken out of my account.  Which is great because I expected that to happen since I cancelled.  Then all of the sudden, March hits, and they take money out of my account for the payment plan!  Happened at the worst time.  I also get my car insurance taken out of my account.  Which means if I didn’t get the money back, I wouldn’t have enough money in my account for the car insurance and I would have gotten an overdraft fee of $30.  Unfortunately I didn’t realize I was still on the payment plan til after the money was gone.

I ended up calling Citi Card Bank to request money back for being taken out of my account without my authority.  This really nice guy with a Texas accent realized the employees mistake and put two and two together that it was weird that money wasn’t taken out of my account in February, yet taken out in March.  He said the employee only cancelled for February but didn’t end my payment plan like I requested.  So the nice Texas accent guy takes me off the payment plan and I get routed to the furtherance department where I was told to send a fax with my reason for request for refund and she also put in a referral.  Later that day I called back to ask if they received the fax…apparently faxes go to a mysterious place that customer representatives don’t know about.  However, the woman also submitted a referral on my behalf, I guess stating that I should receive a refund.  I call back the next day, again the same thing, they have no updated information about my fax and she puts in another referral for me and tells me to try again tomorrow.

Then finally!  The next day the woman tells me that the systems notes have updated and they have issued a refund the previous day (probably after I already called).  And two days later the money is back in my account!  The good part about this, is that even though the employee messed up and I technically still owe money…they realized a mistake, were nice and polite to me, and took care of my issue right away.  And that’s what I like see from a company.  My decision to use a company’s services is largely dependent on their customer service.  For example, I also love t-mobile’s customer service and even though I could probably get a cheaper plan.  I think the benefits of good customer service is worth a few extra dollars more.  Anyways, I commend you CitiBank Card Services people.  You do a good job and I promise I am trying to work hard to find income to hurry and pay off my credit cards

The Bad – TurboTax

Now for the bad…TurboTax.  If you filed a 1099MISC form with TurboTax online then you likely didn’t get your taxes as fast as you should have.  Some of you might have waited but I surely didn’t.  The story goes that I call TurboTax about why my tax forms were being delayed even though none of the forms I filled out were on the delay list created by the IRS.  The TurboTax representative didn’t know shit and claimed the IRS did have my forms even though my status is pending.  I had this issue during last year taxes as well.  TurboTax representative gave me false information several times last year about a tax form question, I called the IRS and got the correct answer and ended up getting more money in my tax return.  Eventually, I and a bunch of others on the forum realized there was an extra un-needed form added to out tax returns for whoever filled a 1099MISC form online.  TurboTax admitted there was a known glitch in the system that caused that form to appear.  The same form that was listed as a delayed filing form on the IRS’s website.

Not only did they not notify anyone of this glitch even after we all knew about it.  But I have a theory as to why….it’s because TurboTax didn’t want to lose money.  However, they lost me and a lot of others who realized the mistake.  Because our tax forms were pending, when calling the IRS, they actually told me to refile my taxes with another service like TaxAct.  So I refiled, and not only did I get my tax return in under a week, I also got nearly $100 more back in my tax return.  However, if I didn’t refile, I would have waited a total of a month before getting my tax return since I first submitted in the beginning of February.

Few bad decisions on TurboTax’s side that I give them the bad label.  First, their customer service representatives have a reputation for not being really knowledgeable.  Next, when calling customer service about the nearly month long pending status, they didn’t acknowledge a glitch unless you realize that you have an extra form and then they feed you this lie saying that the status is pending, the IRS knows you filed taxes.  That was completely false, because when calling the IRS they say that they have no knowledge of a tax form.  Which begs the question as to why TurboTax cannot just remove the un-needed tax form seeing as how the IRS doesn’t even have our tax forms yet?  Next, the fact that they didn’t send out notifications of said glitch is extremely shady.  So what about the people who didn’t realize TurboTax’s system glitch or come to the online forum?  Wouldn’t it be great if they knew they could just refile their taxes with another company and get their return faster?  I have such a lack of trust with TurboTax that I can’t use them anymore.  I love the idea of capitalism, but in this day and age where there’s so much competition, people can make better choices as to where they spend their money.  People aren’t going to want to deal with a company that is blatantly dishonest.

The Ugly – GoDaddy Web Hosting

Oh my gawwwd, worst shared web hosting service ever!  I’ve only been with GoDaddy for 3-4weeks and at least twice a week there have been constant server issues.  At first I thought it was just me, but many people post on their forums and twitter about their server issues.  Worst part is whenever the site is running fast and normal again, I get happy assuming GoDaddy has fixed their server problem.  But nope, server down again.  Additionally, this week even after the servers were up again, people were still complaining of issues with the email client service and other features.

They get “The Ugly” for several reasons.  First, if anyone who uses WordPress might have noticed, they removed GoDaddy as a suggested host from their page.  Probably because GoDaddy sucks, especially for WordPress users.  I’ve been using WordPress services since 2008.  One of the best companies out there with good and reliable services for bloggers and great team.  But when GoDaddy realizes that the user is on WordPress, they immediately blame WordPress for the slow loading website.  It never fails, they recommend removing plugins, switching web page themes, and installing Cache and optimizing plugins.  That shit only works if the server from your webhost is actually running properly.  Next, the issue is intermittent, so after the server runs better again, you still have little guarantee that the server will load your page days from then.  In fact, my page now takes a while to even load compared to yesterday and I haven’t even added new content or change the anything yet.  These constant server issues have a negative effect on being able to even publish a new blog post or generate income on your website and can deter potential loyal visitors from trying to access your site again.

Another issue I find even worse is that compared to other web hosts, at least a couple thousand people are on one shared host server while only nearly a thousand websites are on one server at a time on hosts like Dreamhost and Hostgator (both of which get excellent reviews).  This can definitely be the cause of slow servers.  GoDaddy in my opinion must only be popular because the creator caught on to the webhosting craze early on.  Other than that, their service sucks and will likely continue to suck.  And if you do more digging on Google, you’ll see that people have been having issues with GoDaddy servers since at least 2007.   I knew this, but I figured since it’s 2013, that GoDaddy would have it together by now.  Clearly I was wrong and the only good thing about GoDaddy is the cheap cost….but I got what I paid for.  I just find it odd that a company where the owner is rich, they obviously have the money to add more servers and make their service better.  I really don’t have the extra money to switch over to a new web host right now, so I’m stuck but I will be switching hosts as soon as I can.  The worst part is that I want to be done with GoDaddy so fast that I wouldn’t even care about getting my money back if I switch to another host.

Oh How Things Change….His Actions Are Screaming And His Words Are Whispering

So, I’m basically getting extremely bored of him.  I really do try to be accommodating and compromising in any type of relationship; friend, boyfriend, or friend with benefits, and especially relationships that are still developing like ours.  There just comes a point where his mystery and infrequent communication is no longer amusing…I don’t want to guess how he really feels about me and hurt my self-esteem in the process.  This is even more truer considering  my goals in life and how I am really struggling to survive here.

The gist of our complicated relationship can be explained in two conversations we frequently have:

Me: So what are you doing? Do you want to come out with me?

Him: I’m busy.  I have a gig tonight. Maybe I’ll see you after.

Me: Oh okay, well let me know.  I can always stop through.

Him: Cool, see ya.

OR

Me: I WANNA SEE YOU TONIGHT!

Him: okay, I have time available.

Me: okay I’ll be there.

US = hangout, maybe sex, have lots of fun

ME = not see for a long time

HIM = claims to be so busy that he only has time to talk to  me but can’t take time to see me a couple hours

It’s cool, I get it, this sort of behavior is indicative of a guy who is not really interested.  However, I always try to keep an open mind, and I always believe in the kindness of strangers until said stranger gives me enough evidence to believe they’re not kind.  And honestly, with his behavior, I would have stopped initiating contract years ago.  However, every time I talk to him in person or over the phone, it’s a fucking declaration about how much he really, REEEEALLY likes me!  I don’t have any reason to assume he’s lying, so I go along with it and wait, and wait until HE can fit me in his “busy” schedule.

I’m not stupid, I know he is emitting bad signs, but I really think he’s a good guy, just makes a terrible guy for any girl he’s involved with.  And the fucked up part is we’re probably great for each other.  Though, I may prefer a relationship filled with a lot of sex, deep talks, and decent time apart….I don’t want to feel neglected, I don’t care how complicated we are, a girl wants to be reminded that she’s being thought about.

Even though, I will never be caught dead crying over this man, it’s kind of sad he’s lazy when it comes to his relationships with women.  He seems to have a lot of potential to make some girl happy.  Fortunately for me, I’m not wasting my time or thought over someone who fails to even act on what he says.  And of course we’ll always remain friends but I can’t think about him in any other way.  It’s truly exhausting and my attention span has reached it’s max until he lives up to words he speaks.  Definitely a new learning experience though.