PayPal Horror Story

After reading about "Ghettopoly" I decided to order one off Ebay. Then I get this letter today. Its hard to tell who is lying, but this much I know - If the guy was a total scammer, why bother to email us with an explanation?



Dear Customers,



It's important that you know what is going on and we apologize that we haven't done a better job of staying in communication. First of all, we want all our customers to know that we had every intention of following through with their order of the Ghettopoly board game. We were overwhelmed with the response and by the time our auctions ended we sold in excess of 3,000 games.



Anyone who sent payment through the mail will be receiving their game. We have just started receiving payments since Tuesday and are making every effort to get your game boxed up and shipped out within 2-3 business days of receiving your payment.



Paypal on October 10th, 2003, placed our account on limited access for "high transaction volume." We have been struggling for the last week to get this matter resolved. Paypal appears to operate above the law and they don't have to abide by any banking regulations. We have provided them with all the documentation they have requested and still our account is on limited access. We have made numerous phone calls and sent numerous emails and still the matter is unresolved. Currently, they have in excess of $75,000 of our customers' money. We haven't seen a dime of that money and Paypal seems intent on "stealing" it. Anyone who purchased the Ghettopoly board game and sent payment through Paypal will not be receiving the game. We apologize but there is no way we can pay for the $20,000+ in postage it would require in order to send everyone their game who paid through Paypal. Furthermore, we would be sending them at a huge financial loss because we haven't received any money. We don



We have filed complaints with the -



· Better Business Bureau

· California State Attorney General

· Nebraska State Attorney General

· Washington State Attorney General

· Federal Trade Commission

· Internet Fraud Complaint Center

· F.B.I.

· The Netchek Commerce Bureau

· National Consumer Complaint Center

· and we sent a certified overnight letter to Matthew J. Bannick, CEO, Paypal, Inc.



This is what you need to do -



· If you paid through Paypal, IMMEDIATELY, request a refund from them.

· File complaints with all the organizations listed above and your own state attorney general and forward them this email. Tell them what we told you

and explain that Paypal appears to operate unregulated.

· We strongly encourage you to take a look at the website listed below

regarding other buyer's and seller's nightmarish experiences with Paypal.

This is not an isolated incident or exaggeration.

· If you are currently using Paypal to send or receive money, we strongly

encourage to you not do so in the future. This was not the first time our

account was placed on limited access. Everyone thinks it won't happen to

them.....just wait, it will. Paypal is not a bank or even a credit card

processor, for that matter. They are a middleman and as such they operate

totally unregulated. We now know it was stupid of us to receive such a

large amount of money through such a company. We are now in the

process of setting up a credit card merchant account with a reputable

company.







Once again, we want to apologize for any inconvenience or disappointment this has caused our customers. If you didn't use Paypal to send payment, you will be receiving your game shortly.



*auntnutsy* (Heather & Chris Dawson)