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According to siliconbeat.com, it appears that the latest terms and conditions to use PayPal include you agreeing to accept telemarketing calls...
Well, says the BBC, get ready for a new barrage, because changes to PayPal's terms and conditions starting in July state that users must accept automated marketing calls, emails and texts:
The eBay-owned company told the BBC that it "would honour any customers' requests to decline marketing outreach". But no such opt-out is included in the terms and conditions. Instead customers are invited to either accept or decline.
"If you do not agree to the amended user agreement, privacy policy or acceptable use policy, you may close your account before July 1, 2015 and you will not be bound by the amended terms," the document states.
The linked article later goes on:
The user agreement goes on to state: "You consent to receive autodialed or pre-recorded calls and text messages from PayPal at any telephone number that you have provided us or that we have otherwise obtained."
See how slippery this slope is? If PayPal somehow "obtains" your grandma's home phone, grandma might also start getting unwanted calls because, as the agreement goes on to say, PayPal "may share your phone numbers with our affiliates."
PayPal does say that its robocalls would be used to help customers with account issues or resolve disputes. But it also states that they could be for "offers and promotions," perhaps the two most dreaded words these days among consumers burned out by a nonstop onslaught of in-your-face advertising for things we never wanted in the first place.
Original Submission
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 08 2015, @06:44PM
Once upon a time, I decided that I'd had enough getting burned as a customer on eBay. The latest incident was where I'd bid on a MicroSD card, won the auction for a very low price, and then the seller *somehow* cancelled the sale, which shouldn't even be possible for normal auctions.
Anyway, I decided to close my accounts. My PayPal account was pretty easy to close; it "just worked" when I went through the process. My eBay account, however, had the exact issue you're getting where it says that there's problems closing the account.
I did the sensible thing and called them about it, and they pretty much (in accents that I couldn't quite understand) told me to do the process again. It didn't work. I couldn't understand them so I just hung up.
This is where it became a month-long process to close my account. I went through every "contact us" thing I could find on their website (which is very hard to locate e-mail addresses on) and, from the e-mail address registered with my account, sent them messages stating clearly that I (I'll even quote) "do not agree to the terms of service, and that I intend to violate the terms of service repeatedly until my account is closed". It's true; I mean, I even selected "do not agree to terms of service" in their account closing procedure that kept giving me that message!
It didn't work, and I never even received a single reply. So, I tried again a week or so later, this time telling them that I was going to post my account name and password on various forums around the 'net. I figured I'd get -something- back from their customer support e-mail, but I never did! So, I went into my preferences, and changed everything around with all sorts of false info. A fake address, a fake name, a fake e-mail address, and then I gave my friend my password. It was probably safe since my PayPal account was actually closed and unlinked from my eBay account.
My friend changed my account name to "Mostly_Dildos" and spammed up eBay's support forums with all sorts of hilarious messages, and when they finally banned him from there, he started bidding on all sorts of random junk with outrageous bid amounts while we chatted on IRC. It was hilarious. The e-mails he received were like "Dear Dildos, Mostly (Mostly_Dildos), you've won your auction! blah blah"
But eventually I got an e-mail myself at the address I'd originally had registered with the account. They reverted my account info, retracted all the fake bids my friend had put on, and told me kindly that my account had been hacked and that if I simply click the link in the e-mail to change my password, I could continue on like nothing had ever happened.
I almost thought about doing it and then giving my friend the info again. Anyway, my account still isn't closed. It's in some kind of limbo state where it requires a password change. If someone had hacked my e-mail account, they'd probably be free to do this like an endless cycle.
It is impossible to close an eBay or PayPal account when it has "problems". It is absolutely impossible.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Monday June 08 2015, @11:18PM
Just mess up all contact info and abandon the account?
(Score: 1) by anubi on Tuesday June 09 2015, @01:29AM
Think carefully, VERY carefully, before opening any sort of "account". Opening the door to some businesses, even if just a crack, is sometimes damned near impossible to close.
The easiest way to deal with those businesses, by FAR, is to never give them any information AT ALL in the first place.
Try like the dickens not to even say a word to them. Once you recognize what it is, ignore them. They always have a trick up their sleeve offering you a free* thing.
Every time I have accepted their offering, I lived to regret it. Big time.
That is why I will not even answer the phone if I do not recognize the incoming number. Like the poster above me, I need to set up an "asterisk" system so I can deliberately waste the time of telemarketers. Hopefully they will take their business solicitation elsewhere. Just giving a telemarketer the courtesy of answering his call carries the probability you find yourself appended onto a shared list of nitwits that will even talk to a telemarketer.
My experience is that any business that contacts ME is very risky. Word-of-mouth information from neighbors is thousands of times more accurate than anything you will get in print or over the phone. Telephone marketers are by far the worst. They carefully have absolutely NO record of what was agreed on, but if they succeed in coaxing an "appointment" with you, you will be in for relentless high pressure marketing delivered in person. They will have forms, and you will see their pens dancing on the paper with every syllable you utter. No telling what kind of bill you are gonna get. They are a business, and work with collection agencies, and its your credit score at risk for even giving a marketer the time of day.
*For selected customers with qualifying purchase.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Tuesday June 09 2015, @01:52AM
It's hard to do some online business without a PayPal account. However the contact information given to PP could be setup to end in a phone and email /dev/null (with a content log). And I'll like you won't give telemarketers any connection at all. They will be terminated on sight.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 09 2015, @01:56AM
Suggestion: when you set up your asterisk system, set it so that the caller is redirected through an endless list of extensions. Even more fun is if this convoluted maze of extensions eventually lead back to the top level to start all over again. Give these guys a taste of their own medicine.