What a Pain in the Ass
Feb. 13th, 2009 07:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
voxwomanAs you may or may not know, I was the webmistress for the coven to which I used to belong. Because I was the webmistress, I was responsible for renewing the domain. Their domain account was with Register.com. Last year, when I went through this exercise, I apparently used my PayPal account to pay for the domain (and I don't remember if I was reimbursed for it). This year, when the coven leader renewed the domain, Register automatically debited my Paypal account without requiring a password.
I discovered this earlier this week, when I checked my email and saw the charges on there. After a few minutes of apoplexy, and shooting off a very angry email to the coven, I went to work where I tried to call PayPal. I got frustrated with their IVR (interactive voice response, for those of you not in the industry - automated menu bullshit), hung up and decided to call Register.com to resolve the situation.
After a brief hold time, I was connected with a live human, who could actually be in a US call center, or is a great accent mimic if not. She easily and immediately refunded my money, and disconnected my PayPal account from the domain registration account. 10 minutes, tops. Kudos to Register.com's customer service department.
I thought I was done. (stupid me!)
This is a pay week for me, so this morning, I get on my bank account website to move the money from the DBA account to the private account, so I can pay bills. I keep a very small amount of money in the DBA account - it's also the PayPal checking account - that way, my exposure to getting cleaned out is reduced. I have other accounts from which I pay bills. This account is just for transferring money.
I see the 49.95 debit from the original PayPal transaction, but no subsequent credit. (and yes, the coven is paying too much for domain registration, but that's not my headache anymore). I check PayPal, and see the amount is currently "On Temporary Hold". WTF is that?
I get to the office and, after a frustrating time navigating their IVR system that doesn't have a category for what I want to do, spend 20 minutes listening to elevator music and a man with a "soothing" voice explain how to detect a phishing email and all the wonderful services PayPal has, and encouraging me to shop for valentine's day with PayPal vendors, and some other stuff about eBay auctions. I wasn't paying attention.
Eventually, I get a human, who explains to me that the money is still "in transit" from my bank to theirs for the initial transaction; even though the red debit showed up on the day of the transaction in my account. Then, when the money finally wends its way through the slow waters of the internet into their bank, the money will "immediatedly" be "refunded" -- in other words, it will show up in my PayPal account as money in there. I have to initiate a bank transfer to get the money back into my bank account (another 3-5 business days).
Now I know where all this really short-term lending between huge merchant banks is getting their capital from - the money "in transit" from one bank to another. That 3-5 day delay is so the banks can earn a little interest on that money, and in the meantime, I'm out 50 bucks. It's a dammned good thing that I don't pay bills out of that account. Otherwise, it would start a chain reaction of bounced checks and fees that I don't think the coven could afford.
If I were living closer to the edge, like I have in the past, this would be a major problem instead of a minor annoyance.
Our company has a holiday on Monday for president's day. Last year, I worked through it, so I didn't have to lose a day's pay, but this year, I need the time off, pay be damned. The kid has today off, too. I wish I stayed home.
I discovered this earlier this week, when I checked my email and saw the charges on there. After a few minutes of apoplexy, and shooting off a very angry email to the coven, I went to work where I tried to call PayPal. I got frustrated with their IVR (interactive voice response, for those of you not in the industry - automated menu bullshit), hung up and decided to call Register.com to resolve the situation.
After a brief hold time, I was connected with a live human, who could actually be in a US call center, or is a great accent mimic if not. She easily and immediately refunded my money, and disconnected my PayPal account from the domain registration account. 10 minutes, tops. Kudos to Register.com's customer service department.
I thought I was done. (stupid me!)
This is a pay week for me, so this morning, I get on my bank account website to move the money from the DBA account to the private account, so I can pay bills. I keep a very small amount of money in the DBA account - it's also the PayPal checking account - that way, my exposure to getting cleaned out is reduced. I have other accounts from which I pay bills. This account is just for transferring money.
I see the 49.95 debit from the original PayPal transaction, but no subsequent credit. (and yes, the coven is paying too much for domain registration, but that's not my headache anymore). I check PayPal, and see the amount is currently "On Temporary Hold". WTF is that?
I get to the office and, after a frustrating time navigating their IVR system that doesn't have a category for what I want to do, spend 20 minutes listening to elevator music and a man with a "soothing" voice explain how to detect a phishing email and all the wonderful services PayPal has, and encouraging me to shop for valentine's day with PayPal vendors, and some other stuff about eBay auctions. I wasn't paying attention.
Eventually, I get a human, who explains to me that the money is still "in transit" from my bank to theirs for the initial transaction; even though the red debit showed up on the day of the transaction in my account. Then, when the money finally wends its way through the slow waters of the internet into their bank, the money will "immediatedly" be "refunded" -- in other words, it will show up in my PayPal account as money in there. I have to initiate a bank transfer to get the money back into my bank account (another 3-5 business days).
Now I know where all this really short-term lending between huge merchant banks is getting their capital from - the money "in transit" from one bank to another. That 3-5 day delay is so the banks can earn a little interest on that money, and in the meantime, I'm out 50 bucks. It's a dammned good thing that I don't pay bills out of that account. Otherwise, it would start a chain reaction of bounced checks and fees that I don't think the coven could afford.
If I were living closer to the edge, like I have in the past, this would be a major problem instead of a minor annoyance.
Our company has a holiday on Monday for president's day. Last year, I worked through it, so I didn't have to lose a day's pay, but this year, I need the time off, pay be damned. The kid has today off, too. I wish I stayed home.
