Is Paypal safe?

Kjg- I have completed several transactions thru paypal with no serious problems; however their customer service does leave a lot to be desired. I have used iescrow once and found it to be quick and easy. It certainly provides better protection than paypal. In my case, seller requested it and offered to pay fee. Seems to me that this is an item that could be negotiated and is probably the most equitable way of protecting both parties. Anyone out there have any problems with iescrow or other escrow services?

I don't know why it takes four days or more for Pay Pal's Customer Service to answer a question. I am currently having this experience with them and stayed tuned for how long before they reply to my email. I would say that apart from any problems or frustrations with their service, which there are some that I have, their customer service is so poor as to cause me to consider going elsewhere.

Hi,

Sorry to hear of your delay in getting a response. Customer service currently has a backlog on emails, but we are bringing additional staffing on to assist. Feel free to send me your question/problem to damon@paypal.com.

I am sorry Mr. Paypaldamon, but if it takes 5 days (current tally and still counting) for Paypal to respond to Customer Service questions, you might as well just close up shop today because you are not going to be in business long. I know I am not the only one to have such an experience since the person I was trying to send money to had the same. After 4 days, the response he received was not even relevant to the question. In my case, I tried to send him a payment for an Audiogon auction. After 5 days, in which the payment stayed in a status of "uncleared", I finally gave up and canceled the transaction. It took about 24 hours for the money to be remitted to my Paypal account. Why did it take 24 hours to for me to receive control of my money after canceling the transaction and why would a transaction not be completed for 5 days on an account which has been used to complete several transactions prior? Finally, how would I get a reasonably prompt response to these questions from Paypal (other than directing my questions to Damon on the Audiogon site) such that this response would be received and acted upon before either one party or the other to the transaction simply gives up and sends/demands a money order to complete the transaction?

No,

I have had a theft from my checking account through a fraud on my Paypal account which I notified Paypal of immediately and they ignored it for three days. Rather than stop the check they drew, I notified them of an unauthorized payment from my account, which I received no notification of, and only learned about as a result of logging onto my credit card account. The way a verified Paypal account works is that upon authorization of a payment, Paypal makes a temporary hold on the payor's credit card which is on account. They then draft a payment to themselves in the same amount and upon clearance of the check to them, they release the hold on the credit card.

I noticed a hold was on my credit card, then investigated the payment and found I had not made it. I contacted the recipient who acknowledged it was not due them. They had opened the account the prior day. The recipient professed to attempting to return the funds, but claimed that Paypal couldn't do that and I immeidately notified Paypal of the theft. To date, I have been jerked around for nearly three weeks without any human response. As a result of this post, I have corresponded with the Customer Service Manager of Paypal, Damon Billian.

Prior to this problem, I have touted Paypal as the best means for payment by a lazy man. No travel, no wires, no expenses, no time. Now also, no $910!!!

Bill Eichengrun