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« on: 02-02-2011, 23:02:42 »
So, as you some of you saw from a previous topic, I've had troubles with my Power Supply. So I set out to try and replace it, and what better place I thought than the well known internet marketplace, Newegg.com! Surely one of the most well known websites for selling computer parts at reasonable prices could find me a nice replacement part, a better one especially!
Now seeing as I do not trust banks, and unlike many people I know the grim reality of our banking system, I do not own credit cards, and I have no debit card directly linking any account at my local bank to a form of plastic. I say to myself, well this should be no problem, you can transfer money from a Bank Account to PayPal, and using funds withdrawn from my actual savings account, I should be able to purchase my part, no questions asked! Oh, how wrong I was!
As it turns out Newegg demands that you have a credit card on file, now it is understandable that a company would want a form of ID security, and a way to charge you for your purchase should PayPal not come through, of that I do not hate them. But it is the circumstances, and the long loops I have had to take, to no actual avail that have made me annoyed of both PayPal, and Newegg, and which have stopped me from ever wanting to use an online banking, internet marketplace, or any form of digital transaction ever again.
Lets begin our story two weeks ago, as I am sitting here, doing some delightful research.
The night was a cold one, coldest it had been in years, so cold in-fact that I was forced to take my place on our living room couch next to the huge pellet stove there, instead of sleeping in my room perfectly positioned in the basement of our home. The time must have been around 10 o'clock, and I was preparing to start researching Power Supplies to replace the one I am currently using, primarily at first to make way for the eventual expansion of my case with a new graphics card and other powerful hardware that would allow me to play my games on high.
The night was not unusual, I was enjoying a full canteen of water while listening happily singing along with "Commotion" by Creedance Clearwater Revival, my dog lay by my side snoring loudly as he slept. The boys on Teamspeak were enjoying a round of Project Reality, and I began my search. Using a series of website based applications I was able to discern how much power output the Power Supply I was purchasing would need to have, and carefully removed the side of my tower to count the numbers of plugs, and types of plugs that would be needed to successfully install a new power supply without problems.
Life seemed good, now seven months out of high school, and unemployment aside, here I was, finally upgrading my PC as I had always hoped I would be able to do. I was losing weight, I was eating healthy, my love life and the good company of my friends seemed to be improving. Life was good, aside from the overly boring days and endless job searches. Here I was preparing to spend money for the first time in years that I myself had actually earned by some manner. I would soon find however that PayPal, and Newegg sought to rip this miraculous moment from my hands and toss me back into a crate.
After gathering the appropriate information I was going to need in order to purchase my new part, I set about newegg.com, feverishly looking for the power supply I needed, the power supply that was going to set me on track to a better PC gaming experience! At one point I must of had at least 30 different power supplies bookmarked into my firefox, and looking at the list I knew that somewhere in the list was the power supply for me. I spent another two hours, at least three refills of my canteen, and a package of sliced pepperoni sifting through the pile finding the right one. With the right parts, best wattage, and least amount of complaints for its usage. At long last I found it. The feeling of euphoria as I stared at the picture at 2:00 A.M. on a Wednesday night was heart warming. I promptly informed one of my good friends who had been up helping me research that I had finally located the proper one! It was time to buy.
A day or two earlier I had set about transferring funds over from my bank account to PayPal, and the transfer success date was listed as that Thursday. The power supply was perfect, it was on a $60 Dollar sale, and it had everything I needed, as well as matching my case quite well. I anxiously spent that Wednesday checking PayPal countless times to see if the money had transferred. I woke up the next day, at around 8:00 A.M. It was Thursday, and January was coming to its final week or so. The money had transferred, I rubbed my eyes, and chugged water, making sure I wasn't dehydrated, and that the funds had actual transferred. They had! Glorious!
I immediately typed "newegg.com" into my browser, and watched anxiously as the page loaded piece by piece. There in my shopping car was the power supply, the grand total $79.99, oh how I was happy. The glorious Checkout button was never clicked so fast. I had spent that previous Wednesday preparing Newegg for the event, everything was set, all I had to do was get PayPal to transfer the funds to Newegg and my Power Supply would be well on its way, hopefully arriving before the next big snow storm. Things seemed to move in slow motion as the page was transferring, and it was there that my heart sank, my water was dropped, and the reality of what was to come hit me.
A messaged appeared that broke my heart "The transaction amount is greater than your PayPal balance." What I thought? How could this be true? I had over 140 USD in the account, I knew I had enough even with tax. My happiness immediately turned to curiosity and soon to anger as I began scanning through Google for an answer to this problem. With no noticeable answers from any Google search, I set out posting on their help and support forums. I posted a wonderfully written post which explained the problem in detail, and I continued my search on Google.
Eventually a post arose that noted Newegg authorizes the payment of the full price without discount, and then charges the discount price. That's fine I said, I would simply transfer 20 USD more, so that PayPal would then have enough to pay for the PSU even without a discount. Transferring money this time however would take longer than before and after a series of winter storms battered our bank, the confirmation for the 20 Dollar purchase took almost a week. I watched and watch PayPal, hoping that the money would transfer soon, the month was coming to an end and I didn't want to miss out on this awesome deal! I constantly refreshed my support topic in their forum, with no reply by PayPal employees, I constantly updated myself on the weather conditions and anxiously awaited the money to transfer before the month ended.
Alas all my hope in the world was in vain as I logged on yesterday, February the first and saw that the price had risen 20 Dollars. Fine I said, its not a big deal, its still more than 40 Dollars off its original price. The money still had not transferred. I sat up late into the midnight hours watching PayPal hoping it would transfer soon. Finally, after I awoke today at 10 A.M. the money had transferred. I came back inside from shoveling us out of our driveway to see 160 USD on my PayPal Balance. Great! Lets try again!
But there was no rejoicing, the same error popped up and I was at this point discouraged. I had not wanted to ask my mother to borrow her credit card, in fear that something may be charged to it, and that was a debt she could not afford, regardless if I could cover the balance of it. Reluctantly I walked into the kitchen and asked her to borrow a credit or debit card to put on file in order to make the transaction. She agreed, and I proceeded to try her cards. First, the debit card failed, I figured this was understandable, after-all, there was no money in the debit account to be used. I switched over to a Capital One Card, entering its numbers and waiting patiently until PayPal informed me that the card was linked to another account. Fine I said, there is still one more, and that is perfectly understandable! The last credit card did not work either, alright I said, there has to be a way around this, this credit card works, I know it does. So I spent a few minutes working with PayPal until finally the credit card was confirmed on the account, and I said to myself "Great! now I can go ahead and make my purchase after two weeks, and a price raise."
Again I traveled to newegg, clicking the checkout button, selecting PayPal as my form of transaction, and up came the page again. "Transaction amount is more than PayPal Balance", this makes no sense, it even says that there is 1 active credit card? How can this be? Perhaps I was just doing something wrong?
I calmed myself and proceeded to the Newegg help and support page, where I started up the live support chat and waited patiently as a customer representative came on. I had gone on previously to inquire as to the same error, and to see if there was another way to pay with PayPal without having a credit card, apparently there wasn't, but now I was confused. The conversation began:
4:56:17 PM : Please let our Representative know if you have contacted us by email regarding this same issue or question so that we may remove the duplicate request from our systems. Thank you!
4:56:40 PM : You are next in queue...
4:56:42 PM : A Customer Service Representative will be with you as soon as one becomes available.
4:57:16 PM : Thank you for your patience.
4:58:22 PM : Rose has joined this session!
4:58:22 PM : Connected with Rose. Your reference number for this chat session is 2176575.
4:58:22 PM : Hello my name is Rose. How may I help you today?
5:00:29 PM : Matthew Damon: Hi, for weeks now i've been trying to purchase a product from your website through PayPal, let me first start out by saying that I have nothing against Newegg, but the annoyance this is causing is ridiculous. The power supply I am looking to buy for my PC was 79.99 because it was discounted 60 dollars from its original 139.99 Price. I thought great, an excellent part with everything I need at a low price, it sounds too good to be true! I attempted to use PayPal to purchase the part, the PayPal at the time had 140 USD on it, and I knew I had enough. However the PayPal account was demanding I enter a Credit Card, because I didn't have sufficient funds. I contacted your support team earlier today to ask about that question, after waiting two weeks for more money to transfer thinking that Newegg was trying to authorize for the full price of the part
5:00:36 PM : Matthew Damon: I was given the answer that PayPal requires a credit card on file
5:00:37 PM : Matthew Damon: fine with me
5:00:58 PM : Matthew Damon: I go and get a credit card from my a family member, because I myself do not use Credit or Debit cards, I still to cash
5:01:24 PM : Matthew Damon: First try, the debit card fails, ok fine. I go and get a capital one card they have, and try it, it has been linked to another account, fine understandable
5:01:35 PM : Matthew Damon: The Fidelity VISA card fails again, and at this point im annoyed with PayPal
5:02:01 PM : Matthew Damon: so I go and confirm my email address, and link the card to my Account through PayPal, now when I go to purchase the item through PayPal, it tells me that the VISA card is linked to my account
5:02:12 PM : Matthew Damon: but for some reason, it still demands that I place credit card information into the prompt
5:02:31 PM : Matthew Damon: If I place the credit card information from the VISA card that is already linked, it tells me that it is already linked, and of course, none of the other cards work
5:02:43 PM : Matthew Damon: Is it just me? Am I doing something wrong? or should I go elsewhere for my business?
5:04:26 PM : Rose: I would be glad to assist you with that. . . Can you please give me one moment while I look into this for you?
5:04:56 PM : Matthew Damon: yes
5:05:04 PM : Matthew Damon: I apologize for any rudeness, im a bit annoyed
5:05:44 PM : Matthew Damon: to top all this off the price has risen 20 bucks since i've been screwing with all this, so thats added frustration on my side.
5:08:07 PM : Rose: Thank you for holding. Please be advised that usually PayPal needs to be linked to a credit card. You may contact PayPal to see if any changes can be made. Please be advised that once you select PayPal as payment, you are directed to PayPal platform.
5:08:55 PM : Matthew Damon: Thats not the problem, the problem is that despite PayPal recognizing the credit card as even being in existence, linking from your website to their by means of the checkout, suddenly it no longer exists and cannot be used
5:10:57 PM : Rose: I do apologize. In this case, you need to enter a credit card information. There is no other way.
5:11:45 PM : Matthew Damon: Haha...Thanks for your help Rose.
So here I am, without a Power Supply, transferring my money back into my savings account, annoyed with PayPal, and stuck, once again, with a low end Computer that cant even run BF2 on high settings. Thanks Newegg!