If at first you don’t succeed…

Although I’m now back to full membership without having to renew my subscription early, I still believe that PayPal’s automatic procedure of cancelling existing memberships with other websites just because card details need to be updated is completely ridiculous, so I thought at least they ought to review this policy. I wrote another letter in reply to the last email they sent me; they sent it back several times saying "in order to process your enquiry more efficiently…blah blah…" but it finally got through, though so far all I have had is another standard response.

Scary but sexy when I’m angry, Pippa? Let’s see if this does it for you:-

Please listen carefully, I shall say this only once (again).

I do not require instructions on how to change a subscription funding source, so please stop sending me this useless information. My complaint is regarding your apparently automatic procedure of cancelling my membership with another party’s website prematurely, when my subscription to that site had been paid in full for the period of one year. You asked me to update my credit card details "to avoid any interruption to (my) service"; having done as you requested you promptly interrupted my service without warning for no apparent reason. My membership with that site had already been paid for and you had no right, or reason to deny me access to someone else’s website under such circumstances.

Fortunately the webmaster of this particular site has been able to reinstate my membership at no extra cost to myself (thank goodness they are able to respond to such queries), so I am no longer requesting that you reimburse me for your premature cancellation of someone else’s service. You can all stop worrying now and stop trying to fob me off with standard email responses that do not address the issues I am trying so hard to get across to you. I shall not be insisting that you pay me back for the one day of membership that your system has cost me.

I do however urge you to review such unnecessary and completely unfair procedures. I realise that you, the reader of this email will not be able to do that yourself and would need to pass it on to someone in a higher authority. Don’t be scared, I’m sure they won’t be angry with you for passing on a customer’s complaint.

To recap: You asked me to renew my card details, I did so without hesitation, adding my new card in the way you set out in your help section. My fully paid membership with a third party’s site was then cancelled by yourselves several months before its renewal date, without reason ("that’s just the way it happens" is not a good reason). I was therefore denied access to a service I had already paid for, a service provided by someone else, not yourselves.

What I would appreciate now is for someone to actually read this and respond, using their brain if possible, and not purely by rote. You have told me more than once that when credit card details are changed then "the Subscription and Recurring Payments will be cancelled. Canceling (sic) a subscription cancels all future scheduled payments of that subscription". I do understand that, you do not need to keep repeating it to me. Clearly, future scheduled payments should be cancelled if there has been no provision to make them, but existing pre-paid memberships should NOT be cancelled.

People at PayPal, you have no legal right or justification to interfere with existing contracts of agreement between two other parties without their express wishes. Wouldn't it be a good idea to review such inappropriate procedures to avoid further distress to anyone else who might be so eager to follow your instructions in order to avoid interruption to their service?

Perhaps it would also be a good idea to review how customer complaints such as this one are dealt with. This is my seventh attempt at getting any sense out of you.

A relevant response this time would be much appreciated.

Thank you

Their response:

Thank you for providing this information to us. It has been forwarded to our investigations team for further review. If any additional information is needed, our investigations team will contact you via e-mail.

Well I would certainly like more information, ie why the hell do they do such ridiculous things? And will it happen again next time my card comes up for renewal? Actually I think I may try a different method of payment next time. Do you accept cash, Katie?!