The Washington Post:
PayPal users, this is for you.
The payments company is rolling out an update to its user agreement that threatens to bombard you with “autodialed or prerecorded calls and text messages” — and worse, by agreeing to the updated terms, you’re immediately opted in.
PayPal can even reach you at phone numbers that you didn’t provide. Through undisclosed means, PayPal says it has the right to contact you on numbers “we have otherwise obtained.”
I don’t get how these companies continue to add clauses like this. There are far too many geeks out there reading the EULAs and taking them apart word for word for companies like PayPal to get away with such egregious abuses of the information they gather on us.
Immediately closed my business and personal PayPal accounts. Hadn’t used them in years anyway. Good f-ing riddance.
Thanks for linking this article. I had a couple of things tied to my PayPal account but just transferred them to another source. I have to wait a couple of days for the transfer of what little surplus funds I had in there to complete but then, as another poster said, good f-ing riddance.
I am so ready for a decent replacement for these clowns. Anyone have suggestions?
This is more about preventing lawsuits and less about actually calling you. Chase just had to pay a HUGE settlement because they accidentally dialed or sent notifications to people with debt that had declared bankruptcy. PayPal is just protecting themselves. You’ll never actually get an automated robo call from them, ever.
Square Cash works well. They also have it for business. It’s still growing however.
Maybe they should be covering the clients ass by not sending out erroneous automated calls and messages, instead of their own with such a ridiculous clause. Chase probably paid the settlement because they deserve even worse. How can you claim that they will never actually use that ability, why wouldn’t they.
Shawn – quick question – to kill my PayPal (which I ONLY used for the Loop membership) I had to kill my Loop membership. Your blurb says you don’t have to have a PayPal account to subscribe, but by using them for payment processing am I letting them back on my robocall list?
Can’t you guys do an Apple thing? I know they charge a bunch more, but I for one would be happy to foot that extra little bit per month than deal with scummy processors like PayPal. We’re now seeing firsthand why nothing is for free…
It won’t work on me though. Power to the deaf! 🙂 I agreed – Paypal gone too far. I won’t be surprised if they undo their policy very soon.
That’s correct, I’ll never actually get an automated robo call from them ever, because I’m going to delete my account. You know who else you’ll never receive a robocall from? Me, because it’s a capability I haven’t invested in. That’s something I will “never actually” do, so I don’t need to issue you a disclaimer about it.
“autodialed or prerecorded calls and text messages”
Text messages! You can’t get away that easily!
Do Canadians have to worry about this? It’s not like their new policy grants them exemption from Canada’s Do Not Call list.
Meh. Who answers phone calls from a number they don’t recognize?! If they don’t leave a voicemail I don’t give phone calls a second thought.
Businesses (like mine) do. and no matter how many do not call lists you get on, they robocall you anyway…
The “we have otherwise obtained” bit is pretty normal for any kind of financial service. They want to chase you down if you have debts.
And PayPal’s been doing that bit (sans prerecorded calls) for a while; when their incredibly crappy integration with BillMeLater caused a payment to vanish into the ether, collections tried three different phones in sequence. I only ever gave them the one.
Sorry but you’ll have to direct that question to Jim (jdatlrymple@loopinsight.com). I’m just a peon who has no knowledge of behind the scenes stuff. 🙂
Will do, thank you kindly, lowly worm!
Amazon Payments, too.
(I think Mr. Thornton’s post below makes a lot of sense.
Seeing this as lawsuit protection with no desire to ever, ever robo-call you makes this make sense, in today’s world where PayPal has competition.)
“Just never make a mistake” is a great idea!
Real hard to do, though.
(Why wouldn’t they? Because they’d lose tons of customers. That’s why.
Look at all the nervous nellies on this thread claiming they’ve already left just because of this report from the Post!)
Seconded. Square Cash is great. Sign up for a $cashtag and you’re done. No transferring balances, no waiting days for transactions to complete. So quick and simple.
“Worm”!? That’s a bit harsh!
Accurate….but harsh… 🙂
That also sounds like a good explanation for such a thing.
A PayPal clarification/promise that they’re restricting this claim only for:
A) Debt collection and/or
B) To prevent a class-action in case of accidental mass-calls for A) [per Mr. Thornton’s post above]
… would completely pull the plug on this as An Issue.
I do not find “PayPal plans to robocall everyone for cheap ad/sales revenue because they’re so incredibly stupid they don’t think that would be a giant net loss” plausible, myself.
Wow. The arrogance.
Still to numbers you have been given.