Maidens of the Kaleidoscope
~Bunbunmaru News~ => Front Page Headlines => Topic started by: helvetica on December 22, 2010, 05:01:32 PM
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Yesterday I went to dip into the donation box to pay for the new game server we're going to run. Paypal decided the transaction was fradulent and has locked me out of the account. I've been fighting with them for over a day now and so far it's basically "you're fucked". So right now there's $280 in donations I cannot touch, spend, or even refund.
At first they said it was because the name on the account was fictitious. So I sent them a picture of my driver's license, with the same address as listed on the account as well as the bank account attached to it. That wasn't good enough, they wanted proof that I actually own the bank account attached to it. Problem, that account has been closed for months thanks to a monumental bank screw job that lost me 200 bucks from an overdraft charge THEY made. So I had to spend hours fighting the bank to give me the account number of my closed out account. But that wasn't good enough either, they want a bank statement with my name and address on it to prove it's my bank account. So I had to pay out of pocket to get an old statement faxed to me, which takes a few days to actually process and obtain. And after I fax that to Paypal they said they need 5-7 days to decide if I am clearly who I say I am.
The main reason I made this separate Paypal account and not put my actual name on it was it didn't seem proper. You're donating to the site, not me, and it didn't feel right to have my name all over it, especially if I ended up leaving or otherwise disappear. I put Reimu Hakurei down as the account name to try to keep the theme of the site and I thought it was cute to see you donated to Reimu Hakurei when you donated.
What really irks me is I've had this account setup this way for years now. Paypal sure didn't give a damn when we raised almost $2000 for charity last year, and never gave a damn in the past so why throw the fit now? Hell times have been good and we haven't needed to dip in the pot for a while, so I haven't even looked at it in months. Worst part is I can't even refund the money given to the site, it's completely frozen. And Paypal could just up and decide "lol we don't believe you" and poof there goes $280 of your hard earned money, money you gave to this site. And I'm powerless :\
So for now, donations will be closed off until this is sorted out. I am looking into alternative payment systems and I am definitely getting rid of Paypal after this mess. Likely we will move to either Amazon Payments or Google Checkout (or both), but until then show your immense displeasure for how horrible Paypal has been treating us. I'm not one to usually encourage wrath against other sites, but if you can please send a nice greeting here (https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/helpscr?cmd=_help&t=escalateTab) to let them know how great they're doing.
Sorry to Krim and Vic and Stuffman for sending money that may very well get gobbled up by Paypal. Your intentions were greatly appreciated, even if the money ends up going to feed greed instead of improving this site. If I could I would pay you guys back out of my own pocket :\
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This is because of Wikileaks, I'm sure. What are you not telling us?!
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I... have a confession.
I'm Julian Assange. :ohdear:
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Totally called this in IRC btw.
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oh no our admin is a rapist what do we do
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That's basically why I hate sites that get too big. As soon as paying attention to customers/consumers/users is no longer a human's job, the service turns to crap. Reminds me of when my facebook account was disabled, and after appealing, a few days later they told me their whatever-system encountered an error and accidentally did so to me. Nothing you really can do but change sites or hope it doesn't happen again, I guess.
Also sucks that it (probably) wasted so much money. Not sure exactly where you Admins stand financially-wise, but that must've been pretty annoying.
Hopefully they run out of ways to deny you and just un-freeze the account? The fact they kept/keep saying "Fine, but what if-" is pretty lame.
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Oh, and as far as alternate payment programs go, I recommend MoneyGram. I've gotten money to Cambodia in seconds that way.
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Sorry to Krim and Vic and Stuffman for sending money that may very well get gobbled up by Paypal. Your intentions were greatly appreciated, even if the money ends up going to feed greed instead of improving this site. If I could I would pay you guys back out of my own pocket :\
Don't worry about it, if they don't get this sorted out I will be making sure I get my money back from them.
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Hey, doesn't the new Touhou Wiki also use PayPal for donations? Will this likely happen there too?
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Please be careful when giving these people your information as proof. Make sure that they are indeed Paypal. Somebody I know had his accounts raided because of a similar situation with someone that was posing as Paypal. He willingly gave them his information, and they went on a buying spree.
Sure it's only $280, but it's also your name and reputation and stuff. Hopefully they'll stop being retards about this soon.
Let us know when you get the alternate account(s) set up. I'd like to chip in and donate, myself.
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No it is Paypal. I withdrew money from the account and then suddenly my phone was going crazy with emails and I checked the account and it said it was locked out due to "fraud investigation". I called Paypal directly and I have been getting email correspondence from them.
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After sitting on hold for yet another hour I have finally gotten the account unlocked. I will be transferring the funds out of it ASAP and setting up a replacement.
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After sitting on hold for yet another hour I have finally gotten the account unlocked. I will be transferring the funds out of it ASAP and setting up a replacement.
Well, that's good, at least. :ohdear:
I dunno, I've never had any problems with my Paypal account. Though it is under my name, so...
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Paypal seems to be doing this kind of shady thing all the time. Glad you got it unlocked.