I was trying to send someone an invoice but couldn't access my PayPal account because I was traveling. Many companies have features so that when accessing an account from a different location they want to verify it is the actual customer. A fraud feature.
However PayPal didn't bother to really think this through. I tried to follow the process for verification but it wanted to contact my work phone for verification. Think about this, the verification process, the only option they provided me was to call the phone of my office. I WAS TRAVELING. So, I called customer service from another country at 1.99 per minute. After a 10 minute call where all she did was reset my password. But she didn't actually solve the verification problem. I was then put on hold for another 5 before I had to hang up due to reaching 30.00 in call fees. Which of course they won't offer to pay me back for, "Since this charge was not processed by PayPal we are unable to refund this amount." Caused by PayPal just not processed by then.
What is interesting here is that, most companies have an option of email verification or security questions. Yet, they only have the one option! PayPal a company that has been around for years, I would image has seen this issue come up more that once, can't provide more than one option for verification.
As to the brilliance of customer support I received online. You need to log into your account to access it from the PayPal website so that option was out. And the support received via twitter. I was told to add my mobile phone to my account. You know, the account that I couldn't access when traveling.
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