Ah, PayPal. The best friend of eBay shoppers and people too lazy to pull out their credit card. Good ol’ PayPal would never hurt us…
– A.V. Club, PayPal fined $25 million for shady business practices
As you know, PayPal was recently fined $25 million by the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau due to several illegal business practices of its subsidiary PayPal Credit (formerly known as Bill Me Later).
The abusive practices detailed by the CFPB included enrolling customers without their knowledge or consent and deceiving customers into using PayPal Credit when making a purchase, instead of their actual preferred payment method. Additionally, PayPal charged illegally excessive late fees and mishandled payment disputes. The CFPB’s full official statement on the matter can be read here.
WHAT’S THAT? YOU DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT ALL THIS?
That makes two of us! At least, until I experienced firsthand the aforementioned tactics and automatically became a member of the class action lawsuit that resulted in the $25 million fine. More than the headache and inconvenience though, the real tragedy is the co-option (by corporate greed) of PayPal’s mission to “build the Web’s most convenient, secure, cost-effective payment solution.” There was nothing convenient, secure, or cost-effective about the business practices I and others endured.
Phew, I feel better after a good rant 🙂 In conclusion, here is the snarky complaint I posted to PayPal’s Facebook page in retaliation.
COMPLAINT POSTED TO PAYPAL’S FACEBOOK
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