PayPal - A pain in the neck

• Cigar Seeds
• 
  Warning: foreach() argument must be of type array|object, null given in C:\inetpub\live\jack\public_html\tobacco\public_html\blog\article.php on line 76
  
• 25 Mar, 2021

Twenty years with PayPal and still they behave like robots.

Enough is enough!

This will sound like one of those Si-Fi horror movies, a kind of Terminator story of sorts.

Let me explain why all of our Cuban tobacco seed varieties have had to be renamed to Cigar # 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5.

Some time back in the 60's, it seems the Cubans, more specifically Fidel Castro, upset the USA over the missile crisis, which almost started World War III. 

After 60 years, Uncle Sam is still very sore with the Cubans and has a Treasury Department office called the Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC), specifically to enforce trade embargoes.

So what's all that got to do with me? 

Any search of the word Cuban will reveal, we have a number of products that originated from Cuba and we which we call Cuban XXX.

Whilst I have no problem responding to appropriate questions by the PayPal Compliance team and providing them evidence that we am not embargo busting, the problem simply won't go away.

All of our seeds are either grown or produced in the USA, Brazil or we produce them ourselves.

So when PayPal asks us "where did these seeds come from", we provide them with the relevant invoice, a copy of the field inspection report (because the potato virus demands it) and the phyto-sanitary certificate; all USA official documents.

Is the case now closed and business as usual?. NO.

Our PayPal account has been frozen and/or limited more 4 times this year alone. Despite providing all the necessary documentation to prove the origin to their satisfaction, still every customer who bought our Cuban seeds from any of our three web sites, got their orders held up for review unnecessarily.

When I asked why I was still being pulled up on something that had already been cleared of,, the response I got (in not so many words) was can you please change the names of your seeds so the "system" doesn't pick them up?

The fact that I had to defend myself so many times against the same "accusation", by the same people is totally unjust and inexcusable.

The facts speak for themselves. Why didn't someone check to see that this case against me was closed; not just once, twice but several times. 

It's because PayPal doesn't check these things, they don't have the staff. It comes straight out of the machine. Neither does my case history show on their customer service, because their compliance team are not a part of customer services.

Starting today, I am pleased to say this matter is now over, as I've changed all of the names and there shouldn't be any more delays.

I am very sorry for the hassle my customers have had to endure recently.

But Genisys is already online and if this is the shape of things to come, thank God I am an old man and won't be around to see the mess this world is heading into.

It saddens me to see this happening, for I have been with PayPal for nearly twenty years. 

PayPal maybe the first online company to mess up big time, but there are plenty of others, just like them very close behind. God help us all.