PayPal Is Very Sorry About (briefly repeat member's situation)
Sure, far be it from me as Consumerist tipline czarina to criticize people for having canned responses to e-mails, and especially for mixing up said canned responses, but this was still too amusing not to share.
(From The Daily WTF) Thanks, Mike!
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Comments:
Please, please, please tell me that they are taking this seriously!
(insert reasons from commenter why paypal rocks; leave room for everyone else to bash said commenter)
it was a big mistake but c'mon - of course they have canned responses. A company that size would have to be mad to not have some sort of structure within their messaging to customers. Without templates like this for communication, service reps would spend 23 hours a day responding to customer issues.
You know, I thought about sending this to y'all.
I did, however, send it to Reddit: [www.reddit.com]
Sorry for double-post. The link is wrong... it's thedailywtf, not dailywtf. :)
hahaha...I got a good laugh out of that. Hope it wasn't too serious because they don't seem to concerned.
@jmujeff:
Word. No way we can trust the minions to write their own letters. These templates are a necessity, not to mention a timesaver.
It's cute. I have heard of so many people being screwed over by Paypal, I wish the FDIC had ruled they are a bank long ago so they would have to follow the law.
thanks for the comments, %c, we'll check them out!
@SlappyWhite: Usually it's for legal purposes.
Besides, if it were *your* company would you want an email that looked like:
"Ohai!
Thanx 4 contacting us. Sry 2 hear about ur prob.
If u want 2 rcv a cpy of teh investigation carried out in ur cases about unauth use of ur PP acct, send an email to us.
kthxbai!"
Or something like that...
@metrophage: If I get a letter like that, I want a pic of the letter writer. The snorglier the better.
The LOL aside, does this mean issues with PayPal can only be resolved by snail mail? How pre-Internet of them...?
(insert funny comment)
REM did this on the projection screen as a joke on one tour. "Hello (insert your city here)"
Before I got promoted I worked in CS for tech support for my software company. Canned responses (honestly just stuff I used on a daily basis) saved me SOO much time. I made the parts I had to replace in bold, italics, and all caps so as not to miss it. For most of the: I am looking into this, please provide this information, and hey dude do you still have this issue communications it saved much time.
@jmujeff: I answer most of the emails for the department I work in at my company and believe me templates are very helpful in expediting the answering process. However it's usually a good idea to review the email before hitting the send button. It's very easy to send the wrong response if you're not carefull. I've have a few moments where I'ved accidently replied simply "Hello (insert customer name here)" and forgotten to copy in the rest of the text.
That's what happens when you let GladOS handle your email automation system. Don't worry, though afterwards there will be cake and grief counseling.
Isn't this just an update to the "bedbug" letter?
insert dumbass nose-picking Indian call center analyst text here...lol.
@rinse: Thats what I was thinking! As if they have a guy that sits in the corner opening request letters all day. It's just another way they keep from serving their customers.
It allows them to slow the process down. Includes mail time, your letter hasn't been processed yet time and we never recieved your letter time.
Paypal has frozen the user's account, so they are holding on to whatever funds are left in the account. By holding onto the money for the max amount of time, they are earning interest on it. The last thing they want to do is "resolve" something and give money back.
Every online customer support thing does this. I used to work for a well known health website and we'd have all sorts of prewritten responses we copy and paste into a window, edit a bit and then send them off. It's really the only way we can get through the thousands of emails a day.
@rinse: It seems like they're just trying to have a physical record of such claims, but still, how hard is it to back up and save emails now? And digital signatures are becoming more and more accepted.
@kman13: I doubt anyone thinks paypal rocks. Come to think of it, why werent they in worst company in america? If theres a company that has as their business plan "steal money from people", its Paypal.
Long ago, in a place far far away, I used form responses when I handled some customer service. One method that helped me to avoid mistakes like the one presented here was to put the (INSERT DESCRIPTION HERE) placeholder in caps so it stands out at a glance - If the placeholder was short (******ZIP*******) I would surround it with something to make it stand out more. Later, I started putting the placeholders in larger and bold type (#NAME#) which made it even easier to see the unfilled placeholders.
"sincerely"
lmao.
@jmujeff: I have a whole arsenal of answer templates for Consumerist readers. But people rightfully complain or make fun of me when I make mistakes with them.
@Radi0logy: I like PayPal. It's the most convenient, and most widely-used system for internet transactions.
Paypal is the worst. If I'm not mistaken, you are allowed to make 2 disputes during your lifetime, but havent checked lately since I always change my funding from a direct debit to my checking account to my VISA charge card. That way I have the credit card's protection and easy chargeback process. I'm not able to change default funding to CC and always change it and Paypal always asks if I'm sure I want to fund it with the CC rather than using the checking account. Dumb, dumber and dumbest.
I used to work in that exact facility at PayPal which sends those emails. It's funny to see that they haven't updated their canned responses in 10 years.
I don't blame the rep though, Ebay uses the most oppressive systems to manage their CSRs. You can say goodbye to bonuses/raises if you don't meet your daily quota of responses. And you can't send out thorough, quality, well-researched responses and still make that quota.
Nice one paypal. I use templates for any letters I send out daily, put I also proofread them before they are sent.
@SalenaBabblerash: Not only that, but the checking account option is large and bold, while the button for using your CC is tiny and has "no" written on it.
However, Paypal's TOS states that you're not allowed to file a chargeback, and if you do, they freeze your account - tough if you're also a seller since they require you to accept paypal now!
Where I work, we don't do the whole canned response thing, and neither does Southwest. Sure, it takes more employee time...but they don't get lazy, and our customers are happier.
If you're getting so many customer complaint emails that not using canned responses would make you bleed money, then you're doing something else wrong! Fix whatever you're doing wrong, and you won't have an avalanche of pissed off customers - simple rule!
You blacked out the name: is that addressed to "Dear Recipient" or "To Whom It May Concern"?
Funny.
ha thats hilarious, I was having issues with paypal a few weeks ago because they wouldnt accept my credit card because I had removed it from paypal years ago because I wasn't using it or ebay for a while. The response they gave me looked like a robot wrote the entire thing then picked a random american sounding name at the end. End result: I'm not using paypal because they want me to sign up for another credit card to use with them sooo no.
(amusing yet insightful comment)
oops damn