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  • Nov. 8th, 2006 at 11:07 PM
ireland
Well, this is interesting.

Out of the blue, I have received an email from PayPal informing me that they have reconsidered my case and unlocked my account. (Yes, it's true. I went in right away and got my forty bucks).

My emails to them produced no results, my phone call only frustration, but suddenly PayPal thinks I'm cool again. What's happened here, I wonder? I have not sent them any of the proofs of identity they wanted, the passports and birth certificates and such. I have not made any further appeals, not written any more emails, not made any more phone calls. All I did was post here.

The only thing I can think is that YOU happened. All of you reading this, and especially those who wrote or called or withdrew your funds or closed your accounts or made your voice heard somehow. There's no other explanation that I can see. This is a testament to the power of the blogosphere, I think.

Viva Live Journal.

Thanks. You guys are great, and I am humbled and astonished.

(Oh, and a lot of you made your voices heard in the nation's ballot boxes yesterday as well. Thanks for that too.)

Comments

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(Anonymous) wrote:
Nov. 9th, 2006 07:09 am (UTC)
forty? i thought it was fifty!! LIES AND DECEPTION!
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(Anonymous) wrote:
Nov. 9th, 2006 10:48 am (UTC)
Well, sorry to say George...
I have to say the power displayed at the elections on the 7th is a bit more important than your 40 bucks.

But I am glad you got your money, since it was utterly crap reasons you couldn't have it in the first place.
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[info]dravenreborn wrote:
Nov. 9th, 2006 07:10 am (UTC)
i told you before......i love your rants. :)
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[info]ymmasymmasymmas wrote:
Nov. 9th, 2006 07:10 am (UTC)
wow, i'm impressed. i thought that your money was going to be lost in paypal purgatory forever.
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[info]anowyn wrote:
Nov. 9th, 2006 07:13 am (UTC)
Yeehaw! I voted for my first time yesteday, it felt good ^_^

Never underestimate the power of the internets.

The internet is, in fact, SERIOUS BUSINESS!
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[info]yagathai wrote:
Nov. 9th, 2006 07:41 am (UTC)
Hey, I know you from [info]powermetalheads
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(no subject) - [info]anowyn - Nov. 9th, 2006 07:46 am (UTC) Expand
(no subject) - [info]yagathai - Nov. 9th, 2006 05:17 pm (UTC) Expand
[info]_dahne_ wrote:
Nov. 9th, 2006 07:14 am (UTC)
Re: Voting
You're welcome =D

Damn it feels good to be a gangster.
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[info]mrbnatural wrote:
Nov. 9th, 2006 07:15 am (UTC)
Congrats! ^_^

The ballot box is bound to get it right at least once every twelve years. o__O
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[info]somnium_exciens wrote:
Nov. 9th, 2006 07:16 am (UTC)
I'm glad that things worked out. Behold the power of LJ and obsessive fans :P
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[info]yagathai wrote:
Nov. 9th, 2006 07:41 am (UTC)
Perhaps someone high up at PayPal is a fan.
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[info]psymbiotic wrote:
Nov. 9th, 2006 07:46 am (UTC)
Whatever or whoever did this, it's a good thing. Awesome! :>

Egan
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[info]syneiam wrote:
Nov. 9th, 2006 07:48 am (UTC)
Lol, seriously, I couldn't believe what happened to you when I read this, and now, suddenly you're cool again? Ahah, that's the power of money, no doubt XD
That, or someone working for Paypal read your LJ too. Which is possible, after all XD

Anyway, that's good to hear. :)

And no, I didn't vote yesterday. 'Cause I'm French (elections are coming too in Spring in France, and I'm yet sick of our politicians).

Good luck with Westeros ^^

~Syn
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[info]angrylagomorph wrote:
Nov. 11th, 2006 07:20 am (UTC)
Well, as long as you don't vote for Le Pen; but then again, there really aren't any French pols right now that seem very votable from what I've read :/.
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[info]bride wrote:
Nov. 9th, 2006 07:52 am (UTC)
Hi, I saw this post in my FriendsFriends. I didn't catch the original when it happened and I'm glad it's cleared up now =P

One part of my company deals with OFAC issues. Sometimes, when a transaction goes through a bank in the US (especially if the Bank of America or a major US bank is involved somewhere in the middle), something red flags it as meeting some criteria under one or more of the OFAC sanctions. Sometimes, software catches it, sometimes a human catches it and red flags it.

Companies that facilitate transfer of funds (like PayPal) will lock down everything involved with the offending transaction until a bunch of verifying is done and paperwork is collected. PayPal is trying to collect evidence that they're not facilitating a transaction that's against the US Treasury's rules. I'm not too familiar with what exactly is involved, but it's called the "due diligence" process.

Then, once that's done, they'll open things up again, remove locks on customer's accounts, etc. Our company is in constant contact with the customer during these things, but our customers are corporate clients. I guess when your customer base is the general public, it's much harder to give that kind of attention to the individual.

A month sounds about right for a due diligence process. It just sucks that no one could tell you what happened or what to expect or notify you when everything was lifted. I suppose I'm not surprised that PayPal's Compliance department doesn't communicate well to the Customer Service department. =P
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[info]hilleviw wrote:
Nov. 9th, 2006 02:20 pm (UTC)
I found this explanation really interesting. It's a whole side of regulatory issues to which I've been utterly oblivious.
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(no subject) - [info]bride - Nov. 9th, 2006 05:10 pm (UTC) Expand
(no subject) - [info]twe - Nov. 9th, 2006 04:06 pm (UTC) Expand
[info]garpu wrote:
Nov. 9th, 2006 07:52 am (UTC)
Woohoo! Here's hoping more sanity prevails!
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[info]anowyn wrote:
Nov. 9th, 2006 07:55 am (UTC)
Haha, your icon. XDD
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[info]alice_the_raven wrote:
Nov. 9th, 2006 07:57 am (UTC)
Glad to see they relented. If we helped out in any small way, I'm very glad. I guess it's good to see that you're no longer a threat to national security. :)
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[info]hosephius wrote:
Nov. 9th, 2006 08:22 am (UTC)
The people spoke up, the balance is restored. It's a good day to be in America.
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[info]emik wrote:
Nov. 9th, 2006 08:23 am (UTC)
blogs are powerful now anyway... i'm glad that you're ok!
good luck to you, take care!
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[info]benpeek wrote:
Nov. 9th, 2006 08:29 am (UTC)
neat! viva the internet!
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[info]pgmcc wrote:
Nov. 9th, 2006 08:41 am (UTC)
I'm delighted it worked out for the best. All you've to worry about now is the next automated computer run that applies their compliancy rules.
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[info]deathpufferfish wrote:
Nov. 9th, 2006 09:06 am (UTC)
A real person at PayPal must read your LJ!
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[info]vardebedian wrote:
Nov. 9th, 2006 09:15 am (UTC)
Well, I wrote about it here http://qurl.com/9r1tf; then it got picked up by this guy http://qurl.com/c13bf who I'm pretty sure got it from me; I'm not sure how much further it got than that, but that's two digital/media blogs I know some people at eBay read, so if that helped I'm really glad.
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[info]icemannorth wrote:
Nov. 9th, 2006 10:34 am (UTC)
So does this mean that you're not the former Liberian Ambassador to Nigeria?
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[info]xraytheenforcer wrote:
Nov. 9th, 2006 04:10 pm (UTC)
*is crushed*
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[info]kelyantar wrote:
Nov. 9th, 2006 10:42 am (UTC)

Congrats! So glad to hear it.
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[info]jedi_amara wrote:
Nov. 9th, 2006 10:51 am (UTC)
Power to the blogosphere!
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[info]coleoptera wrote:
Nov. 9th, 2006 11:17 am (UTC)
I recommend Google Checkout, though since it's banned on eBay (no surprise as they own PayPal) it might be less useful for you, but it's worth a look.
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[info]babyraven wrote:
Nov. 9th, 2006 11:42 am (UTC)
Sounds too me like they fucked up and never meant to ban you in the first place. You probably never got to talk to anyone high enough to know.

At least you got your money out. :/
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[info]babyraven wrote:
Nov. 9th, 2006 11:43 am (UTC)
Err.. TO me. Apparently, I can't be trusted to type in the early morning hours.
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[info]valerini wrote:
Nov. 9th, 2006 12:30 pm (UTC)
hehe maybe the democrats regained control of PayPal as well.
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