PayPal can robocall you with advertising from July

[FrodosPet]

I am about to go cancel my PayPal account right now. This is an huge mistake on their part.

http://www.geek.com/news/paypal-can-robocall-you-with-advertising-from-july-1624237/

By Matthew Humphries Jun. 3, 2015 9:30 am

On July 1 PayPal will officially split from parent company eBay. Such a split always comes with a new set of terms of service customers have to sign up. If you don’t sign, then your PayPal account becomes unusable, so everybody signs. The problem is, consenting will also mean PayPal and its partners can call and text you whenever they want about whatever they want, including with advertising.

The terms state that you consent to allow PayPal and any of its affiliates to contact you via autodialed or prerecorded calls and text messages at any phone number they have on record. So as well as billing and debt collection calls, we can all expect to receive regular calls and text messages containing advertising. You know, those calls and texts everybody hates with a passion.

You may think that such a practice is not allowed due to the consumer protections that are in place and the existence of the Do Not Call list. However, oral or written consent can override such restrictions, and PayPal clearly believes that agreeing to new terms of service counts as written consent.

It gets worse, though, as PayPal is also not allowing anyone to opt out of the calls or texts as is (or should be) your right. Anyone attempting to do so will be told that is not possible and directed to instructions on how to close your PayPal account. Clearly they are very serious about being able to contact you whenever they want.

~ snip ~

[Auggie]

1. PayPal responds to Internet fury over its new terms of service

Just found this: http://bgr.com/2015/06/04/paypal-user-agreement-robocalls-autotext-opt-out/

Naturally, news of PayPal’s new TOS caused something of an uproar online. Thankfully, PayPal has since realized that forcing users to accept automated texts and phone calls wasn’t the wisest of business decisions.

A PayPal spokesperson provided the following statement to BGR earlier today: “Our policy is to honor customers’ requests to decline to receive auto-dialed or prerecorded calls.”

It remains to be seen, though, how straightforward and visible the opt-out process will be. If PayPal wants to avoid future criticism, an opt-out option must be made easily accessible online. If PayPal requires users to pro-actively call and request to be removed, well, that’d be disappointing to say the least.

From some of the comments we’ve seen thus far, it unfortunately appears that PayPal has opted for the later option, forcing users to call them up and request to be removed. And even then, we’ve seen reports that PayPal operators are unsure of how to handle such requests.

[Sherman A1]

2. Simple fix

Close your account.

[FrodosPet]

3. That's my plan

I'm not trusting the opt-out detailed in reply #1

[Sherman A1]

4. Enough people close

Their accounts and the policy may be reviewed.

[hollysmom]

5. Inever gave themmy number, but I also have stopped answering my phone,

I am on the stupid old people list and get almost 100% scammers

[Lizzie Poppet]

6. If they fail to make opting out pretty damn simple...

...I'll close my (much used) account so fast it will make your head spin. My phone is NOT for receiving unsolicited marketing crap, period.

[FrodosPet]

7. I cancelled right after posting

And informed them via Facebook message as to why I did.

As another reply pointed out, they are backtracking a bit, but they are still making it difficult to opt out.