Locked out of Steam/Civ V because of PayPal security

Zyxpsilon said:

Show me a better alternative aside from filling the coffins of Banks via credit-cards interest rates.

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I think you mean "coffers," my friend. Though I wouldn't mind filling their coffins too!

The really big thing I don't understand here is... why do they insist on being paid with Paypal after this?

Why is it you are forced to use that method after that method caused a problem? What in the world is their justification for saying "You tried Paypal and it didn't work, now you MUST use Paypal."

What is this??

Zyxpsilon said:

Show me a better alternative aside from filling the coffins of Banks via credit-cards interest rates.

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I have a check card that costs me nothing more than the opportunity cost on interest to use.

There's no law against paying off your credit card monthly and enjoying the service for free. In some cases, they even pay you to charge things via rewards programs.

Zyxpsilon said:

Show me a better alternative aside from filling the coffins of Banks via credit-cards interest rates.

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A bank would be an intermediary, too. I'm not so sure what the suggestion was, considering any reasonable way to pay would involve a middle man to transfer the money.

Rooftrellen said:

What in the world gives one company the right to prevent you from using what you legally purchased from another company?

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I believe the key here is that Steam believes someone was trying to defraud them by ordering content, receiving it, and then canceling the payment method. When this occurs, they may even suspect that the Steam account is not in its original owner's hands, and they wish to prevent the new user from benefiting from anything the original owner paid for.

WoW has a somewhat analogous policy when it comes to violations of their agreement.. if they see suspicious activity on their account, first they ban you under suspicion of being a gold seller, and then they investigate to find out if you may have been hacked instead. Ultimately the process works out, but it can be a bit painful during the investigation period.

I would hope that Steam will resolve this appropriately.. once it's clear that they will be getting their money.

(And agree with all on PayPal.. I use it to buy an occasional eBay item, but as an eBay seller I've also been defrauded by it, as the item I shipped overseas was late in arriving, the buyer complained, and PayPal gave me the options of A) Enter tracking # (which I did not have, since I used USPS), B) Refund entire purchase amount, or C) Close PayPal account, lose all money in it, and never see it again.)

Zyxpsilon said:

Show me a better alternative aside from filling the coffins of Banks via credit-cards interest rates.

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Coffers, maybe?

Personally, I use my Visa check card. Yeah, my bank gets something like a 1.5% transaction fee, but that comes out of Steam's wallet, not mine. And the $ comes directly from my checking account.

AfterShafter said:

"I contacted PayPal and released the hold within hours of finding out about it"

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PayPal sometimes put temporary hold(s) on transactions in some *VERY* specific cases;

-- Currency estimates.
-- Regional verifications of pricing.

Both of these take time. I might be instantaneous or relatively slow when the Selling side "waits" to acknowledge reception of a purchase order from PayPal.

And bad timing can result in some rational honest flaws but nothing that can't be resolved rather easily, fast.

forty2j said:

Coffers, maybe?

Personally, I use my Visa check card. Yeah, my bank gets something like a 1.5% transaction fee, but that comes out of Steam's wallet, not mine. And the $ comes directly from my checking account.

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Steam spends ziltch, nada, Zero if i send payments via PayPal cuz it's a Banking Debit_Card system.
But when you fail to payback your Credit_Card balance to a statement sent by your Bank... (what's the current Rates? 12%, 15, 20%+) i'd say the whole cost is on you.

Got rid of that junk stuff early 90's and never looked back.
Best deal in town - ca$h spent and given without *ANY* extra fees.

It's not like i'd buy a House or another Mazda on wheels, though.

Yeah, coffers -- sorry!

I'm in agreement that PayPal sucks.

Be careful of the prepaid cards as well (Visa Mastercard etc)
I bought a couple over the holidays for gifts and ended up paying a 3 or 4 dollar activation fee on a card worth 25$, also at 6 or seven months from the purchase date, they start deducting a fee off whatever is left on the card.
It would be nice if itunes had software (for PC) been buying itunes cards for quite some time and only had one problem which was resolved within a couple hours of sending an e-mail to customer service

esemjay said:

The cause of this dilemma is PayPal just cancelling transactions because it's Friday. Or the moon is out. Or your socks are white.

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uh.?..
Lost you there.
PayPal is as good (solid and secure, honest & stable, fast & reliable) as any "Other" online solutions.
I can prove it.

Zyxpsilon said:

Show me a better alternative aside from filling the coffins of Banks via credit-cards interest rates.

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Pay the statement balance by the next due date every time. Voila, you get interest-free loans. Nothing to it. If you use a CC right, it'll never cost you a speck of interest. If you do it right, you can even get money back from it, and still not pay a speck of interest. Again, I work for a credit card company/large bank, so I know all the rules.

Also, debit cards with Visa/MC on them are subject to interchange fees when used as MC/Visa, same as credit cards, but the merchant has to deal with that, not you.

Trias said:

The store can do this legally, however it is incredibly bad customers service, and I would probably never visit that store again. A more correct response of the store would be for the clerk to say: "Sorry, you handed me ten, I asked for twenty."

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Reality check.

The only Legal principle (in such a case) is the Invoice the cashier handed over *AFTER* you paid. That's their responsability, not yours.
You now have the right to pick your items and go.
Some security grunts dare standing at the door asking to verify Invoice and bag content -- now, THAT's bad service from a store.
Six months ago, right across the street in a grocery store.
They stopped the practice within a week.
Why? Customers went away. Sharp drop in their sales.

I'm honest and i can prove that too, daily.

Mavfin said:

Pay the statement balance by the next due date every time. Voila, you get interest-free loans.

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Wrong.

I bought a superb Mazda RX3 (long story). Borrowed 2500$ from a bank on a four years personal loan in 1977.
Remember the Oil Crisis?
That car net cost was 5100$. I needed it to go to work and fueled it with an everlasting loop of Inflation madness. Expenses or spending?

It's called Compound Interests by Banking.
Credit cards are worst than that -- in my decades ahead.

Not if you pay your balance in full within the grace period. Of course, if you miss even one payment, you can say goodbye to the grace period for a long time.

I pay my credit card balance in full every month within 24 hours of receiving the statement. I've NEVER had to pay interest. My card doesn't have any periodic fees for having the account, so my credit card is essentially free.

As long as you remain what the credit card companies call a deadbeat, you have nothing to worry about. Needless to say, they greatly prefer consumers who DON'T pay their balance in full every month (they really like the ones who run up so much debt that they can't pay, since credit card debt is not forgiven by filing for bankruptcy).

deanej said:

I pay my credit card balance in full every month within 24 hours of receiving the statement. I've NEVER had to pay interest. My card doesn't have any periodic fees for having the account, so my credit card is essentially free.

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Lose a full-time job and trust me, you'll have some extremely costly catching up to do.
Divorce is a monthly fee, too. And kids, well... they want stuff.

I'm not surprised or bothered TOO much about this. What annoys me is that people still insist it's the CUSTOMERS who benefit from Steam. "But you can talk with your FRIENDS ONLINE . . ."

deanej said:

(since credit card debt is not forgiven by filing for bankruptcy).

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Not true. Everybody takes a haircut in a 13, including secured creditors (who lose out on interest). The reason the credit card companies wanted to change the law was that in a 7 they got nothing, and something beats nothing any day of the week.

deanej said:

Not if you pay your balance in full within the grace period. Of course, if you miss even one payment, you can say goodbye to the grace period for a long time.

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Well, that's not true, either. The interest stops accruing on the next date the payment comes in that pays off the most recent statement balance, then it shows up on the next statement. That being said, any 'slip' of even a day after the due date will get you some interest on at least 2 statements.

Of course, people ask "Isn't there a grace period?" and the company's response is: we billed you on (example) 3/28, and didn't expect payment till 4/25. That's all the grace period you need.

Zyxpsilon said:

Wrong.

I bought a superb Mazda RX3 (long story). Borrowed 2500$ from a bank on a four years personal loan in 1977.
Remember the Oil Crisis?
That car net cost was 5100$. I needed it to go to work and fueled it with an everlasting loop of Inflation madness. Expenses or spending?

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What the bloody blue blazes are you talking about? You're certainly not having a conversation with people you're replying to.

Listen - If you borrow $2500 on March 1, 1977, you have up until about April 15, 1977 to give the bank $2500 and owe no interest at all. Or very little at any rate. That you elected to wait until 1981 to make the final payment is why the total cost was $5100.

Same on credit cards. Start with a brand new card, $0 balance. Purchase a $10 DLC on Feb 15, 2011. You get a bill for $10 on March 3, 2011. That bill is due March 24, 2011. At any time up until March 24, you can pay $10 and owe no interest, no fees, nothing. Steam gets ~$9.50, the bank gets ~$0.50, you pay $10, everyone's happy. This works with any dollar amount. If the payment you send before the due date is at least as much as the total outstanding balance on the bill, you don't pay a dime of interest, ever.