PayPal has backed off an online rant with the popular humor tech blog, Regretsy, after getting several bad Web feedbacks from large amount of people for shutting down a drive to purchase holiday gifts for several children in need.
And the online payments service is even cut in to help buy a few more gifts after the temporary shut down of the Secret Santa fund because the site what was a for-profit site instead of its non-profit tag.
However, a PayPal representative told her via e-mail she received “(W)e can confirm that the funds have been released and we are working directly with the account holder on this matter.” And the statement continue thus:
“We are also making a donation to Regretsy to help families in need this holiday season. We’re very sorry this occurred.”
Regretsy, a blog which is run and administered by an actress-comedian by name, April Winchell. The site is a humor blog mainly created for mocking whatsoever people see in similarity to akward or ugly things.
But, in a bid for some good cause, the site maintains a charity fund that has given money to several causes from breast-cancer research to Etsy community members that were in need.
Last month, Helen Killer, also known as Winchell on the blog, put out a call for all the community members who knew of children at risk of not getting good gifts for this Christmas. And exactly Dec. 1, she announced it again that 200 children had been approved for the gifts programm and then offer people to donate in order to make it come to reality- and within some hours, that post raised thousands of dollars from every sources.
“You people make me sick,” she wrote, mocking, as she frequently does, the tone some Etsy users take when they find their work has been featured on Regretsy. “Funded. Overfunded, in fact. In just a few hours. We now have enough money to make gifts to the families, as well as these kids. Good job a–holes.”
After that announcement came the trouble from nowhere but from PayPal.
On Monday latest, Hellen Killer wrote that an article on the blog that PayPal, which was the company in charge of the donation processing, shut down the donation process because she had used the “Donate” button for non-profit groups instead of the normal “buy now” button. She said that she had a “very long and jaw-dropping dialogue with an incredibly condescending representative,” who reportedly told her that she’ll had to refund those donations.
She wrote she had made up her mind to return the donations, and then “sell” the toys which had already been purchased to the donors, only for her to be told that the action too, violated PayPal rules – too much rules and regulation hehehe :).
Meanwhile, PayPal claims it had clear guidelines for businesses that uses the service to collect donations. However, the (statement did not directly address whether Regretsy had violated those guidelines, saying it can’t comment directly on accounts due to privacy policies). The representative said such guidelines are required by law.
“We appreciate that this can be an inconvenience, but we have a responsibility to all our customers — both donors and recipients; or buyers and sellers,” the PayPal rep said. “In this instance, we recognized our error and moved as swiftly as possible to fix it.”
In a post on Tuesday afternoon, Winchell wrote that she had not yet spoken with any representative from PayPal and hadn’t yet received a donation.
“And I would also like to say that I did not expect this kind of global outpouring of support, and I truly believe that had you not all made your voices heard, no one from Paypal would have ever felt compelled to make this right,” she wrote, noting that “Regretsy” had become a top trending topic on Twitter. “There is no real support or appreciation for the consumer anymore. The customer is always wrong.
“I am extremely grateful to all of you for your efforts. If Paypal is sincere about allowing us to make these gifts, you will have made a difference for 200 children and their families this holiday season.”
CNN Reports
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