The Mystery Shopper

I've had a Paypal account for many years. It has enabled me to purchase from ebay and from other online shops with ease and convenience. Paypal has also enabled me to send money to family and friends.

On Paypal's site they advertise the ease of being able to send money safely to family and friends. This is extremely important as I send money to a friend in the UK often throughout the year. I've been doing that for a couple of years and it's a major reason I have a Paypal account.

Two days ago I logged in to my Paypal account to send some money to my friend in the UK. When I tried to send the money I received an Error message #4002 saying Paypal was having temporary difficulties and to try again. I tried a couple of times with the same results. I was easily able to pay for an ebay purchase that evening so I figured it was a temporary problem.

The next day I decided to try sending the money as a payment for services. Since the ebay payment had gone through maybe there was a problem with sending money for personal reasons. I tried to send the money and received a message saying I needed to add money to my Paypal account before I could pay with Paypal.

Now I have my credit card added to my Paypal so there was no good reason why I could not make this payment. Something was amiss and I rang Paypal to find out what it was.

The customer service person checked my account and informed me that there was a security issue and that was why I could not make the payment. When I pressed for more information all she could tell me was that certain transactions get flagged as "security risks" and stopped. I told her I have sent money to this person many times before and never had any problems. She kept repeating that the "system" flagged it as a security risk and she could not override the system. I told her the messages I had receive did not say anything about a security risk. She told me I would need to make alternate payment arrangements in order to send the money.

Finally I asked to speak to someone in charge and was put on hold for ten minutes. A supervisor finally came on the phone and checked my account. She said I should "try again tomorrow". I told her what the first woman had told me and she said that yes, this was the case and it was a system put in place "to protect you" from things like money laundering. I explained to her that I had many times sent money to this person, with no problems at all. She assured me it was not the recipient of the money that was in question, but kept talking about security risks and this was done for protection.  She said I would need to add a bank account to my Paypal account so I could access money that way and send it.

If there is a security risk for sending money via my credit card, wouldn't it also be a security risk to send money via my bank account? It made no sense to add another source of funding to my Paypal account, I told her.

She told me there was no way to override the system, and when asked if there was a safe list I could utilize to add my friend so I could avoid this happening again, she said the system did not have a safe list built in to it.

What has happened to Paypal? It used to be a perfect way to do business and send money online. If they think this new addition to their system is for the better, it is not!

I still don't understand why the second lady suggested I try again the next day when she could see that the transaction had been flagged for being a security risk. And why, when the transaction did not go through, did the message say about there being an error and to try again, or to add money to my account and try again? There was no mention of the transaction being stopped because of a security risk.

So now I must find another method of sending money. After many years of using Paypal with no problems, this security issue is something I cannot overlook. I am not a happy customer! For all I purchase from ebay, if I cannot send money as I have before, it may be time to reassess the necessity of keeping a Paypal account at all.

Be warned: if a seller, or a family member, for some inexplicable reason is suddenly deemed a security risk, you cannot send them money unless you have money already in your Paypal account. You may -- I say may, because I don't know for sure -- be able to add money to your Paypal account via a bank account and then send the money. Having said that, I don't know for sure this will even go through.

Another thing to be wary of regarding Paypal: Apparently there are a great many disgruntled Paypal customers, with a variety of issues against Paypal and their practices. You would do well to read up and decide for yourself whether Paypal is a viable option anymore for online payments.

Paypal needs to reassess their security issues and if they still see a need in having this aspect to their system, they need to set up a safe list for users to add their trusted family, friends, and business associates.

RATING: on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being poor, 10 being excellent) I rate this security aspect of Paypal a paltry 1. This is not helping customers in any way. In my mind, it is a sneaky way of getting people to add their bank account information to Paypal's system.

Needed a new microwave so I decided to try some of the lower priced shops. Went to Canadian Tire, found the microwave I wanted, for a great price of $99.00, and felt quite chuffed with myself!

There was only one microwave on the shelf -- the "store model" -- but no boxed microwaves of the model I wanted. So I looked around for a store clerk to enquire whether they had more of this model microwave in stock.

I saw many sales clerks rushing past me, or meandering around in the distance. I even saw a group queing together a few rows over.

Finally I managed to flag one down but she looked totally confused when I asked her about the microwaves. She took out a radio and paged someone to come to "Microwaves". I didn't know there actually was a "Microwaves" department, but she worked here so she should know. I smiled as she walked away and continued to wait. Patience is a virtue and I couldn't expect anyone to just drop everything they were doing and attend to me.

About half an hour went by, with no one coming to assist me. I looked around but the que of sales clerks had dispersed. Was probably their coffee break. After maybe fifteen minutes more the same girl I first spoke to meandered back to the department and looked surprised to see me still standing there. I told her no one had come to help, so she took out her radio and asked someone to come to "Microwaves", then walked away.

Twenty minutes later my sense of humour over the issue was beginning to wane. I picked up the "store model" microwave, put it in my shopping cart, and decided to go to customer service. I walked towards the checkout and realized that the area I thought was customer service was, in fact, the place where you return items.

Becoming more frustrated, I decided to track down a sales clerk myself. I figured if they saw someone walking around with an unboxed microwave they might actually ask me what I was doing, and I'd finally get some help.

There was another que of sales clerks so I headed for them. Once there, I waited for them to stop talking so I could ask for assistance. I'd been brought up not to interrupt, so I waited, relatively patiently, sure that I would soon be headed to the checkout with my new boxed microwave.

Suddenly the cue disbursed away from me, as if they'd just been given orders to run and hide!

By this time I was questioning what the heck was going on with the sales staff at this store. There had to be at least one that was available to assist me. I turned around and looked for other sales clerks. I found one, in the "Tools" department. He reluctantly stopped to talk to me and I was finally able to ask if they had any more of this model microwave in stock.

He took the information off the microwave and went to check. I was, at this point, still smiling, knowing that throwing a hissy fit is no way to gain good customer service.

When the tools department sales clerk returned, he said he didn't see any more in stock. He took out his radio and called for someone to come to "Households" department. One of the sales clerks who had previously been queing appeared, and after checking, he announced that there were none in stock.

"Can I take this one, then?" I asked.

I was curtly informed that this was their "sales model" and was probably "missing some parts" and could not be sold. Missing parts? It was a microwave they took out of a box and put on a shelf! They didn't have to build it before they displayed it, so how could it possibly be missing parts?

At no time was I offer a raincheck for the model I wanted. I left the store empty handed, having been made to wait for more than hour, and being ignored by sales clerks. Whilst the sales clerks were not rude or abusive, they also were not very pleasant or helpful. I felt I was somehow interrupting their day to ask for assistance.

That, quite frankly, is absolutely shoddy customer service.

After all that I went to Zellers, found the exact same microwave, for approximately $12.00 more, and bought it. There was no sales staff available at that store either, but I wasn't searching for any there either.

Canadian Tire has a huge customer base, so making a customer feel they are valued, that their business is important, should still be Number One on their list. It obviously is not for this particular Canadian Tire store.

RATING:  on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being Poor, 10 being Excellent) this particular Canadian Tire store is given only a 3 for Customer Service, one point each for the three sales clerks who 'helped' me. Seriously, Canadian Tire, it is time to invest a little of your profits into proper customer service training!