First, it's not always "small claims." In the case of our charity fundraising at Christmas, we had collected $20,000 for those kids. That means real court, with real lawyers, and going up against PayPal's legal department. They will file motion after motion after motion and bankrupt your legal fund.
And really, public airing of corporate bad deeds is extremely effective. After we publicly shamed PayPal for keeping fees on charity donations they forced us to refund, they were embarrassed enough to donate $20,000 to 200 needy families.
Traditional court is not where individuals really have power.
In the phone call I had with a PayPal executive after the Christmas debacle, It was stated to me that when an account is frozen for bringing in too much money too quickly, the CS representative taking calls is asked to "make a judgment call. " In our case, "they made a very, very incorrect one."
That's my entire complaint with this process. In any other business, a good customer who makes you money gets dedicated customer service. Your account is treated carefully. That's not how they do it there.
I also want to say that I understand the compulsion to lay blame at the feet of the person being screwed over in stories like these ("They used the wrong button!" "They didn't read the TOU!"). Human nature is such that we have to find fault with the person on the receiving end of treatment like this. We desperately want to believe that if we'e very good, nothing bad will ever happen to us.
First, it's not always "small claims." In the case of our charity fundraising at Christmas, we had collected $20,000 for those kids. That means real court, with real lawyers, and going up against PayPal's legal department. They will file motion after motion after motion and bankrupt your legal fund.
And really, public airing of corporate bad deeds is extremely effective. After we publicly shamed PayPal for keeping fees on charity donations they forced us to refund, they were embarrassed enough to donate $20,000 to 200 needy families.
Traditional court is not where individuals really have power.