Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

PayPal CEO writes personal response

ndy.gd

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 163 posts

Re: PayPal CEO writes personal response

#131

Post by foxylad »

noonespecial wrote: post #38

This isn't special... Yet. What happened here can happen even in the most dysfunctional customer service paradigms. A promblem randomly and luckily escalated from the people who can't do anything about the problem to the people who (generally speaking) won't do anything about the problem. As a lucky break, the person/department who generally won't do anything, decided in their mercy to do something this one time. IMH…

It is special that the CEO responded AND put his reputation on the line by saying he was going to fix this.

If he doesn't fix the problem, in a few months he's going to be inundated with blog posts saying "David Marcus promised this would be fixed and it isn't".

So he's set himself a very public (and difficult) challenge, and I respect that.

Re: PayPal CEO writes personal response

#132

Post by jwr »

angryasian wrote: post #82

The level of discourse on HN lately is absurd. Here is a new CEO that appears to be looking to change things for the positive, yet everyone wants to be cynical and doubting. Yet when startups have major f* ups, the conversation is much different. Lets all admit change is slow and that paypal is still one of the more trusted payment solutions accepted globally. It would be nice to be able to use them in the future wit…

For the moment all this means that a high-profile person got his funds unblocked and has a direct communication channel to the CEO. Meaning he's pretty much back to where he was before PayPal set him back.

For my personal blocked account, it means exactly nothing.

Re: PayPal CEO writes personal response

#134

Post by tluyben2 »

notyourwork wrote: post #85
IsaacL wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"IMHO, what was said in the email is just marketing duck-speak, no matter how sincere it sounds until proven otherwise." I agree that this looks like a PR stunt, but it also shows some potential changes underfoot at Paypal. Here's my read of the situation: Paypal has been known for being beauracratic ever since the eBay acquisition, when all the smart people left and the bozos and middle managers remained. You know t…

"it's the smooth-talking-but-not-that-bright individuals who do well, and any smart employees who perceive the real problems the company is in find themselves a part of an outcast fringe." Extremely well said and sadly often true.

Yeah at the wrong companies it does definitely. You can bullshit your way in/out of anything, especially in big companies. Just find another job if that happens; if you are really smart and competent, there will be no problem finding something which does fit. Don't stick with elbowing morons, ever.

Re: PayPal CEO writes personal response

#135

Post by gcb »

j2kun wrote: post #18

"Sent from my iPad." Nice.

Yeah. He promises to move mountains, but couldn't sit in front of his computer.

Or if he routinely works from his ipad, and still have that as a signature, I'd be very doubtful of his capabilities.

Re: PayPal CEO writes personal response

#136

Post by perlgeek »

To all the naysayers out there: in your opinion, what could the CEO have written to convince you? He doesn't have the option to go back in time to change what happened, only to respond.

If I'd receive such an email, I'd give 'em a second chance.

Re: PayPal CEO writes personal response

#137

Post by stcredzero »

IsaacL wrote: post #60
noonespecial wrote: post #38

This isn't special... Yet. What happened here can happen even in the most dysfunctional customer service paradigms. A promblem randomly and luckily escalated from the people who can't do anything about the problem to the people who (generally speaking) won't do anything about the problem. As a lucky break, the person/department who generally won't do anything, decided in their mercy to do something this one time. IMH…

"IMHO, what was said in the email is just marketing duck-speak, no matter how sincere it sounds until proven otherwise." I agree that this looks like a PR stunt, but it also shows some potential changes underfoot at Paypal. Here's my read of the situation: Paypal has been known for being beauracratic ever since the eBay acquisition, when all the smart people left and the bozos and middle managers remained. You know t…

> It's the smooth-talking-but-not-that-bright individuals who do well, and any people who perceive the real problems the find themselves a part of an outcast fringe.

Change a few words and it can also apply to a "scene."

Re: PayPal CEO writes personal response

#139

Post by stcredzero »

tobyjsullivan wrote: post #105
chris_wot wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They have their work cut out for them indeed, but it's of there own making. They should have been looking at systemic issues when the Minecraft founder couldn't get access to his account for months, when their customer service advised someone to destroy a perfectly good violin due to "fraud", apparently mass payment doesn't exist even when it does [1], numerous reviews in magazines such as PC World [2] and Kernel Mag…

In all fairness, they have a new CEO. Maybe that is their way of looking into systematic issues...

> Maybe that is their way of looking into systematic issues...

If true, they are doomed! New leadership is the Hail Mary toss, not the way you solve problems.

Re: PayPal CEO writes personal response

#140

Post by jtheory »

AJ007 wrote: post #73
IsaacL wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"IMHO, what was said in the email is just marketing duck-speak, no matter how sincere it sounds until proven otherwise." I agree that this looks like a PR stunt, but it also shows some potential changes underfoot at Paypal. Here's my read of the situation: Paypal has been known for being beauracratic ever since the eBay acquisition, when all the smart people left and the bozos and middle managers remained. You know t…

PayPal's reputation is so deep in the dirt that nothing any one at the company says will bring it back above ground. If someone says "we are changing X" and the changes actually happen, then eventually, over the course of time, Paypal's goodwill may return.

You're really overstating how "deep in the dirt" PayPal's reputation is, though. Some developers complain very loudly about PayPal, but just about everyone else continues to use the service.

They remain an interesting choice for anyone starting up a business that takes money online -- I have a business that I've partially migrated to Stripe (and I'll finish that up soon), but for about 9 YEARS before Stripe came along, every year I'd evaluate the available options for accepting payments, and come back to PayPal each time.

They certainly have trust and customer service issues -- and I've never allowed more than a few thousand to accumulate in the account for that reason -- but I have to admit I've only had technical problems with maybe 2-3 payments over those 9 years, never had my account locked, and generally just benefited from the flexibility and good rates.

My impression is that overall, they still have a middling to good reputation. Especially if they can fix the glaring problems remaining, I don't think they'll have any trouble staying strong for a long time.

Post reply on HN