I didn't see this already posted, but I figured it bears repeating here. A site known as Deadspin raised funds to send to the family and platoon of a soldier serving overseas-- e.g., Iraq. They solicited funds via their website and had people contribute those funds to a Paypal account, which they figured would be an easy and safe way for people to transfer money. All pretty simple, right? Wrong.
From the site:
So here's what happened: When we set up the fund, we attached it to a Paypal account, because we thought that would make it easier to contribute. Turns out, though -- as we learned through two more hours on the phone with these jerks yesterday -- that they set up the initial Paypal account as a "charitable organization" account. (We do not know why they did this. We did not ask them to.) Because of this, they require "documentation of non-profit tax-exempt status." Because Deadspin is not, in fact, a non-profit organization (though we wouldn't exactly call us a "profit" organization either) , the compliance department has decided that the funds are to be frozen for "180 days," after which time they will be deposited in the "bank account on file." (Which is our personal bank account.) The douche on the phone -- whom we hope goes home tonight and is fucking beaten by Jason Kidd's wife -- said that he understood the situation and that it was "unfortunate" but that "we have our policies. If you contact us on April 13 [the 180 days date] we will be reminded to deposit the funds, because the suspension would be over." That's the word that dicknob used: "Suspension."
(Whew: We wrote a little angry there.)
To make a long story short, Deadspin won't be able to send this soldier, his family, and his platoon any money because Paypal is being unbelievably incredible sticks in the mud. At least not until April 13, which will be several months into this "surge" and possibly a couple months into whatever wars we end up in next. I know this may seem like a small, peripheral issue, considering the gravity of what Bush committed us to tonight, but I figured I'd just bring it to people's attention.
Via Deadspin, tips on registering your irritation at Paypal:
So: We call on you. If you're even close to as fired up about this as we are, we encourage you to contact them and let them know what you think or, in a pinch, just call 402-935-2050 and really let them know. If you have a Paypal account yourself, as unfortunate as that might be, you'll need to give them your account info to get somebody on the line; if you don't, we suggest you just keep punching "0" or whatever until you get somebody on the phone.