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Financial Aid - Paypal, My Bank Account, and How It's All...
2 years ago
Website § Tumblr § Etsy § SubscribeStar § Ko-fi § InPrnt § Society6 § Redbubble § TeePublic § Gumroad § Twitter § Instagram ____________________________________________________________________________
As they say, when it rains it pours. And its pouring while I have no umbrella to speak of.
Many of you that follow me or are close friends know that I've recently been going through A Lot, and it continues to be A Lot. If you aren't up to date on the situation, please take a moment to read these two posts here - Important Medical Update and Medical Update Part 2.
(I will be picking up from the last few lines of the end of Medical Update Part 2 for clarification.)
____________
I know that I have asked for aid before, and I will never not be grateful to everyone who has helped me through the years. Asking for monetary help is not something that feels good; especially if I can't do something in return. At present, my ability to art consistently is limited due to the seizures; but I also have a backlog of work from the last few years. I offer ko-fi doodles as thanks for donation, and I will absolutely try my damnedest to do that; just understand that I cannot rock solid guarantee that a sketch will happen immediately and/or at all. Depending on what is going on with these appointments and my brain itself, everything is kind of uncertain.
This is not an excuse, it is an explanation.
Do not confuse my asking for help and talking about my situation as an attempt to garner sympathy. I know there are folks out there that probably think folks in need are just milking for free money. Some can and will abuse that, I am not one of them.
In no way am I making an attempt to bolster sympathy or obnoxiously clamber for handouts with the expectation of being given anything. My medical situation is explained as part of the reason why I'm having a difficult time, but not the cause in full. I can't stop anyone from slandering this post or me for asking for assistance, all I can do is what I am doing.
With that said, here is what took place with PayPal and my bank that resulted in this entire mess.
Back on the 12th and 13th of June, Avast Software tried and succeeded to pull money from my bank account for a service I no longer use and definitely cancelled when switching over to this current laptop. I tweeted out to them and let them know that this was in error and that I needed my money back for other payments as well as living. The initial tweet garnered no response so I moved into DMs and awaited a representative. The rep did not respond until midday on the 14th of June, asking for my information to initiate a refund. I responded in kind with the information and awaited her response.
And waited.
I had to message again to confirm that the information was received and that I really needed the funds back before all of the other bills started pulling out (This was on the 16th of June). I did not receive any kind of response or confirmation until the 20th of June, by then my bank account had been overdrawn by my other automatic payments going through. This of course had me losing my mind and attempting to contact both PayPal and my bank about stopping the charge as I had not heard from the Avast representative. I was unable to respond to the DM with the Avast representative until the 22nd of June after 6pm due to trying to contact the aforementioned. So what followed was the representative in this DM offered me a free 6 month trial of any Avast Software of my choice, and if I decided to keep it I could be signed up for a subscription.
You know, the thing that already messed up my account in the first place.
I received a response from the rep the next day (the 23rd of June) in which she apologized for "the discomfort" and that I would see my refund in "the next 5 - -7 working days". This ended my correspondence with Avast and the situation had been handled. Or that's what I would have thought if I had not gotten an email notification that Avast Software had charged me AGAIN for the subscription via PayPal and I now sat overdrawn in my checking account and PayPal. And thus began the saga of trying to speak to a human being instead of a Help Desk AI on PayPal's platform. It took another couple of days before I could talk to an actual rep, by then I had absolutely no idea what to do while I sank in the red.
When I was finally blessedly, able to talk to a person I confirmed that the refund from Avast was in my account as of the 26th of June. However, I explained that this negative balance in my PayPal account shouldn't be there because I'd been refunded to my original payment account and that the charge should be removed. I was asked for screenshots which I provided without hesitation, only for the rep to tell me that I should "kindly give our system at least 3 - 5 days so that the negative balance will be clear out." I told the representative that this wasn't the satisfactory answer I was looking for, but I would wait that length of time before reaching out again if the balance was still negative.
Take a wild guess what was still negative days later.
To no one's surprise, my PayPal account was still negative, and they had made an attempt to AGAIN pull money from my EMPTY BANK ACCOUNT, which tumbled me further into the pit of poverty. So I once more reached back out to PayPal, fighting the AI Help Desk until it gave me another human being. I left a direct complaint about this entire thing being unacceptable as well as asking them to not only remove the negative balance, but to also refund my Patreon payment that was eaten by it. I asked PayPal, a giant company, to refund me $11.27 from Patreon and to overturn the overdrawn amount of $70.94 which was reduced to -$59.42. The rep, very clearly not wanting to resolve this amicably explained to me as if I was a moron how the negative balance occurred and that it was MY FAULT. After which she said the following, "[...]I hope that all makes sense. I appreciate your understanding in this matter. Thank you for reaching out. You may close the conversation by selecting End Message." My prior message to her said nothing about being understanding, it said nothing about "not making sense", I said I wanted my money back and the negative balance rectified.
Now I've worked customer service my entire adult life, and I know how it feels to have people get up your ass for no reason. But on that day, she absolutely gave me a reason and I fired back (Screenshots 01, 02, 03). After I said my peace, I closed out the conversation and walked away from my computer to go be stressed somewhere else for awhile. When I'd come back and was checking my email, lo and behold, "Angel" had sent me an email requesting I send screenshots to dispute the claims. News flash, I had done that already with the prior agent, and they are visible to her and her department managers. I have not wasted my time responding to the same form email for the past several weeks, because they already have what they need. Which brings us here to the present day as I type this with a pounding headache and my last nerve.
This entire ordeal has basically meant for a month now I have been unable to buy things for myself, my cats, and help my partner with the bills for the house. I have 49 cents to my name and nothing to increase that amount.
After I lost my job, I'd hoped that maybe the commissions would come rolling in since I had more time. But unfortunately, I didn't get many or sell as many adoptables, which honestly I should not be surprised given the circumstances (Inflation is a horrible thing). Everyone is hurting for cash, all the artists and writers, regular people out in the world-- everyone is needing money. More than anything with this entire story now laid out, I will say again that if you would like to donate to my Ko-fi that I will do my best to sketch something for you! But please please understand that with my unresolved health problems, the stress, and overall emotional drain that I may not be able to.
Beyond Ko-fi I have other storefronts that can be found linked on my FA, dA, etc. I also have bases, brushes, textures, adoptables, and a wide variety of digital resources available on Ko-fi and Gumroad, both of which I will link below. But before I post any links to shop fronts and methods of helping out -- these are some of the things that are desperately needed ASAP.
Additional ways you can help or spread the word about my situation!
• Ko-Fi (Donations, commissions, shop, etc.)
• Redbubble
• InPrnt
• Society6
• TeePublic
• Threadless (slowly updating)
• Patreon (Tip Jar)
• SubscribeStar (trying to get back to updating)
Thank you so much truly for taking the time to read this entire wall of text, I appreciate your time and consideration. Even if you can't donate or want to, I still appreciate any and all boosts to this post. Every little thing helps and once more, thank you so much. -Sim
Posted using PostyBirb
Many of you that follow me or are close friends know that I've recently been going through A Lot, and it continues to be A Lot. If you aren't up to date on the situation, please take a moment to read these two posts here - Important Medical Update and Medical Update Part 2.
(I will be picking up from the last few lines of the end of Medical Update Part 2 for clarification.)
____________
I know that I have asked for aid before, and I will never not be grateful to everyone who has helped me through the years. Asking for monetary help is not something that feels good; especially if I can't do something in return. At present, my ability to art consistently is limited due to the seizures; but I also have a backlog of work from the last few years. I offer ko-fi doodles as thanks for donation, and I will absolutely try my damnedest to do that; just understand that I cannot rock solid guarantee that a sketch will happen immediately and/or at all. Depending on what is going on with these appointments and my brain itself, everything is kind of uncertain.
This is not an excuse, it is an explanation.
Do not confuse my asking for help and talking about my situation as an attempt to garner sympathy. I know there are folks out there that probably think folks in need are just milking for free money. Some can and will abuse that, I am not one of them.
In no way am I making an attempt to bolster sympathy or obnoxiously clamber for handouts with the expectation of being given anything. My medical situation is explained as part of the reason why I'm having a difficult time, but not the cause in full. I can't stop anyone from slandering this post or me for asking for assistance, all I can do is what I am doing.
With that said, here is what took place with PayPal and my bank that resulted in this entire mess.
Back on the 12th and 13th of June, Avast Software tried and succeeded to pull money from my bank account for a service I no longer use and definitely cancelled when switching over to this current laptop. I tweeted out to them and let them know that this was in error and that I needed my money back for other payments as well as living. The initial tweet garnered no response so I moved into DMs and awaited a representative. The rep did not respond until midday on the 14th of June, asking for my information to initiate a refund. I responded in kind with the information and awaited her response.
And waited.
I had to message again to confirm that the information was received and that I really needed the funds back before all of the other bills started pulling out (This was on the 16th of June). I did not receive any kind of response or confirmation until the 20th of June, by then my bank account had been overdrawn by my other automatic payments going through. This of course had me losing my mind and attempting to contact both PayPal and my bank about stopping the charge as I had not heard from the Avast representative. I was unable to respond to the DM with the Avast representative until the 22nd of June after 6pm due to trying to contact the aforementioned. So what followed was the representative in this DM offered me a free 6 month trial of any Avast Software of my choice, and if I decided to keep it I could be signed up for a subscription.
You know, the thing that already messed up my account in the first place.
I received a response from the rep the next day (the 23rd of June) in which she apologized for "the discomfort" and that I would see my refund in "the next 5 - -7 working days". This ended my correspondence with Avast and the situation had been handled. Or that's what I would have thought if I had not gotten an email notification that Avast Software had charged me AGAIN for the subscription via PayPal and I now sat overdrawn in my checking account and PayPal. And thus began the saga of trying to speak to a human being instead of a Help Desk AI on PayPal's platform. It took another couple of days before I could talk to an actual rep, by then I had absolutely no idea what to do while I sank in the red.
When I was finally blessedly, able to talk to a person I confirmed that the refund from Avast was in my account as of the 26th of June. However, I explained that this negative balance in my PayPal account shouldn't be there because I'd been refunded to my original payment account and that the charge should be removed. I was asked for screenshots which I provided without hesitation, only for the rep to tell me that I should "kindly give our system at least 3 - 5 days so that the negative balance will be clear out." I told the representative that this wasn't the satisfactory answer I was looking for, but I would wait that length of time before reaching out again if the balance was still negative.
Take a wild guess what was still negative days later.
To no one's surprise, my PayPal account was still negative, and they had made an attempt to AGAIN pull money from my EMPTY BANK ACCOUNT, which tumbled me further into the pit of poverty. So I once more reached back out to PayPal, fighting the AI Help Desk until it gave me another human being. I left a direct complaint about this entire thing being unacceptable as well as asking them to not only remove the negative balance, but to also refund my Patreon payment that was eaten by it. I asked PayPal, a giant company, to refund me $11.27 from Patreon and to overturn the overdrawn amount of $70.94 which was reduced to -$59.42. The rep, very clearly not wanting to resolve this amicably explained to me as if I was a moron how the negative balance occurred and that it was MY FAULT. After which she said the following, "[...]I hope that all makes sense. I appreciate your understanding in this matter. Thank you for reaching out. You may close the conversation by selecting End Message." My prior message to her said nothing about being understanding, it said nothing about "not making sense", I said I wanted my money back and the negative balance rectified.
Now I've worked customer service my entire adult life, and I know how it feels to have people get up your ass for no reason. But on that day, she absolutely gave me a reason and I fired back (Screenshots 01, 02, 03). After I said my peace, I closed out the conversation and walked away from my computer to go be stressed somewhere else for awhile. When I'd come back and was checking my email, lo and behold, "Angel" had sent me an email requesting I send screenshots to dispute the claims. News flash, I had done that already with the prior agent, and they are visible to her and her department managers. I have not wasted my time responding to the same form email for the past several weeks, because they already have what they need. Which brings us here to the present day as I type this with a pounding headache and my last nerve.
This entire ordeal has basically meant for a month now I have been unable to buy things for myself, my cats, and help my partner with the bills for the house. I have 49 cents to my name and nothing to increase that amount.
After I lost my job, I'd hoped that maybe the commissions would come rolling in since I had more time. But unfortunately, I didn't get many or sell as many adoptables, which honestly I should not be surprised given the circumstances (Inflation is a horrible thing). Everyone is hurting for cash, all the artists and writers, regular people out in the world-- everyone is needing money. More than anything with this entire story now laid out, I will say again that if you would like to donate to my Ko-fi that I will do my best to sketch something for you! But please please understand that with my unresolved health problems, the stress, and overall emotional drain that I may not be able to.
Beyond Ko-fi I have other storefronts that can be found linked on my FA, dA, etc. I also have bases, brushes, textures, adoptables, and a wide variety of digital resources available on Ko-fi and Gumroad, both of which I will link below. But before I post any links to shop fronts and methods of helping out -- these are some of the things that are desperately needed ASAP.
• Daryl's Prescription Cat Food
• Cat Litter
• Regular OTC food for Peeco and Mooshy
• $51.76 to restore my bank account to $0 by 7/27 or it will be closed
• Bus Fare
• Website Payment (my site helps people find me, as well as allows me to have a Links page)
• Anything to help my partner with billsAdditional ways you can help or spread the word about my situation!
• Ko-Fi (Donations, commissions, shop, etc.)
• Redbubble
• InPrnt
• Society6
• TeePublic
• Threadless (slowly updating)
• Patreon (Tip Jar)
• SubscribeStar (trying to get back to updating)
Thank you so much truly for taking the time to read this entire wall of text, I appreciate your time and consideration. Even if you can't donate or want to, I still appreciate any and all boosts to this post. Every little thing helps and once more, thank you so much. -Sim
Posted using PostyBirb
That is absolutely horrific, and Avast! definitely needs to be avoided at all costs!
inkstars
~inkstars
I've noticed the literal only way to get shit done with Paypal is to call them. Which is the worst option. It was the only way to fix an issue years ago, and I still want to smack them for it. I'm sorry broski, I hope this gets rectified somehow.
AriaLunaris
~arialunaris
oh man im really sorry. stuff like that really messes funds up. *hugs* i really hope this gets completely fixed for you!
