I am frustrated and I can't be the only one. I've written about this topic before and it isn't improving. Either companies should bring their call center staff back to North America or develop better protocols to handle North American customers.


I recently discovered that I must add a state tax feature to those (from my state) who purchase my newsletter e-book online. I added the correct tax information into my profile on Paypal, but when the Pay Now button link was tested, it didn't work.
I called the toll-free contact number and was connected to a polite man who asked me to wait while he checked into my problem - each time I uttered a different sentence explaining the challenge. He advised me to start all over creating the pay button as it would be difficult to revise what I had now. (In my head, I'm wondering why it's so hard. Isn't this designed to be user-friendly?) After 10 minutes or so, he advised that I call their technical support line.
So, I did and got right back into the same voicemail loop I had the first time, only there was no menu option for technical support. A polite lady tried to help me, but I immediately asked for the technical support staff. She said she couldn't transfer me but would give me the toll-free number. And of course, it was the same number that got me back into their recorded loop.
Next step - ask for a supervisor, which I did. My first question to Supervisor Jeff - "Where are you located?" His response - "The mid-west." I asked where the other reps who answered my calls were located. He told me the lady was in California and he didn't know where the man was located.
I don't know about you, but I believe that anyone who calls me ma'am can't possibly live in North America unless I've traveled back to the 1950s in a Delorean! And all three addressed me that way in addition to using better English sentence structure than most North Americans do.
Regardless, this guy (Jeff) finally advised me that because I used encrypted coding in my Paypal button, I couldn't make any changes to it so I'd have to start all over again, creating a new button with the added tax feature. How do you think it got encrypted to begin with? It's an option on their site when you set up a pay button initially. Yikes. I have nothing better to do.
OK, your turn to gripe or tell me I'm nuts.