The never ending Paypal troubles

[Anonymous]

Like so many others I jumped the gun and ordered a Quest 3 to one day replace my aging Quest 1.
Am one of these instantly sea-sick people, so my main use is for movies and immersive experience that are motion sick friendly.

The first stung came in the form of Meta taking my Paypal money for the new headset - only to deactivate the use of Paypal for app and game purchases.
Found this out by accident when I decided to get some titles that would work on both devices.
You know, try on the old one and if good use on both headsets until the old one retires.
I had to update the mobile app to make it happen, which prompted an update of the headset.
Since then Paypal was useless and resulted in META cancelling all my purchase attempts.
So far this is something more and more users get familiar with since 2021.

Meta support suggested that I update all again, remove the Paypal account and then add it fresh.
Of course this is of no use with Meta refusing the account in question.
After this failure Meta support 'strongly suggested' I use a credit card that I link to my Paypal account in order to verify it...
Never had one and won't get a credit to please Meta.
Their support however kept ignoring that and insisted a credit card would fix my issues.
A statement from Paypal confirming my account IS fully active and verified was rejected by Meta and I am still waiting on their explanation on what makes a Paypal account more verified than a fully verified one.
At this point I started to request to fix this or if unwilling/unable to refund the Quest 3 with a paid return postage label - this request just got ignored throughout.

Meta support is a desert with their teams only working on removing the last bits of our privacy.
You request a ticket through your account and see all vital details, like your Email address, alias, user name and such listed.
The reply you get from the support however asks you to REPEAT all this info - a total waste of at least another 24 hours an fully intentional by Meta.
The ticket number is linked to the account and EMAIL, which is registered to the account.
In order to create the ticket the user has to be logged in with the account so : Whiskey Tango Foxtrott !! ??
Never mind that so far all 'fixes' for me to try came in the form of links to the help pages or step by step instruction by the support member - instructions that might have worked on previous versions of the app but that simply are non existing on the new app version.
What good is a support team that is several versions behind for their training and unable to provide any working help because of that?
I never got a reply once I replied to their Emails and had to create another ticket - to start all over despite including the previous thread reference numbers.
The same bogus excuses, the same useless push to add a credit card.

A big blow came in the Meta support asking me to try if I can make a purchase using a gift card.
In order to buy a gift card from Meta you need an account - Whiskey Tango Foxtrott !!??
Of course that means I can't use Paypal to buy a gift card and had to ask a friend with a credit card to buy one for my on Amazon - as a LISTED online store for Quest users to buy gift cards.
Needless to say the Meta support failed to mention that gift cards ONLY work for US users, which I am not and Meta knows that.
Their support of course also refused to trasfer the 16 digit code into a 25 digit one that I can use - citing their T's & C's to remind me that those gift cards are exclusive for US users - why then suggest to me to buy one to try?
Unless it is just about stealing more money.

The final blow came when it was suggest that I should 'reset' my account and start over with a fresh one as it might be that my account got 'broken' due to the FB merger and related transfers during the update.
Remove your paypal account from the payment methods.
Go into account setting and from there log into the account center to delete you old account(s).
Use a different Email address to set up the new account and link your Paypal account.
All purchases should work fine.
I did not do this and instead wanted to know how I would get the purchases back that are linked to the account that I am asked to delete.
Nothing from Meta support for 4 days and with a new ticket their support just moved on to ignore this question and to suggest again I shall link a credit card.

With the flood of cancelled payment REQUESTS from Meta I got a warning from Paypal about suspicious account activity.
Followed their link in the Email and ended with a lengthy support chat to keep my account secure.
After confirming it was really me trying 30 off purchases in the Metaverse I was stunned to hear "I see you got a VR headset from Meta.... Let me check you account activity."
Imagining hearing from Paypal that Meta cancelled the payments because Meta requires a Paypal account to have a verified credit card linked to it - preferably of course in the name of the Paypal account holder.
Paypal is flooded with request from Meta users to fix their account - thanks to Meta providing a false popup stating the isues is the user's Paypal account.

Got fed up after that and decided that having a VR headset is not worth loosing all my privacy to Meta and Google since they teamed up only so Meta can claim this is required to protect my privacy.
There is no need for a VR headset to require a mobile phone for the setup.
Especially not if this setup fails if said phone does not have a sim card.
Same for the requirement to have Meta account with linked payment option allowing Meta to take money whenever they like to control all aspects of the transactions.
Anyone can buy anything online using Paypal with having to give the seller authorisation over the account - this is an invasion of privacy of the worst kind.
And if no one needs FB to sign in or use the headset:
How come I get to hear that having a FB account with any bot based restrictions or multiple FB accounts also renders Paypal useless unless you verify with a credit card?

Meta went too far and enough is enough.
Sold my headsets and won't go back to Meta products again.
Next is getting rid of my FB account in favour of a platform that still values a user's privacy.
And how come I have to send my useless new Quest 3 to some unrelated company in China ???
Arvato Hong Kong Ltd(Yuen Long)
D.D. 125 Lot 1345, 1346, 1350 , 1351 ,
Ha Tsuen Road, Ha Tsuen, Ping Shan
YUEN LONG, N.T. HONG KONG

So much for Meta being proud to be a US company ROFL
Pride ends with profits and greed it seems.
Produce for cheap in China and never even touch any of the produced crap yourself.
No surprise then that the declared value on the return ticket is over $100 below the sale price....
With nothing Meta or Oculus in the return label how exactly is a user supposed to trust the return work out and the money will be refunded in a timely fashion?
And how exactly does this refund work if Meta only refunds into the account used for the purchase?
Refusing to accept my Paypal account since the purchase makes me wonder if Meta will make the same bogus claim for the refund....

Buyeer beware and stay away from Meta if you value any privacy and real support.

[Anonymous]

Just to clear the Metaverse confusion in case one day a support member stumbles over this:

I ordered my Quest 3 through my existing Meta account.
Meta provided me with the device within 5 days, thanks to being shipped from a local depot in AU.
In hindsight no surprise with the sender - I just did not bother to check when I found it dumped under a tree in my driveway.
Arvato Pty Ltd
Australia Pty Ltd 3B Miller Road
Villawood NSW 2163

I ordered from Meta but get it sent by some third party company.
The same as for the return just that I have to send it to CHINA and not NSW.
Imagine my surprise to find out Meta does not even have a real support for users in Australia, or most countries in the world they are happy to sell devices to.
Outside the US you suddenly have to loose all your privacy and strip down for Meta so you can use your device in the form of app and game purchases.
Meta does not even provide an AU support number to call and refuses to provide gift cards in stores.
You can find hundreds of gift cards for all systems out there in a good gaming store, including headsets from Oculus, just no gift cards.
And funny enough the headsets are not actually available - Meta won't supply them anymore.

For some reason Meta dares to call all this nonsense customer support but for over 2 years now no forum topic in relation to Paypal issues got solved by Meta other then making users add credit cards.
I find it shameful that Meta steals people money by letting them buy their new devices using a Paypal account Meta refuses to accept for more.
If I would have know that Meta is just dreaming about controlling everyone while people won't even actually own their headsets or purchases I would never ordered ....

[Anonymous]

In case you are still not bored enough from the above or in the same boat - what about privacy and control ?

No matter how or where you got your headset you can get stuffed my Meta in many ways.
Like finding your new headset as a gift under the Xmas tree.
Better hope whoever gifted it will transfer the ownership and proof of purchase as otherwise Meta won't honor the product warranty unless forced to by law in you country.
From there of course you have to somehow get it to work, means you NEED a mobile phone.
And the app for the phone of course won't even start without granting a ton of requests including your location and a working internet.
You can get around that but then you are unable to pair your headset.
Never mind that all this can be easily accomplished within the headset as part of the headset setup.
And no one really needs a location information, BT pairing still does work without it if the companies uses this old fashioned way.

The real problems start with the account requirements and the phone.
No sim card means no good because you would be unable to use two-factor-authentication.
Meta loves pushing you to enable this - for YOUR peace of mind of course....
Then there is these 'hickups' since the Quest came out and got a firmware update including the option to secure your headset with an unlock pattern.
Every now and then your headset would end up locked with a pattern - despite YOU never having activated this 'feature' to keep the kids or a thief out....
No chance to just reset it over the phone, let alone the headset - you need to confirm the old pattern first.
Quite a bummer if you never set it up and won't know the pattern - factory reset and wasting another our of your life it is...
Sooner or later you give up and suck it up to provide your mobile phone number for verification purposes.

The Meta-user has a verified Email address from a provider that actually confirms the residential address or at least mobile phone number linked to the account verification.
Of course the Meta-user only provides their real name and only uses something different for the user name and avatars.
Payment methods work for a Meta-users if the name linked to them matches your Meta account.

Using your VR headset to the fullest means giving up on your privacy and handing it to Meta.
Considering the FB history a scary thought.....
These days you can log in with FB, Google or your Meta account for various things in the Metaverse.
And no surprise to see that the new add support Meta bring in is based on the same bot systems and user tracking Google uses.

I find it rather concerning that such a company merger is allowed these days.
Sure it is 'only' for bringing users together and providing cross platform access....
But who, in the western world does not have any Facebook, Google, Whatasapp, Instagram or such in use ???
Suddenly something as innocent as jumping into VR means ALL you Metaverse and Google linked accounts are in the hands of Meta and Google.
Thanks to YOU using those apps on your phone or laptop at home - providing an IP match and location confirmation across all platforms.
But of course it just coincidence that since buying the Quest 3 I see Google ads with related content ROFL


The concerning part is that YOU already agree to all this when buying a new headset.
The requirement for the phone, that your account has to be verifiable and confirmed, that you consent to let Meta control your Paypal account and much more.
Of course Meta knows only too well that no one would waste a few hours to read those T's & C's and to follow all the links to get the complete picture.
And this continues throughout the experience - Meta knows you want to get going and that you won't read any of it in favour of a quick click.
You are forced to endure these safety videos even a five year old would understand after ever factory reset.
But providing the vital parts of their T's & C's in the same way is out of the question....
You literally click your privacy away and if that is not you will do so once your Paypal account is refused by Meta's control freaks.

It seems the Meta takes the privacy of their users and the protection of the Metaverse from unverified users very seriously and we should be proud for this hard work.
But if having your privacy secured means you first have to give up your privacy to hand it to Meta ???
The entire Metaverse could work just fine with users enjoying REAL privacy but Meta won't allow this.

What the difference between real privacy and the Meta version?
You obviously require an account so you can link purchases to devices and restore them - OR DO YOU?
It IS your devices (or so Meta claims) and it has a unique serial number with a secure OS.
Means any purchase could be linked to the DEVICE - as it is standard for decades with all hand held game consoles and many PC games.
The device is linked to your account but that won't mean the account needs you real name, address or any banking details, let alone your residential or IP address.
Thing is that would mean you could sell your headset one day, including all the titles on it.
Hence the need to only offer a usage right but no ownership of titles.
With the account linked to YOU and not the device you are forced to loose it all and a new owner, even if you GIFT the device to a relative has to buy everything again.

The biggest blow for privacy however is that the user never actually knows what really happens to their data and how secure it is in the hands of Meta - all we know is the tainted history and how Meta ignores all this on their NON VR platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp - filled with scammers, crimnals and scum abusing the platforms since day one and with Meta doing nothing real to change this.

Ever wondered about how cooperation in terms of 'national security' works in the the US of A, where Meta and Google are based?
Privacy ends with a request from the authorities, like FBI, CIS, Homeland Security and so on.
Meta and Google are of course all for protection and catching criminals so we can enjoy a peaceful world.
Means those agencies have basically free access to their user databases and collected, or shall I say hoarded, tracking data.
The big merger went unannounced and did not make it into mainstream media because it serves a vital purpose for those agencies.
Google still let's things slip for their users to some degree, Quest users however already noticed that their various FB accounts and what they do with them can cause troubles.
If Meta and Google can now easily link ALL your related account simply by linking you MAC addresses and IP address then what do you think that means for your privacy ?
Meta might not officially state to you that the bot based ban on your 'other' FB account caused restrictions.....
And they might even 'fix' this eventually - if you keep purchasing enough titles....
But those US authorities can already link 'suspicious' accounts to all other account used by the same device(s) and Ip address(es).
The beauty of privacy is that for US based companies it is non existing as certain authorities will always be granted full access.
Now they have it easier than ever as both companies provide the require links, rather than having to sift through multiple databases and wasting time.
Not a big deal for anyone honest and law abiding with nothing to hide and no need for real privacy.
If you do not agree to let corporations and government control your privacy though you have to give up on the Meta based VR life LOL

To add injury to insult:
Try playing multiplayer things with your family or friends at home after making a family sized purchase of headsets....
You can link all the headsets to one account but that makes parental controls a bit hard.
Not really easy to set up a headset for your kid on your account if you also have some other headsets on the same account.
But of course you can link devices to your account and such great things to get around that.
Then you find that the nice family fun game you just bought is impossible to use together.
YOU can play it on any device in your account but using multiple headsets means they all run on the same account and you hear that you can't play against yourself.
You can't even set it up to work in just your home network, not even for select levels or such to get around this online need.
Unless you get really creative the standard user will revert to buying the title for al headsets it is supposed to work on....
And with that more verified accounts directly linked together, even you use workarounds LOL

Bother to go through the entire set of T's & C's and you find your need for VR from Meta drops down to zero rather quickly....