PayPal, a company that specialises in online payments and screwing over its customers, has a new user agreement. Headlining the changes is a new provision that will let PayPal bombard your phone lines with robocalls — and there’s no opt-out. It’s put up, or get lost.
The new user agreement is being released in advance of PayPal’s separation from eBay, and includes a whole myriad of changes. But the most important differences are at the top (emphasis added):
You consent to receive autodialed or prerecorded calls and text messages from PayPal at any telephone number that you have provided us or that we have otherwise obtained. We may place such calls or texts to (i) notify you regarding your account; (ii) troubleshoot problems with your account (iii) resolve a dispute; (iv) collect a debt; (v) poll your opinions through surveys or questionnaires, (vii) contact you with offers and promotions; or (viii) as otherwise necessary to service your account or enforce this User Agreement, our policies, applicable law, or any other agreement we may have with you.
In other words, PayPal can now call you on any phone number it can track down, for basically any reason it deems necessary. There’s no opt-in or opt-out mentioned; PayPal simply states that if you choose not to accept the updated user agreement, you have 30 days to close your account.
As the Washington Post points out, all hope is not necessarily lost: the FCC has recently been cracking down on telemarketing, and new provisions the agency has proposed would make opting out of cold calls far simpler, and render PayPal’s dirty user agreement basically worthless. But in the meantime, get ready to tell a robocaller your honest and unbiased opinion of PayPal. [Washington Post]