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When will Paypal and other companies that take this "under no circumstances say anything with substance" tack to PR learn that it's utterly counter-productive?

When will Paypal and other companies that take this "under no circumstances say anything with substance" tack to PR learn that it's utterly counter-productive? Anyone who would be motivated to read the blog post had first read regretsy's side of the story, wherein Paypal comes across looking petty, immature, and unprofessional. None of that is addressed by this blog post, so the only takeaway for readers is that your only recourse if Paypal seizes your money is to raise a giant stink about it and cause them another PR headache? All they had to say was, "Our representative was enforcing our policy, but unfortunately did so in a way that we didn't intend, and without the respect and courtesy we expect. It can be easy for someone who spends their day dealing with scammers to see wrongdoing where there is none, and we're sorry that happened here. Regardless, scammer or not, we expect all of our representatives to deal with customers courteously and professionally, and will redouble our efforts to ensure that happens in the future. We sincerely apologize to regretsy and offer our commitment to improve. We would like to assure both regretsy and the community at large that customers remain our priority, and we will do everything in our power to earn your patronage." That's it. An honest, humble, apology, and you wouldn't have people running around the Internet saying Paypal are a bunch of childish crooks.

amirmc 15y ago
> An honest, humble, apology... Agree with your sentiment but if they had said what you suggested, it probably wouldn't have been honest.
baddox 15y ago
It seems to me that your proposed statement isn't yet out of the question. I interpreted this statement as basically saying "Don't worry, we've got real people on this, but we've not resolved anything yet." To me, that's better than them waiting for days or weeks with no acknowledgement, then issuing a complete statement like you recommended.
- redthrowaway 15y ago
  You bring up an important point, which is the speed with which they've addressed the issue. That deserves commendation, and is a very smart move on their part. It nips the story in the bud, which is important. That said, this does not read as a preliminary post. It's titled, "Regretsy Issue Resolution". It makes no promises of further updates, and just says that they're dealing with the issue privately. That's their right, but I think it's a PR mistake. There are two issues in this case: 1) regretsy being treated as a scammer, and 2) the behavior and tone of the paypal representative. This post addressed 1 but not 2, and it doesn't look like there will be a second. This is a missed opportunity on paypal's part to turn the incident into a PR win.
eykanal 15y ago
Their statement actually isn't nearly as bad as you imply. They mention that there was a problem, that they handled it incorrectly, and that they were multiple conflicting factors associated. They even admit at the end (again) that they were wrong. It's short, sweet, and to the point. I think on the scale of 1 to horrible, this is pretty far from horrible.
- jfoutz 15y ago
  I'd just like to point out the docs for using donate buttons (https://cms.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin?cmd=_render-content&content_ID=developer/e_howto_html_donation_buttons&bn_r=o https://cms.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin?cmd=_render-content&co...) makes no mention of "clear guidelines for any business that uses PayPal to accept donations" i couldn't come up with those guidelines on a paypal search. so, it seems pretty horrible to me. It's fine to have rules, it's horrible to have secret rules you don't tell people about. They don't ask for documentation of non-profit status, or any of that. Just, here's a button! good luck!
einhverfr 15y ago
The way I read it, it was drafted by a lawyer (prob. not the director of communications himself) as a sort of safe statement. It doesn't admit anything, makes no promises about the future, and simply makes assertions to hopefully prevent people from further talking about it. It reads far more like what a lawyer would write than what a PR company would write.

amirmc 15y ago

> An honest, humble, apology... Agree with your sentiment but if they had said what you suggested, it probably wouldn't have been honest.

baddox 15y ago

It seems to me that your proposed statement isn't yet out of the question. I interpreted this statement as basically saying "Don't worry, we've got real people on this, but we've not resolved anything yet." To me, that's better than them waiting for days or weeks with no acknowledgement, then issuing a complete statement like you recommended.

redthrowaway 15y ago
You bring up an important point, which is the speed with which they've addressed the issue. That deserves commendation, and is a very smart move on their part. It nips the story in the bud, which is important. That said, this does not read as a preliminary post. It's titled, "Regretsy Issue Resolution". It makes no promises of further updates, and just says that they're dealing with the issue privately. That's their right, but I think it's a PR mistake. There are two issues in this case: 1) regretsy being treated as a scammer, and 2) the behavior and tone of the paypal representative. This post addressed 1 but not 2, and it doesn't look like there will be a second. This is a missed opportunity on paypal's part to turn the incident into a PR win.

eykanal 15y ago

Their statement actually isn't nearly as bad as you imply. They mention that there was a problem, that they handled it incorrectly, and that they were multiple conflicting factors associated. They even admit at the end (again) that they were wrong. It's short, sweet, and to the point. I think on the scale of 1 to horrible, this is pretty far from horrible.

jfoutz 15y ago
I'd just like to point out the docs for using donate buttons (https://cms.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin?cmd=_render-content&content_ID=developer/e_howto_html_donation_buttons&bn_r=o https://cms.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin?cmd=_render-content&co...) makes no mention of "clear guidelines for any business that uses PayPal to accept donations" i couldn't come up with those guidelines on a paypal search. so, it seems pretty horrible to me. It's fine to have rules, it's horrible to have secret rules you don't tell people about. They don't ask for documentation of non-profit status, or any of that. Just, here's a button! good luck!

einhverfr 15y ago

The way I read it, it was drafted by a lawyer (prob. not the director of communications himself) as a sort of safe statement. It doesn't admit anything, makes no promises about the future, and simply makes assertions to hopefully prevent people from further talking about it. It reads far more like what a lawyer would write than what a PR company would write.