PayPal Debit Mastercard declined at Walgreens several times - Anyone else have this problem?

plummer602
Contributor
Contributor
I have tried to use my PayPal Debit Mastercard at Walgreens several times, unsuccessfully. From discussing it with store clerks, they seemed mystified about a Paypal debit card, like theyve never heard of it, and said that they dont have any other customers that use a Paypal debit card, theyve never seen one - REALLY??!! I thought everyone knew about Paypal - This is not in a small town, either - a large Denver Suburb. The very first time I tried it, a few months ago, I was positive that I had money in my PayPal balance, enough to cover transaction, plus, I had enough money in the checking account used as backup payment method for my debit card. It would not go through, was declined. I had recently used the card at a different store, all settings were good and money in both accounts. ThE clerk tried it 3 times, we even tried running it as credit, then as debit again.,The clerk told me that the problem could be due to a "pending" transaction that has not yet finalized, one that would cause my PayPal account to not have enough funds to cover my Walgreens transaction. First, I thought, how would Walgreens know that kind of details about my account? maybe their system can tell if there's pending transactions, I don't know. - But I knew, for a fact, that was not the case, as even though I'm an ebay seller and usually have an active account, I was not selling on eBay at that time, and knew exactly what was in my accounts and what was or was not pending. I explained to the clerk that there was plenty of $$ to cover it, and the fact that even if I was to have a zero balance on my PayPal account, that I had a backup funding from my bank account - not just my bank debit card, but my actual bank account was verified. I assumed it was a glitch, so I never checked into it any further. So the next time I needed to buy my Rx, I decided to use my Paypal card at Walgreens again, instead of my Visa card, just to see what would happen - Same thing - Declined! We tried it as debit, credit, nothing worked, so I paid with my Visa, and again told the clerk that it should have went through, told them about what happened last time, and again, I asked if it might be due to a possibility that maybe Walgreens does not accept either debit Mastercard or does not accept PayPal - the clerk said they have never heard of a PayPal Debit card, and they had never had another customer that used one. I told the clerk that there's a lot of people that use the PP debit card mainly because they get 1% cash back, and that I use it instead of my banks debit card because of that reason even when my PP balance is zero, because my Visa debit is the backup, so it's just like using my visa but with the added benefit of the 1% cash back, as if my PP balace is zero, it just charges my backup visa card. The clerks acted like they've never heard of that, they were like, "Really???" The next few times I went to Walgreens, I just used my regular visa debit, but I thought that I am missing out on the benefits of using my PP card, as I spend a lot of money on my scripts at Walgredns, so just yesterday, I tried to use my PP debit card again, and guess what, it was declined. I explained it all to the clerk as to why it should work - each time this has happened it was a different clerk. I had to pay with my other card. When leaving the store, I spoke with 1 manager and 2 cashiers, asked them if Walgreens does not accept either PP or Mastercard - the manager did not know why my card would not work, neither did one of the cashiers, and both of them told me that they had never heard of or seen any other customers using a PP debit card - I explained how it worked, that even if PP balance is zero, that it pulls funding from the attached backup bank account - they acted surprised, almost like they did not believe that was possible. But the other cashier told me that she had previous customers with the same problem, and we talked about how some cards like Discover and American Express are not accepted everywhere. But at least she confirmed to me that PP debit cards had been declined before at Walgreens, that it wasn't just mine. She said that maybe the fact that people can use the PP debit without a PP balance is the cause of declined purchases - but that doesn't make sense because of the fact of having a backup account. I wonder if it has to do with the fact that I'm in Colorado, or the fact that my backup source is BOA - my bank left Colorado because of the marijuana trade, due to the fact that it's federally illegal but not state illegal. Businesses here in Colorado don't want anything to do with anyone who might be associated with pot sales (we don't have anything to do with it, we don't use pot) - the marijuana clinics cannot get bank accounts to deal with their money, pay employees, etc because it scares banks because banks are governed by the federal govt. We couldn't even rent an apartment when we moved here because they were so leary about newcomers to this state, thinking they move here to start a pot business- you wouldn't believe what they wanted to get a lease - , we even offered to pay 6 months of rent at signing, then that really made us look suspicious and we weren't willing to jump through so many hoops just to rent a 1 bedroom apartment. We met an elderly gentleman that has lived in a hotel for several years because he refuses to jump through all the hoops to rent a condo or apt - its worse than a military background check. Has anyone here had this same problem with Walgreens or any other stores? Walgreens could not provide me with an answer, so I don't know if it's the Paypal card they won't accept, or maybe the fact that my backup payment method is BOA?
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7 REPLIES 7

Whac-A-Mole
Frequent Advisor
Frequent Advisor

Your thread is too long.

I have a card as well,it works in some stores and not all stores,it has to do with the interface software,Paypal has yet solve the problem.

but credit cards also gives something back,you earn points and they can be converted to cash.

I use my AMEX points to buy on AMZN.

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RandyJ06030
New Community Member
Happened to me to. It happened when I went to New Orleans and I thought maybe it was because I was traveling and made multiple purchases. I couldn't consider that far traveling as it's only 5.5 hours away. Then today I went to get my purchase and SAME THING happened. My total was 60.00 and some change and I had MORE than enough to cover it and had no pending transactions either. I even showed the clerk my balance because I don't think she believed me by her attitude. So nope, happened to me as well at home and when I was traveling. Their software must hate PayPal Debit cards.
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MarciePaez
New Community Member
Same happened to me a few days ago only guess what?? The three times it was declined actually it came out of my account. I showed them this, I gave them proof it came out and walgreens keeps telling me it will show in a few days. No it won't.. It has been 4! I needed a 40 dollar med and I'm out $175 and Walgreens tells me to contact the card account and account is willing to dispute it for me but that rakes time and i need my money! This is ridiculous
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AnnRH32
New Community Member

I have this same issue with Walgreens and Walmart. I cannot use my Paypal Debit card at either store, but I can use it to make online purchases with Walmart. I used to live in Washington and had zero problems using this (for years) debit card at any store. Now I live in another state and it works everywhere but Walgreens and Walmart.

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Whac-A-Mole
Frequent Advisor
Frequent Advisor

some of us are getting the new card with chip,may be that will solve the problem

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Itara
Contributor
Contributor

It won't. I got mine near the start of the month and since then it has utterly refused to use the listed backup payment method.

 

The prior, non-EMV card worked just fine for me for quite some time - never had an issue.

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Whac-A-Mole
Frequent Advisor
Frequent Advisor

I think this is something Paypal has to resolve.

I just make sure there is enough in my Paypal balance to pay for the purchase,

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