Multiple unresolved login, time-out, authorization and verification issues with my account.

[NewEnglander]

Hi, all.

The first 3 issues below have been a problem for the past 4 years. The last issue is relatively recent. Paypal support/service has ignored the issue repeatedly, despite many calls to look into it and kicked the can down the road.

Issue #1: Time-outs while invoicing

I use Paypal to invoice all of my customers. I've been logged out many hundreds of times while halfway through creating an invoice. Unless I choose to "save update" every 30 seconds or so--which is itself massively inconvenient and unproductive--I risk having to re-enter the invoices from scratch. There is no way to change/lengthen/remove the time-out period.

One workaround that's effective maybe 20% of the time is for me to refresh whatever page I am on before I create a new invoice. It's a half-baked attempt to restart whatever "timer" Paypal uses to trigger time-outs. Have any of your encountered this?

Issue #2: Captchas that take 6-10+ attempts to work

Another frequent issue with logging in is the variety of unnecessarily annoying authentication/verification methods employed by Paypal. One of those is captcha, and it rarely works on the first couple of attempts. I find myself attempting several times to select the cars, bikes, buses, trees, etc only to have captcha fail each time.

I'm a former software dev for Win and Mac. I know how it works. This is one of the many issues with how they've implemented verification/authentication. Do you find yourself redoing captcha over and over until it finally accepts the result?

Issue #3: Saved authentication & known devices does not work

I've used Paypal on Mac, Windows and Android. Multiple device types, operating system versions and several different browsers (Safari, Firefox, Explorer, Opera, etc, etc.) I get the same results no matter what I use.

The promise is that once the device is known, Paypal will not ask us to log in each and every time. Typically that means re-authentication less frequently, but not with Paypal. No matter which method of authentication I use, I'm logged out on known devices every time (due to issue #1 above) and have to go through the same poorly implemented login.

Issue #4: Mobile text verification

It seems ever couple weeks or months Paypal switches up how it does verification. One of the methods is mobile verification. The main option is for Paypal to send a text to your mobile device. Sometimes it offers one alternative such as entering the last 4 of your CC. Sometimes it offers no alternatives. And other times it offers several, including receiving a code by. email.

I cannot find a setting anywhere to limit the types of verification offered. The problem is that mobile coverage is not 100% in the States. If you have no cell service, you can't receive verification texts. I discovered that recently while in an area with wi-fi but no cell reception. I was forced to drive 30 minutes to the nearest reception just to receive verification, then 30 minutes back to get some work done. If issue #1 popped up, it was back in the car to drive 60 minutes round trip just to verify again. Beyond frustrating. Do any of you know ways around this? Perhaps a setting buried somewhere in the account dashboard.

I could go on for hours about how incredibly poorly Paypal's UI has been implemented and its countless technical issues that other app/site developers addressed back in the 90s. If I could just resolve some of the issues above, at least it would be a step in the right direction.

Any insight would be appreciated.