39 Comments
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Prue Wallis's avatar

Hi Emily. As you know I obtained a refund from PayPal for my donation. When I first applied I was told to contact the seller - you. I went back to PayPal and told them you were unable to help because they were holding my donation, not you. I then filled in the steps required to obtain a refund from them. The last question required information about the nature of my ‘purchase’ and I selected ‘donation’. There was also the option to add a comment with more explanation in which outlined the payment situation. Almost immediately I received notice of a refund and the notice Case Closed. At no stage was I advised to get the refund from you. I think all donors are probably going to have to go through this process to recover the funds. We then have to find out how we can get it to the families legally. Hope this helps. Prue

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Emily Writes's avatar

Thank you I’ve shared this Prue hopefully it will help!

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Katherine's avatar

Wow, that’s awesome you got a refund almost straight away! I filed to get a refund and apparently they’ve now contacted Emily to get further info, which we know she has no way to give them as the account has been restricted 🙄🙄 I’ll give it a few more days before trying to contact them in a different manner.

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Josh Drummond's avatar

So sorry for what happened. And you’re 100 percent right, this is by design.

We desperately need open source, accountable alternatives to these corporate nightmare systems.

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Quentin McDonald's avatar

Now might be a good time to remember that Citizen Thiel founded PayPal and although he's been out of it for a long time, perhaps he embedded some of his special evil deep inside it. It's so frustrating, I wish I could help. But I have faith in your tenacity and resources and I believe if anybody can do it, you can.

I was trying to think today about the South African Apartheid era. I was young(ish) but I do recall it being as much about sport as anything else. I don't remember the significant corporate and government power that went into fighting back against those who even raised concerns as we are seeing now for Gaza. Yes, I know we had the Red/Blue squad but again that was about sport fundamentally.

Zionists are really breaking my brain. Last year I stopped to chat with a young man who was holding an Israeli flag at a climate march. I was interested if he was concerned about the climate projections for Israel and neighbouring countries that face becoming uninhabitable. But he wasn't an Israeli, he wasn't even Jewish. He was a RW Christian lad who thought it was his biblical duty to stand up for Genocide. You know, like Jesus would have.

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Emily Writes's avatar

Christian Zionists are the worst. They don’t even like Jewish people! It’s all about hating Muslims.

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Margie's avatar

Grrrr! Fuck PayPal! I’m sorry you had to go through this on top of Eddie’s surgery and everything else in your life. Sending huge aroha ❤️❤️

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Emma C's avatar

Just deleted my PayPal account. I've had it for 20 years. It asked me if I was sure. Yes, I'm sure. You evil fuckers.

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Emily Writes's avatar

❤️❤️❤️❤️

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Stephanie Pearce's avatar

Infuriating stuff. I hate PayPal already, but even more determined to try and avoid it. The first time I used it, my account got scammed. They were quick to resolve it, and said it was 'very unusual and normally very safe'.....I've been wary since and don't have any kind of permanent account. Will definitely try to avoid it more though. Utterly immoral company.

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Clare S's avatar

That really sucks Emily, what an awful thing of PayPal to do. Could you set up a sole trader account through an NZ bank? That would allow you to have an account that's not your personal one. I've had a look on the BNZ website and it looks like that would be the way to set up a non personal account with the least amount of paperwork

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Emily Writes's avatar

I’m meeting with Kiwibank tomorrow and that’s my hope. But I still have to sort out tax.

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aka Alice's avatar

Sigh. Shocking but sadly not surprising at all. Still don’t understand the hold Israel has on the US. I also recently had that moment of realising that you have to give out your full name with your bank account these days which is mildly irksome when I have published under a pseudonym. I hope you find someone with the skills you need x

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Emily Writes's avatar

💯💯 it’s so frustrating.

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Jae Major's avatar

Have you checked with Wise to see if they can help with sending funds overseas? Maybe better than PayPal, but find out first before lodging money with them.

Hang in there Emily, you do amazing work. I'd also like to be able to increase my monthly subscription but substack doesn't have an option to do that. Can you create an option to choose the monthly amount?

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Emily Writes's avatar

You’re so kind X I don’t have the ability to increase individual subscriptions but I have a koha account - https://ko-fi.com/emilywrites you’re so kind.

I’m going to the bank Tuesday and if I can set up a bank account under Emily writes and sort tax I won’t need a ‘middle man’ like PayPal but if I still need that I’ll try Wise. Thank you!

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Paula's avatar

Emily, sending you aroha and prayers.

I wish I was clever enough to sort a solution.

Please know there are people who do care xxxx

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rainbow brute's avatar

Shit is fucked. Big sigh.

Thank you for all you do Emily, your commitment and generosity really are inspiring and clearly make a tangible positive impact. I hope someone brainy, experienced and well connected steps up to help get this sorted.

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Catherine's avatar

I can’t for the life of me see a way to even contact PayPal for a refund. It might be an issue with my account because I can’t see a record of the donation at all. but they aren’t making it easy! This whole thing is truly disgusting.

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Katherine's avatar

Can you see a menu called resolution centre? You should be able to go in there and select the transaction you want to dispute.

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Janine McVeagh's avatar

We successfully sent money to friend in Guatemala through WorldRemit. Based in Auckland. We had no problems and the money went through quickly. I hope it is still available.

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Emily Writes's avatar

Thank you that’s really helpful to know.

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Helen Beattie's avatar

🤯🤬

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Diana Coleman's avatar

I’m appalled but not surprised. I hope you can get some work around sorted.

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RiRi's avatar

Is there an interim solution? Would a Givealitte campaign work? Can you accept money via your bank account?

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Emily Writes's avatar

I have been accepting money via my personal bank account. I’m working on a story about Givealittle and Gaza as we speak.

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