Let both Paypal and M$ know that you didn't authorize a change in the terms/charges, and that you are just looking to be 'made right' by a return of the unauthorized charge, and supporting documentation that you can present to your bank to avoid the subsequent service charges.

Once again, be reasonable, and make it seem like an accident that you are seeking their assistance to solve. <People help people in need, but turn a blind eye to someone giving them a crappy day :-)>

I am contacting paypal via email now and telling them I filed a claim with my bank already to get rid of the overdraft charges/charges, and asking them if I should file a claim with them as well or what I should do next. This sound good?

Contact the charger (MS), directly, if you get no relief (you won't), then contact your bank directly. File a dispute if you must. Part of filing the dispute is a good faith effort to resolve it with all parties, but I think you can skip Paypal.

I contacted my bank and filed a claim already, as they advised me to. :\

I also just emailed paypal this:

"I recently found out(Nov 12th) that I was being recurring billed via Microsoft using my linked checking account for 10.86 per month without my knowledge and so I cancelled continuous authorization for those charges(at the time nothing pending or current from MS for the current month was listed on my paypal statement OR my bank account statement.). I thought I had the money free so I used some of my checking account funds to make irl store purchases.

Today I noticed that the same amount had been charged to my bank account anyways for 10.86 without my knowledge or approval and that that had put my bank account under and me to accrue overdrafts in the approx. amount of 140(150.86 when including the original 10.86 that was charged without my approval.)

Because of this I am now around 150 dollars in debt to my bank and cannot pay my other bills which I need to do to get by. As such I informed my bank and they told me I should submit a claim which I did......I should be getting an affadavit to sign shortly in the mail or so they tell me.

I am writing to inform paypal of these events and also to try to resole this dispute and find out what actions I can take with paypal/what I should do as I wait for the affadavit from my bank to arrive via the mail. I anxiously await any good news/information as this is very distressing to me financially and any help or assistance would be appreciated."

Should I continue to email MS after filing a claim with the bank? And if so what should I tell them in that regard? Also I'm pretty sure I dont remember the login details used for the original purchase so do I just tell them my paypal info for them to look the charges/account up or what?

I'm pretty sure they said I should file a claim.....so I did. I also emailed paypal asking what I should do.....not asking to file a dispute with paypal as well for the time being, but asking if I should(being careful of the wording I found from others is important). I also told paypal in the email that I already filed a claim with my bank and told them the amoiunt in fees I was charged so far because of this, hoping to land a sympathetic(probably not but I can hope, right? :\) ear this holiday season at paypal.

If that fails i'm hoping the bank will reverse the overdrafts and the charge and helpe me out.(They did it once years back on another charge from a non-paypal thing that wasn't authorized by me.)

Paypal won't deal with you if you've filed a claim with your bank, their issue is now between the bank and you. The bank is your lawyer and Paypal is "self-representing" (sort of).

They likely won't respond to you, if they do, ignore it, you can only hurt your case if you say the wrong thing, but most likely you'll be okay.

EDIT: Also, your bank (specifically your home branch manager) is well within his power to reverse those bank fees, no matter whether you end up owing the 10.95 or whatever. Apologize, explain the situation and ask that he reverse all but the first fee (25 bucks or whatever), yeah it's not fair, but it beats the hell out of 150 bucks in fees. This is ONLY AFTER the dispute has been decided by your bank.

Also I didn't even know that the MS charges would be recurring or the service would last beyond that first month. I just saw 10.86 coming from my account one month, and then found it had been recurring for a few months prior without my knowledge. I then cancelled recurring billing via paypal's interface(thinking this would stop them from taking any more money and that they could keep the lousy 30ish they took so far because I didn't want to have to deal with M$ partially...etc). Does this help my case any with the bank claim situation?

I also found out (an aside here) that when filing the bank claim that I had opted in to allow charges to go through on my account even in times when it would put me under because I had clicked a button concerning overdraft practices on my web account panel a year or so back thinking it was some sort of overdraft protection(it was very poorly worded in that regard.) I cancelled that right away I can tell you that much. Hopefully that will help from them allowing overdrafts/me to spend when my account is under in the future.


So I should wait until after the dispute has been decided and if it fails I should ask the manager what? If they can reverse the charges? Give them a sob story or just ask matter-of-factly like I was asking them a normal question/assistance?

Also should I get my account in the green in the meantime? I'm worried if I don't and they deny my claim i'll be out more fees if I don't square it right away. Not saying I can do this easily just if I should if I can.

Yes, get your account balance positive if you can. No reason to add more fees.

If they deny your claim simply state "I cannot afford this, I did due diligence in my mind to prevent a situation like this and I'd like you to reverse all but one fee for X dollars". Don't let them wiggle out, if someone else has to approve it, then you have time for them to give that person a call right then and there.

As for "overdraft protection" yes, it screws customers, Congress made banks allow us to opt out, in fact, the nation got opted out by default. Since banks had to get new opt-ins and they love these fees, they sent a fuckton of scary letters intimating that customers were about to lose a vital service and should opt back in. Many people did, as you can see, it's no service to you, you'd have been better off to have the fees rejected.

Much better to talk to someone in person. If your going to send email make sure its professional like a cover letter. You might want to do some research for similar issues maybe you can find something to help your case.

Good luck too you.

I am going to begrugingly try family to help me with money if they can to cover the charges to keep it in the green. I will go to the bank in person if the claim is denied(hoping it isn't, but still...).

UPDATE: I got my money back, the bank refunded it all, and the paypal folks emailed me and promised to(as a kind gesture) refund the original money Microsoft took as well.

Thank god for that. :)

As such, I thank all who offered helpful advice and kind words. You are all appreciated more than words can express.