Hi there,
I didn’t expect to be talking to you before next Monday, but this can’t keep. PayPal has closed the account for The Richie Allen Show. I received a pretty blunt email this morning, advising me that I “can no longer do business with PayPal” because I was in “violation of “PayPal’s acceptable use policy.”
Naturally I called them. The first person I spoke with put me on hold and then hung up. I called back and spoke to another agent who advised me that she couldn’t find out why the account was closed and that I would probably never find out.
After pointing out that this was unacceptable and insisting that I be put in touch with someone who could explain what was going on, I was again put on hold for a few minutes before the call was again abruptly disconnected. I’ve since been advised by someone who used to work for them that they’ll never offer me or anyone else an explanation for closing an account.
I’m fuming of course. It’s disgusting. I’m sure that buried in their terms and conditions, they claim the right to close an account without notice and without explanation, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s legal.
PayPal takes 5 per cent of every single transaction. It could be argued therefore, that the company is effectively in business with every one of its account holders and that at the very least it should have to show cause for closing an account.
Anyway, it is what it is. Those of you who have used PayPal to set up a monthly contribution to The Richie Allen Show will be wondering why your payments aren’t going through. Now you know. It’s best to cancel it now to avoid receiving the same notices over and over.
I know full well what is going on here. Of course I haven’t been in violation of any of PayPal’s policies, which is why they will never engage me in a conversation. This is censorship and nothing else.
When the account was originally set up, PayPal was made fully aware of its purpose. I advised them at the time that I wasn’t selling anything and wouldn’t be exchanging goods in return for payment. I had to be very specific about this for obvious reasons. They were hugely concerned about terrorism funding at the time, so anyone receiving payments and not exchanging goods was of concern to them.
The company knew that I was an independent radio producer/presenter that was supported by the listeners. The company was well aware that this was entirely voluntary. There was no ambiguity. They were satisfied, I was happy and I’ve been in business with them for years without a single complaint from anyone who has ever supported the show.
A great friend of mine who has taught journalism at third level told me earlier this year that the establishment would never put up with The Richie Allen Show. I didn’t need to be told that. The show’s reach is frightening.
Before taking my holiday, the show was beating the MSM’s top radio programmes in the iTunes charts. My live show averages over 200,000 listeners. It’s downloaded over 2.5 million times a month. They won’t stand for it. There has never been anything like The Richie Allen Show.
I’m not bragging. You know who I am. It’s a fact and it bears repeating today. The show is a phenomenon. Then again, I work around eighty hours a week to fill it with content. Its success is not an accident.
I don’t know what we’ll do in terms of using another service, but I have some very good people looking at it for me. Don’t feel the need to bombard me with suggestions. Like I said, I’ve got some great tech folks working on it.
In the meantime, the show still has a bank account. The details are on this site. Hopefully, I’ll have news about an alternative to PayPal by next week.
Up until today, I was enjoying my break. I’ve needed it. The job is exhausting. But I’m determined to enjoy the next few days and I’ll be in good form come Monday.
Speak soon,
Richie
