PayPower
Reviews and Complaints

My tax return was to be posted to my pay power card today 2/29/12 and when i checked my card of course it wasnt there! i initially called the IRS and they assured me that my money was actually sent over yesterday and that "metabank" was already in possision of the funds. I then called pay power and was first tiold that all deposits posts by 12noon pt, then told 48hrs, then told 24hrs all by diff reps. i ask for a sup n afta bein on hold for 30min the phne disconnected. when i purchased this card i was advised that ANY direct deposit would be posted the same day its recievd but now im hearing otherwise and have no idea at all where my money is not to mention my girlfriend and my friend both got there money this morning (turbotax card) without a prob. so i askd the rep if this was my pay check from my employer would i still have to wait 48hrs and she dumbly said yes...wtf! who would do such a thing! have anyone else had this prob?

This company is absolutely HORRIBLE. The website never seems to work, no one ever seems to be able to help me over the phone (which I have to pay for to call since I am currently out of the US studying abroad for the year). It's a real pain when I need money for food and I cannot access my card and money. NEVER EVER EVER EVER USE THIS COMPANY.

I wanna share my experience with Paypower card.

I bought a Paypower prepaid card and loaded $250. I did this because I was suspicious of paying by CC online.

Then, bad things did happen when I made a $94 transaction. I didn't receive the item I ordered after several weeks waiting and waiting. And, I cannot get any response from the seller.

So, I filed a claim to dispute this. You can only do this by mailing or faxing the forms to them. No easy way to do this. You need to fill out lots of information on the form.

After two weeks of waiting, I got a mail in my mailbox. Paypower company notified me that I have to show proof of "faithful attempts" to contact the seller before they can do anything. If I didn't mail the the proof, they will suppose this dispute is fixed.

Another two months of waiting after I immediately mailed back the proof, I got no reponse. I emailed them twice, no response, either.

I never knew that the process of disputing a transaction can be so PAINFUL with this company. To get ripped off by this scam online seller is bad, but to get pissed off by Paypower makes my even angrier...

**THE most horrible experience using Paypower Visa prepaid card. **
Regret ever purchasing at Safeway. Safeway and Visa should not be promoting and selling this card.
Redundant steps involved to even use the card. The card you purchase with prepaid funds is a dummy card and apparently needs to registered and activated. Once activated they send you a personalized card with your name (not needed). Logged online to check balance and noticed monthly recurring fees which I never received email notification of or statements for. Called the customer service line to cancel the card immediately. 1st call - spoke to a rep who said he needed to place me on hold but ended up re-routing me back to main menu which ended up disconnecting me. Called a 2nd time and got a rep who asked me for card info but pretended he didn't hear me (heard some giggling in the background). Called a 3rd time and spoke to a rep who was more responsive and helpful but had to place me on hold for several min as she tried to reach 2nd level authorization for the cancellation. Was told the Supervisor will not be available for another 5 min and if they can take down my number and call me back. I said I'd wait. Finally spoke to Cardholder Services Supervisor who said he would cancel the account and provided a Reference #. I asked for an email confirmation and he said they "corporate offices", a.k.a. Blackhawk, did not provide email confirmations email or mail. I am hopeful the card will be canceled and the Reference # is legitimate as I will be following up to confirm the card/account was in fact canceled. I would caution anyone from purchasing this card.

I called on July 14th to report a lost card and was told on that date that I would receive a new card in the mail in 7-10 business days! With-in that time I've been calling to make sure that the replacement card was indeed on the way, not taken out of my mail and not activated by someone esle! On Monday the 25th I placed a call to customer service and was told that they could not find my information and that the card numbers, of which i have 2 in my name, did not match up! After trying to make myself clear the rep investigated further and realized that he was dealing with the gift card dept. He found the 2 and matching info on my cards after asking for my last 4 ss#, gave me the balance of both, and told me that i'd be receiving the new replacement card by the 28th of July! 2 days later Weds. the 27th still no card in the mail. I call CS again and they cant find my information at first, but after investigating the representative Carlos, finds my info..TELLS ME THERE WILL BE NO CARD BY THE 28, BECAUSE OF A MESSAGE THEY RECEIVED 3 DAYS AGO, THAT THE CO HAS NO DEBIT CARD INVENTORY!, And my card wont be sent until the 16th of August! NIGHTMARE! I was not given any kind of notice that there would be no card mailed with in that 7-10 days specified originally on the 14th of July and was charged 6 dollars for replacement! HELP

I have a paypower debit card with $261.00 on it. they have a hold on the card for "at risk" behavior! Whatever! I used it at a spa in colorado last weekend then got gas in sioux city this week. today declined. called company. was hung up on 5 times or they pretended they couldn't hear me. then finally got Anna who was no help. she transferred me to her supervisor dennis who told me risk dept would call me back in 1 to 2 business days. i said this is my money - not a line of credit - and that was not acceptable. he kept repeating himself. i asked for his superior and he said he didn't have one. then said he did, put me on hold, came back and said his supervisor would call me back in 1 to 2 business days. it was run around after run around. he refused to tell me who owns his company and that it is simply card holder services. wouldn't tell me if it was a corporation, llc or what. told me the risk department doesn't have telephones or email addresses so i couldn't talk to them. they are HORRIBLE and AWFUL. do NOT use. still waiting for my money to be released. SO mad.

I bought A PayPower Prepaid Credit Card For my direct deposits. The company STOLE The money I had on my card, And then had the nerve to tell me I had gone over my limit on purchases, which was NOT true. Further more I didn't have any limit because it's a prepaid card. They then said I owed them $100.00. I really needed that money bad. I was totally speechless! I'm Taking action on this matter soon. I will not stand by letting other innocent victims to get scammed like I did! What ever you do, DO NOT GET A PAYPOWER CARD! I don't think it will be long before this company is SHUT DOWN and taken out of our stores like Albertsons.

I have used prepaid cards in the past with absolutely no problem! I purchased a Pay Power card because it is "re-fillable" and I figured why not keep using the same card over and over? Wrong! When I purchased the card, it took 24 hours to activate it which made absolutely no sense and customer service was no help at all. Then the fine print discloses that they will charge you a monthly fee for using their card (in addition to the re-fill fees). I had a balance on my card, I went to use it on the 29th day of the 30 days I had the card and they had already stolen my money off of the card! Of course, customer service was no help at all. I will NEVER purchase another Pay Power card again - COMPLETE RIP OFF!

I recently got my pay power visa, On Saturday the 14 of may. I used 2 reload packs to load 700.00 to get plane tickets fro my kids to come back home, The load was successful. When I went to use my card I could not, I called paypaower they said it was blocked on the 13 of may but yet it still allowed me to load my 700.00 on the 14, They said it could take 2 business days to get the hold lifted. My aunt whom works for local news station is trying to put together a story for tonight news, There are to many complaints about this scamming company, I for one will not stop until they are stopped.

This is a company which does NOT believe in customer service or providing customers with accurate information of any kind.
Complaint 1. I contacted customer service about a replacement card and they informed me that I could transfer the balance to a new Pay Power card if I just went to a store and bought a new one and called them back with the info, so that's what I did. I called back to be told that wasn't possible so I had spent $20 for nothing and STILL have $1 left on the card b/c I HAD to use it to get my money or wait 4 to 6 weeks for a corporate check.
Compalint 2. I have NEVER been able to log into my "online account" information. When I called customer service about this, I was given an "resolution number" and had to wait 24 hrs for a call back. I get the call back to find out that the problem was documented incorrectly. I'm given a second resolution number and have to wait another 24 hrs.
I get the next call and I find out that the reason that the login info THEY gave me to use isn't working is b/c they didn't tell me it was case sensitive and that fact is listed no where on the login portion of the website. There is no solution to this now, b/c my account was locked up b/c of inaccurate login info, until ANOTHER resolution number is created and waiting ANOTHER 24 hours for a call back.
Complaint 3. When trying to assign a pin, I was unsuccessful. I had to call to find out that the company was having issues with the PIN system so I would be unable to access any cash through withdrawal for a few days. Reprehensible. If there are issues with websites, PIN systems, ANYTHING dealing with people's money, the LEAST the company could do is send out an email notification. They do it with each transaction so I find the fact they don't notify of issues inexcusable.

AVOID PAY POWER AT ALL COSTS! If you MUST use something like this, as I do, keep the money on it to a minimum for your own sake.

I bought me a Pay Power card and everytime I call to get it activated the phone is "busy!" So then it says I could activate it online, well I try doing that, and its says that it needs my driver's license and my proof of address faxed! Why must I ask, oh I cant because the phone is busy! When I tried to fax my LIFE to them, the fax line says that it is disconnected! Hmm.. Im beginning to think that I've been scammed! Thanks Pay Power... for nothing but a loss of $100.

Spent 200+ minutes on tracfone, $10 worth of faxing, and and a brandy and coke to tolerate the hassle of even being able to get my personalized card and pin to access my unemployment benefits. that was a month ago. now when i bought the card, the direct deposit bonus promotion was wait thirty days after starting direct deposit, get a $20 bonus. now it changed to "15 days after the second deposit." under the old system, i should have received that yesterday. under the new rules, three days ago. Put my tax refund in the hands of these people? hell no. no truth in advertising. on tv it's expected, with my money, not allowed. btw, to any paypower reps browsing the site instead of studying script, my "escalation code" is ITR:359442. Have a swell day.