Consumer complaint received 2019-10-23
Company: Netspend Corporation
State: CA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose prepaid card
Issue: Unexpected or other fees

Complaint:
Greetings from XXXX XXXX Ca. 
XXXX here. 
I would like to let you all know there are these new prepaid paypal cards on the card racks at XXXX store here in XXXX XXXX.XXXX did not have these yet and hopefully they won't ever carry them. 
I usually pay for items on XXXX with giftcards that are never a trouble but day before yesterday XX/XX/2019 the XXXX  giftcard computer was down and I had an item that I had promised to pay for sitting in the checkout dialog since the nite before when I placed the hi bid on an auction item. 
So I figured i would try these paypal prepaid cards that I had never seen before at the store. It says XXXX on the package front. That was the reason I purchased. XXXX was cheaper then XXXX dollars on visa gift cards. 
Tho looking again at the small characters this prepay paypal card says It is not a gift card. 
As long as it works to pay the man who is waiting for me to pay for item as promised then it doesn't matter. 
So XXXX loss compared to no fees on another kind of gift card that had comouter server trouble on the XX/XX/XXXX. 
All day. So I purchased the paypal prepaid card from XXXX. XXXX I gave to the cashier. My item cost XXXX. Plus the XXXX fee on the front package.that was almost 2dollars extra just in case. the package does say it needs to be activated. 
Now comes the run around computer leading me thru a maze of circles. I was over 3 hours trying on Monday evening to activate the card before I went to a meeting I was supposed to attend. I missed the meeting .going in circles with the activation process. Filling out the same forms over and over again and still it does not work to pay the man who is waiting for the XXXX I promised to pay. When trying to activate the card, it leads to a dialog that says there is a XXXX monthly fee. And a whole mess if other fees. 
No mention of this XXXX dollar fee on the package and the computer dialog is programmed with only 1 button that says order a card. Congrats. You'll receive your customized card in the mail. I didn't want a customized card. All I was trying yo do was activate the cards.i already paid for at the store. The fees were supposed to be XXXX. 
When I called the phone number printed on the card that nite at XXXX XXXX Pacific time after missing my appointment trying to pay my debt on XXXX that goes thru paypal when ever I use gift cards and already had a paypal account so I figured a paypal prepaid card would be ok. That nite at XXXX they told me with a computer generated synthetic voice that they were closed so I would have to wait until XXXX Pacific time XXXX central. So my man is not receiving the money tonite and I missed my meeting for nothing which upset me terrible bad. 
Not to mention the time going to the store 2 times before buying walking both directions I had lost quite a bit of work time on this card and package that is nothing but trash now. 
The next morning at XXXX I'm up an on it. Trying yo activate again. This time the card activated. 
However when I tried to pay using paypal it wasn't working. The red ink dialog from paypal says to call the prepay company. Paypal prepay is the name of the company and MasterCard.

So I called. After entering the card numbers so many times I lost count I pretty much memorized the 16 digit code on the card face and the date and the code from the card back. 
The computer synthesized voice sounds very good quality new service and new packaging all new and not dusty servers too no doubt with the latest solid state nand flash memory devices replacing spinning disk drives in their computer servers at the other end of the line. The synthetic voice explained why the transaction was denied. I only has XXXX left on the card after it deducted an additional XXXX on top of the XXXX that I paid already. I gave the cashier XXXX. 
I don't mean to sound like a cheapskate but I'm poverty striken already as is much of the United States former workers whose jobs are lost to bids from other curriencies. Great. Maybe I can buy a house made in XXXX too along with some land made in XXXX and have them ship it over for three with the lowest cost I can find for the exact copy of the same house. Only XXXX now. Kind of late but it would be nice to have a home like I planned for when I was younger. Instead a single room in a hotel which is similar to a jail as far as privacy goes. Anyway. So sorry I went off topic here in XXXX XXXX Ca. 
So I called a few more times to the paypal prepaid phone number-and not happy, in fact anger has set in on me as I've been hurt due to all the lost work time and the guy isn't paid yet and they expect me to walk back to store again and place more money on this card with another fee for doing so. 
After a few more calls having to type numbers every call the 16 digit code has to be typed by your truly and then listen to a menu all computerized and designed to keep you paying monthly service charges with minimal or no human work involved now that the investment in the latest costly computer gear has been made. Finally after 3 menus one leads to another to another I get a human on the phone and I almost jumped thru the phone and bit the ladies ear off I was so upset by this time. Very nice lady says the package says there is a XXXX fee on the back. It doesn't. I have photographs. Of both sides of the package. Instead of costing XXXX for fees it was XXXX and now there isn't enuf on it to pay the man. I told the lady I'm sorry I know it's not your fault. Sorry for my anger sorry I was hurt with thus scam here told her I did not want to pay XXXX every month. 
All I wanted to do was pay this guy who has not get been paid.i told her I would have purchased a visa gift card instead they have XXXX dollar fee. This one said XXXX fee which seems like the cheaper way to do the same thing. No mention of any XXXXdollar fee additional and every month there after is made on the package. 
We don't see any of this until after it is paid for and we go on line and see what it says. Only 1 button to press after entering the data needed to activate it and says order a custom card. What a scam!! From Paypal?! And mastercard!!? 
Yes. 
Hard to believe any reputable company would do such a thing. 
So anyway the nice lady on the phone said in that case she was going to mail a check for XXXX to me. What happened to the XXXX XXXX. That is for the nice packaging I ripped off the card when opening it. So I went to another store and now the gift card computer was back up and running.the normal way I Pay, no fees. However much I pay the cashier is on the Card, All of it.every cent. I paid the amount due and 5 minutes later the man received payment and there wasn't any trouble using XXXX giftcards.Good thing I had another XXXX dollars because I have to wait 2 weeks for The check for XXXX.I certainly did not want The man waiting for weeks to be paid. The paypal prepay MasterCard is a scam to sucker people into XXXX monthly charges along with additional charges every time you use it. 
Beware. 
That's all XXXX

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation