PayMaya Review: Please Read Before Using The App or Getting The Card

I feel nervous. This is definitely a very bad feeling to get especially when we are talking about money.

Sabihin ko later kung bakit, later but first, a bit of a back story:

So currently, I have this sideline of teaching online ESL. The company pays me through PayPal. Ngayon, hirap talaga ako na mag encash from PayPal to BPI. Ok sana sya kasi Php50 lang ang bayad yun lang ang tagal before ko makuha ang pera. The last time, it took 2 days before nag-reflect. Not sure why. Anyway.

So I saw this on YouTube:

OMG! It was magic! Money was transferred literally in SECONDS from PayPal to Paymaya! I don't have to wait. I hushed the small voice inside my head that said. "Php 250 ang transfer fee nyan hoy!" In my mind, I have an option in case I have an EMERGENCY and needed to get the cash ASAP. 

Boy I was wrong!

Let me remind you first that my account is activated, I have the physical card, I had it activated and updated-- the works! and yet in my Day 1 of this PayPal to Paymaya experience I was seriously disappointed. I kept refreshing my browser. Inalis ko pa nga ang battery ko nilagay ulit, nag check ng wifi connection, nag restart ng restart pero walang transfer na naganap! Lo and behold the email from PayPal:

Fund transfer paypal to paymaya visa
x

3 days! omg. This is bad. Ang dami kong iniisip when I saw this: 

1. Shocks sayang yung Php 250 na binayad ko nag antay din pala ako.

2. God sayang yung effort. Me pa video call pa!

3. Bakit nga ba ako ulit nag PayMaya? sayang yung Php 150 ko sa card!

4. Sorry BPI kinatamaran ko pa kasi mag antay. :( feeling ko na Karma ako. 💔

OK, andyan na, wala na akong magagawa. In the meantime, In my search for answers, I saw this in PayPal Q&A:

 Q: I'm wondering why my transaction still on pending, i followed all the instructions correctly this is my 1st time to transfer funds on credit is this normal?

A: My guess is  PayPal still have not yet to process the transfer request or is still processing the request.  Paymaya is a app that provides virtual Visa cards with option to get plastic card not some major bank so I suspect PayPal is still deciding whether to process the transfer to this VVC.

source: https://www.paypal-community.com/t5/About-Products/Fund-transfer-paypal-to-paymaya-visa/td-p/1119252

HALA! Seriously? Then I saw these remarks:

 Mind you, these are not random rants If you look into their FB page you will see a lot of rants, like for every 100 rants may 1 rave..at mukang bayad pa nga si ate na nagrave. Most people are saying na naloko daw sila, may mga unauthorized na use ng card from a different country, and may nabasa pa ako na nag withdraw sa ATM then nag reflect na nabawasan ng money yung account, but sa machine walang pera na lumabas! OMG. Again, ang pera na inaantay ko is allocated for my son's tuition fee! naloko na! wag naman sana mangyari sa akin. Could you just imagine how I would feel reading this? 💀💀💀 Para akong binuhusan ng malamig na tubig.

Now these are experiences of other people ha, and while most people are ranting na from activating/upgrading the paymaya physical card pa lang, in fairness kay paymaya well, so far, everything went smoothly naman for me. Nakapag download ako ng app ng maayos...na activate ko agad....I purchased the PayMaya card online...got the card after 2 weeks... and nakapag load ng Php100 ng matiwasay sa SM, eto lang ang step na sablay eh. Ok ok so maybe it is PayPal's fault because hindi pa nila na rerelease sa PayMaya kasi baka paranoid din sila about security or whatever, but bakit hindi STANDARD ang service? Bakit ang daming reklamo? Kinakastigo ko nanaman ang sarili ko for not reading the reviews first before getting into this. I am sure PayMaya means well and wants convenience for it's clientele. Well, the intentions maybe good but to do good business di ba you have to be reliable, consistent and dependable? I should've read the rants sooner. wala ka din naman kasing makitang bad review dito sa PayMaya in blogs, lahat ng bad reviews is nasa FB page pa lang nila so here I am offering my honest opinion. In  my opinion, ayoko nang mag take ng chances sa hard earned cash ko. Ayoko ng feeling na nag aantay, kinakabahan, na seseenzoned. 😔Pag nawala ang perang na transfer ko sa ere, I have no one to blame but myself for trusting PayMaya.😟 Honestly, I feel scared hindi lang sa pag transfer ng money sa PayMaya pati na rin for using it in Agoda, to book flights or even in Lazada. Balita ko na pati sa online purchases nagkakaproblema. Madedeny ang transaction pero nababawasan ang pera. 

And another thing, I hope PayMaya will improve their customer service soon. I have this theory that they instructed the CSRs to answer every complaint in their comments section as soon as a post is seen, para lang sabihin na someone is working on it, they are looking into it,..... aysos 3 taon ako sa customer service....I know they do this para mag mukang may sense of urgency sila sa mga issues but if you notice, what they are really doing is toning down the issue by directing it to a private message para hindi mapahiya si PayMaya na wala silang ginagawa. pero baka wala talaga silang ginagawa. kunwari lang kasi puro seen lang. hay. kulang nga ata sila ng man power. I'm not sure why I wouldn't take it out on CSRs though. They are only as good as their protocols eh. Anung magagawa nila kung systema me problema?

I am really crossing my fingers my money will not get lost, I do not want to be another angry customer "decorating" their hideous comment section. 😩

Para sa mga nag coconsider mag PayMaya. I think now is the the right time. wait until they are more stable. #notnownation #guineapig