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Comment by sw007 | Hacker News Reader

Classic case of someone who just can't win whatever he does. People have been crying out for PayPal to change - he notices this, he emails the guy with a first class email but still gets criticised. Criticise him if he doesn't act, don't criticise the guy for being big enough to say 'hey, we have a problem, I want to fix it' - that should be applauded, even if it's come later than people would have liked - at least it has come.

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Honestly, that's the job he took.

Apparently he was ok with that, and I'm sure he's being well compensated for it.

PayPal has built up a lot of ill will, and no, it doesn't just go away with a promise to change. It is in fact going to take time.

Let's keep in mind that this offense just happened. It's not the distant past.

Oh come on. He can't "win" by solving one person's problems. Will he give his personal email to everyone who has got his account frozen or large chunks of money taken away by PayPal? I doubt it.

This is a non-solution, which is almost worse than doing nothing at all, because it's active disingenuity.

We must see the first step. He is trying to stop the bleeding. My guess is that the signs are there that the bleeding has started, it just hasn't hit mainstream yet.

Did you read the same note I did? He says explicitly that he's new in the CEO spot and would like to use this story as a tool for redoing how they handle holds, and how they deal with customers.

You can't win by solving just one person's problems. But you also can't win unless you start by solving one person's problems. And then fix the system, so that the kind of problem is less likely to recur.

This, IMHO, is exactly the right way to do it. As contrasted with the wrong way, which is for employees to sit in their comfy offices and avoid all direct contact with customers, making up bureaucratic solutions to imagined problems.

Looks more like he is trying to buy direct outside expertise and opinion, without it being filtered through the company, in return for personally looking after this account. The problem from there on in is whether that person can actually continue to be useful as they will no longer be having the experience of a normal customer and might start being less critical in their approach. Picking someone who is absolutely furious probably helps in this as they are likely to be very upfront about their experiences.

Ok, so how do you fix many people's problems without first starting with one?

I agree, that people should give him the chance to fix Paypal if he wants to try. There is always a starting point for change and if this it, he should be applauded and not ridiculed.

"Real bad boys move in silence" --KRS One

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