Paypal withdraw to Local Bank troubles

I am disappointed with our local banks which does not know really what eBanking is, they should just totally scrap said serivce if they cannot do it correctly. On May 4, 2008, i availed of Paypal's Withdraw to Bank feature by withdrawing a certain amount to my Metrobank account. I got charged, in my case, 50 pesos by Paypal. When money sent/withdrawn is below 7 thousand pesos, they charge you 50 pesos, over 7K withdrawals are free.

By May 6, 2008, on my Paypal dashboard, it said my transaction is "Comleted." Excited me, the very next banking day, i tried to withdraw my money amazed that the transaction took less time than expected.

Well, to make the story short, i did not get my money, and when i contacted Paypal, it said, "Completed" does not mean the money withdrawn will be be reflected on my the bank balance when it said Completed. The money will be available only after 5-7 days after it said "Completed" in Paypal. I waited, 7 days passed, no money yet, and horrors, until now, May, 23, 2008, the money i have withdrawn to Metrobank is still not reflected on my account balance. And this is just the tip of the iceberg.

On May 6, 2008, i learned that Unionbank'S EON Debit Card can also be used to withdraw money from Paypal either as Withdraw to Debit Card with a charge of US $5 or the Withdraw to Bank option with the aforementioned charge of 50 pesos for below 7K sent or free for 7K and above sent. Of course, cheapskate me, availed of the cheaper Withdraw to Bank option.

By May 8, 2008, Paypal said Withdrawal was Completed. I waited again and then all of a sudden on May 16, 2008, Paypal informed me that Paypal/Unionbank has reversed the transaction saying that i entered incorrect Bank Codes. I definitely did not.

I am pretty pretty sure that i entered it correctly as i researched and followed the Unionbank bank code used by friends who previously used their EON Card to use the same feature and were successful with their transaction. Besides, the same bank codes are posted in Ebay.ph in their forums, a company owned by Paypal itself.

All in all i lost 300 pesos plus the unnecessary waiting to withdraw my very own money for two or more freakin' weeks. When a transaction is reversed for whatever reason, Paypal charges 250 pesos then converts the currency again to US Dollars.

I also learned at around the same time that my money/transaction was reversed, Unionbank's internet banking unit was having major problems. Ebay.ph users were having problems using thier EON cards to pay for international purchases too. I contacted Unionbank's Customer Service, but i only got silence on their end.

But at least my money, or a part of it were returned, and i learned some valuable lessons on E-Commerce and eBanking in the Philippines. What still puzzles me is my Withdraw to bank transaction with Metrobank. Up to this time, i am in limbo as to where my money went. I could not complaint to my branch because my Metrobank account is based in a 800 kilometer away province from Manila..