No, because of the same consideration: The amount at stake was just too small to justify a court battle.
But I really think that the banking regulator should take note of user stories such as the ones that are regularly all over HN and get to the bottom of it. After all PayPal, at least in Europe, is subject to the same regulation as other banks and payment processors. And if that's not the job of a banking regulator to take note when a financial institution has such shitty processes that consumers regularly suffer damages, then I don't know what is.
Also, maybe a private lawfirm should put together a class action or something on the basis of all those user stories. I realize that cases tend to be rather different to each other, but I'm finding it hard to believe that there aren't some things that happen so frequently and so systematically that it should be easy to take a stab at in court on behalf of a larger group of users who have suffered damages.
How much was in dispute and how much would it have cost? Most attorneys offer free initial consultations. Did you get a quote? For a lot of these kinds of disputes, you can do the paperwork yourself and not even involve court. For example, (if you're in the USA) many common disputes involving companies claiming you owe them money fall under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, which I've found to be very consumer-friendly and incompetence-unfriendly. Remember, your opponent generally also does not want to spend more money than they believe is owed in order to resolve the dispute.
It was something like €100, so really not something to bring in lawyers about.
But, standing on principle, I would have really liked to lodge a complaint with the regulator. Only problem: Since I was acting as a company (that now no longer even existed), it was never a consumer transaction, so consumer complaint wasn't a viable route, and you obviously hurt your case, even if it's just a complaint with a regulator, if you then settle the balance since they'd read that as you admitting guilt in some way.
Not settling the balance and lodging a complaint with the regulator could have had the side-effect of raising the stakes for them. So in a situation where they'd not normally take you to court, they might now actually do that since there would now be real money at stake, if the regulator launches into a full-scale audit into their processes & business practices. In such a case, winning a court case against me would have helped them in calling off the dogs if the regulator were to take an interest.
If you ask me, it should be the other way round: The banking regulator should play the role of public prosecution. When you complain against them with the regulator, then the regulator should either (a) tell you to bugger off without charging you for the privilege and allow it to end right there (b) take on your case in the sense of taking it to court on their own dime and if it looks like it was processes & business practices that were at fault then they should come after the financial institution for that kind of a failure hard.
But I really think that the banking regulator should take note of user stories such as the ones that are regularly all over HN and get to the bottom of it. After all PayPal, at least in Europe, is subject to the same regulation as other banks and payment processors. And if that's not the job of a banking regulator to take note when a financial institution has such shitty processes that consumers regularly suffer damages, then I don't know what is.
Also, maybe a private lawfirm should put together a class action or something on the basis of all those user stories. I realize that cases tend to be rather different to each other, but I'm finding it hard to believe that there aren't some things that happen so frequently and so systematically that it should be easy to take a stab at in court on behalf of a larger group of users who have suffered damages.