From their website:
HOW DO I CANCEL MY RESERVATION?
Contact us at 1-800-890-3731 or
[email protected] and we will work with you to cancel your booking. If you cancel within 24 hours, there is $50 charge. After 24 hours, airlines penalty apply. Penalties are from $400 and up depending on the ticket and booking class.
Some airline tickets are completely non refundable, you may not be able to cancel or you may incur penalty fees in addition to ours ($150 charge for cancelation, or exchange of ticket). Always consider purchasing a travel insurance, to cover you for unforeseen circumstances. In case of emergency, or death in the family, airlines may waive penalties, but will always collect if there are a fare or tax difference.
Does your reservation say whether it's non refundable or non cancellable? Also call the airline back and ask if it's non cancellable, or just non refundable.
Also agree with
CDTraveler. Start using e-mail to converse with Payless so there's a paper trail with date/time stamps. Print all emails too, both outgoing and incoming.