Consumer complaint received 2023-11-07
Company: Paypal Holdings, Inc
State: CT
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
This complaint is against PayPal. 

I purchased a {$2000.00} gift card from XXXX XXXX gift cards. It was sent to me via XXXX XXXX in a sealed package. When I opened the envelope inside in XXXX, I checked the balance on the gift card and found that the card had only a {$40.00} balance on it. I immediately contacted XXXX XXXX. They researched and found that the card had been used for numerous PayPal transactions between XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX. The XXXX XXXX representative suggested that I contact PayPal, which I did immediately. 

I spoke with a PayPal representative, who opened up a case with the case ID XXXX . They were able to verify each of the fraudulent charges and told me that the name of the person who made the charges was XXXX XXXX. I had received documentation from XXXX XXXX which outlined each transaction 's date, payee, amount, and transaction number. We matched up all of these with the information that PayPal had. I was advised that PayPal would investigate further. Because this was a gift card, upon verification of the fraud PayPal would issue a refund to XXXX XXXX, and XXXX XXXX would reissue the refund to me. I was advised that this could take some time. 

XXXX XXXX did issue a new gift card, but it was {$240.00} short of the expected amount. I made numerous calls to both XXXX XXXX and PayPal. I was initially told that it may take a little longer for all of the refunds to come through. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I was finally able to get through to speak to a representative. With the help of her supervisor, the representative was able to verify that PayPal erroneously neglected to refund one transaction that occurred on XX/XX/XXXX and was posted on XX/XX/XXXX. This was listed as PAYPAL XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX in the amount of {$240.00}. The representative gave me another reference number for that transaction, which was XXXX. We spoke about how much time this was taking without me getting a refund. The representative assured me that she would expedite it and gave me a new Case ID number : XXXX. 

I continued to check with XXXX XXXX when I did not receive this refund. During this time, I also went online to the PayPal site to try to resolve this. There was an option to get a callback from a PayPal representative. I did this several times, but never received a callback. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I spoke with a PayPal representative named XXXX. She also connected me to her supervisor, XXXX. XXXX informed me that because so much time had passed, PayPal would not be refunding my money. I told him that this was unacceptable, as I had filed my complaint immediately. It was PayPal 's error that this transaction was not included in the original refund, and I had spent months trying to get it resolved through them. I asked to speak with his supervisor. After being placed on hold for an extremely long time, he told me that a supervisor was not available. I requested that he have a supervisor call me the next day. I have never received a call. 

I sent two emails to PayPal, one on XX/XX/XXXX to the executive office mailbox and the other on XX/XX/XXXX to XXXX XXXX. I have never received a response.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief