Consumer complaint received 2020-07-04
Company: Paypal Holdings, Inc
State: WA
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Other transaction problem

Complaint:
With the current pandemic that we are experiencing my life along with so many others have been flipped upside down. I lost my job in late XXXX. I filed unemployment immediately after losing my job and I have yet to see my first payment. Washington State was hit hard with fradulent claims and paid out close to a XXXX dollars to the criminals. Add record breaking claims on top of that and you get 80,000 people in Washington who have been waiting over 3 months to recieve their first payment. I went through my savings quickly and with that came heartache and despair that I can not properly describe to you. It has gotten to the point where a good day is when I can eat 1 meal. There are many days I dont eat at all. Not to mention I have been unable to purchase a prescribed medication that is vital to my wellbeing for over a month now. Everyday I go without taking that medicine I am having negative results that could impact me for the rest of my life. I am not one to ask people for help or depend on someone else to take care of my responsibilities. That is especially true when it comes to my family. They are dealing with their own set of challenges trying to keep their head above water during these uncertain times. My situation became desperate enough that I broke down and called my family for help. They offered to send me XXXX to get me through this. I only asked them for a {$100.00}, just enough to buy some food and get my medication. On XX/XX/XXXX a family member sent {$100.00} to my PayPal acoount. Once the money was in my account I went to transfer the funds to my debit card but recieved a message that it would not be transferred instantly and it would take a few days to post to my account. I cancelled that transaction and while trying to figure how to gain access to my money quicker then a few days, I recieve an e-mail from PayPal stating that my account is being closed and that any funds I had in the account would be froze for 180 days. I am not a cryer but I broke down. For the last 3 months I have been able to keep my head up and face all the heartache & pain even though on the inside I am broken and barely keeping it together. What finally brought me to my knees was PayPal telling me they were keeping my {$100.00} for 6 months or they might just keep it. The first clear thought I had after falling apart was that I was lucky I didn't accept the XXXX. I immediately went to work to find the solution to this problem. That was easier said then done. When I would try to call PayPal I recieved a recorded message stating due to Covid 19 that if I wanted to speak to someone sign into my account and select the live chat option. I did as the recording said and when trying to reach live customer service through the chat option I could not get past the bot. The bot kept saying no agents were available and that I needed to try again during this window of hours. I was trying to contact during those hours but for some reason kept getting the message no agents available try again during these times. I finally found how to send a message through the PayPal App. My first message to them I basically gave a run down on how times are tough for me, and that {$100.00} is for food and medication I desperately need. A couple hours had passed and I received a generic pretyped response stating that- PayPal will no longer do buisness with me and that I cant delete any bank accounts, credit or debit cards from my account. All funds will be froze and I will not have access to them. The only thing I would be allowed to do was sign on and look at my history. PayPal did not provide an exact reason nor tell me what I did wrong. Instead they provided a list of offense 's and stated one of those Items listed could be the reason for my account being closed and why the money was frozen. The next day XXXX the XXXX I once again tried to reach a live person to discuss and resolve this issue but once again I couldn't get past the Bot. I was getting the same message that no service agents are available and to try again during these hours. Something did not seem right about not being able to connect to a live agent. I called a friend and asked him to try from his account to reach an agent. He had no problem connecting to a live agent. After discovering that PayPal was blocking me from connecting to customer service I sent another message going over everything again and wanting to know exactly what I did wrong. I also stated that Including this {$100.00} transaction there has been a grand total of two transactions that have transpired on my PayPal account. What could I have possibly done wrong. I recieved the exact same generic pretyped response that PayPal sent in regards to my first message. I immediately wrote PayPal a 3rd message recapping the whole situation and What there decision was doing to me. I also begged them to please have a live person respond to me. On XX/XX/XXXX I recieved a response to my 3rd message sent to PayPal. Once again it was the same generic pretyped response I had recieved twice before. PayPal has frozen money I need to survive and at the same time has restricted my ability to contact a live person within the company. At first it baffled me how a huge company like PayPal could do this to a customer, especially at a time like this. All it takes though is to do some research on the internet and see the thousands upon thousands of story 's just like mine not to mention any other scenario you could think of. You soon realize PayPal could care less about their customers and a pandemic isn't about to change that. I have done nothing wrong to have my money that I so desperately need taken from me. I have done nothing wrong yet now my name has been added to the ever growing list of people PayPal has harmed.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation