Consumer complaint received 2020-05-12
Company: Paypal Holdings, Inc
State: VA
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Managing, opening, or closing your mobile wallet account

Complaint:
I have been using PayPal since XXXX and have completed dozens of transactions, online purchases and online subscription payments using PayPal without issues, problems or claims. That changed on XX/XX/XXXX of this year and PayPal has revealed a side to me since that is a clear reminder why small people with bad judgment can be dangerous when wielding the power of very large corporations. They are holding my bank and credit accounts as hostage to spite me for complaining to my bank that PayPal made unauthorized charges and for reporting to XXXX that PayPal tried to get me to fraudulently get a refund from XXXX for purchases that I willfully made, but PayPal processed improperly and was too stubborn and uncaring to fix. 

I have supporting documentation for each and every piece of what I am reporting, including the transcripts of the conversations with PayPal agents. 

This ordeal began on the evening of XX/XX/XXXX when I prepared my PayPal account for 3 purchases by selecting the Preferred Payment Method for online purchases that I wanted to use that evening for the 3 transactions that I was planning. I completed my 3 online purchases from XXXX after receiving the email confirmation that PayPal had my Preferred Payment Method designated properly, which stated, " We'll use it whenever you shop online or send money for goods and services. '' I received the goods as ordered from XXXX, which included a {$9.00} XXXX XXXX  for the XXXX game " XXXX XXXX '', a {$59.00} pre-paid 12 months of XXXX XXXX  to add to the existing months that I already had remaining from the 12 months that I purchased last year and as I and millions of others have done for years, and a {$1.00} purchase of 1 month of XXXX XXXX  which also entitled me to upgrade all of already paid for months of the earlier mentioned XXXX XXXX to XXXX   XXXX The XXXX XXXX  is {$14.00} per month if one subscribes to it and agrees to pay for it through recurring billings. You can see that all 3 of my transactions are not recurring billings, but are in fact online purchases. To be clear, none of the 3 purchases were automatic billings resulting from any transactions prior to them on the XXXX and there will not be any automatic billings in the future for those 3 purchases. 

I did not notice that PayPal had paid for those purchases using my checking account until the XXXX, when I was verifying that the IRS was depositing the Covid relief money into that checking account. While I had used PayPal for years, I had only added the XXXX account information 2 weeks prior on XX/XX/XXXX for the purpose of depositing cash if and when it might became needed by one  of my children to transfer cash to them. Nothing had ever been paid for by PayPal using that bank account prior to them choosing to use it on XX/XX/XXXX and I had never made any purchases with it as my Preferred Payment Method or selected it in any way at all as an authorized way for PayPal to process any purchase or recurring billing. 

After noticing what had to be an error by PayPal, I reached out to PayPal using the online chat. I prefer talking to people, but I use what is available to me when I have to. I told PayPal that I did not dispute that I made the purchases, but I did not authorize them to charge them to that checking account and I needed them to fix their error and charge it to my Preferred Payment Method. As was supposed to happen " whenever I shopped online '', right? 

After arguing for hours with a couple of PayPal agents, I notified my bank of the unauthorized charges and explained in detail what exactly had happened. The bank rep had recently been hearing similar experiences involving PayPal. The bank removed the {$30.00} overdraft fee and filed a dispute on the unauthorized charges. The bank rep told me that it would take 10 days to process the dispute. 

Meanwhile, I discovered that XXXX had severed my XXXX XXXX   access when one of my children tried to play a game on it. Also, the dispute was found in my favor for the purchases and PayPal had charged the {$9.00} again through my debit card. XXXX informed me that PayPal told them that I disputed the purchases and XXXX had refunded PayPal. 

I spoke with a very helpful XXXX agent who helped me repurchase directly what I had purchased before using PayPal. But, XXXX was awesome enough to adjust the 1 month purchase of XXXX XXXX  so that we could recover the months of XXXX XXXX  that I owned before the XX/XX/XXXX purchases that had been lumped together with the 12 month purchase and upgraded to XXXX  and then subsequently poofed into the abyss as a result of PayPal 's shenanigans. 

Effectively, almost all of the damage caused by PayPal has been fixed my efforts and those of my bank and XXXX. All except that since this started, PayPal has refused to allow me to remove my checking account from them ever having access to it again. At first, they claimed it was because it tied to an automatic billing ( remember, the only charge ever made to it through PayPal was the unauthorized charges by PayPal on XX/XX/XXXX ). Then, they claimed that they are just trying to be helpful and demanded that I " confirm '' the account with them because of the reported suspicious activity. More recently, they clarified that are doing it because of the report of unauthorized activity. Obviously, they know and I have repeatedly reminded them that it was PayPal who was responsible for the unauthorized activity and they are holding all of my accounts as hostage in bad faith as a form of harassment and punishment. 

There are no monies owed and I can not believe it is lawful for PayPal to be holding my accounts hostage and exercising their power like this. It is scary that a large corporation like PayPal can do real harm to a customer who had been a raving fan of their services ; before they tried to get me to commit fraud and fraudulently reported to XXXX that I disputed the purchases. I told PayPal from the beginning that I intended the purchases, but PayPal made the mistake and I only wanted them to fix it by reversing the charges with my bank and charging the purchases to my Preferred Payment Method as I had authorized. I was never asking for anything free. PayPal turned a mistake they made into something sinister. 

PayPal still insists that they were correct to ignore my Preferred Payment Method because they argue the 3 purchases are " automatic billings ''. The fact is that XXXX can not and would never automatically charge me {$59.00} for a pre-paid year of XXXX XXXX, {$1.00} for a special upgrade of all of my existing XXXX XXXX  or {$9.00} for the XXXX XXXX XXXX that I will only ever need 1 of in my entire life. In any event, I have never agreed to authorize PayPal or XXXX to charge any recurring billings to my checking account and have never had cause to expect PayPal would ignore my Preferred Payment Method, designating which account is authorized for charges " whenever I shopped online ''. 

I used PayPal because I did not want numerous corporations to have access to my financial accounts and to limit the risk. Ironically, I didn't trust XXXX with access to multiple accounts of mine. 

PayPal has caused me injury and continues to do so, arguably by intent, by holding my accounts hostage until I confirm my checking account with them when they know it was PayPal who was reported for the unauthorized charges. During much of this time, I was already dealing with my XXXX year old father, who I have lived with and been the XXXX for over the last 10 years, being hospitalized amidst Covid visitation restrictions since XX/XX/XXXX, in the XXXX XXXX following XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX and then XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX. What PayPal is doing now is unnecessarily adding to what is already a stressful time. 

I refuse to give PayPal access to anything ever again and will not " confirm '' anything for them. Them requiring me to do that is frivolous harassment and reveals either a policy of willful abuse or poor judgment by bad actors who are too empowered. 
I have documented proof of the emails confirming transactions and changes to my designation of the Preferred Payment Method that confirms, We'll use it whenever you shop online or send money for goods and services. I also have some transcripts from PayPal and what I have transcribed and believe the entirety of all communications with PayPals online agents.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation