Consumer complaint received 2023-07-10
Company: Paypal Holdings, Inc
State: TX
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX PayPal Reputation Manager, XXXX XXXX, sent out a press release to the mainstream media stating that PayPal had " booted '' me from their services and falsely accused me of violating their policies. This fact was untrue. She was discriminating against me because of my political beliefs, as the company does not cancel those who are not XXXX or XXXX politically. This is a violation of my Constitutional Rights, as well as a violation of Federal Law and PayPal 's own Privacy Policies. 

PayPal 's agent contacted XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX to share my private financial information. This personal information was shared broadly throughout the mainstream media and all over the internet. My private financial information went viral and became world headline news in 1 hour. My fundraising efforts were destroyed and the world was calling me a con artist, grifter and it was humiliating and mortifying to see my name in national headlines like this : " XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX '' This destroyed my reputation, I had to close my business and change my name. 

The next day after this happened, my office in XXXX kicked me out due to publicity. All of my businesses were destroyed. I was heckled in public. I was shunned by vendors and contractors and clients. The next day I was also canceled from all social media accounts, including XXXX and XXXX, where I have been a XXXX XXXX XXXX for 15+ years. This created a cascade of cancellations and brands that canceled me publicly, including XXXX. It was and still is a nightmare. 

I ended up filing suit in Federal Court against PayPal in an attempt to stay out of arbitration, due to the expense of arbitration, and because I wanted to go before a jury of my peers. The Judge ruled that my case must go to arbitration, therefore, because I clicked a button to " accept '' PayPal one time in XXXX, Paypal has the right -- for the rest of my life -- eternally to require that I go to arbitration no matter what they do to me. Even though PayPal canceled the contract, I am forever tethered to this horrible arbitration agreement. 

I tried as hard as I could to find representation for the arbitration, however, no attorney will take my case for less than {$350000.00}. And, they tell me that it will be hard to win because arbitrators traditionally rule in favor of the big corporation in order to get repeat business. I do not have {$350000.00} to take up for myself against this billion dollar corporation.

This has caused me enormous effort, expense, energy and left a trail of turmoil, hurt and financial damages. I have tried to settle with PayPal, but they are adamant that they did nothing wrong when they shared my financial information with the press and lied about me violating their policies, and discriminated against me for my political views. 

I will not rest until this matter is resolved. PayPal needs to pay for the damages they've caused, as well as be punished for violating the law and their own contract with me -- and prohibited from putting people in life long, eternal arbitration agreements, regardless of what PayPal does to harm consumers. This is unfair and I need formal resolution through a higher power in the United States Government. This can not stand.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation