Consumer complaint received 2020-12-18
Company: Paypal Holdings, Inc
State: AL
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Unauthorized transactions or other transaction problem

Complaint:
During the XXXX XXXX Friday ( XX/XX/XXXX ) sales, XXXX had a sale for Pro memberships at a discounted price. The website had two options for payment : entering card information into the website itself, or using the Paypal service to complete the transaction. Shortly after adding my Visa Credit Card ending in XXXX, that card was set up as the preferred payment type. The card had the full credit available to cover the {$110.00} USD that was to be charged to that Credit Card. I had assumed that the transaction had processed correctly since I had access to the Pro benefits on the XXXX website, and PayPal had not given me any notice of error charging my Credit Card. I checked my email the following morning, and that is when I noticed the charge had been forced on my Checking account ending in XXXX as an ACH draft, rather than the Credit Card that I had as preferred payment method. I checked the PayPal website, and Transaction ID XXXX showed the Checking account as used for the transaction, yet if I am to visit my Account AutoPay at XXXX : XXXX ( with the last part XXXX being the PayPal Billing ID ), the payment method shows my saved Visa Credit Card ending in XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX, I contacted Codecademy Support to have this issue rectified. I provided an attachment showing the charge and the AutoPay screen for their transaction, but they told me to contact PayPal directly on XXXX XXXX. I opened Dispute Case ID XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX, with the transaction attachment as well as a PDF copy of my conversation with XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX, I received an email that PayPal had denied my case. There is no electronic way to see a copy of the documentation we used in the investigation of your case. Because PayPal Messages DO NOT have full date-and-time stamp information that the customer can see on the PayPal website or Mobile Application and there is NO acknowledgement notification that PayPal received the message, and based on time email notification was received and time XXXX XXXX, the first PayPal representative that replied to my message, responded to my message, I finally started a conversation about my issue on or about XX/XX/XXXX via PayPals Message Center. They deny all wrongdoing on their part. Instead, they first deflected the blame to XXXX as [ I ] t might have been the merchants preference when they set up their website. You can contact them to check this out and confirm this. When I provided an attachment with the email reply received on XXXX XXXX, a different PayPal agent by the displayed name of XXXX replied, [ f ] rom reviewing your account and weve reviewed the details of your case, and based on the information we have to date, we have denied your case. This decision was made because our records show that this transaction was processed correctly. This was after XXXX XXXX had agreed that the account was set up correctly however the charge was made to your bank account. I asked to have my issue escalated, and a third PayPal agent with display name of XXXX XXXX denied wrongdoing by PayPal, suggesting that if you feel that this isnt fair for you, I highly recommend that you contact your bank and continue this case directly with them. She also indicated steps to change preferred payment method, and steps to update payment methods for billing agreements ( once again, I had already provided evidence that the transaction should have been processed as I requested and that the Visa Credit Card ending in XXXX was already set up that way for the charges from that merchant ). After asking for my situation to be escalated again, PayPal closed my message chain without notification that communications had been closed on or after XXXX XXXX ( since my last email notification that a message was waiting in the Message Center was XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX XXXX, and my second request for escalation has a time-only stamp of XXXX XXXX ). Thats where the situation stands as of XX/XX/XXXX. I feel deceived and harmed by PayPals decision to : ( a ) fail to provide notice that an error had occurred, if any, during my transaction that would have otherwise allowed me to make a sound financial decision on how to proceed with my transaction ; ( b ) create an ACH draft and collect from an account not assigned for the transaction by assuming authorization from the consumer without explicit consent from the account owner ; ( c ) fail to provide an efficient and accessible method of receiving dispute documents when their only option for disputing transactions on their website is electronic-based ; ( d ) providing a slow, confusing, and unhelpful messaging system as the only method of communication with a representative in order to receive direct feedback on an issue and not providing notification that PayPal had chosen to cease communication with a customer ; and ( e ) ignore evidence provided of PayPal error, dismissing any fault or error, and failing to provide means of communication to a supervisor or escalation method.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation