Consumer complaint received 2019-04-01
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:
on XX/XX/XXXX XXXX i sent the following to PayPals general complaint email ( XXXX ) outlining my concern and accepted resolution. 

-- -- -- -- -- Email begins On XXXX XXXX XXXX I sold 2 XXXX XXXX XXXX via XXXX to another company doing business as XXXX XXXX XXXX. I received payment for my XXXX  XXXX via the PayPal service. After I received the money into my PayPal account I shipped the 2 XXXX XXXX to my buyer and immediately updated XXXX with tracking which is supposed to be mirrored on PayPal relieving the seller of needing to update both XXXX and paypal. Everything was fine up until XX/XX/XXXX When I logged into my PayPal account. PayPal told me my account was frozen and I could not have access to my money! PayPal accused me of " suspicious activity based on recent changes in my account upon calling customer service I was told that I never shipped my items which was not true but apparently at some point the link between XXXX and PayPal failed. Paypal asked me to submit a copy of my ID, proof of shipment, business credentials & supplier info. I did this and PayPal still won't let me have my money! 
I contacted PayPals customer service number -- I was transferred to a member of the account resolutions team and initially the rep stated that more info was required he put me on hold for approximately 5 minutes and came back stating that they no longer need the info and it will be submitted again for review and I should hear something in three business days. took them three days to reply. I called PayPal TWICE -- On XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX. The first time the customer rep ( XXXX -- he would not give me his last name or an employee number or anything ) told me that everything looked good and I should get a response by the following day. I then called PayPal again being I heard nothing about restoring the account and a customer service representative ( XXXX ) stated that my account was permanently limited & I could not use PayPal anymore despite the fact that at the time I hadnt received 1 email or notification within my account stating this, instead my account remained temporarily limited until XX/XX/XXXX when I received the email stating the account was closed for security issues when no security issue was brought to my attention ever, initially the issue was that PayPal noticed significant changes in my account however, there were no changes made to my account. Then I was told it was because PayPal didnt receive any proof of shipment and the narrative morphs one last time into a mysterious security issue. 
PayPal will not even provide me with evidence showing me what this " suspicious activity was. '' But I had to supply PayPal with plenty of very private information! In the end to refuse to give me my money back! 

After looking into the issue as to how something like this could happen to me I soon found out that I was not the exception to the rule and PayPal has made this Ponzi scheme where they hold ones funds by providing bogus reasons to limit their account for up to 6 months and invest these funds that belong to XXXX sellers in a high interest earning account and pays back the seller with another sellers funds from a product or service that they paid for with their hardworking money and or put time into be it by providing a service or simply setting up the XXXX   account and working hard responding to potential buyers and providing great customer service and the seller isnt entitled to any of the profit from their money PayPal uses to gain interest on. This alone is not acceptable but it gets worse, PayPal is not FDIC insured so if within these 6 months something happens to the company the buyer is happy with their product PayPal took their fee from your money and made even more money off of it and you will not ever see a dime if for instance the company collapses during the absurd 6 month hold time resulting from a deliberate 6 month return policy that no other company has with the exception of XXXX which gives their customers 12 months to return or exchange a XXXX  branded product but this is clearly different because they in no way shape or form are able to profit from this policy unlike paypal. 

XXXX are some additional findings Ive uncovered : We have not reached profitability to date. We have accumulated net losses of {$230.00} XXXX ... ''. PayPal continues to say, " We intend to continue to make significant investments in our systems, infrastructure and customer service operations. '' So you are operating at a loss, but continue to invest funds into your company. Where do you think that money is coming from? Why do you hold on to MY money for so long? Is it a Ponzi scheme? Freeze millions of dollars of customer funds for 6 months, use those funds, then pay back those people by freezing the funds of other customers for another 6 months? 

Chooses to accept MY money and business and then charge me guilty until Ive proven my innocence! Millions of accounts frozen and millions and millions of dollars of other people 's money sitting in PayPal 's bank account. 

There is no question that PayPal employees with PayPal accounts know how to manipulate the system. Since they are poorly trained and poorly paid, you can bet PayPal employees are out there committing fraud. Do you know who is REALLY buying from sellers on eBay ( could it be a PayPal employee intent on taking my product AND my money? ). 
PayPal fraud doesn't stop there. PayPal says that, " The large volume of payments that we handle for our customers makes us vulnerable to employee fraud or other internal security breaches. We can not assure you that our internal security systems will prevent material losses from employee fraud. '' CUSTOMERS ARE VULNERABLE TO EMPLOYEE FRAUD OR OTHER INTERNAL SECURITY BREACHES. 
WE CAN NOT ASSURE YOU THAT OUR INTERNAL SECURITY SYSTEMS WILL PREVENT LOSSES FROM EMPLOYEE FRAUD. 
I don't recall seeing that anywhere in the PayPal User Agreement. Do you? 

PayPal admits that it is subject to consumer protection laws. 
" We are subject to state and federal consumer protection laws, including laws protecting the privacy of consumer non-public information, prohibiting unfair and deceptive practices ... ''. 
Okay, if this is the case, then why do you break them every chance you get? You do not disclose all of the terms of doing business with us in your own User Agreement. 
The User Agreement you make me agree to is one sided, contradictory, and designed to XXXX me out of my money! I dont mind the account being permanently limited but Im demanding my funds be released immediately and made available for me to transfer into my account through an instant transfer to my debit card, ill even pay the fee. If paypal fails to comply in a reasonable time I will take action and contact all relevant state and federal agencies to include but not limited to : The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau The Virginia State Corporations Commission Virginia Office of Attorney General California Office of Attorney General The United States Federal Reserve XXXX XXXX XXXX   however, i feel its only fair to allow you the opportunity to correct this issue directly, id like nothing more than to get access to my funds and move on. 


Kind Regards, XXXX XXXX Sent from my XXXX -- -- -- EMAIL ENDS ON XX/XX/XXXX XXXX a message was sent to XXXX XXXX ( Customer Solutions Group Leader ) -- -- -- -- -- -EMAIL BEGINS Greetings, XXXX Thank you in advance for taking the time to resolve my issue. ( Disclaimer :  Nothing against you, Im sure youre probably a great individual. ) Im writing you this email because in short PayPal is XXXX me every second of every day that passes by until I regain access to funds that belong to me in which PayPal has already taken processing fees for and is now using to profit from. I want my funds to be released immediately! If further clarification is needed please see attached thread. 

XXXX sent the message. XXXX sent the typos. XXXX. iTypos. iApologize. 
-- -- -- -- -- -- -EMAIL ENDS A message was sent on XX/XX/XXXX XXXX to XXXX XXXX ( COO ) -- -- -- -- -- -- EMAIL BEGINS Greetings, XXXX I have failed to receive a response from the below addressed. Hoping to achieve a resolution with you. 
XXXX sent the message. XXXX sent the typos. XXXX. iTypos. iApologize. 

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- EMAIL ENDS On XX/XX/XXXX a final email was sent to XXXX XXXX ( President & CEO of Paypal ) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- EMAIL BEGINS Spoke with CSR XXXX at XXXX requested to either have my funds released or my product returned. XXXX stated it seems the customer is happy with the XXXX XXXX so as long as this is the case they can keep it. Then if its been determined the customer is happy with the XXXX  XXXX why are my funds still on hold? 




Transferred to manager at XXXX in limitations Dept stating that theres a risk involved in releasing the funds for merchants who are no longer customers because if a chargeback occurs they are no longer processing transactions so the risk of getting the money is higher. 1st of all just because a merchant is a PayPal customer doesnt mean they will continue to process payments with PayPal they can have their funds released transfer the money and change the bank accounts and debit cards and close the account most of these things cant be done by a merchant that is permanently limited as I am and its obvious based on my example given that my risk is actually less than the risk associated with a merchant whom is no permanently limited and XXXX response makes no sense and it is just another excuse to keep my funds to profit from. The buyer is a business who has already resold my product so why are my funds on hold? At this point I do not wish to wait any longer for my funds and I either need PayPal to release my funds or have my product returned. This is my final attempt to have this issue resolved directly through PayPal and I will contact the appropriate federal and state regulators beginning XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX if PayPal fails to release my funds or return my product. 

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -EMAIL ENDS It is now XXXX and paypal is still blocking me from accessing my funds and is using it to profit from. ive paid them to process a transaction and they kept the funds after i sent the customer the product and 5 months later still they are profiting from those funds while i have bills to pay and the customer is happy with the profits from the product i sold them and they resold.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation