Consumer complaint received 2019-11-07
Company: Google Compare Credit Cards Inc.
State: IL
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: Gift card
Issue: Trouble using the card
Sub-issue: Trouble using the card to spend money in a store or online

Complaint:
XX/XX/2019 This is what happened. I talked to your customer care representative by the name of XXXX last night at XXXX about. I simply uploaded my money to my Google play balance, played one game on XXXX XXXX  and used some of my play balance in the game then added another XXXX $ to my account twice but didn't play my game nor make any in app purchases or anything for the next couple of days to about a week. 

Me and my XXXX yo XXXX  son during this time ( XX/XX/2019 ) went out of town to visit family for the week and he doesn't do well outside of his home so I let him play on my phone because we left his XXXX and XXXX over 300 miles away. 

We got home late on the XXXX, well actually early on the XXXX and I was going over my bills just this past night and saw all these purchases that had been made for this XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX game. Not only did he use the entire amount I had uploaded to my Google Play balance but he also charged some charges to my credit card as well any XXXX XXXX ' app. I talked with my son and of course he told me about all the gold he was able to get in this game and how he got to buy all guns and kill all these yucky zombies and monsters and that he had to because he had to protect us. Obviously my son clearly did not understand anything he was doing but I'm sure it was him who made the charges. 

I then went out just before XXXX  on the XXXX and purchased two gift cards. One from XXXX for {$25.00} for Google Play and the other from XXXX for {$15.00} for Google Play. 

Like I told your customer service representative XXXX I bought those two gift cards uploaded them to my account and I made the last three charges so I could go ahead and just charge whatever I needed to in that game and see if I could figure out how my son was able to do what he did, not only make purchases in the game but how he could even figure out how to play that game. 

XXXX {$19.00} XXXX {$19.00} XXXX {$4.00} I told him I am disputing the below 9 charges : XXXX {$9.00} XXXX {$29.00} XXXX {$4.00} XXXX {$4.00} XXXX {$9.00} XXXX {$4.00} XXXX {$4.00} XXXX {$4.00} XXXX {$9.00} XXXX talked with a senior staff member came back on the phone and told me that all 12 of the purchases were being refunded including the three that I just told him about. 


The refund went through very quickly and the next morning I went to play my game XXXX XXXX XXXX. I went to purchase a special offer for {$49.00} using my GOOGLE PLAY CREDIT ( I had a balance of {$120.00} ) It was automatically flagged with an error stating transaction could not be processed. Learn more. 


I then received an email stating : XX/XX/XXXX XXXX Due to suspicious activity, weve suspended the ability to make payments through your account on Google products and services to prevent unauthorized charges. 

To reinstate your ability to make payments, we need to verify that youre an authorized user of 7 form of payment youve most recently used with Google.Click here to go through the verification process. You'll need to upload : Proof of ownership of the payment method, such as an image or scan of the instrument or bank statement A scan of government-issued photo ID that confirms the billing name on the instrument Please do not create new Google accounts to make purchases while the verification process is in progress, as they may also be suspended. For more information on the verification process, visit Google Payments help center. 

The personal information you provide here will be added to your payments profile. It will be stored securely and treated in accordance with the Google Privacy Policyand where applicable, the Google Payments Privacy Notice. 

Thank you, Google Support Team I did EXACTLY as it said to. It told me to upload the most recent credit card that I had used most recently. I did that. It told me to upload my driver 's license. I did that. Now again the item I was purchasing at this time was for {$49.00} and I was using my GOOGLE PLAY CREDITnot my credit card. 


XX/XX/XXXX XXXX Safe & Secure Please wait 2448 hours while we review your submission. We will notify you by email as soon as we have a decision regarding the reinstatement of your ability to make purchases. 

Do not create new Google accounts to make purchases while the review process is in progress, as they may also be suspended. 

The personal information that you submitted will be added to your payments profile. It will be stored securely and treated in accordance with the Google Privacy Policy and, where applicable, the Google Payments Privacy Notice. 

Thank you, Google Support team I decided to call contact customer support and try to figure out why this was happening. Because I knew for a fact I had literally not done hardly anything on this account.. 

I spoke to a customer service representative named XXXX. She was patient with me she listened to my story. She told me 'NOT TO WORRY SHE WILL BE TAKING CARE OF THIS AND MY ACCOUNT WOULD BE FIXED IN NO TIME!!! ' She put me on hold and came back and said everything looked fine and for me to try and PURCHASE SOMETHING THROUGH GOOGLE PLAY IN ONE OF GAMES - so this was the second purchase I tried to make, again using my GOOGLE play credit NOT MY CREDIT CARD!!! ***Remember this for later*** I tried, but the exact same thing happened. 

She put me on hold three times for about 8 minutes each time. Finally after all that she comes on the line and says I'm sorry to inform you that your account only to come back and tell me the below email. 

XXXX XX/XX/2019 Hi XXXX , Thank you for bringing your transaction issue to our attention. 

While investigating this issue, our specialist team discovered unusual activity on your Google Pay profile. So they temporarily suspended it for your security and canceled any pending transactions. Im sorry for the inconvenience ; however, this was done solely for the protection of your account. 

How to get your profile reactivated? 

In order to reactivate your profile, we need to verify your identity. Heres what to do next : Go to pay.google.com. Click Verify Now, which will appear in the top red banner. 

Submit verification documents by following the instructions in the form ( please dont just email them ). 

What happens once you've submitted the form? 

Youll get a confirmation email that our specialist team received your documents. They will review your case and notify you about their decision within 48 hours. 

Be assured that your personal information is securely stored in accordance with our Privacy Policy. 

Thanks for your cooperation and if you have any questions or need further assistance, I'll be happy to help.Thanks! 
XXXX XXXX XX/XX/2019 Safe & Secure We have concluded the review of the information youve submitted to reinstate your ability to make purchases. To prevent possible fraud and abuse, your ability to make purchases Google products and services will remain suspended. It is our policy to not discuss the specific reasons for these suspensions. 

Note that in the Google Payments Terms of Service, we reserve the right to change, suspend, or discontinue any aspect of our services at any time, including availability of a service or any feature, without notice and without liability. We also reserve the right to impose limits on certain Service features or restrict access to some or all of the Services without notice and without liability. 

Thank you, Google Support Team THEN ANOTHER EMAIL SAME TIME XX/XX/2019 XXXX Safe & Secure Due to suspicious activity, weve suspended the ability to make payments through your account on Google products and services to prevent unauthorized charges.

To reinstate your ability to make payments, we need to verify that youre an authorized user of the form of payment youve most recently used with Google. 

Click here to go through the verification process. You'll need to upload : Proof of ownership of the payment method, such as an image or scan of the instrument or bank statement A scan of government-issued photo ID that confirms the billing name on the instrument Please do not create new Google accounts to make purchases while the verification process is in progress, as they may also be suspended. For more information on the verification process, visit Google Payments help center. 

The personal information you provide here will be added to your payments profile. It will be stored securely and treated in accordance with the Google Privacy Policyand where applicable, the Google Payments Privacy Notice.

Thank you, Google Support Team I again called customer service to try to figure out what the XXXX was going on. 

After telling the whole story ALL OVER AGAIN, UPLOADING MY DOCUMENTS AGAIN and being on hold for 30 minutes the customer service representative told me THE SAME EXACT THING THREE OTHER ONE DID. At this point I lost it. 

This customer service representative told me my account was being permanently closed and long story short she doesn't have to tell me why. 

Again I lost it and demanded a few of my questions. 

How can Google do this? I tried to make a purchase with my Google Play credit balance and was flagged I did not try to make a purchase with credit card and it got flagged due to suspicious activity may be thinking that I was somebody else using some else 's credit card or something that would make sense I would understand that but it flagged me and said there was suspicious activity on my account when I SIMPLY TRIED TO MAKE A PURCHASE USING MONEY I HAD ALREADY PAYED TO GOOGLE!!! She could not answer that question. She then begin to tell me was that this account was being terminated because there had been two charges that were declined this morning and several others. Now that is simply stated a lie That has never happened I said two charges were declined the first one I tried to do this morning using Google Play credit, and the second was when the first customer service representative told me she had fixed my account. 

Not until you refunded the charges my XXXX yo XXXX son made did I have one problem with ANY PURCHASES. THE ONE I made went through fine and the TONS my son purchased WENT THOUGHT FINE!!! NOT ONE WAS DENIED, NOT CANCELLED TILL YOU GUYS APPROVED MY REFUND. 
Next thing I know not only can I not use the refund I was promised but now you have suspended my account I can not use my completely closed my account permanently. I can't purchase no items I can't play no games I am beyond frustrated and I just don't understand this. 

And the most unbelievable thing I was told was that they can not transfer the XXXX Google play balance to any other account and I can't use it in this one. 

So in other words Google reserves the right to take your money, but doesn't EVER HAVE TO SEND YOU YOUR ORDER NOW REFUND IT. 

THIS ISN'T RI G GT. 

I wasn't able to talk to a supervisor wasn't able to talk to anybody from the risk assessment Department I was simply told it had been terminated thinking of you tell me why and I wasn't going to get my money back and I am upset please can somebody please contact me and help me with this please I truly see that Google takes fraudulent activity very serious and am very grateful for that. I understand that this was all for my best interest. 

Without a doubt, I have definitely proven that I am Who say I am I didn't send money nor receive money I simply uploaded money to my Google Play balance that my son unfortunately used. 


I have attached a copy of every document that I have included in this entire story here.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation