Consumer complaint received 2019-09-10
Company: Paypal Holdings, Inc
State: WI
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
On XX/XX/2019, I and my girlfriend decided to seek alternatives to her current medical treatment. For the last 4-5 years, she has been suffering from XXXX and XXXX, most notably in her XXXX XXXX along with a XXXX XXXX. During this time span her body has deteriorated in some capacity and in no small part to the endless supply of pharmaceuticals shes been asked to take by her doctor where, as she puts it, " is rotting her from the inside out. '' It was on this day that we chose to break Wisconsin XXXX laws and seek alternative treatments that could potentially provide her with some relief. 

We then found XXXX - an online website that would distribute ( ship ) to our address after being denied numerous times by other websites due to outdated and archaic laws in this " free '' society. Since we can not move because my son is XXXX years old and enrolled in school in the city we reside in, we decided it was worth the risk to send payment via PayPal to the people I was directed to which I will provide detail of in the next section. To make a very long story short, in the end I spent {$750.00} on product, shipping, and insurance to receive NOTHING from the distributor. 

Here 's where this gets really convincing. The entity claimed to utilize a website called https : XXXX - and if you are to look at this website, I think you would be quite convinced of its legitimacy. Next, to insure this product, I was again asked to post another payment to a group that would then refund me the money once they delivered the product. I will say that it was at this point that I really began to question what it was I was buying, but again, as a person that is desperate to not witness his ailing girlfriend suffer any longer, I pushed aside my skepticism for the hope it would aid in her health. 

All in al I utilized to purchases through PayPal - One for {$380.00} and the other for {$360.00}. After discovering that my doorbell never rang for delivery, I then reached out to the websites ( Shipping & where I purchased the product ) and did a live chat with their so-called employee. A live person came on only to laugh at me and block me. Granted, days earlier this is the same live chat that guided me on payment. 

Upon being denied any sort of resolution through the entity I purchased from, my next step was to file two disputes with PayPal. Both disputes were denied per their rules of purchase agreements with " friends and family. '' That part I understood. The part I didn't understand was I received an email from PayPal with the language " Need to cancel? 
You can cancel your payment within 30 minutes as long as the recipient hasn't received the payment. For a full refund, see the transaction details and select Cancel, or call Customer Service at XXXX. '' I received this email from them on XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX XXXX. I was on the phone with them by XXXX to cancel both transactions. The reasons these emails came through on XX/XX/XXXX was they both accompanied the dispute emails, which I'll provide, that came back claiming they ( PayPal ) was DENYING my dispute. In other words, even though there was obvious fraud happening, PayPal is claiming they are helpless to help get my funds back and then blatantly lying right in their email that I have the option to cancel when no option was available.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation