Consumer complaint received 2018-02-21
Company: Paypal Holdings, Inc
State: TX
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Unauthorized transactions or other transaction problem

Complaint:
My name is XXXX XXXX. I have never in my life had to deal with a more frustrating situation in my life than a sale of my father 's {$4000.00} watch on XXXX ( where I am a XXXX XXXX ) to a buyer in New York. The buyer requested that after his purchase that I send the watch ( appraised by a local jeweler for authenticity ) to a different address than that existed on his XXXX account. Having sold through XXXX many times in the past and considering that I am a single father, who hated giving up one of my few possessions of my father, I felt uncomfortable about this aspect and checked with XXXX for their direction. XXXX said that I was correct in notifying them and that if I had done this that would not have the protection of XXXX. I notified the buyer that per XXXX, the watch could only be shipped to the buyer 's XXXX address. He agreed and I sent my father 's watch with return receipt requested. The buyer upon receipt of the watch waited to the end of the 21 day time frame to question the watch 's authenticity and filed a claim with XXXX. He then sent the watch to XXXX XXXX. XXXX decided in my favor and the slick buyer filed a case with Paypal the next day after XXXX 's decision unbeknownst to me. I was never contacted by Paypal and they without my knowledge took the buyer 's funds from my Paypal account. That was done nearly four months after the sale which I did realize had occured until later. After many fruitless phone calls about this improper removal of my funds without a return of my watch, I filed an appeal of the impropriety on XX/XX/XXXX. They have never completed the appeal, although in hours of follow phone calls to Paypal some lasting 5 hours being transferred from department to department, I asked a friend/neighbor if he could assist me recovering my money with his financial background. My neighbor, XXXX XXXX, was treated quite differently I noticed right away. He has an XXXX credit card and a Paypal account. He moved through customer service much quicker due to that than I was able to. He told me that I must have left out something because it seemed impossible to him that a item this expensive could be handled that poorly. He spend at least 40 hours with names, departments, dates, while recording after saying, " This call is being recorded for quality and training purpose ''. He had just left a job at XXXX 's XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. He said that needed to be announced for any recordings to be used in court. Only one Paypal employee through his hours of effort refused to discuss the situation while being recorded. He got promises of immediate action, when he told them that he had twenty-five years experience as a XXXX XXXX XXXX in mortgage lending ( he only left the XXXX XXXX due to the financial meltdown, which he told me resulted to the establishment of your department ). XXXX repeatedly requested to speak to their legal department which they refused to transfer him to. In addition, he told them that through his many calls that he establish with clarity that XXXX was not at fault, but did not communicate with their old former subsidiary until being split off years ago. I thought he might have actually gotten hold of someone who might put my money back within three days for me to pay for my movers. However that promise turned out to be another falsehood as the many prior ones. He actually felt so bad that he put the moving expense of {$360.00} on his paypal account. He then said that his last call of three and a half hours and then hanging up and calling backthat he was told his last hour on hold that the department had closed and rudely left him on hold. This hour and half phone call resulted in his being told that appeals are always handled within 48 to 72 hours. He was stunned being told that on a recorded call. He said that that was enough and contacted both the OCC and the FTC, which we opened a complaint on XX/XX/XXXX and the OCC on XX/XX/XXXX. After spending an hour with the FTC including thirty minutes with a supervisor, XXXX, who said that she would open a case reference # XXXX, she did say that the FTC ordinarily did not accept individual cases. He then called back on Monday, XX/XX/XXXX, and left a message with FTC regarding the case and proceeded to call your department and left a voicemail with the whistleblower division. They returned his call yesterday and asked me to file this complaint on your site. He was amazed at the lack of regulatory training that they do not receive and posted on XXXX and XXXX referring to an article ( XXXX XXXX XXXX  ) that said, " Paypal is not a bank '' by XXXX XXXX XXXX " XXXX XXXX, You could be correct, but you have forgotten that although you might be a " money market fund ''. However, that should not remove the OCC from overseeing the banks that lend the money to XXXX ( XXXX XXXX   ) and Paypal ( XXXX XXXX XXXX ) customers. Thus it is strange to me that although an international " payment processor '', they are not receiving the same regulatory oversight and training that a bank with a charter would be demanded to receive for dealing with the public. XXXX has created all types of gray areas that should not be as confusing, if you " follow the money ''! He the posted a story by a LA writer regarding the bank that supplies money to his paypal account ( XXXX XXXX XXXX ). He has my full permission to contact him at XXXX to get more details on my XXXX transaction # XXXX I can be reached at XXXX or emailed at XXXX. His email is XXXX. Please help me regain {$3300.00} that was stolen from my Paypal account on XX/XX/XXXX and get decision on my Paypal case still pending from XX/XX/XXXX! Hopefully you can have greater success than I have and prevent other consumers from going through what I and XXXX have experienced. Thank you! XXXX XXXX XXXX or XXXX XXXX XXXX.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief