Consumer complaint received 2018-04-25
Company: Paypal Holdings, Inc
State: CA
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Money was not available when promised

Complaint:
Hello, My name is XXXX XXXX and I am writing to file a Complaint against PayPal. I feel that they are holding my funds for an unreasonable amount of time and for no good reason. I have spoken to many agents from Paypal and they all gave me a different answer, blatantly lying to me. 
My husband and I currently reside in XXXX XXXX, California. We are expecting a child in the summer and have had a few financial hiccups. I had a few things I could sell to help us pay for our bills and rent. So, I listed my items and I sold my first item on Monday, XX/XX/XXXX. I sold it for {$900.00}. I have never used PayPal to receive payment prior to this, but the buyer wanted to use PayPal so I logged into my account and he sent me the payment. I immediately tried to transfer the {$900.00} from my PayPal account into my personal bank account. It was denied and I realized my name needed to be updated. So, on the same day, Monday, XX/XX/XXXX I updated my name, sent my proof of identification which was a government issued photo id and mail with my name and address on it. I called PayPal right after to let them know and to find out if this issue would be fixed easily and when I would be able to access my funds. I was told by the agent that my name would be updated within 7-10 business days. Afterwards, I could transfer the funds to my bank account and that would take approximately 1-2 business days. Happy with that answer, I left it at that. Just to make sure, I called a couple more times throughout that week and the agents I spoke with assured me that my name would be updated within 7-10 business days. That would mean that my name would be updated no later than Monday, XX/XX/XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX, I had sold another item on XXXX for a total of {$320.00} plus {$5.00} for shipping and handling. The total amount I received in my Paypal account after fees was {$320.00}. This would be on hold for up to 3 days after the item had been delivered which was completely fine. 
I called the next day, Wednesday, XX/XX/XXXX to check on the status of my name update. This time I had been transferred to a specialist who could help me more. He told me that my name would be updated within 24-48 hours, which would be Friday, XX/XX/XXXX. I was very pleased with this answer because I felt like I was finally getting somewhere and could finally have access to my funds. Friday came and my name was still incorrect so I called PayPal yet again. I spoke with a lady who told me that I should give it a few more days because the name update had been requested on XX/XX/XXXX. I told her that no, I had updated my name on XX/XX/XXXX. She did not want to hear what I was saying and repeated what she told me. 
I called back Monday morning, XX/XX/XXXX. I spoke to an agent who transferred me to a specialist. That specialist transferred to me to someone who was handling my case. This man who was handling my case told me that my name would be updated and to give it time. He told me he was going to go ahead and process my name update. I was relieved, thanked the specialist, and hung up. 
Not even 15 minutes later, I received an email saying my account had been limited. I called immediately and spoke with a lady named XXXX. Now I am being told that I can not access my funds for 180 days. There was no reason for this. I had called and explained to them several times my issue and I had informed them that I could send more proof of identification if that is what they needed but they refused to help me solve this issue. They just kept repeating that I would have to wait 180 days for my own money. I felt defeated and lied to several times by several different agents. They all assured me that my name would be updated and that I could access my funds. Had I known there would be a 180 day hold on my account, I would have never sold the second item through PayPal. 
The next day, Tuesday, XX/XX/XXXX, I received an email saying my account will be permanently closed and that I would be able to access my funds after 180 days. I feel that this is a ridiculous amount of time to wait for my own money. I really needed this money because we are struggling financially. They are now holding a total of {$1200.00}. I would completely understand if they wanted to hold a partial amount, but holding the whole amount for 6 months seems absurd. I am XXXX XXXX  XXXX   currently and should not be worried about not having access to my own funds. I have been extremely stressed to the point that my face has been breaking out and I developed a XXXX  XXXX right after finding out I could not receive my money. I tried numerous times to resolve this issue myself with no success and I was really hoping that someone could help me in this situation. I just feel they are being unethical and would love for this to be looked into. 
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this. 
Sincerely, XXXX XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief