Consumer complaint received 2019-10-04
Company: Paypal Holdings, Inc
State: GA
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Confusing or misleading advertising or marketing

Complaint:
PayPal was offering a sale on products at a third-party online retailer ( XXXX XXXX  XXXX ). I attempted to make use of the sale ( https : //www.paypal.com/us/webapps/mpp/offers? view=details & offerId=7ZG9B9GJN8HTW ), doing exactly as they described in the offer. No discount was added when I checked out. I contacted them multiple times to try to get my issue resolved ; both times I called them, they said that they would look into it and resolve the issue for me. Both times my claim was rejected, because it did " not count as a billing dispute. '' Here is the exact, detailed account of what happened : XX/XX/2019 - I was on the PayPal website, and saw an offer for 65 % off clearance items at XXXX XXXX XXXX if you use PayPal to check out. I clicked the provided link to the clearance page at XXXX XXXX XXXX, and ordered XXXX items, for a total of {$110.00}. According to the PayPal offer page ( see above for link ), all I had to do was " check out with PayPal and your offer will be automatically applied. '' Which is what I did. No offer discount was applied at all. I was charged the full amount for the items I purchased on the XXXX XXXX  XXXX website. 

XX/XX/2019 - After discovering that no discount was applied when I checked out, I opened a complaint on the PayPal website. I described my grievance, and filed it under " other '' as there was no category for what I was describing. 

XX/XX/2019 - My claim was denied, with the explanation that my claim " doesn't match our qualification for a billing dispute. '' XX/XX/2019 - I called the PayPal support phone number, and described my grievance. The person on the phone was very apologetic, and said that he would take care of it for me. He said that the issue was that my complaint was classified incorrectly, and that he will reclassify it for me, and that they should be able to apply the discount. I received an email from them saying that the reason for my complaint had been changed. Good, I thought, this might finally get resolved. 

XX/XX/2019 - I received another email saying that, once again, my claim " doesn't match our qualification for a billing dispute. '' Once again, my claim was denied. 

XX/XX/2019 - At this point, I was very frustrated. I called the PayPal support line again, and explained what's been happening. Once again, the person helping me was apologetic, and says that he will work to resolve my dispute. 

XX/XX/2019 - I received another email, saying that my claim " doesn't match our qualification for a billing dispute. '' This is the third time my claim has been denied. 

XX/XX/2019 - I submit my complaint to the CFPB. In doing so, I call the PayPal support line once again, to clarify the exact dates that I called on, and who I spoke to. After telling them that my intention was to use the dates and names in a CFPB complaint, they told me that they aren't going to give me that information. ( The person I spoke to was named Jazz, and the call reference ID was XXXX ) As of today ( XX/XX/2019 ), I have not received any of the 65 % discount promised in the original offer. I have spoken with the PayPal team three times -- twice to get my issue resolved, once today to clarify details of the case.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation