Consumer complaint received 2019-07-20
Company: Paypal Holdings, Inc
State: MN
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:
I made a purchase from the PayPal Digital Goods Store on XXXX back on XX/XX/XXXX of this year, I purchased 2 {$100.00} XXXX giftcards during a promotion that PayPal was running on XXXX. My intent was to use these on a reservation that my mother had made on XXXX for XX/XX/XXXX. 

However, in XXXX, when it came time to pay the 2nd portion of the payment to XXXX, I was informed from them that we could not use these gift cards because we were attempting to use them on the 2nd portion of a split payment. I understand that you should read the Terms & Description before purchasing an item, but this specific exclusion was not listed on the XXXX listing at the time of my purchase. 

These were the only Terms & Conditions listed on the listing : " XXXX  Terms and Conditions Funds do not expire. No fees apply to purchase/activation of Card. Redeemable for merchandise and services on XXXX only. Cards cant be redeemed for cash except as required by law. Not valid as payment on credit account or for gratuities. Treat this Card as cash ; lost, stolen, or damaged Cards may be  replaced at the Issuers election, if at all, only with Card purchase receipt and Card number, and then only for the Cards remaining value. Issued by XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX For Card and balance info, call XXXX or visit XXXX. If your purchase exceeds the unused balance of the Card, you must pay the excess at the time of purchase using another payment method. '' As I was using these gift cards for the purchase of a service, I should have been eligible to use them. The PayPal Digital Goods Store failed to list the Terms & Exclusions that XXXX list on their website. Proper procedure would be to print the exact Terms & Conditions that XXXX lists on their website as to not dissuade customers that are purchasing from XXXX. 

I have contacted XXXX XXXX times about this, PayPal 3 times, and XXXX twice. I have gotten the runaround from all of them that I should contact the other service to see if they can work something out on their end. As this ultimately was the result of an inaccurate listing by the means of the PayPal Digital Goods store, I believe that they should be held accountable for the mistake. 

Looking over PayPal 's Purchase Protection program, I have highlighted the key applicable elements to my case : 1.

The item is materially different from the sellers description of it. 2. The item is unusable in its received state and was not disclosed as such. 3. The item is missing major parts or features and those facts were not disclosed in the description of the item when you bought it. 

I have already tried to file a dispute through PayPal, but that was pretty much immediately closed in their favor. From my point of view, it wasn't a very fair case to begin with. It's hard for an objective decision to be made when the party that gets to decide the outcome is the party that is being accused.

At the same time, these are unethical business practices that XXXX  is committing. Not allowing a gift card to be used for a portion of a payment is incredibly predatory behavior. When you purchase a gift card, you assume that you will be able to use it on any type of goods or services on that site. For an example, if you buy a XXXX XXXX giftcard, you have the expectation that it can be used on any purchase made at XXXX XXXX. When I tried to resolve this issue through XXXX, they could not do anything to help because they say that their terms list that the gift card couldn't be applied to the 2nd portion of a split payment. However, I even offered an alternative where they could just remove the gift card from the account so that I could try to resell it. They also would not allow this. XXXX is trying to trap consumers into storing giftcards on their accounts for as long as possible. 

These practices by both PayPal and XXXX should be seen as completely unacceptable from any business.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief