Consumer complaint received 2015-11-25
Company: Paypal Holdings, Inc
State: CO
Product: Credit card
Issue: Credit card protection / Debt protection

Complaint:
On XXXX XXXX, 2015, I sent a {$500.00} deposit through PayPal, utilizing my PayPal Credit LOC, for a vehicle I intended to purchase, with the understanding that PayPal Credit had safeguards in place to protect me financially from any type of scam. Indeed, PayPal Credit states on their website that " PayPal Credit provides 'zero fraud liability ' protection, the same protection provided by most major credit cards. " I sent the {$500.00} deposit in good faith to seller through PayPal for purchase of a vehicle out-of-state. After sending the deposit, confirming Seller received the deposit, and finalizing the pickup date, I did not hear anything from Seller again until I contacted him 4 days later, to confirm my plans to come finalize the sale of the vehicle.. 

It was then that Seller said he did not have the title, and would only be giving me a bill of sale for the vehicle : an important and material fact that Seller left out of all communication in regards to the sale of the vehicle. The expectation and norm when purchasing a vehicle is that the buyer will receive the title to said vehicle, unless otherwise specified and agreed. 

Since our agreement was for me to purchase the vehicle with the implicit agreement that I would receive both a title and keys to the vehicle, I requested a refund of my good faith deposit. Seller informed me that my deposit was non-refundable, though at no point in any discussions up to that point had Seller mentioned that it was a non-refundable deposit. 

Seller made it clear that he would not be willing to make good on refunding my good faith deposit, which I only requested due to his breach of our agreement. Further, comments made by Seller made it clear that he was aware not having a title would be a concern to potential buyers and stumbling block to purchase. This seems to indicate that Seller purposefully and knowingly acted with deception in order to sell his vehicle or pocket a deposit. 

I relayed all of this detail, along with supporting documents, to PayPal Credit, asking that the {$500.00} be credited back to my account. Shortly thereafter, I was informed by PayPal Credit that they had reached a decision on the dispute, and would be notified of the outcome by mail. After several weeks without hearing further from PayPal Credit, I contacted the company to inquire as to the status of my dispute. 

It was then that PayPal Credit informed me that the dispute was declined because I " agreed to the seller 's terms and conditions as posted before completing the transaction. '' It is important to note that, other than sending a deposit through PayPal, this transaction occurred solely over the telephone and text message, and there could therefore be neither terms nor conditions " posted '' by the seller. The manager I spoke with agreed that there would, in fact, be no posted terms and conditions as the transaction occurred offline. 

Furthermore, any supposed " terms and conditions '' relating to the refund of my deposit were not stated by the seller until long after the transaction was complete. This information was also related to PayPal Credit when I again disputed the charges. 

In response to reopening the dispute, PayPal once again declined the dispute on the same grounds as previously stated, though they provided no additional information as to the " terms and conditions '' I supposedly agreed to in the sale. 

It seems clear that PayPal Credit is more interested in protecting profit for PayPal than they are the consumer. Attempting to sell a vehicle without informing the buyer that you do not have the title, as well as claiming that a deposit is non-refundable only after the deposit has been made, both constitute fraud. At no point has PayPal Credit attempted to protect me from this fraud as promised.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief