Consumer complaint received 2020-04-15
Company: SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL
State: OH
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Unauthorized transactions or other transaction problem

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX I received a letter from Synchrony Bank dated XX/XX/XXXX informing me that they intend to recharge my PayPal Credit  account in the amount of {$150.00} to correct an " extra credit '' that they added to my account on XXXX XXXX, XXXX. See the attached letter that Synchrony sent as well as my letter to them disputing the recharging {$150.00} to my account. I called PayPal Credit over five times ( XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX ) and informed them that they had added a PROVISIONAL CREDIT in the amount of {$150.00} to my PayPal Credit account that should not be there. A credit of {$150.00} was REFUNDED to my account by XXXX  on XXXX XXXX, XXXX. The employee who took my PayPal Credit dispute regarding the XXXX transaction put the PROVISIONAL credit onto my account. I discovered the credit on XX/XX/XXXX and immediately notified PayPal that it was there and asked them to remove it. From XX/XX/XXXX through XX/XX/XXXX I called and spoke to FIVE different managers and customer service representatives at PayPal Credit BEGGING them to take the PROVISIONAL credit off of my account. They admitted that the employee who had opened my complaint against XXXX put the credit there in error and only she could remove it. Between XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX I was told that no one could remove the credit except for the employee who placed it there and that she had been notified to remove the credit and it would fall off soon. It never did. On XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX XXXX  ET I called and asked for a manager AGAIN because the PROVISIONAL credit was still on my account. I got XXXX on the phone. XXXX told me she needed to go next door and speak to someone who knew more about this issue that she did. When she came back to the phone she told me that the person she spoke to who had been there longer than she had ( she's been there 11 years ) told her that the credit would never come off the account because the way the PayPal employee who put the credit on the account did it NO ONE could remove it and the only way it would disappear was when PayPal decided to finally take it off and put it into a slush account of theirs. She told me I SHOULD SPEND THE CREDIT BECAUSE SHE HAD NEVER SEEN ANYONE TRY SO HARD TO GIVE MONEY BACK AND I DESERVED IT AND TO GET IT OFF SO THE ACCOUNT SO THAT I COULD USE MY ACCOUNT AGAIN without it being mixed back into my balance which I told her I did not want. I have contacted the XXXX  and PayPal 's corporate offices. They refuse to call back. They are attempting to pretend they don't know that the {$150.00} credit that THEIR EMPLOYEE XXXX told me to spend. I was told by their employee to spend the credit because I deserved it and to get it off my account. So, I did what I was told by their employee after calling for XXXX to XXXX and staying on the phone for hours begging them to take that credit off. Now here it is XXXX in the middle of the Coronavirus financial meltdown where I'm having a hard time making ends meet? Your employees REFUSED to remove that credit claiming they didn't know how and your manager told me to spend it. So, PayPal needs to eat this {$150.00} as your company told me to spend the money. You don't get to come back now and act as though you don't know what happened or why. I sent PayPal credit a dispute to their letter as soon as I received it and have never received a response via mail. They keep sending me emails asking me for " more information. '' I filed a XXXX   complaint and sent them the same dispute letter I sent to the XXXX. I called XX/XX/XXXX and asked to speak to XXXX the manager who told me to spend that money. She refused to come to the phone. I was told she would be emailed to call me back and would do so within 48 hours. XXXX has never called and she never will. This company created this issue, told me to spend the money and need to take responsibility for their actions instead of trying to blame it on me when I told you to take the credit OFF MY ACCOUNT for over 3 months! I have contacted their corporate office and they also refuse to call back. I want a copy of that phone call between XXXX and myself pulled and emailed to me. The call took place on XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX XXXX. I'm sure the call will be " missing '' but I'm requesting a copy of it to further pursue this if they refuse to remove this credit. You will not tell me to spend money and then try to reclaim it after the fact putting me in a financial hardship. I've also attached a copy of my dispute to them as well as the letter they sent me. Again, they know that the {$150.00} was a provisional credit and they know that their manager told me to spend it over a recorded phone line. I did nothing wrong. I did what they told me to do after informing them for over 3 months the credit was on my account. 

I am in receipt of your letter dated XX/XX/XXXX and am writing to dispute PayPal adding {$150.00} to my PayPal account. 

On XXXX XXXX, XXXX I ordered a service from a seller on the XXXX   marketplace in the amount of XXXX. I used my PayPal account to pay for the order. The order was over {$99.00} and was charged to my PayPal account as a 6-month deferred payment purchase. The order was not ever charged to any credit card or merchant other than PayPal credit nor have I ever attempted to dispute the charge through any credit card company or other financial entity. 

On XXXX XXXX, XXXX the service I order was delivered but substantially not as described. I tried to work the issue out with the XXXX marketplace seller who fulfilled the order. Per her request I allowed the seller to redo the order. She basically redelivered the same thing as before with nothing changed. At that point I advised the seller that I was requesting a refund based on the money back guarantee she advertised in her XXXX ad. The seller disappeared and stopped communicating with me. 

On XXXX XXXX I contacted XXXX customer support and made them aware of the issue and that the seller was no longer responding to my request for a refund. After not receiving help from XXXX, as a last resort, I called in and opened a PayPal Credit dispute over the phone on XX/XX/XXXX. I went back later that day to check the complaint online in my PayPal portal and the complaint was not there. I called back into PayPal support to ask why my complaint did not show up in my online portal. I was told it would take 24-48 hours for the complaint to show online because the information had to go to another department. On XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX customer support issued a refund of {$150.00} on that date directly back to PayPal. I logged into PayPal and saw the credit from XXXX. 

However, I also saw a second credit noted on my account from PayPal in the amount of {$150.00}. I tried to close the dispute online but there was nothing there to close as there normally is with a PayPal dispute. I called PayPal customer service. The man I spoke to said I couldnt close a complaint online because I didnt open it online. He also told me that I only had one credit on the account. I told him that was not correct. There was the {$150.00} credit from XXXX and then there was also a {$150.00} credit applied by PayPal themselves for some reason. I told him the PayPal issued credit needed to be removed. He finally saw the second credit and said it should fall off in a couple of days on its own. It never did.

I knew I wanted to use my PayPal credit account for an upcoming large purchase and wanted the credit of {$150.00} that PayPal themselves had placed on the account removed so that it did not interfere with any future charges I would make and cause problems by having the PayPal credit added into my account balances. I wanted a clean record. 

Between XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX, I called PayPal weekly and sometimes several times a week asking them to remove the {$150.00}, they had placed on my account as a credit. Their system kept telling me every time I called that they would automatically mail me a check in the amount of {$150.00} in 45 days for the credit on my account. I did not want that to happen and wanted to use my account for something else so I really wanted them to take the {$150.00} off of my account. I placed at least 6 calls to PayPal between XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX asking them to remove that credit. 

Each time I called I would escalate to a manager and was told that only the person who opened the dispute could remove the credit. In addition, I was told that my complaint was closed on the same day I opened it so the person who opened the complaint should have removed that credit on that day also which was XX/XX/XXXX. I was told by a manager, XXXX, that she was going to email that person who opened the dispute and have her remove the credit as only she could. No one else could take the credit off the account the way the system was set up. She came back to the line and told me that the credit would come off in 24-48 hours. It did not. 

The next time I called in I was told that the credit was still on the account because XXXX, the merchant, was not requesting the money back. I informed them that XXXX had refunded me the {$150.00} and that PayPal was the one who put the extra {$150.00} credit on the account. I asked why the money could not be transferred to them and taken off my account as I already had my {$150.00} refunded back to me on XXXX XXXX, XXXX. I was told that the merchant had to request the money even though PayPal was the one who put it there to begin with and not XXXX I called back a few days later and got a male representative who apologized for the number of times I had to call about this and said that it should be off the account by XX/XX/XXXX. He said it would most likely be removed from the account a lot sooner but give it that long. Seven days later and the {$150.00} credit was still on the account. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I called in at XXXX XXXX. XXXX and asked for a manager to have the credit removed. I was transferred to XXXX. XXXX said she needed to " go next door '' and speak to a person in their back office who would know for sure why that credit was not being removed and how to get it removed. XXXX came back to the phone and told me that the person in the back department who has worked there longer than she has and she's been there for 11 years told her the money can not go back onto the account because the case was closed. She said since the case was closed XXXX  could not request the money that PayPal put on the account. 

I advised her XXXX had already issued me a refund way back on XXXX XXXX, XXXX in the full amount of {$150.00} so there is no credit due to me at all. She said she understood but because the case was closed even if XXXX tried, which they hadnt, they couldnt request the money back. She said the person in the back office told her that when this happens the money eventually is transferred into some sort of unclaimed funds Paypal account. I explained to XXXX, again, that I did not want that {$150.00} credit mixed into my PayPal balance and that I had been waiting for months to make a purchase using my PayPal account that I was not able to make because this credit was in the way and I really needed the credit removed. 

XXXX said she understood and that she had never seen anyone try to give money back as hard as I had tried. She thanked me for my honesty and told me to spend the credit and buy myself something nice for all the trouble and effort I made in trying to get the credit taken off the account and for being honest. She said that PayPal would eventually remove the credit at some point and put it into some sort of fund. I told her that Ive never heard of a company telling someone to keep a credit that didnt belong to them. She reiterated that I should spend the credit to get it off the account because it was going to sit there until PayPal decided to move it into an unclaimed funds account because no one there could remove the credit. 

Per your manager XXXX instructions, I used the credit to get it off of my account. Prior to that I diligently called PayPal for over three months practically begging you to remove that credit from my account. You refused to do so and ultimately instructed me to clear the credit by using the credit. I did nothing wrong but am now being penalized for obeying the directives of your manager. My  household is on a tight budget which is even tighter now because of the Coronavirus impact on my household income. Your attempt to charge me for your own mistake is putting financial strain onto me and my family and cause me financial hardship when I can not afford it. This is not my fault. I did the right thing and should not be put into a financial strain for doing what the managers at your company told me to do.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief