Consumer complaint received 2022-03-31
Company: Paypal Holdings, Inc
State: NV
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Other transaction problem

Complaint:
Summary : Venmo permanently deactivated my account with {XXXX} inside because they said I violated the user agreement. They refused to say what I had done wrong or provide any direction on how to fix the issue. I was never given the chance to answer questions or otherwise defend myself. They said they will hold the funds for up to 180 days, but they won't say what will happen to those funds after that. They have stated that the matter is closed. 

Details : I opened a Venmo account on about XX/XX/2022 as suggested by friends for a fundraiser for my daughters ' summer camp ( washing garbage cans, selling cookie dough ). By XX/XX/XXXX, I had received payments from 3 friends and 2 close relatives totaling {XXXX}. On XX/XX/XXXX, I received an email from Venmo saying my account ( and the {XXXX} ) was frozen because I had violated their user agreement. At first I thought it was a phishing email ( because I get many that are similar ), but after Venmo confirmed the email was legitimate, I sent in a photo of my drivers license, as directed, on about XX/XX/XXXX. In the meantime I received a number of emails saying I needed to verify my email address on Venmo, but when I clicked the provided link it would say " that email confirmation key is incorrect. '' I exchanged a number of emails with Team Venmo asking what I needed to do and what I had done wrong, but all they would say was to not violate the user agreement. For example, " we're unable to provide additional guidance beyond encouraging you to abide by the terms of our User Agreement. '' I also let them know the email verification link was broken, but they never addressed this. I called Venmo customer service on XX/XX/XXXX, but they said my case was in a different department and they could not help. They did say the case was under review and I would receive an email when the review was finished. On XX/XX/XXXX, I received an email saying my account has been permanently deactivated due to concerns regarding my activity, along with the following, " The funds in your account will be held for up to 180 days for loss prevention purposes '', and " Please be aware that any future contact or inquiries will not be answered and that this matter will be considered closed upon your receipt of this email. '' I sent an email anyway to ask why and was told " please note that we do not divulge our decision-making criteria in order to protect the systems that monitor activity on Venmo. '' I tried calling again on XX/XX/XXXX, but as soon as they saw my account they hung up. I sent an email on XX/XX/XXXX asking if they could just return the funds to those who sent them, or allow me to withdraw them. They said they were unable to release the funds and said, " I encourage you to review the " Refunds, Reversals and Chargebacks '' section of our User Agreement, which states that we may hold your funds for up to 180 days if reasonably needed to protect against the risk of liability. '' The " reasonably needed '' part is apparently an internal determination that is not subject to review. I then sent an email asking for clarification of what would happen to the funds after 180 days. They did not respond. At no point was I told how I had violated the user agreement, and and no point did they ask for further information, as a real investigation would, or allow me to appeal. Instead, decisions were made internally with no chance of outside accountability, and the punishment they levied is orders of magnitude worse than anything I can think to have done wrong. 
In looking at the user agreement, it says personal accounts can't be used to accept payment for goods or services from people I don't personally know. I did receive payment for goods ( cookies ) and services ( cleaning garbage cans ), but they were from people I personally know! The user agreement also states that if I receive a payment for goods and services that is later invalidated for any reason ( I assume including a Venmo determination ), I am responsible for the full amount of the payment. Does that mean Venmo will keep the funds in the end? Note that the user agreement is over 19,000 words long and is fairly subject to interpretation.

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief