Consumer complaint received 2024-08-24
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — Virtual currency
Issue: Money was not available when promised — 
Company: Paypal Holdings, Inc (IL)

I am a long-time member/user of Venmo, a mobile XXXX wallet/payment service and cryptocurrency wallet/transaction service, and use it for both making/receiving payments as well as buying/selling/trading crypto currency. I have long been aware of the near universal complaints regarding their deceptive and confusing business procedures and lack of response or care to customers, but I am making this complaint for the first time because it is completely unacceptable and borders on fraudulent and willfully neglectful : On XX/XX/2024, at approximately XXXX, under XXXX @ XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX {$300.00} payment from a friend who I have a transaction history with on Venmo without any problems or issues. I asked for this payment instead of purchasing a deposit myself because it was very common in my experience for Venmo to decline purchases using my debit card, without any explanation or instructions to fix the issue, even though my bank advised that it was fully authorized and has had no problems on any other platform. Please note, however, that this is not the reason for my complaint, even though it is extremely frustrating, because I can always freely use a competitor service if Venmo was unwilling or unable. 

Nonetheless, Venmo consistently advertises to the public that you can purchase cryptocurrency safely and sell or transfer it instantly, which not all services provide, and I had an urgent purchase I needed to make using crypto.Thus, I asked my friend to send me {$300.00} to avoid the above problems, which should mean I'd have {$300.00} in my Venmo balance that is free from any possible holds, and purchased XXXX ( for its low fees ), and shortly after attempted to send it to the intended recipient. However, I repeatedly got a message stating " Right now we can not complete this transaction '' again without any explanation or way to fix the problem. And also again, this was still not the reason for my complaint because I can always just sell the crypto, transfer the funds into a competing exchange, and still make my urgent purchase. 

HOWEVER, when I tried to sell the crypto back into my Venmo balance, the sale was processed but not released stating " Your sale should process by XX/XX/XXXX ''. I wish to note first that the very reason why people use cryptocurrency instead of online credit/debit transactions is that it is quick, convenient, and transparent. Please further note that I fully understand that given the nature of the industry, security measures/protocol are understood, and sometimes XX/XX/XXXXXXXX be placed on hold pending review to ensure the proper clearing of its original purchase and to avoid potential fraud/theft/etc. My main problem here, however, is that I took steps to ensure my purchase would not have any issues of funds clearing, and more importantly, Venmo did not provide any warning that this hold may be possible, did not notify me until it was already too late, and offered no basis or explanation whatsoever of the hold! I could have easily decided never to purchase the crypto, or it could have easily been reversed/cancelled ( no other buyer/seller was involved and it would have affected literally nobody but me ), or at the very least, it could have been a reasonable hold with means of expediting or following up. 

I spent nearly an hour on the phone with Venmo customer support, demanding a solution or at least an explanation for the hold and its unreasonable duration/delay. Venmo offered absolutely none of these explanations or recourse, merely stating that it was due to security protocol, and that the hold was mentioned in its terms and conditions, but could not give any sensible answer as to why the hold was so much longer than any other similar service, nor as to why it couldn't offer the option to cancel the transaction which would eliminate any need for security. I told them clearly that I do not mind if it either gets processed or gets declined/reversed, but that holding onto it for 5 days without any way to get a status update or reason for the hold ( which appeared to be completely random given the precautionary measures I took ), especially given the volatility and flexibility of cryptocurrency. I fully understand that Venmo has the right to ensure security measures, but it is clear from my experience and the countless, universal, and near unanimous negative response from its other users in their reviews/complaints online, that Venmo is not being truthful or transparent about its service, promising its customers that you can buy, sell and transfer crypto instantly. The truth is my experience is not even an exception but the norm, because even without the hold pending review, the above vague error messages and declines are virtually certain and guaranteed to happen with every purchase. Even the most basic investigation would reveal that it is almost impossible to make an instant transfer, and Venmo will never at any point offer any solutions that are helpful or will actually work. Instead they suggest that it must be a technical error and to " try again later '', when in fact the delays, errors and lack of response are most likely built into the system intentionally by Venmo, or at the least are known to happen. Yet Venmo support will consistently advise that the errors/rejections users receive are rare technical errors that they have never heard of and that they should just try again at a later time. I find the above issues and response by Venmo in their entirety are egregious, deceitful, and disingenuous, and they must be addressed and acknowledged by Venmo. What Venmo does instead, pretending that it doesn't know why the transaction is being rejected, and also not offering actual guidance to prevent any errors/holds, is the very type of deceptive business practice that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is designed to protect against. Indeed, any internet forum or social media platforms voicing these types of issues will inevitably contain Venmo support staff offering nonsensible and incoherent suggestions that are clearly scripted and designed to avoid ever having to actually address the underlying issues Venmo users are experiencing. Furthermore, I will add that there is widespread speculation that the length of these holds and lack of basis for the same are due to Venmo 's using the hold to time their buying and selling in the market for financial gain ; I do not have evidence of this allegation, but I wished to bring it to the CFPB 's attention, and would add that whatever the reason is, I can not find any actual explanation or basis for these issues and Venmo 's lack of response/solutions, which are all again widespread, continuous, and repetitive, among its wide userbase. 

Lastly, as I suspect Venmo XXXX will discount my experience as an anomaly, I respectfully request that the CFPB look into the matter not just with respect to my experience but for user experience in general. As for myself, I demand specifically that my transaction, which is extremely urgent and important to me, be either immediately cancelled or expedited, and in either event, an actual acknowledgement be made by Venmo that it is aware of these issues and are working on a solution if they have not been able to find XXXX to date. I respectfully await a prompt response.