Consumer complaint received 08/15/2016 about Bank account or service (Other bank product/service) with PAYPAL HOLDINGS INC. (NY).
Issue: Making/receiving payments, sending money

Complaint: I have been a loyal PayPal customer since XXXX with my account in good standings. 

Over the years, PayPal has transformed from a small online 'send money tool ' into a large 'BANK ' ( without a license ) and a CREDIT CARD processing machine. As PayPal customer, I feel that PayPal grew fast, became more commercial and adjusted their terms and policies thereby making it more difficult for my small business to meet its business goals. PayPal is also evolving into a single entity by separating from its original business model with eBay. Here are some of the issues encountered : 1. PayPal does not protect its customers from transactions disputes against powerful credit card companies. Usually, if there is a dispute, credit card companies win. The agreement PayPal has with credit card companies works well for them but not so much for the customers on the receiving end. For example, if I sell event ticket and the buyer does not attend this event but files a dispute with their credit card company ; credit card company wins the dispute most of the times. 

2. PayPal Here and virtual terminal products require account reassessment/application for their already existing customers that are misleading and may cause account to be frozen or terminated. PayPal is not FDIC insured and only has legal presence in XXXX states which makes it more difficult to address these issues. 

3. Recent PayPal website redesign supposed to make things simple but it does n't. In fact it complicates things and could potentially lead to mistakes in money transfers. For example, to print out a financial statement to be used for income tax is a nightmare. The statement itself is difficult to understand and no customer service representative is properly trained to assist. 

4. PayPal 's legal department has different standards from those of the Banks. For example, subpoena processing department makes it very difficult and almost impossible for a small business from a small claims court to serve a subpoena for information against the debtor. It makes it very difficult to collect debt. Customer service does not provide clear legal instructions. Information provided is misleading and conflicting. There is not legal department contact phone number. In many instances, PayPal rejects the court orders. In doing so, on XXXX XXXX, XXXX, PayPal provided us a response letter with a phone number and contact but the phone number is just a voice mail with a dead end. My XXXX voice mails left were never returned. Essentially there are no phone numbers for legal department, headquarters or executive teams. In fact executive numbers are changed frequently to make contact more difficult for the customer. In other words there is no one in charge and there is no one to take responsibility for PayPal actions unless we file this complaint. 

5. Customer service quality has declined and stopped being effective. It functions more as a protective body rather than service. These and several more issues I would like to address with PayPal and provide further evidence and dates to be discussed.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation