Consumer complaint received 2025-10-17 00:00:00
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Unauthorized transactions or other transaction problem — 
Company: Paypal Holdings, Inc
State: NC

Complaint narrative:
On XX/XX/year>, XXXX, I mistakenly made an order with a merchant ( XXXX XXXX using the wrong payment method ( Paypal ) and immediately canceled the order. The order was canceled immediately with no issues. My paypal account is linked to one of my bank accounts and has been for XXXX years, so when the charge hit Paypal XXXX Paypal upfronted the amount to XXXX XXXX cover it and then attempted to collect the amount ( {$1000.00} ) from the bank account it is linked to. That account did not have the funds to cover the charge which is why I canceled the order immediately upon realizing I had used the wrong payment method. The charge reflected on that bank account from Paypal on XX/XX/XXXX, putting the account into a negative balance state. As that account does not allow overdraft, my bank denied the charge and it was returned, resulting in my bank account returning to it's proper, uncharged, amount on XX/XX/XXXX. 

I then received an Email from Paypal saying that they could not collected the funds from my bank and that I would automatically be charged again by their XXXX XXXX  on a few days. I contacted Paypal about this to explain that the order had been canceled, XXXX had refunded the order, and that the refund showed on my Paypal statement. I reached out through Paypal 's phone service first and was hung up on when I explained that I did not wish for this XXXX  charge to happen, so I turned to their chat system. Eventually I was directed to a Supervisor who called me on XX/XX/year>. The Paypal Supverisor explained over the phone that their XXXX XXXX  was Automated and they could not stop it. They further explained that while they did, in fact, have the refund from XXXX, that they needed to remove the funds ( {$1000.00} ) from my bank with the XXXX XXXX  so that their internal system could handle it properly. That if I funded the account and allowed the funds to be removed by Paypal that within XXXX hours I would receive a refund that XXXX had sent to them. He explained that if the XXXX XXXX  attempted to collect 2 more times, it would simply take the refund from XXXX and handle it that way, but urged me to allow the XXXX system to take the funds from the account so everything would be automated and handled faster/smoother. I decided to fund the account and allow them to Retry the charge so that the Refund from XXXX for {$1000.00} could be processed to me. This charge from the Paypal XXXX XXXX occured on XX/XX/year>, successfully removing {$1000.00} from my account which I had funded in preparation for this. When I saw this charge come out I contacted Paypal customer service again just to seek verification that they saw this so that I could get peace of mind this was being handled. They assured me that I would see the refund on the following Monday ( XX/XX/year> ), but I waited until Tuesday ( XX/XX/year> ) to contact them again as Monday was a holiday. 

On XX/XX/year> I contacted Paypal again to check the status of the refund as it had still not reflected in my bank account nor was there any history of this on my Paypal account. The CS representitive assured me that I would see the refund in the following days. I decided to wait a few more days until reaching out again, which I have today, XX/XX/year>. As of Today I have been told by Paypal CS chat that my bank needs to resolve it, which is untrue as it is Paypal that is to be refunding me and I have made my bank aware of this, so I contacted the CS team by phone and was transfered to a line that could " resolve the issue for me '' and have been on hold for over 3 hours with no information, no verifications, no tracking, or anything. 

As it stands, I am currently out {$1000.00} for an order that was canceled and Refunded to Paypal. Paypal has not refunded this amount to me, and instead, insisted that I allow their automated system to collect that amount so that their internal service could process it. They have offered very little help, very little information, and I have essentially paid for a canceled order that Paypal is seemingly refusing to refund me for after urging me to allow their system to draw the funds from my bank account. I have asked mostly just for verification of this process and confirmation that the refund is being processed but Paypal is unable to do even that much. Each time I speak with a Paypal CS rep it seems that they are unsure what I am speaking about and commonly express sarcastic sighs and long holds. They continue to insist that I have not been charged at all, but when I show them screenshot evidence that my bank has been charged they tell me to " wait '' more all while showing no evidence that they can even find where their XXXX XXXX  has taken funds from me nor where it's at in it's process. 

The Overall Process So Far : Order Placed using Wrong Payment Method - Order Immediately Canceled - Order Immediatel Refunded to Paypal from XXXX - Paypal Removed funds from my Bank Account XXXX Paypal shows verified Refund from Merchant XXXX Paypal has Funds from my Bank account - I am out {$1000.00} - Paypal has yet to refund me the {$1000.00} they collected from my bank - Paypal is seemingly refusing to correct this issue - Customer Service has been of no help and simply keeps telling me to wait days at a time - Unable to successfully reach anyone at Paypal about correcting this- I do not wish to process a chargeback from my bank but am approaching that as being my only option as I genuinely feel as though I am being robbed by a multi-billion dollar company.

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief