Consumer complaint received 2025-02-25 00:00:00
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Other transaction problem — 
Company: Paypal Holdings, Inc
State: ME

Complaint narrative:
On XX/XX/XXXX I attempted to buy a large ticket item ( a XXXX x XXXX metal garage ) on sale at XXXX for President 's Day. I had wanted to pay for it monthly with my XXXX Credit Card, hence I double-checked to ensure my PayPal Preferred XXXX of Payment was still set to my Mercury Credit Card XXXX which it was. 

Since PayPal had changed my Preferred Method of Payment on XX/XX/XXXX when I purchased an item from XXXX, I was worried. Therefore, I left the PayPal browser open alongside XXXX 's when I made the purchase. I then watched in real time as PayPal once again bypassed my Preferred Method of Payment and charged my Bank Account directly instead, proving XX/XX/XXXX was NOT the fluke PayPal had claimed it was. As a result, I immediately cancelled this purchase and retained the email confirmation from XXXX of this instantaneous cancellation. 

The very next day, I found a better metal garage for a few more dollars at XXXX XXXX which I bought directly with my XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX without incident. 

XXXX ( XXXX ) days later on XX/XX/XXXX, I was shocked to discover PayPal had emptied my Bank Account by debiting {$1900.00} for the instantly cancelled garage, thus causing all of my prescheduled monthly bills to bounce and costing me a multitude in overdraft fees. 

I immediately called my Banker, who is also a good friend, and explained the situation. I asked her to please Stop Payment ( and paid the {$25.00} fee to do so ), and asked her to reject PayPal 's fraudulent request to collect money for an instantly cancelled purchase, which she did. 

As soon as my money was back in my account, I rescheduled all of my monthly bills, including my critical utilities bill, only to discover that PayPal ( using XXXX XXXX. XXXX ) fraudulently emptied my Bank Account AGAIN on XX/XX/XXXX, causing all of my prescheduled monthly bills to bounce and costing me a multitude of overdraft fees a second time. I now owe over {$100.00} in insufficient funds fees and overdraft fees due to PayPal 's claimed inability to stop their fraudulent process. 

After I thoroughly researched what happened to the money that PayPal claimed they fronted XXXX on my behalf for an instantly cancelled purchase, XXXX of XXXX ( at XXXX ) provided me with the Payment Handling No. XXXX and XXXX XXXX. XXXX proving XXXX had indeed immediately refunded all funds to PayPal on XX/XX/XXXX, as PayPal 's own website clearly stated. 

Suffice it to say, I spent the entire week on the phone with PayPal agents, supervisors, and managers at PayPal in Nebraska ( XXXX ) and online through PayPal 's Resolution Center, to no avail. 

After over a week of gaslighting, PayPal employees XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, and many others who refused to provide their names all confirmed it is standard PayPal practice to automatically collect money for all transactions- INCLUDING INSTANTLY CANCELLED ITEMS! XXXX expressed great anger and frustration with PayPal because this unethical practice constantly causes them unnecessary problems and costs them customers. 

Worst of all, each and every PayPal employee confirmed that they had indeed received the money back from XXXX that they should have never fronted in the first place but have no way to stop the process that emptied my Bank Account. They all confirmed that their automated software would continue to debit my account FOREVER (! ) until it was successful. 

NOT KIDDING! There is NO way to stop or over-ride PayPal 's automated fraud! Every PayPal employee I spoke claimed the only way to stop it was to give them money NOT owed and wait for them to refund it. After I let them steal my money on XX/XX/XXXX, they then claimed it will take XXXX ( XXXX ) to XXXX ( XXXX ) business days to clear before they could initiate the necessary refund of my stolen money which would take another XXXX ( XXXX ) to XXXX ( XXXX ) business days to clear my bank because they claim they are unable to perform an instant transfer even though my Bank promised to enable this process for them. 

PayPal confirmed that they needed to steal my money to return my money! 

In the meantime, I can not pay my bills and am waiting for my utilities to be shut off in the middle of a harsh Maine winter. I told them that my rescued pets and I will die if that happens. PayPal did not care and refuses to provide updates as to where my stolen money is, and refused to provide a concrete date for when they will return my stolen money. 

My XXXX, who also spoke with PayPal 's XXXX on Saturday, XX/XX/XXXX, to no avail, is as frustrated with this situation as I am. This is why she does not use PayPal. I will cancel my PayPal account as soon as they return my stolen funds and have already deleted all of the Credit Cards from my PayPal wallet.

The bottom line is this is run-away automated fraud - plain and simple. PayPal MUST hire an IT specialist to either recode the current fraudulent money-grabbing program or at least be able to over-ride it when it proves wrong. Rather than steal money to return money, they should NOT be allowed to steal it in the first place. Plus, they had better stop changing their customers ' Preferred Method of Payment without their customers ' express knowledge and permission. They tried to lie about that too, but as Citi 's first IT Security Chief, they can not XXXX  me, I know what I saw and experienced not once but twice. 

PayPal 's fraudulent collections system MUST be investigated to prevent others from suffering the same major glitch that now threatens my very life if they remain caliber, unaccountable, and fail to return my stolen money so I can pay my utilities bill and keep the heat and lights on.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief