Consumer complaint received 2026-04-21 00:00:00
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Fraud or scam — 
Company: Paypal Holdings, Inc
State: NY

Complaint narrative:
On XX/XX/XXXX I made an online purchase of a watch on a XXXX website for XXXX and I paid with my PayPal acct like I used to do many times for more protection in case of a scam or no delivery. I received my order on XX/XX/year>. Unfortunately the watch was defective and not functioning. Dials were static and not spinning. I alerted the merchant who said he was sorry, and apologies for the inconvenience. I asked for a refund, and to return the watch to them. They responded they couldn't send me a return label. I emailed them again 5 times with no responses asking for a return label. When I saw they were not cooperating, I escalated the case with a dispute to PayPal, asking them to stop the payment. They asked me if I contacted the vendor and I said yes as I uploaded all the emails log. It was the XXXX of XXXX. The day after, the merchant finally emailed me saying that PayPal had frozen his account and that he was really sorry again, acknowledging that it was his fault, and that PayPal would refund me directly as he had no more access to his account. I send this email to prove to PayPal that I was absolutely right and entitled to a refund. They said my case was in review and they would let me know. Today I called them to know what was was going on with my case because I received an email from them saying my case was denied! They pretended that they emailed me on the XXXX asking for more document to send them and because I haven't responded they closed and denied my case. XXXX of all the email they sent me is really misleading because it was titled in big " your case is being investigating we will let you know soon about the decision '' and at the bottom of the email, in tiny letters it is indeed some more justifications to upload, but I didn't see it, especially knowing that I already provided all necessary justifications before, including the email from the merchant acknowledging he was in fault and that I should be refunded by PayPal who froze his account. I called them twice today, the XXXX rep said that he would reopen the case and make sure the appeal of the decision would be revised in my favor. XXXX minutes later I received an email from PayPal stating that my case was denied again! I called again, asked to speak to a supervisor who defended themselves behind the fact that I should have responded to the email they sent me on the XXXX ( 3 days ago ). This is totally abusive and unacceptable. I provided all the justifications, they froze the account of the vendor, which means they didn't pay him, and they are not refunding me because I should have responded to a malicious email where it is written in tiny letter that I HAD ONLY 3 DAYS TO RESPOND before they close the case. 3 days is not even legal, this is absolutely abusive. PayPal is abusing customers to make more money keeping both the merchant money and mine. There must be a regulation protecting customers against this kind of practice.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation