PayPal.com
Locked Account, $290 Collection, and Recharged Transactions

My first complaint is a more recent occurrence. Sometime last year, PayPal made an error on an account transaction that left me unknowingly owing them $290. I discovered my account was locked, and I did not understand why. I tried to e-mail the company to get some kind of understanding, with no response. I later received a collection notice for the funds, and since I could not prove that I did not owe the money, I finally paid the bill.

I e-mailed their appeals department directly to find out what needed to be done next, and received no response after a couple of days. After finding out my collections payment had cleared, I tried to log back in, and the account was still locked, so I submitted a response through their website. A couple of days later, there was no response. So I e-mailed them again, my 3rd attempt, and I will give them a couple of days before I contact the Better Business Bureau. I cannot obtain a phone number, because when I tried to get their Service Center number, it required me to log in, and when I do, it takes me back to the "your account is locked, e-mail appeal. Etc." message from before, and back to square one. I would be in serious trouble if not for the realization described in my next complaint.

Because of the account locking, I had to set up a different account to do business through my record label and my other business. By other business, I mean buying goods through retailers that only accept PayPal or mail-in payments. I made a purchase from a Japanese retailer and sent a refund to a customer who ordered an item that is now indefinitely out of stock. I am forced to have my PayPal account for the business set up through my savings account, because the original is through my checking. When I processed the funds for these two transactions, I thought I had the funds in my savings, which I did not, so I overdrafted my account twice, which is, of course, my problem to deal with.

However, PayPal attempted to recharge the transaction to the Japanese retailer not once but twice, and the refund one time, without my approval, automatically a couple of days later. This caused me an additional $60 in overdraft fees. When I contacted them to complain about this, they stated that it was my responsibility to make sure I have funds in my account, and that they cannot be held responsible for overdraft fees on my end when I overdraft on a transaction I make. I responded by re-explaining that THEY ARE responsible, because I never authorized them to recharge the transactions. I received no more responses. Instead, I received a survey asking how I felt about my service, which I obviously rated incredibly low.

I am in the process of closing all of my PayPal accounts, establishing accounts elsewhere (Google Checkout), and letting everyone I know stop using PayPal. After reading more horror stories on this site and others regarding PayPal, it is fairly obvious that this company only cares about its own security, and not about making the customers it makes money off of happy. I have sold tons of CDs and shirts through my record label that have paid for at least 2 full paychecks of an employee, and this is how I get treated? It is ridiculous.

Company: PayPal.com
Country: USA
Site: paypal.com

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