Below is my rebuttal response to PayPal's lame and canned response to my Better Business Bureau complaint against them. Basically, I have had a PayPal account for about 5-6 years. I have had complaints that have always been rectified. Most complaints came at the end of 2005, when my computer crashed, taking with it all of my tracking numbers, shipping information, etc. Being just a couple of weeks before Christmas, customers were so worried about getting gifts they had purchased in time for Christmas that they panicked and filed PayPal claims against me left and right. I did the best I could and refunded many people that I feel already received their merchandise, but I had no way to prove it with all of my computer information gone.
Since then, things have mostly gone well, with much fewer sales and much fewer complaints. In January and February I had very few sales, but PayPal sales picked up a lot in March and April. Everything was fine until near the end of March, when my PayPal account was limited because, they said, they needed to verify who I was. I sent them the 9 mile long list of items they wanted: tracking numbers, receipts for merchandise I purchased for resale, names, addresses, and phone numbers of my suppliers, bank account info, etc. They then said that I would need to send yet more information, which I did. Finally they lifted the limited access from my account and everything seemed to be going well again. Then on April 18, I went to log into my PayPal account and there it was: "Your Account Access Has Been Limited." This time it stated there was no appeal to this decision. In this time there were no complaints against me. They did not ask for any further information. I called to find out what was going on, and the first rep I got said she could see no reason for the limitation and that there were no complaints against me, etc. She said she would file the appeal for me, as I was unable to due to PayPal's limitations. Not 5 minutes after I hung up from that rep, I received an email from PayPal stating that they wanted to begin "parting ways" with me in a manner that is least disruptive to my company, but they never said exactly how it would be disruptive to my company.
Next, I called and talked to Beth in the Escalation Department, who told me to reply to that email about "parting ways" and request an appeal. Perhaps 10 minutes later I received a canned response, which I have seen copied and pasted all over the internet, stating that my business posed excess risk to PayPal, that they wanted to "part ways" with me, and that my appeal was denied. Funny how that email reply only took 10 minutes. They really looked into my case, huh?
Anyway, they now have my nearly $500.00 on hold for 180 days while they hide behind their "User Agreement." Anyone who uses PayPal agrees to this 9 mile long User Agreement that probably nobody reads or even understands if they did read it.
PayPal is a fraudulent rip-off business that puts tons of people's accounts on hold for 180 days at a time while they collect interest on our hard earned money.
I would love to hire a lawyer to sue them, but a lawyer would cost much more than what I have held up in my frozen account. I cannot afford to pay a lawyer thousands of dollars to collect 500 dollars.
Can someone who is a lawyer either take my case on a contingency basis or start a group lawsuit to help a lot of us who have been treated so badly by PayPal?
CASE ID: 266713
On April 23, you provided the following information:
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
First of all, you are not correct about what PayPal requested on April 18. There was no request for documentation, etc. All of that was requested in March, and I did send you all required documentation at that time. I showed receipts for merchandise I purchased for resale. I showed you a list of suppliers I buy from. I sent you tracking numbers for shipments to my customers. I sent you everything you asked for, which was no small task.
This was in March when you limited my account. Now, if this big issue was in January and February, it seems odd to me that you limit my account in March, ask for a bunch of information for me to "verify" who I am, and then lift the limited access from my account. Then there were no further issues and my sales were going well, and suddenly, without any notice from PayPal, I went to log in on April 18 and my account access was limited again. I checked the Resolution Center and there were no complaints against me. I called and talked to a PayPal representative, and they said they could not find a reason for the limitation and could not find any complaints either. The rep said she would appeal for me. Not 5 minutes after I hung up from your rep, I got a canned email response stating that you wanted to "part ways" with me. I then called back and talked to Beth in your escalation department, and she said to reply to the "part ways" email and try to appeal it that way. I did so, and maybe 10 minutes later I got yet another canned response stating that my appeal was denied.
How do I know these are canned form emails? Because when you check other complaint websites about PayPal, many of your other victims have received the exact same canned letter.
Again, you cite the 32.40% complaint rate in January. To most people that would sound terrible, and if I had hundreds of transactions in January, then indeed that would have been a lot of complaints. But I had 4 payments made to me in January. So that means that one person made a complaint, which was resolved.
Then in February I had 8 payments received into my account, and the percentage went down because that meant only 1 complaint, which was resolved.
How is that an excessive risk to PayPal???
First of all, if a customer makes a complaint and the seller does not have a tracking number (even though the customer may be lying and actually have your merchandise in their home), if the seller cannot prove it with a tracking number, PayPal always sides with the buyer. So PayPal is not at risk and has lost nothing, the buyer is not at risk and has lost nothing, and the only one losing anything is the seller.
Again, how does that pose any excess risk to PayPal??? I want an explanation of this exactly. I want to know exactly how PayPal is losing or risking anything here???
Can you not look past your numbers for the percentage of complaints and notice that in January I only had 4 transactions for payments coming in??? Can you not notice that in February I only had 8 payments coming in??? Then notice how in March and April my sales via PayPal have picked up and people are not complaining??? I have tracking numbers for all of these sales, yet no one has asked for any recent tracking numbers.
I have no clue as to why my business poses such an "excessive risk" to PayPal. I find it insulting, demeaning, and completely false. I find PayPal guilty of fraud against me and many others. I have lost sales because I cannot accept PayPal any longer. On top of that, you are holding my money fraudulently and putting an extreme hardship on me. I have paid for the merchandise and shipping of the items I have been paid for. So I am out the money I paid for merchandise and shipping AND you have stolen my money from me.
Your company also has a total lack of regard for its customers. Over the years PayPal has made a lot of money from me with PayPal fees charged on all my transactions. Then for no legitimate reason I am prevented from using their service. I really do not want to deal with the headache of worrying that PayPal will just come along and freeze your account and keep your money interest free.
PayPal needs to be looked into as to how it can succeed with holding people's money for 180 days. PayPal has all this money pooled into one account earning a lot of interest on the money they hold from people every single day. Every single day PayPal puts people's accounts on limited access for 180 days, many without a valid reason. I have talked to many people since this happened to me, and I have heard many horror stories about how poorly PayPal treats you. Not only do they steal money from people under the guise of their "user agreement," they have extremely rude representatives that work there and are frankly obviously allowed to treat their customers as though we are criminals.
Oh yes, and Beth, when you wrote here in response to this BBB complaint, isn't it so very nice to cover all your bases by saying that you are not "implying wrongdoing on my part"? How sweet of you. There is no wrongdoing on my part. Any complaints were due to using dropshippers that ran out of stock of merchandise and my being told in some instances that merchandise was shipped. There was never an instance where I purposely kept anyone's money and purposely did not ship merchandise. Again, all complaints have been resolved and all customers have either been refunded or have received their merchandise.
I absolutely do not accept PayPal's canned response to this complaint.
I want my money returned to me now. I would not accept the offer to do business with this company again even if they offered, as their business practices are full of fraud and deception.
This canned response above again is inaccurate, as they did not request any information of me on April 18. All information requested of me was in March.
Why, after my account limitation was lifted in March after I jumped through hoops and played your little games "proving" who I am to you people, was my limited access removed at that time??? If I am such an excessive risk to PayPal, who does billions of dollars of business through the hard work of us tiny little sellers, how can my small company pose such an excessive risk to you???
I want honest, accurate and truthful answers here.
I also want my money sent to me in a check today, not after you have kept my money from me earning interest on it for 180 days. If it is not illegal to do so, it needs to be.
Note to the BBB staff: you need to check into exactly how many accounts PayPal has on hold right now and how much money is held in the accounts that have money in them that is being held for 180 days from the people this money actually belongs to. This company needs to be investigated for fraudulent business practices, for ruining small businesses' reputations, and for having the worst customer service staff in history!!!
Again, this complaint will never be resolved unless my money is refunded now. If I need to, I will be hiring a lawyer. Someone needs to do something about this rip-off, fraudulent company. They hide behind their "user agreement," which is 9 miles long and most people probably do not read the entire thing or understand half of the legal language in it, which is obviously on purpose so that PayPal can mistreat as many people as they want and hide behind that "user agreement."
BBB, I want action taken against this company unless they comply and refund my money today.
This is also notice that I want my money sent to me in a paper check with interest earned on it. PayPal has no right to keep my money or anyone else's money and earn interest on it.
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