It all started about 3 months ago, right after Christmas.
I got a fraudulent-looking email from PayPal. I reported it, as I was supposed to, to [email protected]. They limited my account. After 3 weeks of jumping through hoops, I got it back to normal status. Two weeks later I got another fraudulent email. I again reported it, and again they limited my account.
After 2 more weeks of hoop jumping, I again got it fixed. The next week I got another fraudulent email. I contacted PayPal by email and asked them about my security concerns. At that point I was prompted to close the account and open another one. So I did.
Today I went to purchase a CD, and I went to use the gift certificate that I had purchased under the old account, but it would not let me process the payment. I called PayPal at the number given to me in the "contact us" section. Needless to say, it was not toll free (thank goodness for the free night-time minutes on my cell phone). I was on hold for a good 35 minutes when a lady came on and told me that since I closed the other account, everything associated with that account was terminated when I closed it, thus losing the substantial balance left on my gift certificate. I asked her whether, since the account was closed because of fraud, there would be an exception. She said she would fill out a service request and that I should know within 24 hours by email the decision.
My question is, is this LEGAL? Can a company just keep your money because you close an account? You would think that if there was a credit on the account when you closed it, they would issue a refund. I know it does say in the contract that all funds would be forfeited, but come on. I was prompted to close the account and reopen it. I even reopened it with the exact same information as the one I had just closed. Has anyone else had this problem, or do you have suggestions on how to handle it from here? I will write back by the end of the week and let everyone know how the "service request" turned out.
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