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PayPal limited my account, then 180 days later, stole $551 from me
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I’m an entrepreneur who just started a new venture about a week before July 3rd, 2019. I was successful pretty quickly, with donations from friends, and a few sales, totaling a little over $550 in my PayPal within a weeks time. I didn’t remove or transfer any of my money out after making it because I was working on saving for a car and I trusted paypal to take care of my earnings, which turned out to be a huge mistake on my part. On July 3rd, 2019, I went to my PayPal to transfer a part of my earnings to my bank account and was greeted with a notification telling me that my money was on hold, and my account was limited. I immediately contacted PayPal customer service and was told my account was limited due to a misuse of the terms of service I’d agreed to when opening the account, and that they were authorized to hold my money for 180 days to protect them against any disputes or chargebacks. When I asked for the specific way in which I violated the acceptable terms of use, they told me for security reasons, they couldn’t disclose that information to me. I asked for a manager who informed me the only option I had was to file a lawsuit against PayPal, email a special investigation unit, or wait the 180 days. I emailed the address provided to me and an automatic response came back giving me no specifics, reiterating that my only course of action would be to wait the 180 days. After that 180 days, an email will be sent to me explaining options for transferring my balance out of the PayPal account. The email never disclosed the reason for the withholding of my money. I called PayPal customer service several times since then, using every possible resource at my disposal, asking as many questions as I could, trying to understand their justification for holding my money. I never received any explanation no matter how many times I called or emailed. On 12/16/2019, I called PayPal customer service knowing that the 180 day mark was coming up on 12/30/19, and they once again reassured me that PayPal will send an email on 12/30/19 giving me directions on how to transfer my money out. Today, 12/30/2019, I went in to the PayPal account to find my balance at $0.00. The only activity on the account was the transfer of my $551.00 out by PayPal, to PayPal, on 12/21/19. All the activity outlining who sent me payments and when before that date, disappeared. I called PayPal immediately and spoke to a customer service representative who told me that the money was taken to pay for “damages” that resulted from my violation of the acceptable use agreement. I asked them what damages had incurred, and they just repeated that I was the one who violated the terms of use, and that I need to go back and read their policy which authorizes them to seize up to $2500 in fines if it’s violated. I asked them why they told me I’d be able to transfer my money out if they were just going to take it from me anyway, and why they chose to wait until a week before I could access the money myself. Their response was that they couldn’t touch the money until 180 days, and once they could access it, they took it to pay for these “damages”. I was still not given any information on what I did that violated anything and was told there was absolutely nothing I could do. That money was earned, and donated, by my customers and friends who I’d already sent products, orders, and gifts to, despite PayPal’s withholding of my earnings. There were never any chargebacks, disputes, or refunds requested on any of the payments. They preyed upon a young entrepreneur because they saw me as an easy target, and they knew it was likely I’d never take them to court because I did not have the resources. I expressed to them that I needed that money to pay for my cost of living, and they didn’t care that it never their money to take.
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