I WOULD LIKE A RESPONSIBLE PARTY AT PAYPAL TO CONTACT ME
CC: Better Business Bureau
Please help me as I am being bullied by PayPal Inc. as per the letter below.
Thank you,
Adam <removed>
Tenafly, NJ
Attn: Legal Department
<removed>
San Jose, CA 95131
Reference ID: PP-006-431-410-293
To Whom It May Concern:
This message concerns Paypal Account registered with the email address ***********. All documentation supporting the claims made in this letter are enclosed.
Additionally, I am carbon copying this letter to the California Division of Financial Institutions, the New Jersey Better Business Borough, the San Jose Police Department, and New Jersey Senator Corey <removed>
There is simply too little accountability for a national organization like PayPal, which acts a bank, yet provides customers with little or no access to trained professionals who are able to assist them with the important financial matters at hand.
Here is my story:
On December 5, 2017 (nine days prior to the writing of this letter), I sold two Neiman Marcus gift cards via an eBay auction for a total of $2,146.00. Also, on December 8, 2017, the eBay buyer, Stephanie <removed> wrote on the eBay transaction “Received. Fast shipping. Thanks.” I had sent her $2,400 dollars worth of Neiman Marcus Gift Cards and she had paid me according to the terms of our agreement.
I assumed that because I was a registered eBay user and because I was acting in good faith that I would be awarded the money owed to me in a timely manner. My wife and I intended to use the money to pay for holiday gifts and to pay bills, and to invest in US Treasuries and other investment vehicles.
I emailed PayPal on four separate occasions attempting to obtain the funds which were rightfully mine. I called Paypal on two occasions and was hung up on by PayPal on the first call. On the second call, made on December 14, 2017, I had a disturbing phone conversation with a PayPal employee who would only identify himself as Ryan. Ryan proceeded to mock, taunt, and bully me as he told me that he was unwilling to connect me with a supervisor who could help me resolve an account dispute. Ryan refused more than 5 times to connect me with a responsible party and said that this was PayPal policy.
Prior to this, I had connected by personal bank account to PayPal via their internal secure system, uploaded a utility bill, and a my New Jersey Driver License. Still, despite all of my attempts, PayPal’s employees ignored my emails, hung up on me, and in the case of Ryan taunted me. After Ryan refused to transfer me to a superior, my wife pleaded with him to release our money. “How would you feel if you just gave away a $2,400 gift card for free?” Ryan continued to insult our intelligence. He claimed that PayPal would fire him if he released our money and told us that his job was more important to him than helping us.
When I logged on to my PayPal account later that evening I received a message telling me in elegant and artful chosen font “You can’t use PayPal Anymore.” The message told me “Any money in your balance will be held for 180 days, after which we’ll send you an email with instructions about transferring your money.”
I believe that PayPal is holding on to my money and that of many other customers as a means of gaining the interest that can be gained from holding onto such an aggregate sum of money. I believe that their actions are unlawful and I am shocked that that we do not have better regulatory focus on this problem in the United States of America, in New Jersey or in California. Our Internet economy depends on citizens being able to transfer money securely between each other using digital means, and yet, our country enables PayPal to operate with little oversight and no accountability to custoemers.
In what sort of world, can we allow an institution to hold $2,146.00 of someone else’s money for 180 days just because they feel like it. And then, when the person complains there is no person to whom they can turn for a resolution? Something is wrong. To PayPal, to our government officials, and to our journalistic institutions, I am asking for your help in resolving this problem – both for me and for the others who this problem also affects.
I would like the money due to me to be returned immediately, with interest at a rate of 1.70% (the rate at which I could have invested this money in US Treasury Bills). I would also like to know that PayPal takes seriously the concerns of its customers and to know why PayPal has allowed its employees to bully me, mistreat me, and to cause me considerable stress.
I would like a responsible party at PayPal to contact me.
