Will I get my Money?

[joeywhitehead]

Hi everyone, 

Was wondering if someone could help. I set up my account about 6 years ago and accidentally called myself Whitehead Whitehead, rather than Joey Whitehead. I never even realised I'd done this and didn't use my account for about 5 years. I've just recently sold some music kit on ebay and now Paypal has suddenly decided to limit my account and freeze the £400. I can understand why they did this if they think there's a fraudulent name on the account, but I have since sent them proof of address with my name on it and given them all the information they should need to varify my identity. 

I have since called TEN times and have not been given a straight answer about when or if I can expect to get my money. No email updates, no phone calls to progress the matter. I have had to call each time to move things along. 

Has anyone had a similar experience? Am I likely to just be waiting 180 days and then it'll just pop up? What steps can I take now? Feeling a bit powerless.

Cheers

Joey

[sharpiemarker]

@joeywhitehead 

If the name doesn't not match the documents you send in, its hardly going to go anywhere I'm afraid. Because of this, you may have to keep calling to move things along. Its possible that PayPal will no longer let you use PayPal anymore, by permanent suspension of the account and you'll have to wait 180 days to withdraw the funds. Even then that could be problematic because the names don't match on your financials and the PayPal account unless you used "Whitehead Whitehead" as your name on those accounts. They can't risk releasing money to someone that they can't properly verify is you. Getting assistance/advice from a solicitor could help point you in a right direction.

[joeywhitehead]

Hi, thanks for your reply

I don't see how they can legally allow me to have an open account with an incorrect name for 5 years, and now as soon as I have some money in the account, they can decide to freeze it and potentially take it away from me. The bank account attached has my name and details and will corroborate the proof of ID/address I've sent them. So they can match the bank account to my documents. I would have though this far more a significant identifying factor than a 'first name' on an account which, as we can see, could have a typo or anything. 

Just so frustrating - but thanks for at least shedding some light on it, 

Regards, 

Joey