Limited account and funds being held. No reason given. Help appreciated!

[mrminaj]

Firstly i just have to say how shocked and frankly appalled i am at Paypals customer service, i actually thought they were supposed to be a reputable company, but what i have experienced is just bizarre! 

I have had an account for around 2 years, absolutely no problems with it at all, no chargebacks, disputes or any other such problem. 

However i logged into my emails one morning a couple of months ago and recieved one from paypal stating my account had been permanentely limited due to violating paypals terms, the email then continued to point out the two transactions which violated the terms, both payments from my uncle. 

i spent days racking my brain trying to figure out what was wrong with these transactions even calling my uncle on several occasions, but his paypal account was FINE. 

anyway to cut a short story shorter, i logged into my account and looked in detail at the said transactions and found that in the 'note' which can be left when sending money, my uncle had left obscenities in both the transactions!! he has a very warped sense of humour and a foul mouth (but we all know someone like that). this is literally the ONLY conclusion i can come to as to why they limited my account pointing out these two transactions, though i fail to understand why some one else swearing means MY account gets limited??!! if anyone can shed any light??

i have emailed paypal TWICE over the past few weeks with NO REPLY. its horrible the way customers are treated, but also frustrating as their appears to be no alternative to paypal these days! 

i am just about over the fact they have banned me using the service, however after logging in yesterday to transfer the funds to my bank, i see a balance of 'zero', which sends my heart pounding, then i realise my £900 is actually in a 'pending' section being released when paypal say so between 30-180 days. SHOCKING. 

i need that money by may, the whole point of me recieving money through paypal was to save and use towards a course i am starting. a quick google search has shown i can take them to a small claims court as they have no right to hold the money, however i really really do not want to do that. 

is it worth contacting the CEO? 

thanks for reading. 

[kernowlass]

@mrminaj

Yes they are allowed to and you agreed to it when you signed the user agreement when you opened your paypal account >>>

10.2 Actions by PayPal. If we have reason to believe that you have engaged in any Restricted Activities, we may take various actions to protect PayPal, a User, a third party, or you from Reversals, Chargebacks, Claims, fees, fines, penalties and any other liability. The actions we may take include but are not limited to the following:

1. We may, at any time and without liability, suspend, block, limit, close or cancel your right to use your Payment Instrument or Account entirely or for any particular transaction, which may in turn suspend, block, limit, close or cancel access to your Account or the Services (such as limiting access to any of your Funding Sources, and your ability to send money, make withdrawals, or remove financial Information). We will normally give you advance notice of any suspension or cancellation but we may, if it is reasonable to do so (for example if you are in breach of this Agreement or we consider it advisable for security reasons), suspend or cancel your right to use your Payment Instrument or Account without prior notice to you;
2. Block your Account and/or hold any funds in the Reserve Account (including, without limitation, for more than 180 days if so required by PayPal, where PayPal’s rights under section 10.2 arise from your engagement in the Restricted Activity set out in section 9.1 ag.);

However it does seem odd that your uncles actions blocked your account and not his !!!

Have you phoned paypal to ask why?? If not then try that and if that does not work put it all in writing and send it here >>>

Contact Customer Service via Facebook or Twitter >>

You can send them a personal message from their facebook or twitter pages.

It's: https://www.facebook.com/PayPalUK and @AskPayPal for Twitter.

[mrminaj]

yes i get they can ban,block whoever they like for whatever reason. after doing some research today it does seem this is fairly commonplace and they do not actually give specific reasons to the customers as to why they have limited their accounts, basically just need to accept it and move on! its a strange way to operate a company in my eyes anyway. 

so far as the withholding of funds goes, again after research they certainly have no right to withhold my sum which is a relatively small one on the ground that a sender send a profanity along with the transfer! but a small claims court will cost around £100, all for the sake of a paypal representative not turning up and them being instructed to release the funds to me anyway, they may aswell just do it! 

i dont use facebook, will i be able to contact them using a family members? 

i am slightly apprehensive about calling them, as again after research it seems they just read from a script and are even more difficult on the phone! i dont want them sending my blood pressure up! 

[kernowlass]

@mrminaj

I have had no problem phoning customer services and neither have lots of others.

They are perfectly polite but guess they have to put up with a lot of hassle sometimes.

If you click on contact us and use the passcode AND DO NOT select any options just hang on till you get an agent you should be ok.

If not then opening up a facebook account takes seconds.