How can I cancel my PayPal account? I have tried many times but have been unable to cancel it.

AliShibaz
Contributor
Contributor

Thank you kindly kernowlass. I appreciate your advice. Unfortunately, I do not use Twitter or Facebook. I have tried to telephone PayPal. But that was just a huge waste of time. I waited on hold while they played a recording that was just a huge commercial for PayPal. They told me all the features and benefits of PayPal. But no one ever answered the phone. After about 20 minutes, I couldn't stand it any more and I gave up and disconnected the call. I have tried sending them messages. But I guess I don't understand how that works. They connected me with some kind of bot that told me if I typed my message a customer service rep would return my message. But then when I tried to exit the app, the bot said the CSR would not be returning my message because I had left the message app. It was very confusing. Here is a brief history of how my problems with PayPal began.

Shortly after joining PayPal, I linked my bank account to my PayPal account. I then made several purchases but my PayPal was hacked and someone started making purchases using my bank account.

Fortunately, I detected this criminal fraud on the same day it began and I contacted my bank right away. The bank was extremely helpful. They reversed all the criminal transactions and advised me to close my bank account and open a new account. They told me that if I did that and never again gave out my bank account information, the criminals would not be able to make fraudulent purchases using my bank account. I took their advice and have not used PayPal since. Likewise, I have not had any of those kinds of problems since. When I contacted PayPal, I was very disappointed in their response. They treated me as if I was the criminal and just gave me a terrible runaround. I told them to close my PayPal account but they said there was some kind of "issue" that prevented my account from being closed.

When I asked them what kind of issue they meant, they said they could not tell me and I would just have to wait a while before the account could be closed. I called them again and again during the next few months. But each time I called and asked to have my PayPal account closed and deleted, they told me the "issue" had not yet been resolved and I should call back again. I found this completely infuriating and insulting. After several months of this runaround, I just got fed up and gave up. I got the feeling that many scurrilous businesses operate this same way. They just expect people to get fed up and then give up.

But after three years, PayPal began sending me emial that I consider to be threatening. They say that if I do not use my PayPal account, they will begin to charge me an "INACTIVITY FEE". I never imagined such a ridiculous ploy.

I am left speechless except to say that I will never again give PayPal any of my business. How can a company be "well protected" if my financial information was stolen after only two months of using their service?

 

Now PayPal has begun to send me emails that I consider threatening. They tell me that if I do not start using my PayPal account again, they will have to charge me an Inactivity Fee. They will not cancel my PayPal account. But they will charge me a fee if I do not use it again?

 

How can I ever get my PayPal account deleted.

Login to Me Too
1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions
Solved

PayPalMichelleW
Moderator
Moderator

Hello @AliShibaz,

 

I'm truly sorry to hear about the frustration that this has caused. Please know that this is not the experience we want for our customers. Here's an article from our Help Center with a little bit more information about the inactivity fee. If you need additional assistance please reach back out to our Customer Support team. To contact Customer Service, please click Contact at the bottom of the PayPal website for available options, or reach out by Facebook or Twitter.  

 

Thanks!

MichelleW

View solution in original post

Login to Me Too
3 REPLIES 3

AliShibaz
Contributor
Contributor

P.S. The last time I used my PayPal account, there was a zero balance. But when I looked today, PayPal told me I had a balance of $2.12. This prevents me from closing my account. As I understand it, I must clear my balance to zero before I can close my account. But since I deleted the link to my bank account, there is no way I can think of to zero my bank balance.

 

It feels like I'm caught in an endless runaround. Obviously, there is no way in this world I would ever want to give PayPal any info about my new bank account number. How can it be legal for any corporation to treat customers in this way?

Login to Me Too
Solved

PayPalMichelleW
Moderator
Moderator

Hello @AliShibaz,

 

I'm truly sorry to hear about the frustration that this has caused. Please know that this is not the experience we want for our customers. Here's an article from our Help Center with a little bit more information about the inactivity fee. If you need additional assistance please reach back out to our Customer Support team. To contact Customer Service, please click Contact at the bottom of the PayPal website for available options, or reach out by Facebook or Twitter.  

 

Thanks!

MichelleW

Login to Me Too

AliShibaz
Contributor
Contributor

I cannot thank you enough Michelle. I reacted to this notice that I would have to pay an Inactivity Fee with a great deal of anxiety and anger. My reaction was above and beyond any reasonable level. I believe the reason for that had to do with my being hacked and some criminal making fraudulent purchases and charging them to my bank account.

 

Unless or until people have had this experience, it's difficult to explain just how terrible this experience is. It's a personal violation that goes above and beyond any kind of the usual problem that life deals out. People just do not know how devestating and traumatic it can be to suffer Identity theft or any kind of invasion of your privacy like this kind of hack and invasion of your bank account.

 

The information you provided helped me a great deal to put things into perspective. For other people who may not have seen this info, the important points are that there is a limit to the Inactivity fee of $20 per annually. If there is less than $20 in my account, then the fee will be the total balance in my account. When I first received this email, I had thought my current balance was zero. But for some reason I cannot explain, the current balance is approx $2.50. Well, I don't really care about that because I had just wanted to walk away from PayPal and I didn't care what my balance was.

 

In any case, I read somewhere else the definition of "Activity" includes logging in to my PayPal account. If that is correct, people can avoid this fee simply by logging into their PayPal account once per year. But I'm not certain if logging into the account constitutes "Activity" or not.

 

At any rate, the bottom line for me was that I was making a mountain out of a molehill but I just did not have the information to understand the actual meaning of the "Inactivity Fee". It would be a very good idea when sending email to people who are not active, it would make a very big difference if that email provides a link to the definition of "Inactivity" and the "Inactivity Fee". I believe that would greatly reduce the anxiety and anger people feel about this "Inactivity Fee". The link you provided me above (to the meaning of the Inactivity Fee) is just about the perfect thing to include in those emails.

 

So I thank you again and I thank you a great deal.

Login to Me Too

Haven't Found your Answer?

It happens. Hit the "Login to Ask the community" button to create a question for the PayPal community.