Temporary Hold placed on my refund!!!!

[slhixsons]

So I'm guessing that the problem that I am having with getting my refund put back into my paypal account is happening to a lot of others!!!!! I purchased a pair of shoes from ebay on the 16th. On the 19th the seller contacted me and said that one of the shoes was damaged so she was going to refund the money. I told her to refund the money on the 19th, and she did. That's not the problem.....the problem is.....It is exactly 4 days till Christmas and I need to order another pair of shoes, but until paypal takes the temporary hold off of my refund I won't have the money to purchase another pair of shoes!!!!!!! If paypal can front the money to the seller in order to get them paid in a timely manner, then they should be able to front the money to me, so that I can order another pair of shoes!!!!! This is the first and last time I will ever attempt to purchase something as a Christmas gift over the internet using paypal!!!!!  This has been an awful experience!!!!!  

[PayPal_Olivia]

Hi ScottBC1960, and welcome to the forums!

If the transaction was made on the 8th, the 9th would be the first business day. That would make today the 5th business day. The estimated time frame for bank transfers is 3-5 business days. Please also consider that Veteran's day was on Friday, which may have caused a delay as many US banks were closed.

Please come back and let us know when the refund is made available. I'm estimating that it will have happened at some point today, or will happen tomorrow before end of business.

I hope this helps!

Olivia

[PayPal_Olivia]

Hi ScottBC1960, and welcome to the forums!

It's easy to lose the answers in such a big thread. You'll want to read back a bit. I realize there are a lot of pages, but sometimes reading the beginning of a thread helps you find the answers faster!

If you go up toward the top of the page, just under the header graphic and mouse over the Topic Options, then select "Sort by Oldest to Newest" then you'll be able to read the thread in chronological order.

I'll save you some time on this one, though... Here's a link to the post that has your answers.

If you still have questions, let me know. 

Olivia

[rfry]

Timeline:

November 7, 2011 - Purchased item from Walmart.

November 7, 2011 - (6-8 hours later) Cancelled Walmart order & asked Walmart for a refund. 

November 8, 2011 - Walmart issued a refund to my PayPal account.

November 8, 2011 - PayPal puts a hold on my refund from Walmart, "while they investigate the transaction." It may be 3-4 days before their investigation is completed and my funds are taken off of "HOLD". They will contact me.

November 12, 2011 - I send an email to PayPal asking why they have put my funds on hold. (No reply from PayPal).

November 14, 2011 -  I send another email to PayPal asking why they have put my funds on hold. (No reply from PayPal).

November 15, 2011 - (7 days after Walmart issued my refund) PayPal has removed the "Hold" on my refund from Walmart.

November 15, 2011 - I transfer my entire PayPal balance back to my bank but guess what, "You made a request to transfer money from your PayPal account to your bank account. The transfer will complete in 3-4 days." I am shocked! (not).

I have had an account with PayPal for over ten years but this will be my final transaction with PayPal.

[kpeter5801]

Thanks for your horrible customer dis-service Paypal.  You have lost another long time user with your Temporary Hold....Your Girl Scout Cookie example just made me even more mad at this situation.  Your BS Company can instantly get money out of my account (this was a fraudulent charge that was investigated and found fraudulent by both you and the company that the funds were sent to originally).  They returned the money to you, but you hold on to that money....collect interest I guess (I have read your BS posts Olivia about how I need to see Greg),  while I am waiting to FEED my family.  I NEVER AUTHORIZED ANYONE TO TAKE MY MONEY!  PAYPAL AGREED!  THE THIRD PARTY AGREED!  I just need MY money back NOW!  NOT in a BS Paypal account...I never gave you permission to take it!  I am closing my account as soon as I can, and telling everyone else I know to do the same.  Your company has made me BEYOND upset!

[PayPal_Olivia]

Hi kpeter5801,

My example was intended to illustrate the process. It's difficult to convey tone accurately in text, and if I came off sounding patronizing, I totally missed what I was aiming at. I sincerely apologize for any offense - none was intended at all.

When the funds are in transit, they are not in PayPal's possession. We have not received them. The moment that the funds are received after going through the Automated Clearing House process, they are put in your account. You have access to the funds at that time.

I hope this helps clarify!

Olivia

[9235charles]

ME TOO!!  I AM DONE.  IF OUR FUNDS ARE ON HOLD IMMEDIATELY AND NOT SENT TO PAYPAL FOR DAYS, THEN THEY CAN BE STOPPED AND TRANSACTION TERMINATED.  ESPECIALLY LIKE MINE THAT HAPPENED ON THE SAME DAY!!!

[9235charles]

I agree that a short hold of maybe a day would be OK.  We are in a instant transacion world.  Funny how the $ comes out instantly and takes over a week to return possibly two weeks. I myself am going to look for alternative ways and plan to post them at work.  And around the community.  I have been locked out, held and disputed for the last time.  I dont know what happened to paypal, they used to awesome!!

[seang89]

I work for a bank, and Regulation CC has rules about how long holds can be placed (which Pay Pal is in violation of). However, there would have been a disclosure when we signed up giving them permission to place extended holds for no reason that nobody reads but you have to agree to anyway or else they don't let you get an account. Also, because our accounts are verified by Pay Pal they should be able to verify everything very quickly. The fact that they can withdraw instantly but it takes forever to put money back in is BS. The refund is from Pay Pal to Pay Pal so it should be instant, but they find some bogus reason to place an extended hold. I hate Pay Pal and will only deal with them when necessary.

[AquariaUSA]

Its the yield spread...instead of a 1 day term, Paypal is using funds for a 3 or 7 day yield return. Olivia...quoting NACHA reference is great, if you are referring to Bank processing from the bank to Paypal. However, Paypal batches daily on banking days (according to your internal docs). Part of the issue your clients are having is speaking with uninformed CSR reps who are told to repeat "i understand" every other sentence. They are merely message takers and the reason so many people are getting frustrated. Allow your clients to default to using a credit card vs a bank account and half of these issues would be avoided...but its obvious dealing with a bank is a lower risk than a credit card purchase (when fraud is involved). Accidentally i clicked a transfer that defaulted to a bank account, and thought i had stopped the connection before it went through. Logged back in, did not see transacton, so sent a new transfer after clicking on the primary card. moments later, two transactions appeared on the account (one from the bank account, one from the card) and i called the nohelp "i understand" phone number listed on the site. A waste of time...so i emailed and got a cookie cutter (funny girl scout cookie reference) reply that had nothing to do with my transaction. Replied back to the rep, and got another reply froma rep regurgitating company policy on "it takes your bank 3-5 days to transfer the money to paypal" which in the case of BofA is a bogus claim. I use three payment services, and yours by far takes the longest...the others also use batch processing. My company also accepts both wire and batch transfers, three days tops. This clearly indicates Paypal is using client funds to invest overnight for interest gains (which is legal, but your disclaimer should indicated the duration of holds placed on refunds). I received an email from the third CSR rep that the refund (processed on the 14th) would be in my account no later than today 11/18...so i could then wait another three banking days for Paypal to credit the bank account used. This ends up being 7 banking days... It would have been faster if your company mailed a check via USPS...so please stop claiming its uo to how fast our banks disperse the funds to Paypal. But what a shocker that the funds have yet to be released from the temporary Paypal hold (which has nothing to do with ACH debit/credit on a refund (after funds had cleared te banks). We were seriously considering moving a lot of our electronic payments and billing to Paypal prior to this issue...

[mrwizyrd]

So, based on your analogy of the girl scout cookie sales:

I want a box of cookies from Person B for $5. I give the money to Person A since he will see her first. Person A gives her the money on good faith, whether or not I received my cookies. That is exactly how paypal works. Since Person A has a merchant relationship with Person B, they are given good faith. But you do not afford the same treatment towards the actual consumers of your service.

You say you cannot issue refunded money that you don’t have yet, but you issue that same nonexistent money to the merchants as soon as the transaction is issued and approved by the funder (bank, etc).

I understand that, but don’t sit there and try to spin it. PARASITES