Negative Balance Dispute

[JJJames]

Hello!  14 months ago, I filed a dispute with a hotel that we did NOT stay in due to a fraudulent site that represented them. I did report this to PayPal immediately! The web site was corrected within just a few hours to represent them correctly.  I did agree to pay them ONE nights stay, even though we didn't stay there but 10 min!  They did refund the balance.  Now,  14 months later,  this money, OVER 1400.00, has just shown up again making me have a NEGATIVE PayPal balance.  I have made a total of 16 phone calls to PayPal and PayPal MasterCard over this.  They keep telling me to call the other. PayPal MasterCard has NO record of this chargeback, yet that is what PayPal is telling me that it is and coming from MasterCard!  I DID file a dispute on this "chargeback" and was immediately found in MY favor, however after nearly 2 weeks, the negative balance is STILL there and I am actually getting calls from PayPal COLLECTIONS!!!  I don't know what else to do!!! PLEASE HELP!  BOTH my PayPal Credit AND MasterCard accounts have a ZERO balance and BOTH have a high credit limit with them being in good standing as I have Never made a late payment on either.  THANX!

[PayPal_JonK]

Hello @JJJames, 

Welcome to the PayPal Community Forum! I'm sorry to hear a transaction didn't pan out quite as you had expected. This certainly does sound like a confusing situation. As a buyer, you normally should not experience a charge 14 months after you've won a dispute, or be charged back for a payment you originally sent and were refunded for. Chargebacks are disputes filed outside of PayPal by the sender of the payment and cannot be filed on a refund. I would continue to work directly with our Customer Support teams to see what the status of the transaction is and look into what is causing your negative balance. 

Best wishes on this and future transactions, 

 - Jon K

[JJJames]

HI!  Paypal is telling me that it is a chargeback from the Paypal Mastercard that I have that also shows on my Paypal home page.  Paypal told me that I needed to call the Mastercard and find out why they are doing a chargeback.  I call Paypal mastercard and they have NO idea what I am talking about and my balance with them shows zero balance and in good standing! They concur with me that the transaction was handled and refunded 14 months ago.  I call Paypal back , they keep telling me the same thing over and over, to call Paypal Mastercard!  I called them AGAIN, SAME response!  I honestly dont know what to do to clear this up.  I just dont owe this money!  I am even getting calls from the Paypal collections dept!!!

[PayPal_JonK]

Hello @JJJames, 

Welcome back and thank you for letting us know the chargeback was initiated from your PayPal Mastercard. That actually makes a bit more sense, while the time-frame is still a bit interesting, I think I may be able to shine a bit of light here. Normally, the only reason a debit / credit card would take your PayPal account negative is if you would have received 2 refunds for one transaction. 

If the seller authorizes a refund on their own, and there's a dispute in process on your credit card's end, there's a possibility the refund may process twice. I would recommend gong back over the past 14 months in your Mastercard history, sort by your refunds, and double-check if you received 2 of them. If you did not receive 2 refunds, you would want to get PayPal Mastercard's dispute team on the line to do a bit of research on that chargeback. If you've just been talking to their regular customer support and not their dispute teams, that may be why they keep redirecting you back to PayPal Support. 

I hope that helps a little. Good luck and best wishes!

 - Jon K

[JJJames]

HI!  Actually ,  that has been checked by the PP Mastercard team.  They show NO record of anything other than the charge and the particial refund.  So that is not it either.  And like you,  I SURE wonder what this 14 month later "thing" is.  There is just NO way in the world that this would have taken even close to that long to show up.  Not that I KNOW about that,  just how I am figuring on it.  This is so mysterious! I REALLY appreciate your advise on this!  I would HATE SO BAD not being able to use PP anymore! I have been a customer since 1999 and this is the very FIRST time I have ever had ANY issue with them! BUT,  I just cant pay such an amount that I just dont owe.  I am SO distraught over this!!!!