My mom lives on the other side of the country, and recently had a bit of an emergency situation in which I needed to send her money. I had just sent money to another person about an hour prior, and they had received it almost immediately, so I couldn't understand why this one was showing as pending on my end and not at all in my mom's PayPal account. It was late at night, so I couldn't call them for help. I tried checking in different places but after an hour or 2, I was very concerned about the whereabouts of this decently large sum of money! After reading other complaints about people's money being held up, I decided to cancel the transaction and to just send my mom a check. This all took place very late on Wednesday night, until about 1am into Thursday morning, which was Thankgiving day. I knew my bank was closed all day, and since this was still showing to be pending, I assumed no money would be pulled from my account. I was wrong! Friday morning I received an email from my bank letting me know that the money was in fact pulled. I immediately contacted PayPal in an attempt to get my money back into my account. After realizing the rep I was speaking with couldn't help, I requested her supervisor. After waiting for OVER 15 MINUTES (while at work!), I finally got Gavin on the phone, but he was also not willing to help. I was basically told, 'sorry about your luck', and that I needed to contact my bank or wait. I even asked them to add the amount to my PayPal credit balance so that the cash could be available in my bank account for my mother, but he was not willing to do this. The only option I was given was to make another transfer from PayPal credit, but that would also come with an almost 3% fee. That means I would have had to pay about $85 in fees to essentially access my own money! I asked if the fee could possibly be waived considering the situation, but Gavin didn't care and was unwilling to work with me in any way. At this point, I've spent HOURS on the phone and online trying to just get MY money back. They have no problem immediately debiting the money, but they make you jump through hoops to get it back! I was told that it could take up to 2 weeks to get my money back into my PayPal account, and then I'll have to pay another fee to have it put back into my bank account!! If I did this with my debit or credit card, it would automatically go back on the card; so why do O have to request that my money go back into my bank account and pay a fee to do so?! This is not right, and with me cancelling the transaction long before it was taken from my bank account, it should have NEVER been removed in the first place! I feel like PayPal has stolen my money, or is at least holding it hostage, and it's causing so many problems for both me and my mom!! My preferred payment method when shopping online is PayPal. However, after all of this, I don't think I'll be using them anymore. This is not how you treat "valued" customers, but it is how you lose them!! Thanks for nothing, PayPal! You've proven once again that big business doesn't give a **bleep** about their customers, and that money is the only thing that matters! Your customer service is lacking, and this isn't the first time I've thought this. I had to call 3 times last month to ask about a refund I was due. Again, the money came from my bank account, but they couldn't return it to the account. My options were to keep in in my PayPal account for future use, or wait on a check. Not to mention, the 3 people I spoke with all told me 3 different things! WTF?! Do you even train your people??? Now I understand all of these complaints I've seen! I can promise you one thing though; you won't have any more from me after this. Once this is settled, both mine and my mother's PayPal accouts will be closed. I refuse to continue doing business with a company that refuses to make any effort to help their customers. Beware of sending your money through PayPal, people! It may "disappear" for weeks, and nobody there will be able to tell you where it is!!
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