Hello, I've been providing software development services through Paypal and recently completed a multi-month contract (from Sept 2023 to April 2024) and was paid April 5th. Initially, the transaction was put on a 3 week hold and I simply waited it out but the money never ended up being released. So I called customer service on multiple occasions to get this resolved and got a different answer every time.
(1) The first time I called after the 3 week hold I was told it was actually a 4 week hold and that I had to wait a bit longer. I waited, and nothing cleared after 4 weeks.
(2) The second agent I contacted several days later told me the entire balance of 29k$ was put on a "reserve hold" and she sent me an email to explain it a bit further. She also told me she had escalated the case and that everything should be resolved within 24 hours. I received a message later that day stating that "unfortunately, we are not able to approve your reserves reconsideration at this time."
(3) I have called again today and I was told that nothing could be done to help as a reconsideration had already been submitted and that I need to wait another month before submitting a new one. I was also told that PayPal is able to hold my money indefinitely and that I just have to keep trying again every month until it is (hopefully) released.
This is incredibly concerning to me as I need this money pretty urgently to pay my bills. I have been using Paypal for over a year and never had a dispute or a chargeback. The only difference here compared to my normal activity is that I received the payment in a lump sum at the end of the contract instead of month-to-month.
Customer service has been providing me a lot of conflicting information so I want to ask:
(1) Is it true that PayPal can hold this money forever? If so, wouldn't it always be in their best interest to hold for as long as possible even if the payment is legitimate?
(2) Is there any way to expedite the release process in this situation? The client should be able to independently confirm that the service was provided as I was paid after the service was complete, as per our agreement.
