PayPal

I've been a PayPal user for years, but my recent experience has completely destroyed my confidence in their service. An unauthorized transaction appeared on my account for a digital item from a merchant I have never used and have no account with. I reported it immediately, removed all payment methods, and told PayPal clearly that it was not my purchase. Despite this, PayPal ignored my messages, refused to treat the payment as unauthorized, and even sent incorrect automated emails claiming they had charged a "backup credit card" that I do not have. I had removed every funding source from my account, yet PayPal still processed the transaction and forced money out of my bank card. Their customer service gave contradictory information, closed my case without explanation, and refused to provide any meaningful support. The merchant also refused to help, and PayPal still sided with them without sharing any proof that I supposedly received anything. In the end, I had to open a dispute with my bank because PayPal failed to protect me, failed to investigate properly, and failed to stop an unauthorized charge — even after I warned them. PayPal's Buyer Protection is unreliable, their system messages are inaccurate, and their support feels automated and dismissive. I expected security and trust. Instead, I got stress, lost money, and total disregard for my concerns. Extremely disappointing service. I will avoid using PayPal whenever possible from now on.

A resolution was found in favor of scammer gitfe.com despite lack of substantial evidence. Not vetted properly by PayPal.com and at a loss for purchaser.

I have never dealt with a company that made such a simple problem so unbelievably difficult to resolve. My nightmare started when I reported fraudulent charges on my account. What should have been a straightforward fraud investigation turned into over a month and a half of phone calls, chats, emails, and hours wasted trying to get PayPal to do the right thing. I was transferred between departments, given conflicting information by different representatives, forced to repeat my story over and over, and constantly told to wait while nothing actually happened. PayPal's fraud department was completely ineffective. Instead of protecting their customer and resolving the fraudulent transactions in a timely manner, they dragged the process out for weeks while I spent countless hours chasing updates and trying to get someone to take ownership of the issue. In the end, PayPal didn't solve the problem. The only reason it was finally resolved was because I filed a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). It should never take a complaint to a federal government agency just to get a financial company to properly handle a fraud case. After finally getting the fraud issue resolved, I decided I never wanted to do business with PayPal again and attempted to close my account. Even that became another frustrating ordeal. My account showed a negative balance of only $9.99, but PayPal refused to let me use any of the bank accounts, debit cards, or credit cards that were already linked to my account to pay it. The problem wasn't my payment methods—PayPal simply would not allow any of them to be used to clear the balance. I spent over an hour just trying to pay $9.99 so I could close my account. Think about that for a second. After spending more than six weeks fighting PayPal over fraudulent charges, I then had to spend another hour just trying to leave. No customer should have to fight this hard to resolve fraud, involve a federal regulator to get results, and then fight the company again just to close their account. This experience permanently destroyed my trust in PayPal. There are too many better payment services available today to justify dealing with this level of incompetence and customer service. I will never use PayPal again, and I strongly encourage others to consider alternatives.

I am writing this as a warning to anyone on a budget. DO NOT TRUST PAYPAL. I am not a wealthy person; I am a low-income, honest citizen who works hard for every penny. I rely on services like 'Pay in 3' to manage my finances responsibly. I have always been a trustworthy user. The Nightmare: I ordered a high-value item via PayPal for safety. It arrived defective ('Significantly Not As Described'). I proved it immediately. Even the PayPal Supervisor (Luna) admitted on a recorded call that the decision was made in my favour. The Cruelty: Despite confirming I am right, PayPal refuses to refund me immediately. Instead, they are FORCING me—a low-income person—to continue paying monthly instalments for a broken item while they wait weeks for a 'seller appeal window'. Why this is shameful: For PayPal, £176 might be nothing. For someone on a low income like me, it is a massive amount. By holding my money hostage and threatening me with Late Fees and a Damaged Credit Score if I stop paying, you are causing me genuine financial distress. You are effectively protecting the cash flow of a seller who breached the contract, at the expense of a vulnerable buyer's livelihood. I have formally paid 'Under Protest' to protect my credit rating. Shame on you, PayPal, for kicking the little guy while he is down. I am reporting this conduct to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

0 customer protection. Once you get scammed, PayPal does absolutely nothing. No support, no investigation, no help from the app. I trusted PayPal, but there's literally zero protection for customers. Extremely disappointing.

If I could give zero stars, I would. PayPal has shown me the most pathetic customer service I've ever experienced on any online platform. I was charged on Oct 8 for an auto renewal for a membership, contacted both the seller and PayPal immediately, and the seller confirmed the refund within weeks. Meanwhile, I shared the seller's email confirmation and the online chat screenshots with PayPal, along with the case ID provided by the seller. For over a month, PayPal did absolutely nothing except change dates and pretend they were "updating" the case. When I finally called, the excuses were unbelievable: first the agent blamed the bank, claiming the funds were blocked (false — the money had already been debited from my account), then claimed the seller didn't issue a refund (also false), then said I didn't provide a case ID (I did), and finally told me the seller supposedly provided a "fake case ID." One agent, four different stories — all to justify putting a hold on the funds. When I asked for a supervisor, I was told supervisors don't take calls and that I'd have to wait 24–48 hours for some mystery callback. After all the evidence, all the communication, and all the back and forth, PayPal still hasn't returned a single cent and is now sending me back to the seller again. This company is a complete joke. The incompetence, the lies, the runaround, and the total lack of accountability are shocking. For a global payment platform, PayPal operates like a chaotic, unprofessional mess.

It must criminal for Paypal to not mail my credit balance for close to 2 months. I decided to save a few bucks on their bank transfer and request a check on November 18th, 2025. Today it's January 14th and still not check. I submitted online claim (they denied as it's within their timeframe) and with their funny math, want me to reach out several weeks later for a request to research the status. Absolutely insane.

Long story short I had four orders on walmart.com that were paid for with my paypal balance that I returned to my local store because walmart isn't allowing returns by mail anymore.(this assists and helps walmart steal people's money)They did not return my money back to my paypal balance, they decided without my permission/consent that I was going to get gift cards instead. Walmart said oh well so sad it's already refunded so I opened the first two cases with paypal, it was dragged out because the paypal rep that opened the case put "buyer's remorse" (Fun Fact: people can return items back to walmart within 90 days for whatever reason they choose)as the reason I opened the case. So either the paypal reps are untrained or incentivized/penalized in some way to not open cases and/or drag them out until the cases are denied because of the false reason the reps put on the cases. Why else would they put a false reason for me opening the case after I clearly explained what walmart did to steal my money? The two cases closed in my favor yesterday. Today I went to open the two other cases and the transactions say the money supposedly returned to my paypal balance which is completely false. At least that's what it says in my paypal account, My paypal balance does not reflect that the money was returned to my paypal balance even though paypal falsely put that my money was returned to my paypal balance. But in my walmart account I have the concrete proof walmart issued me giftcards, and they in fact did not refund me my money back to my paypal balance and here screenshots of that. They even attempted to cover it up but were caught rede handed and still refuse to return my money they stole from me. This is concrete proof that paypal assisted walmart in the theft of my money:

I have been with PayPal for over 20 years. They do not support customers any longer. They are supporting the scammers.

Review Title: PREDATORY INSTITUTIONAL FRAUD: PayPal Betrayed My 7-Year Loyalty and Hijacked My Personal Funds After I Spent Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars on Their Platform! While every person ultimately decides what they choose to do with their own finances, I am sharing my direct, harrowing experience to warn this community about the reality of dealing with PayPal, Inc. Do not trust this company with a single penny of your money. Based on my real-world interaction, this platform is a thoroughly dishonest and untrustworthy organization that operates a calculating, predatory bait-and-switch scheme designed to intercept private consumer capital, bleed accounts with unearned commercial fees, and unlawfully convert assets. They operate on pure corporate arrogance, completely disregarding user loyalty, identity theft protections, and federal banking laws. To be absolutely clear: I am NO LONGER a PayPal user. I genuinely used to like this platform, which is the exact reason I kept my account active for over seven (7) consecutive years, processing hundreds of thousands of dollars in purchases through their ecosystem. I directly contributed to PayPal's corporate success for nearly a decade. To experience this shocking corporate misconduct and be victim-blamed after showing that level of loyalty is a complete betrayal. I will never, ever use PayPal again under any circumstances. This public warning is written strictly to share my experience, expose their dishonest practices, reclaim my stolen personal property, and permanently sever all ties. [1] 1. The Premeditated Gateway Lie Exposed Just one week prior to this financial disaster, I contacted PayPal support to verify my status, and their representative gave me absolute verbal assurances that my 7-year-old account was in perfect, unrestricted standing. Shortly thereafter, an isolated manual PayPal back-office team abruptly stepped in, completely ignored my extensive clean transaction history, and unilaterally locked my profile. They issued an official written notice stating that core transactional features—specifically the ability to "Receive money"—were restricted and unavailable. This is where PayPal exposed themselves as absolute liars. If a financial platform explicitly states an account can no longer receive activity, standard electronic banking protocols mandate that the inbound gateway must automatically block and bounce any incoming transfer back to the sender at no cost. If PayPal had actually enforced the restriction they claimed was active, the transaction would have failed at the gate. The online seller—whom I had spent two intense days communicating with, forcing her to return my money under a formal notice of legal action for failing to fulfill an order from January—would have used an alternative network like Zelle to instantly return my money directly to my bank. Instead, PayPal ran a deceptive, self-enriching trap. On July 28,2026, when the merchant processed the $997.00 refund of my personal funds (Transaction ID: 1VH*******EV*******E), PayPal deliberately left the gate open. They actively intercepted my hard-fought personal funds, instantly skimmed a $29.00 commercial processing fee off a transaction they officially claimed I couldn't receive, and then instantly slammed a 180-day freeze on the remaining $968.00 balance. This is a thoroughly corrupt business practice: lying to a consumer that an account cannot receive money, yet quietly pocketing a fee from an incoming transfer before trapping the underlying asset away from its owner. 2. Fabricated Accusations and Punishing a Victim of Identity Theft To justify this illegal hijacking of my personal funds, PayPal hit my account with a completely fabricated claim alleging that my profile is "linked to another account." This is a deceptive corporate lie. I am a documented victim of identity theft. If another profile exists with my information, it is a completely fraudulent, unauthorized account created by criminals without my knowledge or consent. Instead of protecting a victim of identity theft, PayPal's back-office team weaponized it to freeze my legitimate, independent, 7-year-old profile. Furthermore, this money is an undisputed return of consumer capital from an original purchase executed back in January 2026. The dashboard explicitly logs the order status as "Returned." Because the original transaction settled over half a year ago, the risk window for buyer chargebacks or merchant fraud has completely closed. PayPal has zero algorithmic or risk-based justification to hold this balance. By operating this predatory fee-extraction trap, PayPal is in direct violation of multiple statutes: 12 U.S. C. § 5536(a)(1)(B) [CFPA Unfair & Deceptive Acts]: Engaging in an asymmetrical operational framework designed to extract fees while stripping the consumer of the underlying service [CFPB]. 15 U.S. C. § 1681g / FCRA & Facta Guidelines: Failing to properly investigate identity theft flags and penalizing the actual consumer for fraudulent third-party data [CFPB]. 15 U.S. C. § 1693h [Electronic Fund Transfer Act]: Strict financial institution liability for failing to execute and make timely consumer electronic fund transfers [CFPB]. Massachusetts G. L. c. 93A: Executing unfair, deceptive, and predatory trade practices against a resident of the Commonwealth [CFPB]. 3. Back-Office Misconduct and Corporate Arrogance When I escalated this matter over the phone, the abuse became explicit. I spoke to a PayPal supervisor and repeatedly demanded a lawful justification or physical proof to back up this false "linked account" accusation. The supervisor explicitly admitted on a recorded line that frontline staff has no proof, stating the decision was made by an insulated, uncontactable "back-office team" that consumers are completely barred from communicating with. When I explained that this was a hard-fought refund of my own personal funds and that PayPal's hold was actively driving my primary bank account into a compounding $877.00 overdraft crisis at US Bank, the supervisor weaponized corporate arrogance. I was told flatly that a release was "not going to happen" and that "there is nothing you can do about it." 4. Active Enforcement Following 48-Hour Expiration PayPal's untrustworthy back-office team operates under the false assumption that their internal policies own the law and that consumers are completely powerless. They are wrong. I formally served their executive compliance offices with a 48-hour Notice of Dispute, which officially expired with total corporate silence. Because they chose to ignore my legal warning, I am taking maximum legal action. Active, official regulatory investigations are now open under: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB Case ID: **************) [CFPB] California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI Complaint No: CN*******) Massachusetts Division of Banks (MDOB License Enforcement Division) [CFPB] Furthermore, because their 48-hour pre-litigation window has failed, I am moving this case directly into Forced Consumer Arbitration via JAMS. I am demanding full actual, consequential, and statutory triple damages for willful conversion under M. G. L. C. 93A [CFPB]. PayPal's legal department will now be contractually forced to answer for this back-office misconduct and absorb thousands in arbitration invoices. Avoid this predatory company at all costs.