Date Received: 2022-09-14
Issue: Other transaction problem
Subissue:
Consumer Complaint: On XX/XX/XXXX I purchased {$400.00} of XXXX ( XXXX ) using the Venmo app. I accidentally purchased on there thinking it was XXXX. A few days later when I realized the error I tried to sell it to convert to cash. When I am prompted on a screen to enter my SSN # then hit " done '', I receive a blank screen and nothing else. I uninstalled and reinstalled app, tried using on someone else 's phone but to no avail. I reported the issue on XX/XX/XXXX and on XX/XX/XXXX I rec 'd an email suggesting I perform a bunch of steps to see if it helped. I tried and again, nothing. When I wrote back I provided screen shots, details of every action step taken etc. I was finally told there may be a bug. I have written three times since and have NOT REC 'D A REPLY. Today, ( XX/XX/XXXX ) I called and was told it's a known issue w/no ETA on a fix. I explained I have since lost {$70.00} since the time I tried to sell and today. They told me there is nothing they can do, period. This is INEXCUSABLE they've known about this issue for months ( I was told ) and don't have a solution!
Company Response:
State: MA
Zip: 01040
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2022-09-14
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with monetary relief
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2022-09-13
Issue: Closing an account
Subissue: Company closed your account
Consumer Complaint: Venmo closed my debit card and said " Were writing to inform you that we've detected some activity on your account that appears to be in violation of our User Agreement. Engaging in this activity is high risk and may leave you or others vulnerable to fraudulent payments and scams, both of which can lead to financial loss. Because safety is our priority, we have made a business decision to close your Venmo Debit Card. '' I don't believe I even used the debit card so I don't know what activity violated anything in the agreement. I have not received any information from Venmo about this sudden closure.
Company Response:
State: TX
Zip: 787XX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2022-09-13
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2022-09-13
Issue: Managing an account
Subissue: Problem accessing account
Consumer Complaint: A while ago, I'm not sure exactly when because it's been a long time. I tried to open a PayPal account. It was immediately limited and I wasn't able to use it because according to them there is activity that is inconsistent with the user agreement. I never even got to use the account and there was never any activity on the account. They never even sent me a PayPal card. Now it says I am not allowed to ever use PayPal. I tried to find out what was going o with no luck in getting a straight answer at all. They asked for my driver 's license and bank statements to verify my identity which I provided and I still can not use it.
Company Response:
State: PA
Zip: 182XX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2022-09-13
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2022-09-13
Issue: Unauthorized transactions or other transaction problem
Subissue:
Consumer Complaint: I received a payment via XXXX on PayPal on Sunday XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX. It was described to be available in 3-5 business days. On Friday XX/XX/XXXX, my XXXX still was not available in my account. I called customer service and they said it hadnt been the full 5 days because of the XXXX XXXX holiday. On Monday XX/XX/XXXX, the XXXX was still not available in my account. I called customer service and they told me it would be available later that day, as I have seen the FULL 5 days out. Today is Tuesday XX/XX/XXXX, and the money is still not available in my account. Why should my money sit in an interest bearing account on the behalf of PayPal for over a week? Where is the interest payment to ME on MY money that PayPal has held for over a week now? How am I supposed to run a business this way?
Company Response:
State: VA
Zip: 22602
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2022-09-13
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with monetary relief
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2022-09-13
Issue: Fraud or scam
Subissue:
Consumer Complaint: I received the following message on Friday, XX/XX/XXXX : You can no longer do business with PayPal After a review of your account activity, we've determined that you're in violation of PayPal 's Acceptable Use Policy. As a result, your account has been permanently limited and you won't be able to conduct any further business using PayPal. This is permitted under the PayPal User Agreement sections Restricted Activities and Actions We May Take. You must remove all references to PayPal from your website ( s ) and/or auction ( s ), including removing PayPal as a payment option, the PayPal logo XXXX and the PayPal shopping cart. If you have funds in your PayPal balance, we'll hold it up for 180 days. These funds may be used to satisfy any obligations you may have under the User Agreement and Acceptable Use Policy, including potential liabilities to third parties and to PayPal for each violation of the Acceptable Use Policy, including monetary damages. After that period, we'll email you with information on how to access any remaining funds. If there are chargebacks that result in your account balance falling below zero, you will need to settle the amount owed to PayPal to avoid further action. Customers who are permanently limited for violating the Acceptable Use Policy are not permitted to use PayPal services and are not permitted to open new or additional PayPal accounts. You can find the complete the PayPal Acceptable Use Policy by clicking Legal at the bottom of any PayPal page. We regret any inconvenience this may cause. I then received the following message on Monday, XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX, Your Venmo account has been frozen due to recent activity that triggered some security alerts. You may have received a separate email from Venmo with more information. If you have questions or want to reactivate your account, please contact Support here. Thanks, Team Venmo Also on Monday, XX/XX/XXXX I received the following message. I did not submit a request to Venmo, nor did I have time to respond the the previous message, which arrived 22 minutes earlier. You have a new message from Venmo regarding request # XXXX. To respond, simply reply to this email. Hello XXXX, We have recently reviewed your usage of Venmo 's services, as reflected in our records. Due to the nature of your activities, we have chosen to discontinue service to you in accordance with Venmo 's User Agreement. As a result, we have placed a permanent limitation on your account. We ask that you please remove any and all references to Venmo from your website and social media accounts. You may transfer the remaining account balance to your bank account but you will no longer be able to access your Venmo account. We thank you in advance for your cooperation. If you have any further questions, please reply to this email. Sincerely, Team Venmo Here is my complaint : I have conducted no transactions on PayPal that violated their Acceptable Use Policy. I have only one PayPal account, which I have used infrequently since XXXX. I have never had another PayPal account besides this one. I have checked the transaction history for my PayPal and associated bank accounts and see nothing unusual. My transactions are all legitimate and do not violate the Acceptable Use Policy. Therefore, I think this is an instance of either fraud or faulty algorithms flagging my account. Either way, I contacted PayPal yesterday ( XX/XX/XXXX ) and have not yet received a response. Related, in spring XXXX, my Venmo account ( but not my PayPal account ) was permanently suspended for violating their User Agreement. However, this was reversed after I complained and my account was eventually restored ( otherwise, it could not be suspended again now ). I contacted CFPB for this problem as well ( complaint ID XXXX submitted on XX/XX/XXXX ). With both PayPal and Venmo ( for which PayPal is responsible ), these companies are unfairly smearing my digital presence and damaging my ability to conduct legitimate transactions. Thank you
Company Response:
State: CO
Zip: 804XX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2022-09-13
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2022-09-13
Issue: Fraud or scam
Subissue:
Consumer Complaint: I filed a dispute on XX/XX/2022 with Paypal for transaction ( ID XXXX ) from a Paypal account linked to email ( XXXX ) in the amount of XXXX ( XXXX in USD ) to a Paypal account under name : XXXX XXXX XXXX my XXXX son made a transaction that I did not authorize to a fraudulent offer on the internet. When my son did not get what he wanted to purchase, he reached me and I filed a claim with Paypal, worned an account under XXXX XXXX holder that he is not my family member of a friend, he scammed a child and if he will not return the amount I will continue to ask authorities to run the investigation. After 7 days of waiting from Paypal I got a denial email that a transfer was authorized. What should I do and whom should I contact further on? It is a fraudulent activity of a Paypal account user, and I did not authorize this purchase. Paypal representative, who issued a denial letter, can not speak for me ( if I authorized it or not ). Thus, this person was not properly trained to identify fraudulent and unauthorized activity on the account. I do not have anyone in XXXX and never sent any money to XXXX previously to this fraudulent person previously. In this case I consider Paypal supporting scammers and fraudulent account users in XXXX who target kids on XXXX platform to scam their parents ' PayPal accounts. I want to escalate this case to an official investigation on PayPal financial services to a manager level for : 1.Review and close scammers ' accounts that are targeting children ; 2. Act in a proper timeframe for report of scammers 3. Refund the amount I was asking. Kind regards, XXXX XXXX XXXX
Company Response:
State: MA
Zip: 017XX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2022-09-13
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with monetary relief
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2022-09-13
Issue: Other transaction problem
Subissue:
Consumer Complaint: On XX/XX/2022 my Auntie XXXX XXXX used Venmo/PayPal to send me {$2200.00}. I was unaware that my bank " XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX " in XXXX, Mo used a different money transfer the XXXX app to recieve money transfers. I had contacted Venmo over 12 times sending my correct email, driver 's license, 3 months of bank statements by email to the Venmo specialist team. Venmo just this last Saturday XX/XX/2022 informed me that the money was at my bank and to contact my bank, upon doing so I learned from my bank that they don't use Venmo/PayPal to ask Venmo to refund my Aunt 's {$2200.00}. My Auntie and I called today XX/XX/2022 at XXXX XXXX CT only to be told that the problem for the refund was being sent to a specialist Team for review yet again and it would take another 24 hour before I would receive an email from Venmo/PayPal to respond to the refund. The last time I made a complaint to Venmo/PayPal they told me the same thing and I had to call Venmo/PayPal back. This is going on 2 months now. Please help my Auntie XXXX get her total refund for sending my {$2200.00}, amount to send money was XXXX. If you have any questions please email me at : XXXX XXXX
Company Response:
State: KS
Zip: 660XX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2022-09-29
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with monetary relief
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2022-09-13
Issue: Fraud or scam
Subissue:
Consumer Complaint: My Paypal account was used to make a purchase off a website called XXXX. The website was a preorder business for sneakers and Paypal was the only accepted form of payment. Three total sneakers were ordered off the website on separate transactions : The first on XX/XX/2022 in the amount of {$220.00}, next on XX/XX/2022 in the amount of {$210.00}, and finally on XX/XX/2022 in the amount of {$230.00}. The transaction total was {$660.00} and was all paid to the merchant through my Paypal account. Prior to delivery of the merchandise the business had gone bankrupt, therefore I never received any of my orders. I immediately filed a claim with Paypal by XX/XX/2022 to try and get a refund for my purchase. The claims were escalated by the representative, but was denied citing reasons that " buyer protection '' does not apply to items purchased with the intent to resell. The ordered merchandise was solely for my own personal use and collection. There was no intent to resell or redistribute the purchased merchandise. Have been attempting to reopen claims, however Paypal continues to refuse refunding my purchases even though it falls under their buyer protection policy. Trying to seek resolution but thus far have bene unsuccessful as Paypal continues to assume my intent for purchase was to resale.
Company Response:
State: CA
Zip: 91770
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2022-09-13
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2022-09-13
Issue: Unauthorized transactions or other transaction problem
Subissue:
Consumer Complaint: On XXXX XXXX I used Paypal to transfer money to a friend. They refused the transaction immediately due to Paypals fees. I then used XXXX thru XXXX XXXX XXXX to complete the transfer. 5 days later paypal tried to take the money out of my account overdrawing it. I called paypal and they initiated a refund they said could take 5 days. This withdrawl was cancelled 5 days earlier and they still took it. On XX/XX/XXXX my money was finally refunded and I thought it was handled. Last night XX/XX/XXXX Paypal once again took out the money from my checking account. I was told by Paypal that it should not have happened. Now the amount was {$4800.00} and I am sure any interest collected on that money when paypal has it is not paid back to me. In addition I have bank overdraft charges that are due me. Paypal is almost impossible to deal with and I still do not have any resolution. Please help.
Company Response:
State: CA
Zip: 92111
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2022-09-13
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with monetary relief
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2022-09-13
Issue: Managing, opening, or closing your mobile wallet account
Subissue:
Consumer Complaint: On XX/XX/22 I opened an account with Venmo after making the mistake of believing I needed to use one to use XXXX XXXX After realizing my error I proceeded to leave the account alone entirely. As I had no further use for it. No transactions were made, no withdrawals, and no balance owed ; overdraft, due, or otherwise. I heard nothing from Venmo over the weekend and came to find later their office hours are closed. As this did not really matter in the moment due to my lack of interest in the account I went on my way and continued my weekend. On XX/XX/22 I received an email from them asking about connecting a method to withdraw money or add money in an email, and then an hour after this email I was informed my account was 'frozen due to recent activity that appears to have violated the User Agreement. ' This is false, as I had not even used the application or done anything in it to warrant a violation to begin with. No purchases made. No withdrawals or money requests. No accounts hooked to the Venmo ; banking, credit or debit from any institution No breach of an account I did not own. No duplicate accounts. Nothing. I read through their User Agreement and found myself in no form of violation to their terms at all. My account was also verified by their app which means they approved my Name / DoB / SSN / Address, City, & State as all being valid and toward me. Yet the email told me that with my account frozen I would be able to reactivate it if I sent them a copy of my photo ID unexpired. I do not feel comfortable with this at all. I never used the platform only signed up for it, they are requesting more of my identification despite their app verifying me, and after speaking to their correspondence on the matter I am stuck waiting for 7-10 day turn around for an answer. This is also in pair with the fact that an account can not be closed if it is frozen. A little history and research on Venmo will show this is a common practice of theirs and for some also is a means of their money being held in a 180 day limbo. Fortunately I have nothing invested in them and only want my account closed. The Pandemic also makes it impossible to get properly updated identification without an appointment and appointments are swamped with the higher rising cases. I want nothing to do with Venmo and informed them of such when I reached back out via email. Since I never utilized the account for any purpose, I would like the account unfrozen and closed. If I decide at a later date I want to open a Venmo account then sure, I will do so, but that is not likely considering their customer service and refusal to work with me to resolve such a simple matter.
Company Response:
State: MI
Zip: 48219
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2022-09-13
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A