April is thankful she didn’t keep a bunch of money in her PayPal account because she can’t touch the buck and change she has left in there. Her crime: moving and failing to convince PayPal she’s the same person. She says PayPal won’t let her re-activate or close the account no matter how much proof she provides.

She writes:

This is my PayPal horror story. I began using PayPal in 2006, and spent a lot on eBay up until 2009 when I lost my job. When I moved, I updated my address and my account was put “On Hold/Limited Access” because they wanted proof of my new residence.

Sure! Sounds reasonable. So, I upload every personal document they requested (utility bills, etc) into PayPal’s database.

A month goes by, and nothing happens, the case is still Pending and i’m on “Limited Acces”. So, I send contacts to PayPal Customer Service quite frequently, and am never able to receive a response (other than an email, explaining how to log in to my account and resolve the issue there). Beyond that, I actually CALL, and am treated to a Voice-Recording telling me to “log on to PayPal to see how to remove the limit from your account!”

I’ve been doing research on PayPal (since just experiencing my own consumerist horror story) and how they “limit access” to funds – apparently this is not a new issue, and I should consider myself lucky that they did not with-hold thousands of my own dollars from me.

I supposedly have $1.15 in the account that has now been “Permanently Limited” — They will not allow me to remove my personal financial information or even cancel my account due to this. Apparently they “suspected ID theft” (though I was never notified) and now — They have told me “It’s our preference to Indefinitely Limit your account, as opposed to canceling the account. It is a Parting of ways, not a cancellation of your account. We just prefer you not utilize Paypal again. Your account can Never Be Canceled since it is in this Limited ‘freeze’.”

They refuse to give me an explanation as to Why! The CSR could not find any type of “Form Letter” to send to me, to explain why this happened. None. **However, he said he WILL SEND ME SOMETHING explaining the situation** (I wont hold my breath)

It seems PayPal/eBay erroneously “suspected some type of odd activity within the financial information stored” and decided it was best to Indefinitely Limit my account – this way, they can still “not authorize” any transactions coming from my personal financial payment methods. This, after I spent a few hours one day Uploading all of my financial documents to prove the added account was mine.

So…Me, and all of mine, have Deleted our PayPal accounts and I suggest you do the same. At any moment – they can “Limit” or “FREEZE” your account, and hold all of your financial information hostage.

I smell a rat, and think they are screwing a lot of people. I never had credit with them, or utilized their services for anything other than eBay.

If you’ve navigated your way out of PayPal hell and have some tips for April, please share.

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