Paypal Reviews 38,770

I need this complaint escalated urgently.

I have now discovered that my overpayments were not being applied to the 4-month 0% promotional balance I was actively trying to clear. Instead, payments appear to have been allocated to a 24-month phone instalment plan within the retail balance.

This is extremely misleading. The statements and app do not make it clear that overpayments will be allocated this way, and I had no reasonable way of understanding that the shorter promotional balance was not being reduced as intended.

As a result, I may now incur interest despite making overpayments specifically to avoid this.

In addition, PayPal has now failed to collect a Direct Debit despite sufficient funds being available in my account and has reported a missed payment to my credit file.

I want this formally investigated and escalated as a complaint regarding:

* misleading payment allocation,
* inaccurate or unfair credit reporting,
* and failures in payment handling and customer communication.

Please provide a complaint reference number and confirm the next steps.

PayPal is completely failing its user base in East Africa due to a combination of neglected system updates and poorly trained customer support.
​The Communications Authority of Kenya officially introduced newer mobile prefixes (01xx series) years ago to accommodate market growth. Despite this being standard for a long time, PayPal's phone number validation forms on both web and app platforms still reject these official numbers as "invalid." The backend regex patterns are deeply outdated.
​When I raised this technical oversight with customer support, the agent completely deflected responsibility. They fabricated a story blaming "local government regulations" and shockingly suggested that I purchase an entirely new phone number preferably the 07xxx prefix series just to satisfy their broken system.
​A global fintech company should not expect its users to change their legal phone contracts to accommodate lazy software development. Fix your input forms and retrain your support staff to understand basic technical limitations instead of lying to customers.

Multiple problems to pay an invoice and then send a different payment. Many error messages trying to link bank accounts (tried two major banks on their list). Had to go through online chatbot. Then, kept refusing my sending money, stating it was for "safety" reasons. Contacting customer chat was useless. You wait 5-10 minutes for each response as they are obviously helping a long list of people while they're supposedly helping you. Never had any problems using Zelle. Will not use again and will not let vendors invoice me through PayPal again.

It's the most despicable and disgusting payment gateway platform ever, and insanely racist. It's incredibly complicated, and any platform that's complicated and requires so many steps is a scam. They're also racist and only accept US banks. Linking and uploading your card to the site requires complicated steps. Furthermore, it takes between 24 and 48 hours for the funds to appear in your PayPal account and be activated. If you want to transfer the money to your bank or card, it takes three days. It's just one delay after another, and the most annoying thing for me is the delay in receiving the money. They might even close your account permanently without warning or any reason, which is a form of fraud and scam; they're thieves.

Another very annoying thing is that every time you try to access a specific section within PayPal, it asks you to enter your password to proceed to the next page under the pretext of security. This is the worst, most disgusting, and most annoying thing. Another annoying thing is the unnecessary identity verification requests, even though we entered the verification information correctly. Every time I try to log in, they ask for unnecessary security buttons and request email verification. Even after email verification, they still require phone verification, which is incredibly annoying and exhausting. They are thieves, scammers, complicated, delaying your payments, and racist. Never deal with them.

I had PayPal for 7 years and it was fine…easy. I used it with almost everything, every subscription to my apps. All of a sudden, I get a email receipt saying that an app that I had subscribed to 2 years prior had charged my PayPal account, and had charged it for the last 3 months. I opened up a case against these charges. I sent a photo of the Apple app showing that I unsubscribed and it was inactive since 2024. The company, Lasta, said I signed into with a different email all of a sudden and was charging me for usage. PayPal sided with Lasta and let the charges for all 3 months go through. I didn’t know that they had opened up a new subscription on me and definitely didn’t know that just because once upon a time they used my PayPal, that gave them permission to use it again anytime in the future whenever they wanted to. I tried to close my account. I was given the run-around about this transaction hadn’t gone through and that one hadn’t gone through (all though in the end, the had all gone through)…finally, they let me close my account. I think I’ll use something else from now on. Just Beware of PayPal letting past businesses have access to your account whenever they see fit!

My account was permanently blocked and after multiple calls to the helpcenter, to resolve the issue, the AI and chat assistant told me that when an account suspension has been reviewed and upheld, they will permanently block you. There is no reason given, just a reference made to user agreements and that the account presented a risk. I have used paypal for years and am a law-abiding citizen. I was told that the system has reviewed my case and decided it represented a risk. Customer agents say they can't see the exact reasons, the case can't be escalated and so as a long-time customer you are left with an arbitrary and permanent decision.

Complete fraudsters, as bad as the scammers they allow to infest their platform. They permit companies to help themselves to a subscription from your account in the absence of any agreement, then side with the scammers when you challenge them, simply sending an email from a no-reply email address saying 'claim denied'. It's then impossible to get beyond a robotic loop of automated questions to try to address the issue. If you want to keep your money safe, don't risk using Paypal.

It would help if you explain what this means to your staff so you're not complicit in helping fraudsters.

Under UK law, I was not bound to any recurring payment unless the trader made the payment obligation clear and prominent directly before I placed the order, and obtained my express consent to any additional or recurring charges. See the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, Regulations 14 and 40.

Under US law, online negative-option billing requires clear and conspicuous disclosure of all material terms before billing information is obtained and the consumer’s express informed consent before any charge is made. See the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act, 15 U.S.C. § 8403.

If I could give them a zero, I would have done so.
They are very happy to keep your money and will give precisely zero service for it. Wanted to have activity report but the interface is extremely user-unfriendly and verges on plainly misleading. I wanted to move money in another currency, their 'help' includes 'explanations' that are absolutely irrelevant for you see in your interface. Their 'help' chat is non-existent: you are sent to AI, and the human agent closes the dialogue in one minute.
I'll take my money from them and never use them again.

I have been using PayPal to receive international payments for my business and the experience has been consistently frustrating.
First, the transaction fees are excessive — PayPal charges over 5% on payments received, which is simply too high compared to other payment platforms available today.
Second, the exchange rates are a ripoff. PayPal consistently offers exchange rates that are 2–3% below the actual market rate. This means on top of the transaction fee, you are losing an additional chunk of every payment to a hidden currency conversion margin. Combined with the transaction fee, the total cost of receiving an international payment is unacceptably high.
Third, settlements take more than 2 days, which is poor by modern standards. Many competitors settle within 24 hours or even instantly. For a business managing cash flow, this delay is a real inconvenience.
PayPal may have been the go-to platform years ago, but with so many better and cheaper alternatives now available — such as Wise, Airwallex, or Stripe — it is hard to justify continuing to use a service that takes this much from every transaction.
Would not recommend for business use.

I bought a dress on line. It was to big and to long. I tried to reach the seller to obtain a return mailing address and they gave me the run around so, I had PayPal reach out to them and obtain a return mailing address. I put in a claims dispute. The seller only gives you so many days to return. They would not supple address only automatic email replies. PayPal did not obtain the address and told me I lost my dispute because the package was not "lost or damaged". This is unbelievable customer service. Had I bought a dress at any department store I would have been able to return it with receipts. Which is what my situation is. I ask you readers... How is this customer service and how is PayPal protecting the buyer when we all order on line items these days? So here is my warning. DON"T USED PATPAL. use your credit card directly and cut them out. You have better buyer protection when ordering on line.

Another unhappy customer who is going to stop using their service. Yesterday I wanted to buy two plane tickets, the operation due to PayPal didn't go through even though the money was already withdrawn from my account, but the PayPal webpage said that money was being HELD. I called customer service and they said that there was nothing they could do, but wait a maximum of 72 hours to resolve the case. I don't have plane tickets, I have to wait until the charge is released and the problem is that these are plane tickets which we all know the prices never go down but up.
After more than 8 years as a loyal customer, this experience has been incredibly disappointing. PayPal has completely lost my trust and has already lost a long-term customer

PayPal is trash. I don't recommend them.Too many things wrong from getting my questions answered to my debit card being declined when I have money in my account Very embarrassing to purchase something in the store when card has money in account and it declined. Never will I do business with PayPal again.

Been using paypal for years with no real concerns but just went online to purchase a golf club from a retiable online store and paid via paypal.I got an email from the store to say the transaction had gone through but the payment was pending.Going to paypal online it says the payment is pending and i have no idea when it will go through.I needed the item pretty quickly and this has totally ruined this.What is the point of having a system where you buy something and you have to wait god knows how long before its paid for.Wish i had just paid via my debit card and i will do in future because this has totally put me off using paypal ever again in the future.

PayPal enables shady merchants to sneak hidden subscriptions into your accountPayPal is completely failing to protect consumers from deceptive auto-renewal traps. I bought a car diagnostic tool months ago, and without my knowledge, the merchant bundled a hidden annual subscription into the checkout screen.PayPal’s system allowed this company to quietly set up a "Billing Agreement." The worst part? PayPal gave me absolutely zero warning or pre-notification before the money left my account. I only found out after the event when €75 was randomly deducted.PayPal should be protecting its users by sending a warning notification a week before an annual subscription hits. Instead, they facilitate these silent withdrawals because they profit from the transaction fees. Their automated dispute system makes it incredibly difficult to fight these hidden agreements. I am deeply disappointed by their lack of transparency and consumer protection.

I would give PayPal zero stars if I could.

This was an absolutely exhausting, stressful, and deeply frustrating experience. I spent an unbelievable amount of time and energy trying to deal with confusing transactions, negative balance issues, collection agency involvement, automated replies, and constant stress. Instead of feeling protected as a customer, I felt abandoned and left alone to deal with a situation that became more and more difficult to understand.

Trying to resolve the issue felt like running in circles: unclear information, no real explanations, and the feeling that you are expected to figure everything out by yourself while anxiety and frustration continue to grow. A payment service should provide security and peace of mind, not stress, sleepless nights, and a feeling of helplessness.

Personally, I cannot recommend these services to anyone. My experience left me with the feeling that the system does not always truly protect its customers and that ordinary people can end up alone in difficult and disputed situations.

If you have the option to avoid using this payment platform, avoid it. This is my personal advice based on my own experience. I cannot recommend a system that, in my case, resulted in loss of time, money, peace of mind, and enormous stress.

After this experience, I completely lost trust in PayPal and never want to go through something like this again.

You guys haven't done your homework.. I never received the goods and the seller is impossible to get through to.. I am protected by buyer protection when I pay with PayPal so how on earth can the solution turn out in the seller's favor when I haven't received my goods?????
Twist - Your PayPal claim no. PP-R-NHR-627708908 has been rejected
If you try to track the package you will find it haven’t moved since the company registered it ..

Horrible support. Definitely not trustworthy in different situations. I would avoid at all costs to use, both as a final consumer or merchant.

I had money taken from my PayPal account for an account that I was not aware was a reoccurring charge. I paid £36.00 last year for a service and received an invoice, the only transaction information I received. This year the same company took £72.00 from my PayPal account and when I queried it PayPal state I should have cancelled the agreement prior to the auto renewal. I was not aware of the auto renewal or I would have cancelled. £72.00 down and no support from PayPal, thanks for nothing

Hi
Avoid this customer service from universal.
They are passionate to help you but didn't do anything to resolve the problem
My question was
Could you please let me know why pending transaction has not been added to me for transaction at Aldi on 23.05.26

I still didn't get points but no resolution so far