I bought a Denon AVR (receiver) from ebay using PayPal. I had PayPal Credit set as my preferred payment method. PayPal chose to use my bank account to pay for the receiver instead without my authorization. There was not enough money in my bank account to pay for the receiver so I stopped payment from my bank account. PayPal then charged the total to my PayPal account, which had $0.00 available. I don't know why they chose to use an empty account rather than my PayPal Credit account as I instructed. They now claim that I owe them money because the account they used was empty and they paid for the receiver themselves. I understand that it was their money, but had they used the account I selected, there would have been no problem. I do not have the money to give them and I should not have been forced into this position where I now face a collections situation. I spent over a month trying to navigate PayPal's customer service system, which is the worst I've ever experienced. However, not a single person ever disagreed with me about my preferred payment method having been PayPal Credit. I contacted the Ohio Attorney General's office and they contacted PayPal. In their response, PayPal said than my bank account was my preferred payment method. That is a lie There was not enough money in that account in the first place and I bought 2 TVs and 2 receivers in the same time frame, all with my PayPal Credit account. Some things were returned and I kept one of each. I would not have switched to my bank account for one item that cost more than what was in my account. Based on a lie, PayPal has deemed this as a final decision. When two parties are having a dispute, one of those parties cannot be the one to decide who wins the dispute. I have requested voice recording evidence from PayPal and I'm waiting for it now, even though they think this matter is closed. That is not for them to decide.
Claimed loss: $576.18 plus 40 hours @ $75 per hour
Desired outcome: PayPal apologizes to me and drops their request and collections efforts for payment. They return my PayPal accounts to normal and go on about their business, hopefully cleaning up their act and improving their customer service.