Paypal 'Limited Access account' - Frozen my £700 for 180 days

Alisquare

I have had a business Paypal account for 3 years. The business is an annual music festival and we have used Paypal for online ticket sales, direct from our website since 2007. We are not selling tickets on Ebay.

Without notice Paypal have stopped us withdrawing from the account 'to comply with money laundering regulations'. They didn't even tell us they had limited us - I discovered it by logging into the account.

I have called them nearly every day since they limited the account on 22.06.09 and have furnished them with every document they have asked for except for photo ID as I don't have any except for my passport and that does not include my address (same as business registered address). I have sent them a business bank account statment, a personal credit card statement, driving license (no photo), certificate of incorporation of the company, a letter explaining that we in Britain don't have ID cards, addresses on British passports or photos on our driving licenses (if your old like me!).
When I called yesterday they told me that they wanted to see the Venue agreement that we (the company) have with the venue because we are selling tickets. I sent it but wonder what on earth that has to do with the initial limitation which was suspected money laundering!

It's now 5 days since they limited the account and they have all the documentation they need to prove we are a legit business. Customers are still buying tickets and there is a substantial amount of money that has built up in the account that I cannot withdraw and it is increasing daily.

The festival is only weeks away and having read some of these posts I am terrified that they will not release the money till after the event as we will not be able to finance it without us directors digging deep into our own pockets (borrowing money).

Surely what they are doing is illegal?

I can't get through to anyone on the phone who can help me and I am at the end of my tether.

If anyone has any advice please tell me.

Thanks for reading!

fishingcinema

PayPal's Office of Executive Escalations
[EMAIL="ppelce@paypal.co.uk"]ppelce@paypal.co.uk[/EMAIL]

bombard this email address demanding your funds be released or court action will be taken

worked for me last year/ begining of this year when they held £600 and a "£100 payment sent of mine

this was after 2 weeks on the phone a few emails to the above address worked a treat

booda

I have email addresses for president and vice president of paypal, the latter responsible for europe, but can not post as am newbie, but goto website called screwpaypal dot com and there is a whole host of information.

Best to write complaining to the FOS they can take up the complaint to PayPal for you, and will certainly know the rules and regulations PayPal should be adhering to for UK customers.

PayPal (Europe) Ltd is regulated by the Financial Services Authority in the United Kingdom as an electronic money institution. It is registered in England and Wales under the number 4056498. Its registered office is Hotham House, 1 Heron Square, Richmond Upon Thames TW9 1EJ, United Kingdom. The PayPal FSA Register Number is: 226056. As per above this address is a registered address and as such could be just a po box number.
They would bever give you such info over the phone or by email, they just say you have to complain to Luxembourg.

I am going to ask the FoS to take up my complaint, and have been advised by a solicitor friend that you can serve court papers at the registered UK address, they still have to respond in 14 days, so if it is 'unmanned' they would make no defence in court and you win.

I really dislike PayPal. they permanently limited my account, denying access to £400+ and also suspended from ebay. If you want to know what its like in a dictatorship go see PayPal.

SeanyP321

Hi All,
I am a journalism student as well as an avid fan of this forum. Having fallen victim to paypal's antics myself, I was going to write a piece on them. I was wondering if there was anyone reading this, that had suffered problems with pp, that would be willing to talk to me about it by email?

If so, please reply or pm me and I'd love to talk to you.
Thanks,
Sean