PayPal UK Reviews 6,235

AVOID AT ALL COSTS

If you have a current PayPal account please read all of the reviews on here when deciding to use it or if you still want it.

They sent my very small negative balance to a debt recovery agency after less than 60 days even though I had repeatedly tried to make the overdue payment several times within those 60 days via their lass than useful website, and their customer service- no exhistant.

Crooks they pinch your money

Email correspondence to me on these issues is from PayPalUK.Ltd whose registered office is 5 Fleet Street. London, UK EC4M 7RD. It's registered number with the UK Financial Conduct Authority is 14741686. They use the email address that seems to correspond with the information held here by Trustpilot

It is not helpful to consumers when a business does not respond to a substantial number of very unsatisfactory reviews on Trustpilot.

Expecting a UK customer to pay the cost of returning faulty items to a foreign country is considered unfair trading under the UK law. The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 prohibits unfair business-to-consumer trading, which includes practices that affect the average consumer's ability to make an informed decision. Such practices may include misleading or underhanded tactics, such as charging for the cost of returning goods that are faulty or not as described. The Act provides a legal framework to protect consumers from such practices and ensures that businesses provide clear and accurate information to their customers.

The retailer concerned cannot be trusted in so far as the delivery date that was before Christmas was not met and it would therefore be preferable that a pre-paid return label is supplied.

The distress and inconvenience caused by the faulty goods and issues concerning lack of instructions regarding suitabliity and use by younger children would mitigated by a full refund.

A UK return address is provided on the parcel that contained the three puppies yet the retailer states this cannot be used.

PROTEST THAT HAVING REGARD TO PREVIOUS CONTENT PAYPAL DID NOT ALLOW REJECTION OF THIS OFFER. I NEEDED TO INSERT AN UNSHIPPED REFERENCE NUMBER TO LEAVE A MESSAGE. THIS MAY NEED ESCALATION TO TRADING STANDARDS
CASE HISTORY CITES THE CIRCUMSTANCES (APPLICABLE IN THIS CASE) WHERE CONTRACTS REQUIRING GOODS TO BE RETURNED AT PURCHASERS EXPENSE TO A FOREIGN COUNTRY ARE UNFAIR CONTRACTS

To help Paypal here is the case identification

PP-R-IXT-609084574

I used a website that said it was free to retouch photos. It then asked for a 10p fee, which i stupidly paid. The next day, the company helped themselves to £49.90, which there had been no mention of. On further investigation, I found they had set up a paypal subscription for £49.99 a month. I contacted paypal to report an unauthorised transaction, and they said they would not reverse the transaction as there was no evidence of unathorisation. Other people have reported the same company, for taking unaurhorised payments, and been refunded, so paypal are obviously aware of the conpany and that they are taking money fradulently. I have used paypal since they started up, but thats me finished with them.

After using them for years without a problem suddenly a clear case of FRAUD and I am denied a resolution.

Extremely poor experience. PayPal makes it unnecessarily difficult to even close an account, which should be a basic user right. The system appears deliberately obstructive, with unclear steps and repeated dead ends.

Customer service is awful. There is no effective support, no accountability, and no meaningful way to escalate issues. Even attempting to follow the official complaint procedures is frustrating, as they are either inaccessible or lead nowhere. You are sent in circles without any real resolution.

For a company that handles people’s money, this lack of transparency, support, and respect for users is unacceptable. I would not recommend PayPal to anyone who values proper customer service or basic control over their own account.

I’ve just come spending all day on the app, over the phone , battling with the AI assistant, trying to lodge a complaint, all due to my account going into negative balance although I have 3 back up debit cards(all in my same name ) and 3 corresponding bank accounts connected to clear off the new PayPal+ debit card payments . I also have direct debit setup for my credit card payments. Customer caree has been the worst I’ve ever experienced. After chatting with an AI agent I finally came across 5 or 6 on and off customer representatives having to repeatedly inform the issue I was experiencing, then received a call from an American number. The gentleman who spoke to me disconnected the call saying he’s transferring to the accounts team. Called back from the uk spending a fortune to call American number, long wait and disappointed came across Uk number, waited long and the lady who spoke said we are closing and accounts team are closed so that was it . I’ve typed pages into the useless app hoping someone would read my messages. I’ve tried adding money on the app via literally every linked in cards accounts even my spouse sending money but nothing would . Now my account will go I. Default reported to credit agencies , right at the time when I’m about to apply for a mortgage. So in short PayPal has ruined my life for real. I would strongly advise everyone not to fall into the trap of.this fake promise of PayPal debit card points and having a credit card . I understand times are bad and cost of living is high but PayPal would ruin your life even to the extreme. Very disappointed

Think it time to stop using PayPal. No goods no refund- seller confirmed no refund dispute case opened. Closed in sellers favour . Couldn't make it up . Even email confirming no refund PayPal ignored insisting I still keep my payments up !! Time for my bank and ombudsman to get involved

Utterly useless communications. I waited ages to get connected on 4402039017000. When I got through I had a 20 minute conversation with an agent who took all details of a fraudulent transaction and said I would get an email confirming details. The email never arrived and suspect it wasn’t send.

Just plain awful, every resolution to a problem just led to the next problem and wasting so much time. Why companies use them I have no idea. Voxi insist that you use PayPal for phone loans but I will use another phone provider so I don't have to use PayPal.

PayPal declined to investigate obvious unauthorised transaction and failed to contact me despite intention to do so.

Serious security flaws.

DO NOT USE

Verbal promises mean nothing.
​After years of using Payapl I am absolutely disgusted with PayPal’s "Buyer Protection." I was a victim of a blatant "Bait-and-Switch" by an international seller (LightInTheBox). I provided clear, undeniable photographic evidence showing that the items received were flat, printed rags instead of the 3D knitted garments advertised.
​On 11th Dec, I spoke to a PayPal agent for 17 minutes. I was VERBALLY ASSURED of the following:
​The case was escalated because PayPal is "fully aware" of this seller’s poor trading practices.
​They would contact the seller to demand a pre-paid return label.
​If the seller refused, PayPal would assist with postage costs or ensure I wasn't out of pocket.
​Despite these recorded promises, PayPal reneged on everything. They closed the case in the seller's favor because I refused to pay £40.70 to send misrepresented rubbish back to China.
​PayPal’s "protection" is a myth. They allow fraudulent sellers to use punitive return costs as a shield to avoid issuing refunds for misrepresented goods. Their staff give false hope and incorrect information over the phone just to get you off the line. Staff even told me they were already aware of Lightinthebox and if they contined getting complaints the company would be taken off their books.
​I have now closed my Patpal account after years of loyalty. If you value your money, do not rely on PayPal to protect you from international scammers. I am now taking my case (PP-R-MTG-605052352) to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Extremely disappointed with PayPal’s handling of my complaint. Despite multiple attempts to resolve an issue with a purchase,I’ve been met with inaction and lack of support from their Resolution Centre. I’ve provided all the necessary evidence available to me but the issue remains unresolved.

Specifically, the website issues I reported were. It addressed, leading to multiple unwanted orders. Only one refund was given despite my prompt reporting.

Paypals service has fallen short of expectations. Hope this feedback help others and prompts improvement.

Generally my experience has been a positive one. Apart from customer service, they seem to be non-existent. Can anyone tell me why, when I paid in 3 installments, then sent back the goods, the refund I received was not a third of total cost. Trying to get an answer is impossible. Is this how they make money ?

PayPal complete waste of time 2 payments went out of my credit card account to paypal both of which I did not make, contacted PP saying I had not made payments PP did there so called investigation 2 hrs later they say both payments where OK. They may have been but I did not make them. Trying to contact paypal is impossible its all AI spend hrs on the phone with no help or reply

How to sum up Paypal -Useless- Incompetent and Inefficient Total waste of space

Literally no customer service when things go wrong.

Been using for ages with no issues. First issue cannot get hold of a soul and am in the contact centre loop of death.

Never using them again.

PayPal Credit fails to address or investigate complaints properly. If there’s a breach of contract or goods aren’t as described, you are far better off using a credit card provider, which will respect your consumer rights. PayPal Credit does not honour these rights. Their system is frustrating—messages cannot be downloaded, nor can you access what you sent as a complaint. Complaints are dismissed without showing what evidence was considered, leaving consumers with no transparency or recourse.

I wish I had checked reviews before using them—this is not an isolated issue.

PayPal promotes itself as providing buyer protection, yet in my case this protection failed.

A transaction was completed, the item was marked as “delivered”, but was never received. PayPal relied exclusively on the courier’s delivery status and did not require verification of actual delivery, such as GPS location data.

I provided a clear explanation that delivery did not occur and that I was unable to contact the courier. Nevertheless, PayPal treated a logistics status as definitive proof, rather than assessing factual delivery.

Buyer protection should protect buyers from loss of funds when contractual obligations are not fulfilled. In this case, it did not.

This experience has significantly reduced my confidence in PayPal’s buyer protection claims.

Poor complaints procedure.
When you need to make a complaint about something you should have confidence that the issues you have raised will be addressed. Often, with Paypal they are simply not. They then invite you, if you are unhappy with not having your complaint addressed in any way, to complain to their regulatory ombudsman. As you are probably aware, when you write to Paypal you have to do it through their own online messaging system which only shows REPLIES, but not what you have written in the first place. So the regulatory ombudsman they invite you to take the issue to can do precisely nothing in the absence of paypal providing your half of the written debate. Making their " recourse" to a third party non-existent and a totally disingenuous statement adding insult to existing injury.