PayPal UK Reviews 6,235

1-Star Review: PayPal UK - Worst Customer Experience Imaginable
Title: Locked Out and Abandoned: A Financial Dinosaur Compared to Competitors

Review:

My experience with PayPal UK has been absolutely abysmal. I recently lost my mobile phone number, which was registered as my primary security contact, and have been completely locked out of my account. There is no accessible path to regain access when you are unable to receive the crucial two-factor SMS verification code.

It is baffling that in 2025, a global financial company operates with such a rigid and inaccessible customer service structure. You are forced into a login loop that requires the very number you no longer possess.

My attempts to contact support led only to automated responses and demands to log in, creating an infuriating, cyclical dead end.

I am genuinely wondering how a company that treats its users this way is still allowed to operate in the financial business. They offer virtually no accessible human support for a critical security failure like a lost phone number, even with a confirmed email and password.

The comparison to modern rivals is stark:

Monzo and Revolut understand modern banking: you can use in-app chat, security questions, or video verification to resolve access issues quickly and efficiently.

PayPal is a national waste of space. Their reliance on an old, non-updatable phone number for essential access is archaic and actively harms users.

PayPal's customer service is non-existent, their security architecture is user-hostile, and their inability to handle a simple change of phone number is frankly negligent. Until they completely overhaul their support channels and security flexibility, I urge everyone to use a modern, accessible, and user-friendly alternative. Worse service on the planet.

Worst credit facility on the planet. Over complicated transaction management, awful credit facility in the world compared Klarna and V12 finance and even worse customer service phone line.

Their credit facility compared to Klarna is s*** .. every time I want to take advantage of a 4 or 6 month 0% payment terms it simply gets rejected no explanation and reason simply their moronic systems say NO which is crap and super annoying and when I try Klarna or V12 I get immediate acceptance without any issues whatsoever

They are archaic, from the last century credit score systems that they must have and they seriously need a complete overhaul specifically their credit facility which simply never works.

If there was lower that one star I would chosen that.

Awful company

PayPal is so useless ! What is the point of using PayPal if all they do is make customer who use them go through unnecessary pain?

No proper buyer protection especially when fraudulent companies send not as described or wrong size, buyer is made to pay return shipping slapping the seller on the wrist for being dubious. Who ever authorised PayPal needs to scarp them asap as they condone frauds and punish the innocent.

Plus paypal website is not user friendly, why can’t returns and dispute filing be made simple it is so complicated it is demeaning!

For instance filling in the amount by PayPal of an item being complained about and no field to update or show the discount applied by the company making a dispute filling impossible, due to the discrepancy in the amount . Get a life PayPal you are so rubbish at whatever it is you say you do.

Very bad experience with PayPal assistant Małgorzata . My son (who is undergoing treatment for antipsychotic medication) made a mistake when purchasing a Ryanair ticket, and we immediately called PayPal to cancel the transaction. The PayPal representative listened to us, but didn't make proper notes about the error, which led to the dispute being resolved unfavorably. The result: we lost our money.

By far the worst payment service provider. They have large hidden fees through their lousy conversion rates and they force you to convert money into local currency if you want to spend on anything. A couple of days ago they restricted my account completely out of the blue without supplying me with any information as to why, I tried contacting support to understand why this has happened and to appeal my restriction but they simply refused to supply me with any information and they simply told me that the decision was final and that I couldn’t appeal. If you have the option to go for another payment provider don’t think twice about it.

Avoid using PayPal Scam Protectors
Customer service absolutely appalling. Scam companies are using PayPal to hide behind because they know how poor PayPal is.

Sadly we have trusted paypal to be our only payment merchant on both our stires and yes you guessed it they have frozen our funds AGAIN!!!
Should of learnt my lesson when did this before!!

Faustian experience trying to close my PayPal Credit account. Not possible to do so online. No guidance in help section. Had to ask Chat GPT! Passed from pillar to post, left hanging online, asked intrusive questions unrelated to my request. Why make this so hard?

Very concerning PAYPAL Uk. You told me case settled in SELLERS favour (im the buyer). E bay told me they released funds to you, based on you telling them it was settled in BUYER Favour. Ive not had the refund. It SHOULD have been settled in my favour. Seems no one wants to help. VERY CONCERNING ACCOUNTING OR FINANCIAL MISCONDUCT?

Appalling doesn’t begin to cover it who’s ever in charge of that company needs to perhaps look at other institutions for best practices.

Over my years with them they have.

Managed to lose my DD in other words botch my direct debit, as still taking payments for other purchases. Then had the audacity to charge me for their mistake. Trying to claw the money back was like wrestling smoke, as the process deliberately exhausting, and ultimately designed to make you give up.

Even when you play by their rules and make additional payments (even from a Lloyds account), they sit on your money for nearly a week before grudgingly appearing in my credit account. Seven days in this day and age to process a simple transfer—are they running this on carrier pigeons?

The whole operation reeks of a strategy to drag out credit agreements for as long as possible. I wonder why. 🤔 How frontline staff know what their doing or put another way, —the call centre in wherever don’t, so back off to Ireland, I you travel quicker down those phone lines than payments I’m chasing. I caught onto their let’s blame the other bank scam,— so now call Lloyds beforehand, — “Hopefully they know what they’re doing.” This isn’t just poor service—it’s a real masterclass in alienating and exploiting it customers.

Avoid at all costs.

PayPal offered this referral scheme of £10 bonus if you spent £5 or more or sent £5 to anyone other than referrer. I did both, the first was a payment that had a partial refund which netted to be more than £5 anyway and the even should that fail, the second one should suffice.

Their customers service told me because only the first transaction count and because there's a "refund" , it voids the referral bonus.

Also shortly after I told them I'll let everyone else know and not fall into the same trap, they stopped me from withdrawing my £5, gross misconduct! Going to file a complaint to Financial Ombudsman and I urge anyone else who went through the pain to do the same, shouldn't spare PayPal for it.

Avoid! They are scammers and my brother had awful experience with them before where they've sided with the sellers

PayPal is just as bad as the scammers

Absolutely disgusted with PayPal. I was scammed and given no paperwork, no agreement. And no documentation I had entered I to a monthly subscription. PayPal asked for proof. How do I show proof of something I never received. So. They sided with the scammers. Looks like Paypal is getting a kickback from the scammers. As they sided with the scammers and let them away with my hard earned money. I own a business and use PayPal payments, but I'll be closing my PayPal account and moving to a bank that respects and protects their clients. I will be filing a claim with the local police about the negligence portrayed by PayPal, and how they just let scammers away with scamming their customers. DO NOT USE PAYPAL. THEY DO NOT PROTECT YOU, AND ALLOW SCAMMERS TO GET AWAY WITH IT. VERY SAD

Appalling outfit. They seem to have a problem with Boyle Sports, every time I withdraw money from them PayPal withhold it for days for checks, this has been happening for years but still they do it. As for “Customer Service”…they should be done under the Trades Description Act.

I was scammed out of my money, I provided proof that the amount taken didn’t match what was taken within my account. I shared images of reviews saying they were scammed by the same company. Yet as I couldn’t provide a billing agreement (which the company didn’t provide as I didn’t agree to the money to be taken) I therefore cannot get my money back. What’s the point in customer protection if they don’t take into account that 1. there is no billing agreement because none was provided. 2. Proof that many many others have been scammed also 3. That I raised the complaint seconds after the money was taken

Buyer's protection won't protect you. It is terribly handled. My partner was charged 49.9 for a scam service that Paypal supports by not removing it from their system (TinyForm). Then Paypal won't refund this even though it is very clearly a scam as stated all over trustpilot and the web. Beware of using Paypal thinking they will help you, chances are you'll be better off using your credit card directly and asking your bank.

Shame on you, Paypal. Accomplices.

I’m posting this review because after three months of chasing my refund, I still have no resolution. On August 22nd, a £500 fraudulent transaction was made on my credit account, which I logged straight away and it was resolved in my favour but I have not received the refund.
Despite multiple calls and messages, absolutely no progress has been made, they even hang up the phone when I try to call them.
PayPal has already confirmed that they received the refund, yet the money has never been returned to my account. This is completely unacceptable.
To make matters worse, I am having to pay the minimum payments on the transaction and on 22 December I will begin incurring interest on a transaction that I did not make and that PayPal has already acknowledged is not my fault. I have repeatedly explained the financial harm this delay is causing, yet nothing has been done to help.
PayPal has blamed a “system bug” for the ongoing delay and just keeps saying they are investigating it.
This level of service is unacceptable from a company that handles people money.
Absolute joke, avoid at all costs.

I agree with all the reviews, because paypal no longer support legitimate customers, because they support scammers instead!

Returned goods to seller, they refunded the money to PayPal. Took me weeks to get a clear answer from the seller, when i was finally told the refund was a paypal issue. Then when I sent the messages to paypal to start my claim, they took so long to answer and along with the time the seller took, that they closed it in the sellers favour....so the seller has its goods back, they ve given my refund to paypal weeks ago, and paypal for whatever reason did not process it back into my account, and somehow me chasing this up, sending photos of proof of all the messages and dates etc I have lost the case and its closed. What id like to know is where is my money, the seller doesnt have it!!!! How can this be right.

I’ve been a PayPal user for years, but my recent experience has completely destroyed my confidence in their service. An unauthorized transaction appeared on my account for a digital item from a merchant I have never used and have no account with. I reported it immediately, removed all payment methods, and told PayPal clearly that it was not my purchase.

Despite this, PayPal ignored my messages, refused to treat the payment as unauthorized, and even sent incorrect automated emails claiming they had charged a “backup credit card” that I do not have. I had removed every funding source from my account, yet PayPal still processed the transaction and forced money out of my bank card.

Their customer service gave contradictory information, closed my case without explanation, and refused to provide any meaningful support. The merchant also refused to help, and PayPal still sided with them without sharing any proof that I supposedly received anything.

In the end, I had to open a dispute with my bank because PayPal failed to protect me, failed to investigate properly, and failed to stop an unauthorized charge — even after I warned them.

PayPal’s Buyer Protection is unreliable, their system messages are inaccurate, and their support feels automated and dismissive. I expected security and trust. Instead, I got stress, lost money, and total disregard for my concerns.

Extremely disappointing service. I will avoid using PayPal whenever possible from now on.

If can i give no stars...that will be my choise ! I use paypall for i can remember years, but now i am verry disapointed ! I brought something online and i payd with paypall , all good! A month later paypall starting to take money from my banck account to pay the same "company" for nothing! Don't was a big amount...£3 or close to this! When i discovered was a direct debit payment towords google...i cancel that transaction, and paypall charge me again the same amount for the same company!!! how can charge a account without asking ? I deleted my account ! Do not use this please...or keep a eye on your bank account if you have a linked card to it!