Natalia Garcia says she's had her Facebook account for 15 years and uses it to sell real estate. 

"People contact me because I have a lot of listings and that's how I pay my rent, my food, my water," Garcia said. 

But since Nov. 24, her account said she'd been locked out of it. Garcia says she wasn't given a reason why. 

Facebook says users have 180 days to appeal a suspension or disabled account. Garcia's page said she only had 30 days. 

Each time she tried to appeal, she got stuck because she said that in order to appeal, she must log in. But she couldn't log in, because her account was disabled. 

"The only way I can appeal. I need to log in to my Facebook account," Garcia said as she showed CBS News Miami her attempts at logging in. 

"When I want to log into my account. It's a loop. The same loop. Where I put in my password, and here we go again." 

Emails, messages and calls to a Meta automated hotline didn't work. 

Natalia Garcia has relied on her Facebook account for 15 years to run her real estate business, using the platform to connect with clients and support her livelihood.

"People contact me because I have a lot of listings — that's how I pay for rent, food, and utilities," Garcia explained.

That changed on November 24, when she found herself locked out of her account without explanation.

Facebook typically gives users 180 days to appeal a suspension or disabled account, but Garcia says her page indicated she had only 30 days. Each time Garcia tried to appeal, she was unable to proceed because she needed to log in—something she couldn't do since her account was disabled.

"The only way I can appeal is by logging in to my Facebook account," Garcia told CBS News Miami, demonstrating her repeated, unsuccessful attempts. "It's a loop. I enter my password, and then I'm right back where I started."

Repeated emails, messages, and calls to Meta's automated hotline yielded no results. Running out of options, Garcia sought help from CBS News Miami.

"I was told to reach out to CBS News to try and help me with this," she said.

Under Facebook's terms of service, the company can suspend or permanently disable accounts if it determines a user has "clearly, seriously or repeatedly" breached its policies, particularly the community standards.

Technology attorney Alexander Paykin notes that social media accounts are considered a privilege, not a right. "The user here had a free account. They didn't pay for it, so they can only expect a limited amount of support and resources," Paykin explained.

Eventually, Garcia managed to submit an appeal through her Instagram profile. On New Year's Eve, she received a call from Meta.

"He told me they could not provide any reason for closing my Facebook account. They just did it, and there was no way to get it back," Garcia recalled.

CBS News Miami spent weeks pressing Meta for answers. On January 2, a spokesperson said the company would investigate. About a week later, Garcia was finally able to log in to her account for the first time in over a month.

"Contacting the news was the best thing I could do," Garcia said. "Channel 4 is the best."

Despite regaining access, Garcia estimates she lost over $10,000 in sales during the ordeal. A Meta spokesperson told CBS News Miami they could not disclose the reason for the account's deactivation, citing privacy concerns. As a result, Garcia remains uncertain how to prevent a similar situation in the future.