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I am a single mother of 4 children that decided to use my

last $2000 to start a business online. I am not able to get a job due to many

factors, and I have a business with fantastic potential. Well, that all fell

apart when I decided to try using Stripe, who took $450 of my $2000 and ruined

my business before it could even get off the ground.



I was reluctant to try Stripe payment processing because of

all of the negative reviews I have read. Let me tell you, if you are

considering opening an account with Stripe, please believe that they will most

likely rip you off, lie to you about account status, and take your money. This

is a new company in the financial world that clearly is trying to lure

customers in with promises of instant approval, only to take your money and

close your account with no warning. And if you are an honest business person

who ships orders quickly like me, then you will also be out for the cost of the

product you shipped to your customers.



So here are the details of my story to back up my claims:



March 1, 2013



I sign up for Stripe and provide standard information. Confirm email address. Because of the bad reviews I have read I decide to wait a few days before implementing Stripe.



March 4, 2013



I send follow up email:



Hello there,



I signed up last week and I wanted to check to see if the account was fully

active and ready to begin processing payments. Can you please tell me if I am

fully approved? The account is under sixxxx@xxxxxxxx.com.



Stripe response from same day (from Naomi):



Your account is fully active from the time you activate it so you're good to go with us :-)

All the best, -Naomi



I reply the same day to double check because of the bad reviews I have read. I wanted to make certain that I

could begin charging customers. I write:



Thanks but I thought there was an underwriting process..? I just want to make sure there

will not be any issues once we start charging out customers because I have read

some bad reviews and it spooked me a little bit. Thanks for the quick

response by the way!



Stripe response same day (from Naomi):



No problem :-)



We reserve the right to review your account at any time, but you can take payments immediately once you activate your account:

https://support.stripe.com/questions/what-do-i-need-to-do-to-start-running-real-transactions



If you click the link you will also read Stripe claim:



It takes just a few minutes to activate your account by

providing some basic information about you and your business. Once you've

activated your account, you can begin running real charges immediately.



At this point I feel that enough time has gone by, with assurances from the staff that I can begin charging customers.



March 5, 2013

First succesful order charged using Stripe. I notice that Stripe automatically charges the

customer instead of Authorizing and then later capturing the funds. I am by

the book and am concerned so I again reach out to Stripe:



I do have a question though because I see that the customer was charged right away. I double checked our shop

setting in Shopify admin and we have the option checked to "Authorize

Only". We do not want to actually charge the customer until the product

ships which is best practice. I do not see any settings in the Stripe admin to change this. Any ideas...?



Stripe response:



Stripe doesn't actually allow authorizations so that setting in Shopify won't work with us.



Hmmm, okay this sounds kind of strange and phishy to me. I wonder why.

There would be two more orders to go through for a total of $450. I purchase the products from my suppliers to

fulfill the orders. I am trusting at this point that I will see my money from Stripe in 7 days (as they promise).



March 5 & 6, 2013

All 3 orders were shipped to customers and are in various stages of delivery.

Customers are provided tracking numbers, everything seems good, until



Received email from Stripe on March 7 (from Lucy)

-

Unfortunately we won't be able to help out with payments for openboxsavings.com,

as our banking partners prohibit us from helping with payments associated with

a business we've had to reject previously.



Sadly we have no flexibility here. It's frustrating for us to have to turn away businesses, but in this case our hands our tied.



Weird. I think that maybe they accidentally sent me this email or just made a mistake. So I reply:



I never applied before, what do you mean?



Stripe reply (from Maria):



Thanks for your email and I am sorry about this situation.



Unfortunately, you account was associated with several we have previously had to reject in one or more ways.

This might not be 100% accurate, but our banking partners require that we

follow these security procedures. You will have to find another way in which to accept payments from your users.



All the best, good luck on your business,



I like the part where she says This might not be 100% accurate and how I am wished All the best, good luck on your business. I cant help but think she is writing that in a sarcastic tone

because she knows that luck is the only thing that can save me at this point.



My response (to Maria)



What about the few charges that were made and the balance in the account? I have already paid for the goods and

shipped the orders (I have tracking numbers if you need).



Response (from Maria)



I am sorry for the trouble, but you will have to find alternative forms of payment from those customers. There is nothing we can do.

All the best,



Okay wonderful, so first you cancel my account after I made certain the account was okay to begin charging

customers. I dont have any alternative payment methods except if the customer

mails me a check. I am sure they are going to get right on that (after they

have already received their product). And wouldnt that sound incredibly scammy

for me to contact my customers and ask for a check? I give that about a 1:1000

chance of actually getting paid.



My reply:



What?! You mean you are keeping my money? You have got to be kidding me!!



Response (from Maria)



Thank you for your email and sorry for the confusion.



We are not keeping your money. We are refunding each payment to your customers.

All the best, good luck on your business,



Wouldnt it be a good idea to inform your clients in the first our hands are tied email to explain that the customers are being refunded? I mean, do I really need to inquire about this

and dig up the information. At this point time is of the essence because if

what Stripe says is true and they are refunding my customers, then I am now up

against the clock to try and locate these shipments before they get delivered.



They also do not acknowledge the fact that I have tracking numbers, nor do they seem to care. I still have no idea how I am going to handle this situation and my choices are to either have the product delivered and beg for a check to be sent in the mail, or try to stop the shipment before delivery, then make arrangements to ship the product

back to the supplier. In this case, the customer will not receive their merchandise, and unlike Stripe, I care. So I guess my only option is to let the product deliver and hope to get paid.



My response:



So will they have already seen the refund on their statement? Because obviously they

are not going to pay me with any other method if the charges are still showing

on their statements. Do you have proof that the refunds have happened?



Your process is completely backwards and Stripe is causing unecessary problems. You should never tell someone that they are approved and good to start charging, wait until charges are made, and then cancel/refund orders when goods have already been shipped. Clearly it is an attempt to lure in honest business people with an 'instant approval' which really is not instant. I double checked before starting to charge customers with your company and was reassured.



Don't tell vendors they are approved if they are not. You really have no clue on your side how much havoc this creates.



Do I get a response? Nope.



So, if any others have a similar experience then I recommend writing about it. I am leaving my contact information for an attorney who is investigating a class action lawsuit against Stripe. These business practices are detrimental to small businesses like myself. As I mentioned in the beginning, I had only a couple thousand dollars to try and get this business going. I feel like it coould have provided enough money for my entire family to get by. But now, I have had 25% of this money taken from me, and have also spent 2 days trying to rectify this mess. I dont know if my business will make it now, because I need to pay my supplier for the goods before I ship products out.



In my opinion the root cause of all of this is that Stripe is trying to gain business from Paypal. They are trying to streamline the setup process and make it faster than Paypal. In my case, Stripe is pre-integrated with Shopify and the setup process was very simple. But, this is a deceitful advertising and business practice that Stripe is

doing. They are willing to wreak havoc after the fact and cancel customers if

it means that they can quickly sign up thousands of unsuspecting new customers.



My final email to Stripe:



As I mentioned before I will be posting on the websites I mentioned and will

certainly email you links once posted. I will also place comments on blogs with

this same topic and attach myself to any civil or class action lawsuit (believe

me it is coming if there isn't one already). Shame on your company for poor

business practices, you are truly showing that you are rookies in the world of

financial business practices. As you can read, I am well spoken and will share

my story with the world. I hope to pursuade as many people as I possibly can to

not use your services and I truly hope that can translate into thousands of

dollars in lost business for Stripe.



Thank you,

Stripe Enemy #1



If Stripe were a responsible business, then they would take your application, process it for however long it takes (3-5 days maybe?) and then give you a response. But because they are greedy and sneaky, they tell you that your account is fully active from the time you activate. For me this was March 1, 2013. I am just thankful that I

was smart enough to trust the other reviewers out there to not jump in so fast.

If I had starying charging my customers right away, then Stripe would have

taken all $2000 from me and I would be completely broke and shut down for good.



If you are a lawyer who is considering legal action against Stripe, then please contact me at mxxxxxxxxx@xxxxx.com . If this email address can not be posted, then reply to me in the comment section and I will find you.



