Stripe Payment Horrific Experience - Please Help!

[tee]

Hi guys, so I opened up a big cartel website beginning of last month and chose Stripe for payment. I have in total had 12 sales during this time, the first of which was on the 8th August 2015. Sales amounted to just under £4000. I received an email from Stripe last week stating my account would be closed due to a 'high risk' and that all payments would be refunded back to cardholders!

I have since sent 6 emails, all with no reply, asking why my account is being closed but more importantly where my money is! It now seems all payments have been marked as 'refunded' and I have already sent out 80% of orders!!

Stripe have no contact number and as mentioned ZERO customer service via email. Any help would be greatly appreciated - what can I do? This is a really big deal for me at a stage in life where my finances are extremely tight. Many thanks in advance.

 

[pacage]

That's horrific. I'm afraid I can't be of any assistance to you, but I'd like to thank you for posting. I'll certainly be giving Stripe a very wide birth.
I hope someone is able to help and things get rectified pronto.

Good luck & keep us posted.

 

[ldjames]

Exactly the same happened to us and two of our customers. I made a fuss at the beginning and didn't get a response. I made another fuss 6 months later and got nothing, another 6 months later and got nothing. Finally, 18 months after their cockup, they admitted it was a system error and re-opened the account.

If you need an alternative, check out Braintree. It's basically the same but with £30k of free transactions and real support.

 

[tee]

Thanks pacage I will. I've read some terrible reviews on Stripe don't know how they continue to operate in this way with no number and no reply to emails. Will keep you updated

James did you get money back to your account? How did you contact them...

I've now just linked business PayPal express

 

[bharris]

That's terrible. The only reason i didn't try them was the fact that they keep your money for 7 days. Glad i didn't try them now! Sorry i don't know what to advise, other than some people one here have been recommending them so it might be worth searching for Stripe posts to see if any of them have proper contact details. Is there any contact details on any of the invoices, membership documents etc.?
Good luck, £4k is far to much to lose.

 

[MattCollins]

Yes, very sorry to hear about this, tee. Not responding to emails in this situation is awful. It seems Stripe are generally great to get set up with and use (if you don't mind their relatively high prices) until something goes wrong.

I would look up one or two public-facing Stripe employees (perhaps on LinkedIn or Twitter) and get in touch with a polite message to explain the situation. You might find someone on the inside can at least get you a response.

Good luck.

 

[antropy]

I received an email from Stripe last week stating my account would be closed due to a 'high risk' and that all payments would be refunded back to cardholders!

So all these customers got their card company to issue refunds and they did chargebacks? Why? Was something wrong with the goods?

I guess Stripe are covered by the FCA? Probably worth getting in touch. Citizens' Advice probably also helpful here.

And have you considered a gateways that assumes the risk such as: https://www.klarna.com/uk

 

[NewGardenStyle]

As the orders were quite large and your business new, Stripe has considered them suspicious. They are obliged to consider money laundering, etc so can imagine they were covering their own backsides. At the expense of leaving you high and dry :-(

Awful customer service though. I use Stripe and have never had a problem; though I haven't had cause to contact their CS...

As mentioned above, perhaps worth contacting the FCA?

 

[exom_expert]

Yea, stripe never replies to their customer emails.
I think it would be helpful for you to set-up another payment method like paypal. You can ask your customers, who received a refund from stripe, to make a payment once again via this new method.

 

[ldjames]

Thanks pacage I will. I've read some terrible reviews on Stripe don't know how they continue to operate in this way with no number and no reply to emails. Will keep you updated

James did you get money back to your account? How did you contact them...

I've now just linked business PayPal express

No but luckily there was only a tiny amount refunded.

The lesson here (in my opinion) is to stick to financial companies that are regulated in the UK/EU because it seems that US companies are allowed to run wild with your £.

 

[NewGardenStyle]

Stripe's European operation is based in Ireland so come under Irish / EU juristiction

 

[LMDServicesUK]

An observation, re your experience..

There is a reason why sometimes using a conventional Merchant account and Payment Gateway is a far safer investment than a Stripe / Braintree / PayPal type solution.

If you are selling high value items and you are a new(ish) Business you will always be considered High Risk which is why when you apply for a conventional Merchant account facility you are asked a lot more questions, before the application gets approved. On the up side once approved unless you are very silly your account will run quite smoothly without these kind of unilateral decisions being taken by the Processor.

Stripe are not interested in this kind of Business, hence their reacting the way they did ( young business high tx value etc) however it in no way excuses the lousy Customer Service you experienced, and I would strongly suggest you do contact the FCA to rase a further complaint, as I am fairly certain that the UK Gov. has now appointed a new Ombudsmen office to regulate Merchant Services providers.

Hopefully other Businesses will not be drawn in by how technically easy it is to use Stripe, this should be based on the right COMMERCIAL requirement for your Business and not how easy it is for your web developer to install on your web site.

 

[pacage]

Hopefully other Businesses will not be drawn in by how technically easy it is to use Stripe, this should be based on the right COMMERCIAL requirement for your Business and not how easy it is for your web developer to install on your web site.

Very wise advice, totally agree.

 

[Privet VIP]

Hello, we have also been victims of Stripe abuse. We invite you to join our Facebook group so that we can come together to fight against this organization.
Name of FB group is: "Stripe closed my account with money in it"