Stripe, Inc.

Complaint: [redacted]I am rejecting this response because: Theubjist make up things as they go along to suit them. The original email from them clearly states that the payment was high risk or more than likely fraud although it was not.  Theybencoraged me to not even go througjnwith my buyer and then held my payment after sending those hateful emails.
Sincerely,[redacted]

they are condescending & unprofessional. thinking that you have a product, but it will be successful without clients is typical of their attitude. you have to repeat everything 5 times, & then, listen to the boys insult you by saying you didn't understand...when the download isn't available or doesn't work.no one ever takes care of biz right away, or apologize for lack of clarity or efficacity-what a mess & a collection of pretentious people. not worth it-look elsewhere! [redacted].

I have tried two separate times to conduct business with this provider of online merchant services. Two separate other companies that I work with use them. They provide no assistance in setting up your accounts or when you have problems except by email. Anyway their page to set up your account wouldn't accept my information. I tried multiple times changing things in order to suit the software but to no avail. I emailed multiple times and waiting to receive answers back and received instructions to do what I'd already done over and over. I then requested that they call me or allow me to call them Again Oh, we don't do that . . . . Well too bad because you lost me as a customer and I will NEVER do business with them. And after reading some of the complaints I'm glad the whole thing didn't work out. But I sure wasted a lot of hours on it. So spare yourself the headache.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/07/28) */
On July 19th, we reached out to the complainant to verify that they were an authorized reseller for the goods on their website . Stripe must verify this information to stay in compliance with KYC, or Know Your Customer, regulations. We...

allow our users to start processing before verification is complete, but will ask for more data or clarification in some cases. If the user doesn't respond within a few days of our message, we will disable their transfers until they are able to send over the requested information.
This was the case with the complainant. They got in touch with us on July 20th to ask about the specific information we needed to verify their account. After some back and forth, we were able verify the information provided by the complainant. Unfortunately, we weren't able to complete verification and re-enable transfers until July 27th As of this writing, transfers are being sent regularly, and the complainant's flow of funds is working normally to the best of our knowledge.
We would like to sincerely apologize for the delay in releasing the complainant's transfers. The verification process is vital to our business, but in this case the time it took adversely effect our user's business. If the user has any issues or questions we can help with as they continue to process with Stripe, we will do everything possible to respond quickly.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (2000, 7, 2015/07/29) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)
Stripe did reopen our account and release our funds. They explained they have been overwhelmed with customer service inquiries and admit they need additional staff. Thank you for doing the right thing

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/07/27) */
On April July 19th, we reached out to the complainant requesting information to complete their identity verification, which included verifying a valid URL for the complainant . Stripe must verify all of our user's identities to stay in...

compliance with KYC, or Know Your Customer, regulations. The URL that the complainant originally provided was incorrect, and we needed the additional info to finish the verification process. We allow our users to start processing before verification is complete, but will ask for more data or clarification in some cases -- having a verifiable online presence is a necessary step in Stripe's identity verification procedure. If the user doesn't respond within a few days of our message, we will disable their transfers until they are able to send over the requested information.
This was the case with the complainant. The complainant responded regarding our July 19th message on July 21st, this time with a working URL. We then sent an e-mail to the complainant on July 27th, informing them that their account had been verified and transfers had been enabled.
We would like to sincerely apologize for the delay in releasing the complainant's transfers. The verification process is vital to our business, but in this case the time it took adversely effect our user's business. If the user has any issues or questions we can help with as they continue to process with Stripe, we will do everything possible to respond efficiently.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (2000, 7, 2015/07/28) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)
All the Stripe's delay just finished when we filed the complaint at Revdex.com.
We have received our money, and we are happy with that, and very thankful to Revdex.com, but it is very disappointing to know that Stripe is fast to allow users to start processing and very slow to transfers the funds once the receive them.
when we signed in they responded emails within minutes, and when trying to get our money transferred to our bank accounts they took almost a week to do it, avoiding to respond any of our numerous emails.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/08/10) */
Stripe processes payments for thousands of businesses around the world. We received a message from the complainant on August 7th, 2015, stating that the complainant did not authorize the mentioned charge. On August 7th, 2015, [redacted], from our...

Support team, reached out requesting more information to locate the charge and provide the name of the merchant who processed the charge. The complainant chose not to provide the additional information to locate the charge in question.
We understand that unauthorized charges are concerning, and apologize for any unrest the unknown charge presented to the complainant. As Stripe is a payments processor, we receive a charge request through our API, and process that charge. Without seeing the additional details of the charge, unfortunately we are unable to opine on the charge, by whom it was authorized, and how best to resolve the charge.
That said, we completely understand as well, if the complainant wishes to dispute the charge with their credit card company if the charge is unauthorized, launching a dispute is a cardholder's right.
The complainant is encouraged to contact us at [redacted]@stripe.com if there is anything information we can provide to help resolve this between the complainant and the merchant.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/07/02) */
Disputes can be a frustrating part of accepting credit card payments, and Stripe does everything possible to make sure our users have an advantage during the disputes process. That said, Stripe does not have the ability to resolve disputes for...

our users, or make decisions about who wins or loses. Stripe provides tools to our users for submitting evidence to their customers' card-issuer, but that issuer is the entity who arbitrates the process, not Stripe.
The complainant wrote to Stripe on June 25th 2015, to let us know that they received a dispute on one of their payments. The complainant immediately closed their Stripe account, which made the evidence submission process more cumbersome since they no longer had access to the Stripe dashboard. On June 25th, 2015, and June 30th, 2015, a Stripe support representative responded explaining they could manually submit any evidence that the complainant could provide. As of July 2nd, 2015, Stripe has yet to receive any evidence from the complainant. We are happy to proceed with this as soon as the complainant sends us the requested evidence.
As a matter of further clarification, Stripe does not authorize charges for our users. Much like the disputes process, we pass [redacted] relevant information (including any CVC, street check, and ZIP checks the user mentions in his complaint) to the card-issuing bank, who then authorize or decline the charge.
While it appears that the complainant took reasonable steps to resolve the disputes in their favor, Stripe is not in a position to cover the cost of disputed funds for our users. Our terms explicitly state that users are "immediately liable to Stripe for the full amount of payment of the Chargeback plus any associated Fees, fines, expenses or penalties." Our terms further state that "Stripe may provide you with assistance including notifications and software to help you contest your Chargebacks. We do not assume any liability for our role or assistance in contesting Chargebacks." Our users accept these terms when they create their Stripe accounts. More information can be found in our terms of service, here: https://stripe.com/us/terms#chargebacks
Disputes are a reality of accepting credit card payments, especially online. In this case, there are no extenuating circumstances that warrant Stripe assuming liability for the disputed funds, though of course we will continue to support her as much as possible through any further disputes or chargebacks she receives.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2015/07/03) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
You did authorize the charge. I did not have access to any of the information about the buyer's credit card or information other than his name & address. This is an ongoing problem with stripe. They accept ALL orders by credit card & do not verify whether or not the information matches & is accurate because regardless, THEY get paid the $15.00 fee for chargebacks & the loss is pushed off onto the seller. I WILL NOT use Storenvy again because Stripe is FORCED on sellers in order to sell on the site & I am not alone. I know of many, many sellers who feel the same way & have closed down their Storenvy stores. Your company will not last long, you've screwed over way to many people but I'll still be in business so have fun while it lasts! And when a class action suit is filed against Stripe I'll be right there waiting to collect. ;)
Final Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2015/07/14) */
The topic of disputes and the process for submitting evidence through the Stripe dashboard is well documented:
https://stripe.com/help/disputes
https://stripe.com/docs/guides/dispute-evidence
The subject of disputes is also covered extensively in our terms of service:
https://stripe.com/us/terms#chargebacks
On June 30th, 2015 and July 1st, 2015, we reached out to the complainant to encourage them to submit evidence for their disputed charge. The evidence submission window had closed, but we were willing to extend the evidence submission window as a measure of good faith. Unfortunately, we were unable to proceed with the evidence submission process since they did not respond to this request for evidence.
Final Consumer Response /* (4200, 13, 2015/07/15) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
They have & will continue to accept fraudulent charges because they don't lose any money. In fact they gain from every fraudulent transaction they accept so good luck staying in business. Storenvy has lost hundreds of sellers because of stripe & they are working on replacing you with Paypal to gain those sellers back. This is a crooked company that doesn't care whether or not they screw consumers out of money as long as they get their share. Have fun while it lasts!

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/08/10) */
On 31st July, we paused transfers to the complainant's account, pending verification of her website and identity. On 3rd August we received information from the complainant. However, this was insufficient to verify the website domain being used:...


"In order to complete our verification and transfer your funds on time, we do need your website to discuss both what you're selling and how your customers might get in touch with you in case of any issues (having contact information is also a great way for you to avoid possible disputes!). "
After a few days, we were able to verify the complainant's business and website on 5th August. We resumed transfers on this date. Transfers hit the complainant's bank account on 7th August.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (2000, 7, 2015/08/11) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)
Yes, the issue waa solved. I tried to info Revdex.com vut was unable to update.

Stripe strives to answer each user request quickly and efficiently. When looking for the emails that the complainant referenced in their complaint, there were no emails in our logs from the email address provided by the complainant. We are happy to work with the complainant and answer any questions...

they have about their account. In order to do so, the complainant is encouraged to email in at [email protected]. Since it seems like we have not been able to receive their emails in the past, they are also welcome to reply on this Revdex.com thread and inform us of what email address they have been writing in with because we have received no emails from [redacted]. We look forward to hearing from the complainant to clear up this misunderstanding.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/08/16) */
We apologize for the delay while we reviewed this user's account and information - we did receive many emails from him, which actually slows our response time as we sort out which communication is most current and relevant. We are sorry for this...

inconvenience.
Ultimately, our review led us to transition this account away from Stripe; at this time, the user has refunded all charges - these refunds should reflect on the cardholders' statements within 10 days from the date of refund (August 14th.) The user has since deleted his Stripe account.
We know it's inconvenient when any user's Stripe account requires additional verification and review, but it is a requirement of our financial partners that each account is carefully reviewed for compliance. Again, we are sorry this caused excessive delays to the user, and resulted in the need to transition his business to another processor.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2015/08/20) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
Although that is a great response, and more prompt compared to me reaching out on my own, I don't feel like it makes up for my losses due to your poor and obviously underhanded customer service. I also feel as if there is a bit of deceptive advertising... because you advertise that the first deposit takes one week to deposit due to risk measures, but now you are telling me that the one week wait is not good enough after all and for my situation I waited for a total of 3 weeks just to be told my account is being terminated, and I wont be receiving my deposit for 6 months. And that response that I received wasn't even directly to me... I had to force a response from you using a 3rd party... the Revdex.com... if I hadn't I wouldve wasted even more time waiting for you to give me an answer which you didnt. I even understood that you were busy so I asked for an ETA and you couldnt even do that, instead you wasted your time to send me a cookie cutter response that provided nothing useful to me or made me feel at anymore ease. I guess thats the best you guys can do isnt it? Oh well whats done is done. But you need to be a little more honest about your situation so that other customers dont feel like you are being deceptive.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/08/16) */
We apologize for the delay while we reviewed this user's account and information - we did receive many emails from him, which actually slows our response time as we sort out which communication is most current and relevant. We are sorry...

for this inconvenience.
Ultimately, our review led us to transition this account away from Stripe; at this time, the user has refunded all charges - these refunds should reflect on the cardholders' statements within 10 days from the date of refund (August 14th.) The user has since deleted his Stripe account.
We know it's inconvenient when any user's Stripe account requires additional verification and review, but it is a requirement of our financial partners that each account is carefully reviewed for compliance. Again, we are sorry this caused excessive delays to the user, and resulted in the need to transition his business to another processor.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2015/08/20) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
Although that is a great response, and more prompt compared to me reaching out on my own, I don't feel like it makes up for my losses due to your poor and obviously underhanded customer service. I also feel as if there is a bit of deceptive advertising... because you advertise that the first deposit takes one week to deposit due to risk measures, but now you are telling me that the one week wait is not good enough after all and for my situation I waited for a total of 3 weeks just to be told my account is being terminated, and I wont be receiving my deposit for 6 months. And that response that I received wasn't even directly to me... I had to force a response from you using a 3rd party... the Revdex.com... if I hadn't I wouldve wasted even more time waiting for you to give me an answer which you didnt. I even understood that you were busy so I asked for an ETA and you couldnt even do that, instead you wasted your time to send me a cookie cutter response that provided nothing useful to me or made me feel at anymore ease. I guess thats the best you guys can do isnt it? Oh well whats done is done. But you need to be a little more honest about your situation so that other customers dont feel like you are being deceptive.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/07/28) */
As mentioned in our email on 13th July, Stripe can only support users with a low risk of customer disputes--after reviewing the complainant's submitted information and website, we found that their site presented a higher level of risk...

than we can currently support.
Stripe operates within a variety of constraints imposed by our banking partners, credit card networks and applicable law. As a result, Stripe must fully understand its users to ensure their businesses are consistent with Stripe's Terms of Service. All users agree to these terms when activating Stripe accounts, and the terms are posted here: https://stripe.com/terms
Since Stripe bears financial responsibility for all accounts using Stripe to accept payments, Stripe needs to have a high degree of confidence about their legitimacy, and their likelihood of delivering promised goods and services. Stripe periodically reviews accounts to verify that they meet these standards, and reaches out to merchants should any issues arise.
During a routine review, Stripe identified strong signals that the complainant's account was in violation of the Stripe Terms of Service.
The closing of this account is in accordance with the following section of the Stripe Terms of Service. Our terms very clearly state that Stripe "may suspend your Stripe Account and your access to the Service and any funds in your Stripe Account, or terminate this Agreement, if we determine in our sole discretion that you are ineligible for the Service because of the risk associated with your Stripe Account, including without limitation significant credit or fraud risk, or for any other reason".
https://stripe.com/us/terms#termination
While we will not be able to continue processing transactions on the account, this does not preclude the complainant from signing into Stripe and accessing any of the account's existing data.

Stripe helps users such as the complainant by supplying tools that allow our users to fight disputes through the guided submission of evidence. Once this evidence is submitted, we will send this to the card issuing bank but because of the way that disputes work, we cannot pursue further action. During the dispute process, the card issuing bank does not reach out to the merchant. The credit card processor is the party in which the card issuing bank reaches out to -- this is not a Stripe specific practice.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/12/25) */
While Stripe never wants to turn away businesses, we did find that there was an elevated risk in processing payments for this business. On December 18th, we notified the complainant that we would be shutting down his Stripe account associated...

with his Shopify store as it was high risk and that we would be holding a reserve of funds to cover any future refunds or disputes that may arise.
The keeping of a reserve is in line with Stripe's terms of service:
"A certain amount of your funds may be subject to an additional hold period (e.g. Reserve Account) with terms determined by your perceived risk and transaction history."
The industry chargeback window is 90 days. After this time, all funds in the complainant's Stripe account would be transferred to their designated bank account.
Since we informed the complainant of this reserve, the reserve has been used for the reasons outlined above and is at $0. That means there are no longer any funds to be transferred at the end of the reserve period.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/10/26) */
It looks like the complainant has already resolved this issue. If the complainant has any further questions for Stripe, they may contact us at [redacted]@stripe.com.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (2000, 7, 2015/10/27) */
(The consumer indicated...

he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/04/28) */
On April 26th, 2015, we contacted the complainant, informing him that we would no longer be able to support his business. We are unable to accept payments for high risk businesses, such as businesses involved in drop shipping, as...

mentioned here: https://stripe.com/terms#prohibited-businesses.
The closing of this account is in accordance with the following section of the Stripe Terms of Service. Our terms very clearly state that Stripe "may suspend your Stripe Account and your access to the Service and any funds in your Stripe Account, or terminate this Agreement, if we determine in our sole discretion that you are ineligible for the Service because of the risk associated with your Stripe Account, including without limitation significant credit or fraud risk, or for any other reason".
https://stripe.com/us/terms#termination
As of April 29th, Stripe will have transferred all funds owed to the complainant's bank account. The complainant can view a record of this in their Stripe online dashboard.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (2000, 7, 2015/04/30) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)
Yes, My Funds have begun regular activity. Prompt (but generic) response, but not incorrect.
IF STRIPE would have picked up their response time this PROBABLY could have been avoided.
TOOK TOO LONG AND TOO MUCH to get a response.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/08/16) */
Stripe would like to investigate [redacted]'s complaint, but can find no associated account or emails to us using either her name or the email address [redacted]@comcast.net. Please write to us at [redacted]@stripe.com using this address, or...

reference Revdex.com complaint #XXXXXXXX so we can look into this matter further.

Complaint: [redacted]"A dispute on who is the rightful owner of the account was initiated. Stripe must ensure that access to the account is given to the correct party." No. I told Stripe that they could also give no access to any parties, when I reported the fraudulent person to them in December. So Stripe doesn't must ensure that access to the account is given to the correct party. I explicitly gave them a third option of giving no access to the account to any party."Stripe has been in contact with both the Complainant and the third party who also claimed ownership of the account." Stripe still hasn't addressed who the other party claiming ownership of the account was. I demand to know the identity of the other party."Stripe kept the Complainant informed of progress throughout it's investigation." 1. It's 'its', not 'it's'.2. No, Stripe didn't. Stripe regularly went 10 days or longer without replying to my emails to customer service."During this process, the Complainant regularly used abusive, vulgar language in their emails instead of providing the information requested of them."That's completely false. I swore because I was angry, but swear words are not abusive. Absuse is an action. Abuse is physical. There's no such thing as "abusive language". There is either abuse or not. Words in and of themselves cannot constitute abuse. And let's get this straight: as a customer, I am under no obligation to avoid vulgar language, but Stripe customer support DOES have obligations to respond promptly to all emails, and to follow through on promises. Stripe customer support failed and continues to fail on these obligations. Because Stripe fails to reply to many support emails, and regularly takes >10 days to reply when they can be bothered to reply at all, Stripe customer support must expect customers to be frustrated and to use vulgar language. If you are incompetent at customer service, you must expect your customers to get frustrated. I'm still waiting for [redacted] to call me, for [redacted] to answer my emails, and for [redacted] to answer 17 questions, which I have listed and numbered, and asked for at least twice, but he still has yet to directly answer any one of the 17 numbered questions. I never directed any abuse at anyone. I immediately provided information when Stripe requested it, and then Stripe failed to reply promptly. In 4 instances, Stripe's response time was 4 days, 6 days, 10 days, and 14 days. At least 13 of my emails were NEVER ANSWERED AT ALL. For example, a customer rep named [redacted] promised to handle my case, and also promised to call me on January 2nd. It's January 30th, and I still have not received a call nor another email from [redacted] since, despite asking for both calls and emails from [redacted] at least 3 times each in the intervening 28 days."14 days after requesting Articles of Incorporation to investigate the Complainant's claim to the account, the Complainant provided this information. Stripe was unable to move forward in it's investigation until that information was provided. Not providing requested information has caused this investigation to take longer than it would have normally."This is completely wrong for multiple reasons.1. Again, it's "its" not "it's". Learn the difference, or better yet, hire people who write English competently to handle your Revdex.com cases and customer support email.2. I NEVER provided Articles of Incorporation, because THERE ARE NO ARTICLES OF INCORPORATION. I stated this IMMEDIATELY (within hours of Stripe's request) and REPEATEDLY (at least 3 times).3. Stripe WAS able to move forward in ITS investigation without the articles of incorporation, WHICH DO NOT EXIST FOR [redacted] LLC.Stripe still hasn't addressed who the other party claiming ownership of the account was. I demand to know the identity of the other party."For the reasons explained in detail above, Stripe acted in accordance with its terms of service in the handling of this merchant account and the Complainant's claim for damages is baseless."Proof that you didn't actually read the complaint. Please copy/paste the parts of the complaint in which Complainant 1. claims Stripe acted out of accordance with its TOS, and 2. makes a claim for damages!Sincerely,[redacted]

Stripe operates within a variety of constraints imposed by our banking partners, credit card networks and applicable law. As a result, Stripe must fully understand its users to ensure their businesses are consistent with Stripe's Terms of Service. All users agree to these terms when activating...

Stripe accounts, and the terms are posted here: https://stripe.com/terms Since Stripe bears financial responsibility for all accounts using Stripe to accept payments, Stripe needs to have a high degree of confidence about their legitimacy, and their likelihood of delivering promised goods and services. Stripe periodically reviews accounts to verify that they meet these standards, and reaches out to merchants should any issues arise.During a routine review, Stripe identified strong signals that the complainant's account was in violation of the Stripe Terms of Service. Stripe cannot process payments that appear to be unauthorized by the owner of the charged card. On [redacted] 17th, 2016, Stripe reached out to the complainant to advise them of our decision and the closing of the account. The closing of this account is in accordance with the following section of the Stripe Terms of Service. Our terms very clearly state that Stripe "may suspend your Stripe Account and your access to the Service and any funds in your Stripe Account, or terminate this Agreement, if we determine in our sole discretion that you are ineligible for the Service because of the risk associated with your Stripe Account, including without limitation significant credit or fraud risk, or for any other reason". https://stripe.com/us/terms#terminationWhile we will not be able to continue processing transactions on the account, this does not preclude the complainant from signing into Stripe and accessing any of the account's existing data.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/06/12) */
On May 29th, we reached out to the complainant requesting information to complete their identity verification. Stripe must verify all of our user's identities to stay in compliance with KYC, or Know Your Customer, regulations. The URL...

complainant originally provided for their website was incorrect, and we needed the additional info to finish the verification process. We allow our users to start processing before verification is complete, but will ask for more data or clarification in some cases. If the user doesn't respond within a few days of our message, we will disable their transfers until they are able to send over the requested information.
This was the case with the complainant. They got in touch with us on May 30th to say that they saw a notification in their dashboard related to the email we sent on the 29th, but could not find the email itself. After some back and forth, we were able to ask for an updated URL on June 2, and the complainant responded promptly with the right info. Unfortunately, we weren't able to complete verification and re-enable transfers until June 4th, after this complaint was filed. As of this writing, transfers are being sent regularly, and the complainant's flow of funds is working normally to the best of our knowledge.
We would like to sincerely apologize for the delay in releasing the complainant's transfers. The verification process is vital to our business, but in this case the time it took adversely effect our user's business. If the user has any issues or questions we can help with as they continue to process with Stripe, we will do everything possible to respond quickly.