I don’t like to put people out there in a negative way or, as you might say, put people on blast. I try to go through the proper channels and I try to get things resolved in an appropriate fashion. If the situation is cleared, I tend to keep it to myself even if the other party mistreated me. However, I have a story to share and it relates to 2Checkout.com.

Let me take a step back, for a minute. I signed up for a 2Checkout.com account in June of 2003, so that I could accept credit cards outside of PayPal. It was mainly tied to the launch of iFroggy Domains, a domain name registration service that I ran for a couple of years. I needed a payment processor and they worked with the script I used. I also used 2Checkout.com to accept payment for advertising on the iFroggy Network, as well.

I used them actively through May 2006. That was about the time that I stopped accepting new registrations at iFroggy Domains as I had decided to close the service. As far as I know, my account was always in good standing and I don’t recall ever having any serious issues with them, outside of a technical problem here or there. During my time using the service, I brought in sales of a few thousand dollars. So, I have always been happy with the service and, even after I stopped using them actively, I kept the account because I had paid for it to be set up and I always wanted the option to use it.

I took that option on June 22, 2007. I had an advertising client who preferred to pay with a credit card and it was easier for him not to go through PayPal. So, the purchase was made through my 2Checkout.com account. As was customary with each transaction, they held a reserve. They eventually release the reserve, after a period of time. The amount was $3.75. Here is where our trouble starts.

After I made that transaction and received my money from 2Checkout.com (the remainder of the advertising package, minus their fee and the reserve), I didn’t give a second thought to my account for more than a year, until I received an e-mail on August 4, 2008.

This e-mail was from a “Senior Analyst” at the company and was dated, for some reason, July 22. Though, yes, it was sent on August 4. I am not going to name names or post the e-mails from this fellow in full, so I’ll just summarize what he told me.

He informed me that it was “extremely important” that I contact him regarding my account as a transaction had taken place “around 9/26/2007” and this transaction gave my account a negative balance of -$1.25. I sent him this reply, that day:

Dear Mr. X,

Thank you for your e-mail.

What are the details of this transaction? If it is legitimate, I’ll be glad to pay 2CO the balance.

I appreciate your time.

Thanks,

Patrick

After sending it, I logged to my 2Checkout.com account and I located an adjustment column on the payments page and I saw that on July 2, 2007, there was a -$5.00 adjustment due to:

ACH NOC/Return Recieved
Username Unknown

This would mean that they took the $3.75 that they owed me and applied it to this $5.00 charge. And the balance was now $1.25. With this in mind, I sent him another e-mail (again, the same day as the initial one was received):

Hello again,

In looking at my account, I believe that I( see what you mean. I see a $5 charge for “ACH NOC/Return Recieved
Username Unknown”

I hope this isn’t some sort of charge related to incorrect banking information as my bank information is correct.

Thanks,

Patrick

I heard back from him on August 5. He told me that my banking information was “not entirely correct” when they made the last payment. According to him, my bank located my account and deposited the payment, but a “minor problem” occurred, leading my bank to charge 2Checkout.com’s bank, who charged 2Checkout.com. He ended this e-mail with “I hope this clears things up.”

Well, no, not quite. I went back and looked through my bank statements (it’s times like this that make me happy I keep fairly meticulous records) and I found the last one. It says right on it that 2Checkout.com successfully paid me. This account is my current bank account. The account number and related information has not changed and I did not change the information on the 2Checkout.com website.  So, if my information is correct – why the charge? I sent this e-mail on August 5:

Dear Mr. X,

Thank you for your reply.

As my bank information is accurate and is the same as it was on the last successful payment 2Checkout made to me, I am going to need to see some sort of proof of this charge in the form of a statement or something similar. I’m also going to need more details as far as what the minor problem was. After I have that and I can verify this as legitimate, I’ll be glad to pay 2Checkout right away.

I appreciate your time.

Thanks,

Patrick

On August 6, I received a response. He told me that he had forwarded the request to someone in their accounting/finance team. Someone that handles “bank details for investigation.” He said that he would let me know when he heard a response. I sent a short reply soon after:

Thank you.

Patrick

And quickly after that, he replied to me with the finance person’s findings. He included her e-mail below his. She said that the charge was correct and that I had listed an incorrect account type. I had listed it as a savings account when, she said, it was actually a checking account. The Senior Analyst added that “you misidentified the type of account.”

I sent a pair of e-mails back to him.

Dear Mr. X,

Thank you for your e-mail. I appreciate the information.

That doesn’t make sense. The bank account that is on the 2Checkout.com account has been there since August or September of 2006. I was successfully paid $67.67 on July 27, 2007. Why would you have trouble paying me with the same account details, in September of that same year, 2 months later?

I appreciate your time.

Thanks,

Patrick

Sorry. June 28, not July 27. But, same issue. The bank account details were the same.

Thanks,

Patrick

And he responded that day, as well, telling me that he didn’t have any answer.

To me, this was simply not acceptable. My money is my money and I do not give it away. I don’t care if it’s $1.25 or $125 or $1,250. I don’t throw away money. I expect to pay when I receive something and I expect to pay the fines or fees associated with a mistake, when I make it. But, I’m not going to just pass out $1.25 because someone tells me I owe it to them. This led me to contact my bank because I wanted to find out if they had any record of it or if it even made sense. I’ll let the e-mail speak for itself.

Dear Mr. X,

Thank you for your e-mail.

I just spoke with X X at the Kitty Hawk, NC branch of my bank, BB&T, located at 5416 North Croatan Highway. The phone number can be looked up here: http://www.bbt.com/ebusns/locator/findLocation.do

My reason for calling him was to verify that BB&T, when an ACH payment is rejected because of this or any reason, charges the bank that sent the transfer or the customer of that bank that initiated it. He told me a few different things related to this. He said that, as long as the account number and routing number are correct, the payment will not be rejected for being improperly labeled as checking or savings. He also told me that, when an ACH payment is rejected for some other reason, the bank that sent the payment is not charged. Furthermore, I asked him if this $5 fee exists or existed then and he said no. I verified that what he is saying was accurate at the time of this transfer last year and he said yes.

I would be happy to have a conference call with you, myself and Mr. X where we could further discuss the matter, assuming it is OK with Mr. X, if you would like. Based upon what he said and the information you have shown me, I can’t see how I owe 2Checkout $1.25. In fact, it looks like 2Checkout owes me $3.75.

Please let me know what you think. I appreciate your time.

Thanks,

Patrick

I sent this e-mail on August 7. I did not receive a reply from the Senior Analyst at 2Checkout.com.

On September 23, a month and a half after I sent the message, I received a brand new e-mail from the very same Senior Analyst. It was similar to the first e-mail he sent me, just a little longer. It was like we had never spoken before! I sent him the following that day:

Dear Mr. X,

Thank you for your e-mail. I e-mailed you on August 7 with the information below. I have to say that this situation has grown rather frustrating for me, as someone who has been a 2Checkout customer for a long time and has always maintained an account in good standing. The e-mail from August 7:

I just spoke with X X at the Kitty Hawk, NC branch of my bank, BB&T, located at 5416 North Croatan Highway. The phone number can be looked up here: http://www.bbt.com/ebusns/locator/findLocation.do

My reason for calling him was to verify that BB&T, when an ACH payment is rejected because of this or any reason, charges the bank that sent the transfer or the customer of that bank that initiated it. He told me a few different things related to this. He said that, as long as the account number and routing number are correct, the payment will not be rejected for being improperly labeled as checking or savings. He also told me that, when an ACH payment is rejected for some other reason, the bank that sent the payment is not charged. Furthermore, I asked him if this $5 fee exists or existed then and he said no. I verified that what he is saying was accurate at the time of this transfer last year and he said yes.

I would be happy to have a conference call with you, myself and Mr. X where we could further discuss the matter, assuming it is OK with Mr. X, if you would like. Based upon what he said and the information you have shown me, I can’t see how I owe 2Checkout $1.25. In fact, it looks like 2Checkout owes me $3.75.

Please let me know what you think. I appreciate your time.

Thanks,

Patrick

After, or before maybe, I sent this e-mail, I Tweeted about my frustration. I was happy when I received an e-mail shortly thereafter from someone in “Community Support & Development” at the company. He said that he saw my Tweet and wanted to know more about the complaint, in case there was anything that he could do to help me. Yay! I responded to his e-mail the same day:

Dear Mr. X,

Thanks so much for contacting me.

I’ve held a 2Checkout account for a long time. I stopped using it regularly a while ago, except for the occasional ad sale, as I have left the business where I required it regularly (domain name registration). But, I did pay for it, so I still have it just in case.

I have always had a good experience with your company up until this August when I received an e-mail from X X. Mr. X contacted me to let me know that I owed 2Checkout $1.25. I asked for details and when he provided them, they didn’t jibe. He told me that 2Checkout’s bank had been charged $5.00 by my bank because I had indicated it was a savings account instead of a checking account. Why would account information that had worked previously and had not been changed suddenly cause a charge that I was somehow responsible for?

Even so, I called my bank. Not only was I told that it didn’t matter if the account was marked checking or savings as long as the account number and routing number were accurate, but that no such $5 fee existed. Now or at the time of the transaction. When 2Checkout charged me this $5.00 fee, they took it out of $3.75 that they owed me. Because of this, it appears that 2Checkout owes me $3.75.

I have explained this to Mr. X and have offered to go on a conference call with my local bank branch. I responded to all of his messages promptly. When I told him I had spoken with the bank, his reply was to not reply at all and wait 1 and 1/2 months and send me another form e-mail, acting as if we had never spoken before, making the same claim once again. This is what led me to write the message on Twitter.

I realize that we are talking small potatoes here. It’s a few bucks. I’m kind of disappointed that I’ve had to spend a couple of hours of my time talking about this, after having been with the service for so long and having charged thousands and thousands of dollars. But, regardless, it’s my money and I want it. I am going to forward you the two e-mail conversations with Mr. X, right after I send this e-mail, so that you can take a look for yourself.

Thanks again for contacting me. I appreciate your time.

Thanks,

Patrick

After sending that e-mail, I then forwarded him entire copies of the conversations I had with the Senior Analyst, from August 4 through August 7 and on September 23, including both the analyst’s messages and mine, in full. I was disappointed, however, when I never heard from the community support person again. And, guess what, the Senior Analyst never replied to my e-mail, either.

Fast forward to today, October 24. A month since the last e-mail. Who e-mails me but the Senior Analyst! Once again, he acts like we’ve never spoken. He references his e-mail from September 23 and then tells me that I have not paid my balance. He urges me to pay. He closes the e-mail with “… I will be expecting your payment within 5 days from today.  Continued failure to resolve the negative balance on this account will result in further collection action.”

Wow. This is seriously unbelievable. I’ve been patient, I’ve been respectful, I’ve been responsive. I’ve been a good customer. I’ve even tried to find a reason to pay them the $1.25. But, I can’t. Better yet, it looks like they owe me $3.75 and, if that’s the case, I want it.

I know what some may be thinking. For $1.25, you’ve spent all this time? Patrick, the 4-6 hours you’ve spent on this is worth more than $1.25. You know what, you are dead right. And that’s what bothers me, as well. They’ve wasted my time.

When you think of it like that, how much time has 2Checkout.com spent? Is this what they expect to receive for what they pay this fellow? I don’t wish anyone any harm and I’m sure he probably is just doing his job, or thinks that he is. But, unless someone can prove to me that I owe them, I’m not paying them a dime. And if they take “further collection action,” I’ll do what’s necessary on my end because I have had enough of this.

Sometimes you might hear people say “it’s the principle of the thing” and maybe you laugh. Or you don’t. But, you know what, in this case – it is. I am very unhappy with this situation and that is why I am sharing it here. You see what it takes for me to actually blog about a situation. I’m sure many others would have posted online about it months ago, but I give everyone a chance and I hate to air dirty laundry. But, this is one of those cases.

If I reply at all, my only reply to the Senior Analyst will be a link to this blog post and I will probably CC the community fellow, as well, because I felt like he had good intentions in contacting me.

Thank you for reading.