Long story short, a processor froze about $3,200 of my funds back in March after a spike in chargebacks (mostly from one sketchy reseller). I've sent them everything they asked for twice, and now they're just not responding. Has anyone actually gotten money back from one of these places? Not looking for legal advice, just want to know if it's even worth the fight or if I should write it off and move on.
Payments
Has anyone successfully recovered money from a payment processor?
Yes and no. I got about 60% of a frozen balance released after ~5 month. The trick was going through my state's AG office complaint form. Processor suddenly found my emails after that. The other 40% was eaten in 'review fees' which is apparently a thing they can just do.
following, I'm in almost the same boat but smaller amount
Who's the processor? That matters a lot. Some of the big ones have an escalation line that actually works if yoou know the magic words, others are basically a black hole with a logo.
lol 'review fees'. Amazing how they can invent a fee for reviewing the money theyy took from you. Anyway, seconding the AG thing. Also try blowing them up on their own social media, some of these companies have a social team that moves way faster than support.
@Kestrel&Kin it was a mid-tier one that markets to ecom, not naming it because I'm still mildly annoyed and also I signed something. Point is the AG route worked when nothing else did. Took a while though, so if you need the cash this month, don't count on it.
Honestly the $3200 question is whether the chargebacks were legit. If that reseller was doing fraud, the processor has a lot more cover to hold everything and drag it out. Not saying it's fair, just that it cahnges the math on whether you'll win.
wait you can just file a complaint with the AG? like a normal person? That feels like it should be more complicated
It's genuinely just a form on your state's website. Takes 15 minutes. The processor has to respond to it, which is more than their support inbox is doing. I'm kind of mad nobody told me this sooner.
One thing nobody's mentioned: keep a paper trail of every single thing you send them, including read receipts or screenshot timestamps. When I did my complaint, the first response they gave the AG was 'we have no record of the merchant contacting us,' which was a flat lie. Having dated screenshots of 9 emil kind of ended that argument fast.
half these processors are just holding your money in a savings account earning interest for a couple months and hoping you give up. it's basically a business model
That's... not really how it works, but I get the sentiment. Reserve requirements are usually contractual. Doesn't mean they're not dragging their feet on the release, though.
At risk of being that guy — read the original contract before you escalate too hard. Some of them have an arbitration clause and if you go loud first they'll hide behind it. I got lucky, but a friend of mine did not and it got messy.
ok filing the AG thing tonight. worst case nothing happens, right? right??