Stripe is likely to destroy your business

1 year ago

Stripe deleted this post in their sub on Reddit. So I'm taking this to a larger more public forum.

I don't want to be petty or unreasonable. I just want communication from them.

Facts:

2 year old company. Management Consultant & Marketer.

Process only through invoices with signed contracts

Processed over 753k last year

1 Fraudulent chargeback from a bad client STILL UNDER CONTRACT

Situation

1 client fraudulently charged back 16k while in month 6 of a 12 month contract.

Stripe shuts the account down but strangely continues to process its just I have a 60-90 day hold.

I open another account using the same LLC. After business review Stripe inputs a 30% reserve (totally rational).

I sign a 24k client. Charge 24k.

Problem.

Stripe completely shuts that account down. No charges or payouts. Wants me to submit EIN, bank statements, & my contract.

I do.

I get an email from support saying I failed the appeal and the charges will be reversed to the customers and they will no longer support my business.

But the old account doesn't have the same problem. Just a 60-90 day hold on my payments.

Support isn't helpful. I even email Patrick.

Crickets.

Now they aren't shutting down my account. They are not reversing the charges like they said they would (I want them to).

The payout date on the 27,139 in my account keeps shifting 2 days.

They won't tell me what of my charges qualify for reversal. They also state they will pocket everything else that isn't reversed.

I feel like I have been robbed.

I'm going to wait my 5 days then tell all my clients to dispute. This pisses me off because next week I have to pay for travel out of pocket to service a client whose payment is tied up in this.

I don't want to stoop to this level because I hate lawyers and hate threats even more.....but if the disputes don't work and Stripe doesn't act right & reverse all charges in their shutdown immediately, my attorney will sue in Florida for tortious interference with a contract in force.

27k isn't a lot of money but the more I research the more abuses I see from Stripe.

I don't think I'm the only one here and it's going to take a class action lawsuit to stop these abuses from continuing since our government won't regulate them like the bank they truly are.

Just tell me what is going on Stripe. I understand business and risk.

But this lack of communication is unacceptable

5 comments

steelsixactual

Reply
gregjor  1 year ago

If a service you use can destroy your business you need to have alternatives and a plan for that happening. Posting online like this doesn’t count as managing risk.

If my car breaks down and I can’t get to work I don’t post online about how Toyota destroyed my life. I curse myself for not having a backup plan.

Most of my clients use Stripe, but they offer other payment methods. And they know about chargebacks and the risks of payment processors. While Stripe (and others) do screw up, I have to think the large majority of users don’t have problems like you describe, or no one would use them. So “likely to destroy your business” seems extreme.

NavinF  1 year ago

> I open another account using the same LLC

This is where you fucked up. Should have just used another payment provider while you argue with Stripe about the 60-90 day hold. Lots of businesses accept multiple payment methods to avoid disasters like this

lancecotingkeh  1 year ago

Stripe is notorious for this. I'm a founder who bootstrapped a business to $30M ARR in less than 3 years and Stripe almost killed us by kicking us off of their product without giving us a heads up

I started a business called OpenPay (getopenpay.com) to help founders like you. We can migrate your data / subscriptions off and help you get set up with a new payment processor.

Feel free to reach out to us on our website and we'll get you set up ASAP