I really don’t know where to start as I’m quite shocked at how I have just been treated. We decided to go with a company called CyberSource to be our merchant account provider (allow us to take credit cards online). They looked like a good company, had really good clients, and even provided developers some pre-written code for connecting to their systems.
Just yesterday however we found CyberSource wasn’t actually being nice by providing developers pre-written code - they were saying you can only use their code and not able to write your own.
This was a huge shock for us as we’ve been developing our web-apps in Ruby and understood from their website that we would be able to write our own SDK to connect to their systems. We understood that we had to write extra code to work with them but we were ok with that and even excited about making our SDK open for others wanting to use Ruby and work with CyberSource.
After talking with them for a few hours, they basically ended up saying we had 2 options. (1) Use one of the programming languages they want us to use, or (2) go with someone else.
Normally it isn’t a huge deal to count your losses and work with someone else, but in this case, I’ve already spend hundreds of dollars to be setup and get started. Not only that, but we were supposed to go live in a week for a client expecting credit card verification to work and now it’s probably not going to happen.
Along with that, they said if I quite, I would have to pay a termination fee because I signed a 2 year agreement. Now, I can understand contracts and agreements but what I don’t understand is getting billed even more for something I can’t use and something that doesn’t work the way it was sold to me.
They said I should have called them to make sure they provided what our company needs. I guess that was my fault - I should have assumed their website wasn’t clear about their offerings and signed up online. I should have wasted my time second guessing them and how well they’re able to communicate online, made a phone call to talk with an account manager and signed up through a bunch of phone call questions and faxes.
So I’m sitting here after being on the phone with various CyberSource staff at various management levels, simply shocked that I got screwed, lost hundreds of dollars and a few hundred dollars more for leaving them.
I should have gone with TrustCommerce from the beginning.
From TrustCommerce
Complex, slow, hard-to-use client APIs seem to be the norm in the payment processing industry. But it doesn’t have to be that way. We offer APIs for most popular web development platforms, including many that the “big guys” like to ignore, like PHP and Perl (two favorites within our development team). If yours isn’t on the list, let us know - we’re happy to develop new APIs at your request.
I guess I’ll give them a call now.
posted on July 19, 2006 | 6:36 PM EST
Add to the discussion.
Annoying…only a couple of things - does the contract have a cooling off period - i.e., a period (probably already passed) where you can recind without penalty; and two, does it say anywhere on their site that they would provide or support what you wanted? If so, then it might be construded as breach of contract. Probably cost more to fight it than bite the bullet and buy it out with the penalty.
I finally cancelled my service today but did get this email from them:
Email from CyberSource
Hi Aaron,
After discussing your situation with our Support team as well as on my side in Sales, what I am able to do is this. You have already been charged a set up fee of $199. This has to stick. You have not be charged any monthly fees- so I will make sure you are not charged for the month of July, and I will waive the termination fee.
The set up fee must stay is as we have inherent costs of setting up our product. I understand that this is a frustrating situation, however because you submitted your application online without speaking with a sales rep to verify whether or not our solution would be compatible with what you needed, I am unable to credit you back all fees.
Generally merchants review our developer documents on line to make sure our solution will work with their individual requirements.
Again, I apologize for any inconvenience. I have attached the termination forms. Please sign them and fax them back to me by the end of the week so I can ensure you are not charged for the month of July. Thanks, and please let me know if you have any other questions.
I’m in a similar spot - did you end up going with TrustCommerce? If so, how are they?
Zack - so far, we’re very happy with TrustCommerce. Their interface isn’t that graphically pleasing but it’s very powerful and exactly what I need. It’s easy to reimburse people as well (which we found to be useful).
They play really well with Ruby developers so I recommend them quite a bit. I’ll try to write up my experiences with them sometime soon.
Aaron - Sorry to hear you had to go through that, but thanks for sharing what you learned. You just saved me from running into the same problems.
I believe Cybersource took over authorize.net, it appears as if they have distroyed Authorize.net. Authorize.net now sucks, 1/2 - 1hr hold time for customer service. Use USAepay.com
Steve, first off, learn how to spell. Destroyed is a very powerful word, and if you do not know how to spell it, don’t use it. Your brain is incapable. And two, Authorize.net has not been “distroyed”, they have just partnered with a bigger company, giving them more capabilities. The reason for their long hold times, were holiday season. Its normal. Have you seen Wal-Mart’s return line? HA, now THAT is a joke.
Yea, CyberSource did destroy Authorize.net. It’s now February and the hold time is still 1/2 to 1-1/2 hour wait. I’ve been using them for about 2 years. Not any more.
Recently I had a purchase. The card was declined due to enabling an Authorize.net “feature” that would decline a charge based on AVS mismatch. I tried the charge a second time to make sure it wasn’t my mistake entering info into their virtual terminal, again declined.
I notified the customer, the customer confirmed that the charges were, indeed, approved. I confirmed that with the merchant account provider, and yes, the charges were funded.
I’ve now spent a week calling everyday to resolve this. I’ve been told only a manager can correct this, but nobody will allow me to speak with one. No return call from management as promised. Their support staff are all condescending cocky little suckers. I’m going to eat a chargeback penalty and consequences because of this.
To this date, Authorize.net is incapable of correcting the charges or providing a way I can get a refund processed. It was suggested I write the customer a check. I own two other businesses with 2 other card processors, both offer a way to process credits. But apparently that is beyond Authorize.net’s capabilities if their “system” says they were declined. WHAT A CROCK!!
Never again! I’m going to recommend to all my clients to move away from Authorize.net at any cost. The fees and lost time from this one incident are over $500.
And John, who cares about spelling ! really.
Jim DeBruycker Says:
Annoying…only a couple of things - does the contract have a cooling off period - i.e., a period (probably already passed) where you can recind without penalty; and two, does it say anywhere on their site that they would provide or support what you wanted? If so, then it might be construded as breach of contract. Probably cost more to fight it than bite the bullet and buy it out with the penalty.