Complaint Review: iPayment Inc - Thousand Oaks California

We signed up for an account with iPayment Inc in March of 2011. We provided them with our name, address, phone number, email address, as well as our bank account and routing numbers. We intended to use their service to process credit card orders on our eCommerce website. At no time during the initial application was it stated to us that we had to provide them with a business checking account. We provided them with a personal checking account. Our application was accepted, and we were off and running. Two to three months later, due to fraudulent charges on the ATM card associated with this same checking account, our checking account was temporarily frozen, and we were issued a new debit card  The account was un-frozen. Meantime, iPayment had noticed that "Hey, these guys aren't paying their monthly dues." And then prompty cancelled the account for non payment. At which point they levied a $350 early termination fee against us, and then withdrew the money from the very account they claimed they had been "unable to charge." We received absolutely no notification, emailed, written, or phone based that our account was going to collections.

We called their support staff, who stated that the account would be reactivated. After which point, we would be issued a partial refund, less the cost of the monthly fees, something like $226.

Two weeks went by. Still no refund. And we were still unable to process credit card orders on our website. We immediately called their support staff, who told us that we would be required to provide a typed letter from our bank, with bank letterhead stating that the account was in good standing and was not frozen. We faxed in one letter. iPayment stated that this letter was insufficient, so we went back to our bank, who issued a SECOND letter which displayed our account information in greater detail, and was signed by both the bank representative, and myself.

A month goes by. Still no refund. We call back, the support representative notices (wrongly) that our checking account number is incorrect, that it appears to be "too long." She chops off the last three numbers of the routing number. Now we DEFINITELY will NEVER receive credit card payments from the site, and, guess what? Monthly fees can't be billed from our account.

Another two to three weeks go by. We notice that the website is still unable to process credit cards. And we still haven't been issued a refund for the erroneous early termination fee. The support staff then states that in order to update the checking account routing number, we need to fax over a voided check along with a signed letter stating that this is in fact our checking account. Their fax line is down. I tried sending the fax from two different fax machines, in two different buildings, from two different numbers.

So I emailed it. Then called their support staff immediately. The representative stated that their billing department would not accept a personal checking account for their service. Period.

So we have been signed up for their service these nine months, only processed ONE legitimate (non-"test") credit card transaction, and between the late fees, termination fees, we have been charged (or owe) over eight hundred dollars, all due to their incompetence.

Spent over an hour on the phone with one of their "Supervisors" today who essentially talked in circles, and stated flat out that no refunds would be issued no matter what we did. Despite making it quite clear to her that none of these charges were assessed in good faith, every single late fee, termination fee was accrued due to errors on their side, she would not budge. She was extremely abrasive and impatient, called myself and my assistant "flat out liars," and wished us good luck filing complaints with state and federal consumer agencies.