Google Checkout closed my account

DavidTO

I had a GC account set up to handle the deposits for the shootout. I got an email from them today saying that they've closed my account because I "reversed a negative balance recovery." I have no idea what that means, or what I did wrong. I sent an email, to find out, but when I try to log in to GC, I get this message:

Account verification: Your merchant account has been closed

Your account will not be reactivated. For all future orders, please use an alternate payment method.

Why was my account closed?
For security reasons, Google Checkout cannot provide specific information regarding the closure of your Checkout merchant account.
Can I apply to get my account reopened?
No. Your merchant account will not be re-activated. Please utilize an alternative payment method for future orders.

Can I open a new merchant account?
No. Any merchant account opened in connection with this current account will be closed without notice.

I'll be closing my gmail account and ceasing any use of their products. Unbelievable way to treat a customer.

Sam

Curious,

Did this cause any financial loss for you? What did they say when you called them?

Sam

Dee

Let us know if you can get this resolved.

Nikolai

Wow... That sucks...:cry
Can you keep an gmail, though? I bet these are two absolutley different departments, one hand doesn't know what the other does...

DavidTO

Nikolai wrote:

Wow... That sucks...:cry
Can you keep an gmail, though? I bet these are two absolutley different departments, one hand doesn't know what the other does...

Yes, I can use any google service I want. Thing is, I no longer want to. I closed them all.

Sam, no phone support, I emailed, no response.

Dee, I'll follow up if there's anything to report. I have one email into them, but I'm not trying to resolve it at this point, just moving on. I don't need their kind.

jdryan3

DavidTO wrote:

Yes, I can use any google service I want. Thing is, I no longer want to. I closed them all.

:wow

:cry :cry :cry

Too bad. I remember when you opened this up how cool it was since you had little love for PayPal like a lot of us.

Just out of curiosity, could it be someone refuting a charge and wanting a chargeback? Like maybe one of the folks who signed up for the Shootout, paid the deposit, and then did not show up?

Sam

DavidTO wrote:

Yes, I can use any google service I want. Thing is, I no longer want to. I closed them all.

Sam, no phone support, I emailed, no response.

Dee, I'll follow up if there's anything to report. I have one email into them, but I'm not trying to resolve it at this point, just moving on. I don't need their kind.

David, That's one of the reasons I will go WAY out of my way, to not do business with anyone / business that doesn't have a phone number! (I will buy elsewhere, do it myself, or do without)

Sam

DavidTO

Sam wrote:

David, That's one of the reasons I will go WAY out of my way, to not do business with anyone / business that doesn't have a phone number! (I will buy elsewhere, do it myself, or do without)

Sam

Yes, Sam. I know this about you.

I also know the realities of today's market, and the quality of service that's available from a company like SmugMug -- without any phone support.

Sam

DavidTO wrote:

Yes, Sam. I know this about you.

I also know the realities of today's market, and the quality of service that's available from a company like SmugMug -- without any phone support.

The realities are simple, and I do understand them. Company X wants to offer products and / or services but doesn't want to provide any ability for the customer to contact / bother them via a phone.

I do understand how a company can have a policy (stated upfront) to not provide certain services via the phone, but for billing, and other out of the ordinary issues there should ultimately be a way you can speak with them.

Look at your case, your teed off, Goggle is losing a customer, and it's possible it's all do to a computer glitch, or human error that could have been corrected in minutes. Goggle rich but arrogant, and dumb.

Now if customers accept this, then they will of course continue to not provide this service. If enough customers decline to do business with them because of the lack of a phone, they will have a phone ASAP. So y'all get get what you are willing to accept.

I might make an exception with Smugmug, but I know where they live, and have a nice pile of bricks in the back yard should I need them.

Sam

Andy

Sam wrote:

David, That's one of the reasons I will go WAY out of my way, to not do business with anyone / business that doesn't have a phone number! (I will buy elsewhere, do it myself, or do without)

Sam

Absolutes suck - we don't use phone and NEVER would do what google did to David.

EarthDog

DavidTO wrote:

... I "reversed a negative balance recovery." I have no idea what that means, or what I did wrong...

It sounds like what they're accusing you of is cancelling (reversing) your payment to them (negative balance recovery). Did you have it set up for automatic withdrawal from a bank account that you closed, or something along those lines?

DavidTO

Sam wrote:

The realities are simple, and I do understand them. Company X wants to offer products and / or services but doesn't want to provide any ability for the customer to contact / bother them via a phone.

I do understand how a company can have a policy (stated upfront) to not provide certain services via the phone, but for billing, and other out of the ordinary issues there should ultimately be a way you can speak with them.

Look at your case, your teed off, Goggle is losing a customer, and it's possible it's all do to a computer glitch, or human error that could have been corrected in minutes. Goggle rich but arrogant, and dumb.

Now if customers accept this, then they will of course continue to not provide this service. If enough customers decline to do business with them because of the lack of a phone, they will have a phone ASAP. So y'all get get what you are willing to accept.

I might make an exception with Smugmug, but I know where they live, and have a nice pile of bricks in the back yard should I need them.

Sam

Sam, I just don't agree with you on this one. Phone support does not guarantee quality support, or even suggest it. All the Google has to do is reply. It's really simple, and does not require me waiting on hold for 2 hours to get someone on the phone.

DavidTO

EarthDog wrote:

It sounds like what they're accusing you of is cancelling (reversing) your payment to them (negative balance recovery). Did you have it set up for automatic withdrawal from a bank account that you closed, or something along those lines?

I don't know, and it doesn't really matter to me. The fact that they won't work it out with me, send a note and give me a few days to work it out is enough for me to say so long.

Whatever it was that I did, it was completely unintentional. And all I wanted was a chance to make it right before they locked me out forever. Seriously. They can go to hell, they probably own it by now, anyway!

Sam

Andy wrote:

Absolutes suck - we don't use phone and NEVER would do what google did to David.

Andy,

While I stand by my statements, I can make exceptions.

Smugmug is one of those companies that has generated, and earned a reputation for for outstanding customer service.

When I break down and finally get an on line account I don't even have a second choice, but that said I still would wish for a phone number to tuck away for an emergency.

Sam

EarthDog

DavidTO wrote:

And all I wanted was a chance to make it right before they locked me out forever.

Yeah, I'd feel the same way. It's just that mysterious phrases like that set off the puzzle solver in me.

DavidTO wrote:

Seriously. They can go to hell, they probably own it by now, anyway!

Well, yeah. They inherited it

Sam

DavidTO wrote:

Sam, I just don't agree with you on this one. Phone support does not guarantee quality support, or even suggest it. All the Google has to do is reply. It's really simple, and does not require me waiting on hold for 2 hours to get someone on the phone.

David,

No problem with disagreeing. and I do agree that simply having a phone does not guarantee good service. I would not however consider being on hold for two hours phone service. I also understand that if they would have answered your original question there wouldn't need a phone conversation. With out the ability to call and speak to someone how do we know it's not a glitch, or a some minion not only not doing his or her job, but not complying with company policy with regard to customer service? This does not benifit you or the company.
I have found that one can typically get a better / more positive response (assuming the company is basically pretty good, and has a desire to provide good service,) from a live person with a name and title, than a minion ignoring an e-mail.

ps: I cacelled py pay because I couldn't get an answer from them, and without a phone number I couldn't give them a second chance, or final opportunity to answer a simple question.
Sam

ChatKat

Awful!
Dave,

That is AWFUL! As you know, I've been using them because of all the great feedback here .....they made it so easy for me and I won't use Paypal.

I'd love more info - I was starting to promote that over some other credit card processing methods. Maybe it's time to get a new credit card merchant.

EarthDog

Not to hijack the thread, but what is the main complaint against Paypal? Is it their ever-rising fees, or something else?

Nikolai

EarthDog wrote:

Not to hijack the thread, but what is the main complaint against Paypal? Is it their ever-rising fees, or something else?

Are they rising? Never noticed... Been using PP for many years on a very regular basis, very few problems.

DavidTO

http://paypalsucks.com/

But they may not suck as bad as Google...

google_and_paypal_suck

PayPal and Google Checkout Suck...

DavidTO wrote:

http://paypalsucks.com/

But they may not suck as bad as Google...

My merchant account was just closed for no apparent reason, and I have spent the last 1/2 hour trying to find a number to call, so that I can speak to a manager about this. Even though I am NO fan of PayPal, at least you can call them, and speak to a human after they screw you over. I'm sick and tired of spending my limited time as a small business owner dealing with such ridiculous situatons. A couple different times PayPal limited my account for no reason, and then after days of communication, released it without any explanation. As a result, I stopped using Paypal, and began to use Google Checkout as an alternate method of payment, in addition to direct CC, COD, or company check. Looks like I jumped out of the PayPal frying pan into the Google fire here, doesn't it?


If a company is willing to summarily close or limit your account without notice or reason, and then won't even publish a phone number to call, I am no longer interested in doing business with them! I have been in business for over 20 years, and only in the last couple years have I seen such a complete lack of customer service in this country. It is obvious that companies such as eBay and Google have been the biggest reason for this serious decline in good customer service. It's the new, give me your money, shut up, and don't bother me corporate culture that eBay, PayPal, and Google live by that will send most merchant like myself back to our local banks to clear payments in the future.

Finally, even if this problem was caused by a misunderstanding or error, the summary judgement, and lack of communication is COMPLETELY INEXCUSEABLE. It is shameful for Google to treat it's good customers this way, and I look forward to the day the free market system corrects these corporate juggernauts for the horrible customer service they have dished out to their good, loyal customers.

ian408

Andy wrote:

Absolutes suck - we don't use phone and NEVER would do what google did to David.

Google canceled an order I'd placed with B&H using Google Checkout.

The short answer is I tried to connect with Google to find out why they did that. That was over a month ago and I've yet to hear the answer from Google.

I find that absolutely unacceptable for someone handling my money.

So B&H, if you're listening. You get kudos for helping to find out that Google was to blame (comes across from B&H as "customer canceled order"). Too bad you lost out on the order though.

kdog

http://www.google.com/search?q=google+checkout+sucks

shane17

How can I help DavidTO?
Hi David,

The link to this post thread was sent to me via a friend. I work at Google Checkout and would like to help you better understand the situation with your account. Please send me your gmail address that you used for your Checkout account so that I can look it up within our system. I will then personally respond to your questions directly.

Thanks,

Shane

Manager, Online Sales and Operations, Google Checkout

DavidTO

shane17 wrote:

Hi David,

The link to this post thread was sent to me via a friend. I work at Google Checkout and would like to help you better understand the situation with your account. Please send me your gmail address that you used for your Checkout account so that I can look it up within our system. I will then personally respond to your questions directly.

Thanks,

Shane

Manager, Online Sales and Operations, Google Checkout

Shane, to be honest, I'm not sure I really want any help at this point. I had my account summarily closed with little explanation and no hopes of being able to work it out and reopen it. My email requesting information was unanswered. I'm more than a little amazed that I would be treated like that. The best help I'm going to get is because some random friend of yours saw this thread? Sorry to be sarcastic, but I'm truly miffed about this.

I've closed the gmail account entirely, so I have no problem posting the email here, as it's inactive: (deleted)

ian408

shane17 wrote:

Hi David,

The link to this post thread was sent to me via a friend. I work at Google Checkout and would like to help you better understand the situation with your account. Please send me your gmail address that you used for your Checkout account so that I can look it up within our system. I will then personally respond to your questions directly.

Hi Shane,

I would echo David's sentiment and add that I think it is 100% unacceptable for Google to handle transactions and not be at all responsive to customer problems.

To wave the "security" flag saying (effectively) nothing can be done is equally as ridiculous.

You are handling people's money and credit card records. You have a responsibility to help people resolve the problems with their account.

I can say truthfully that my experience turned me from proponent to opponent in a heartbeat.

jdryan3

shane17 wrote:

Hi David,

The link to this post thread was sent to me via a friend. I work at Google Checkout and would like to help you better understand the situation with your account. Please send me your gmail address that you used for your Checkout account so that I can look it up within our system. I will then personally respond to your questions directly.

Thanks,

Shane

Manager, Online Sales and Operations, Google Checkout

Shane -
While I expect you will respect David's privacy, I hope you don't let your post #1 be the last of what we hear as to why this happened. Not the cause in his specific case, but the lack of infrastructure to resolve the issue.

There are many people on this forum who are very involved in all phases of web development, commerce, and support. Not at all Luddites. We were very excited to see Google move into this space, but can hardly recommend it to our customers, clients or friends. Sort of like the iPhone (which I do have): Nice toy, great hope for where it may go, not ready for the enterprise.

Nikolai

Shane,
first of all, I'd like to welcome you to Dgrin!
This is a very large (primarily photogrpahy oriented) international community, and vendors respresentatives are always welcome.
It's a pity that your appearance here was caused by what happened to DavidTO and few others. I am not sure you can remedy that case, but what you certainly can do is to try to prevent this sad events from happening in the future. Customer service is, generally speaking, #1 business of everybody who's on the market, and it seems like Google has forgotten about this simple rule.
Hopefully your presence here will help to make the difference!

kdog

shane17 wrote:

Hi David,

The link to this post thread was sent to me via a friend. I work at Google Checkout and would like to help you better understand the situation with your account. Please send me your gmail address that you used for your Checkout account so that I can look it up within our system. I will then personally respond to your questions directly.

Thanks,

Shane

Manager, Online Sales and Operations, Google Checkout

Go ahead. Defend your business practices where you take money from clients, summarily close accounts, and then ignore their direct inquires. Either hypothetically, or what actually happened in this case. Do it, I'm listening.

shane17

DavidTO wrote:

Shane, to be honest, I'm not sure I really want any help at this point. I had my account summarily closed with little explanation and no hopes of being able to work it out and reopen it. My email requesting information was unanswered. I'm more than a little amazed that I would be treated like that. The best help I'm going to get is because some random friend of yours saw this thread? Sorry to be sarcastic, but I'm truly miffed about this.

I've closed the gmail account entirely, so I have no problem posting the email here, as it's inactive: (deleted)

Hi David,

I looked into the situation and in short my team was too quick to close your account and didn't explain to you what was going on in a clear manner. I have already begun changing internal processes to ensure it won't happen again.

I won't go into all the details here on a public form but I have reopened your Checkout account and sent a full detailed explanation to your secondary email on mac.com.

Please accept our sincerest apologies for the trouble and please do consider Google services in the future. I have dropped a $20 token into your Checkout account as well.

Thanks,

Shane

Manager, Online Sales and Operations, Google Checkout

du8die

shane17 wrote:

Hi David,

I looked into the situation and in short my team was too quick to close your account and didn't explain to you what was going on in a clear manner. I have already begun changing internal processes to ensure it won't happen again.

I won't go into all the details here on a public form but I have reopened your Checkout account and sent a full detailed explanation to your secondary email on mac.com.

Shane,

Good to hear that someone from Google is looking into this. Honestly, I think there are a lot of us who are/were considering using Google checkout, and this issue has made us take a second look. I was in the middle of signing up for the Checkout account, and I saw this thread, so I stopped.

As a potential customer, what will trigger an account shutdown? What recourses would we have if an account was shut down, without explaination, and what recourse do we have to appeal your decision? Because you are dealing in finances and bank accounts, in my opinion it is a reasonable expectation that we as customers and vendors have some way of contacting your company. Especially in the world of fraud, etc. If some kind of fraudaulent activity were to take place, we'd have no way of resolving the situation with you.

I understand your hesitation to reveal the details in the OP's problem, and your resolution (if it's real - the Internet being what it is, you never know if you are who you say you are... not doubting, just cautious) is nice, but doesn't really resolve my hesitance to use your service.

If you could explain what changes are being made, or what would trigger a shutdown of an account - so we know, I think that would go a long way in restoring trust in your service.

Thanks,
d8