In October of 2008 year I was erroneously charged an annual fee of $99.95 (drafted from my checking account) by IPayment. When I signed up with Mr. Freshman, he personally informed me that the annual fees normally charged would be waived for as long as I had an account with IPayment: "No annual fees ever". So, you can imagine that I was a little surprised. Even so, I could see how a mistake could be made, and was willing to forgive it assuming that the reimbursement would arrive shortly.

After several weeks of not receiving any reimbursement, I contacted IPayment and also spoke with someone named Gaby who assured me that checks were being sent out to me as well as other customers who had the same thing happen to them. I contacted Gaby again after much time had passed to let her know that I had never received any check in the mail. She said the reimbursement would be reissued. I never received anything in the mail.

Other attempts at leaving phone messages with IPayment from December of 2008 to February of 2008 proved fruitless. No calls were returned.

Again, March 2, 2008 (the very day I was leaving for vacation), another annual fee charge appeared withdrawn from my checking account for the same amount of $99.95. I immediately left a message with IPayment explaining the situation. While out of town, I finally received a message from Jim Coleman saying that a check would be issued for the total amount of $199.90.

I have not received any check as of yet. You can imagine my frustration at knowing that almost $200 was drafted from my checking account without my permission, knowing that I had no obligation to have paid that amount. We all know that I have many other important things to be doing to grow my business besides following up with this reimbursement time and time again without any results. While $200 may not seem like a significant amount to IPayment or Todd Freshman, that is irrelevant. It's my money that I've worked long days and many hours to earn and it's not for anyone else to steal, whether we're talking about $2 or $200.

In addition to the unauthorized withdrawals, I have been let down by IPayment's lack of responsiveness, poor customer service, empty promises, and ineffectiveness at resolving the problem. If I treated my customers this way, I would not be able to stay in business.

I do not want to wait another month to see if a check might come in the mail. I want (and think I deserve) an immediate direct deposit into my business checking account for the amount of $199.90, just the way it was taken from me in the first place. It's a simple one to resolve: recognize a mistake and make it right as soon as you can. I don't see why this has to be so difficult.

My recommendation is to stay away from IPayment and look for another company to process your company's credit card transactions.