Hi Guys,
First off, just to make this clear, I chose not to respond in this thread until the issue was resolved. We spoke daily with Laurie on chat, I called her over the issue, and we've had numerous lengthy calls with incapable netspend staff in an effort to get this straightened out. All I could've added to this thread was that yes indeed we sent out the withdrawal the day Laurie requested it and no we never doubled any charges.
There's two separate issues in this case. The issue of the double-charge is the oldest netspend issue. It has happened several times before, and with several processors on our end (we switched processors in an effort to avoid it to happen again!). We have gone through a lot of effort and hours of futile communication trying to help netspend resolve this issue. At one point in time we actually allocated engineers to it just to be able to give netspend a technical pointer on where to look. (It's not really a double charge, its a pending hold on top of an accepted capture. Netspend is either accepting a capture without clearing the matching hold - or accepting a hold without funds on the card.). To make matters worse, they are charging the customers for this (a debit card that goes negative ?? funds taken off on recharge ??), AND they've clearly instructed their helpdesk to put the blame at the vendor.
Their behavior is not just unprofessional, it seems impossible to get anyone on support that can even see what's going on. ("its a double charge" - insist it is not - "oh yes its a hold, the vendor's fault" - insist it is not - "indeed, our bad it will drop off in 7 days" - insist you wont accept that, and they'll connect you to someone else for the exact same scenario to repeat..). There is basically nothing the vendor can do to resolve this issue, we've sent emails, faxes, made calls and all to no avail. Customers that do manage to get the holds removed tell us it is because of their persistence and in some cases aggression towards the Netspend helpdesk.
The withdrawal issue is a new one for us. Laurie's withdrawal left the 3Dice offices the day she requested it, and our processors office the day after. (the request was made around midnight - else it would've been the same day.) That is the point in time where the (electronical) funds leave our accounts and arrive at netspend. The three-to-five (now seven-to-10) is the number that was given us by netspend themselves as on how long it would take them to process the CFT transaction. (Withdrawals at 3Dice don't take any time. Checks take time at the postal services and VISA withdraws take time at the issuing bank.). From that point on, netspend has not just held the funds for an exuberant 11 days, they topped it of by denying the existence of the transaction, once again blaming the vendor for a mistake they made. Obviously we will accommodate Laurie's withdrawal ASAP.
Having said all that, many hundreds of netspend transactions, both deposit and withdrawal are processed daily at 3Dice, and we see relatively few problems. But when things do go haywire, expect netspend to charge you, deliver substandard support and blame the vendor. I strongly feel that a company like netspend can only exist because of the current US legislative situation, and I'm starting to see similarities with the prohibition. (Netspend - the moonshine cc). Lets hope another issuer sees a business opportunity here to take over netspend's share of the market.
Kindest regards,
Enzo
a.k.a perry mason p.i
from now on i will deposit with netspend, withdraw with my q.t or check until i find something better....
