iBill

Hi everyone,

I hesitate to post this, but since these boards are supposed to be about us in the business looking out for each other and offering advice I thought I would post this and see what kind of comments I would get. I won’t go into too much detail, the email below that I sent to iBill pretty much explains it all. Basically, they owe us money, refuse to pay, and won’t answer their emails. When I call them I'm told I need to email their accounting department because there is no one I can speak to on the phone about this. So, on April 21st I sent the following email to the following addresses at iBill… ready@ibill.com, compliance@ibill.com, legal@ibill.com, payables@ibill.com, webmaster@ibill.com, support@ibill.com, & mlevin@ibill.com. That's seven email addresses and here it is 2 weeks later and not a single response, not ONE. Here's the email…
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To whom it may concern:

I am writing you for the (hopefully) last time in regards to our closed accounts with you. We opened two accounts with iBill in March of last year to do 1-900 telephone billing for our membership websites. Thirteen months and $1080.05 in sales later we have not received one penny in payment from iBill…not one red cent.

Before I go any further here are our account numbers… xxxxxx & xxxxxx.

When we initially signed up last year I thought I had emailed ready@ibill.com so they could review the sites, etc. so we could be paid promptly. Apparantly, I never did or if I did you never received the email. You also never sent me any sort of email letting me know that you were charging my customers and holding the money and that I was in a status to not be paid until I finally called one day asking why (how convenient for you). I find it interesting that you say the reason to email ready@ibill.com is so that you can review the site and make sure it is set up correctly, is legal, etc. However…you start billing customers and holding money without knowing this information (again, very convenient for you).

I finally called Michelle Levin sometime last summer to see what was going on and was informed that “ready” was never emailed and that was why we haven’t been paid. She told me to email them again and copy her in on it and she would see to it that it was taken care of. It never was. I called back again sometime around September I suppose and was then told that I wouldn’t be paid for sometime because Worldcom was filing for Bankruptcy protection and apparently iBill doesn’t pay their customers until they get paid. In addition to the delay it seems that I won’t be getting the full amount that is owed, but only a smaller amount…the amount that Worldcom eventually paid you. Well, excuse me for saying so…but it was Worldcom that was filing for Bankruptcy protection….not iBill. If I have a creditor that owes me money and they file for Bankruptcy that doesn’t mean I don’t have to pay my bills. That’s MY problem…not whoever else I might owe money to. My agreement was with iBill…NOT Worldcom. If you don’t get paid I don’t see how that is anyone else’s problem besides your own.

According to my records and the CMI interface on your website we had a total of $851.80 in telephone charges last year on account xxxxxx. On account xxxxxx we had $228.25. That’s a total of $1080.05. I believe your service fee is around 20% ($216.01). That leaves a balance of approximately $864.04. I realize that some calls are more than 20% and some might be less, but I think this total should be fairly close. I don’t accept the excuse that Worldcom went Bankrupt and you won’t pay us for those charges. As I said earlier…my agreement was with YOU, not Worldcom.

Also, according to the CMI it says that I have a reserve right now of $53.14 on account xxxxxx and a reserve of $6.97 on account xxxxxx. It says that these were placed on my account in Dec. and that they will be released in July. I wasn’t billing with you in December…I haven’t billed anything with you since September of last year. Every sale that you have processed for us should now be freed up and ready to be paid to us. I’d appreciate an explanation on this as well.

I hope that you can appreciate the frustration that this has caused us over the past several months. What should have been a beneficial relationship for both of us has turned in a complete mess. I have emailed your company COUNTLESS times over the past six months and I never get a response. I called your sales department and all they can do it refer me to sending an email. After months of sending emails with no response I hope that this time things will be different.

I expect a response within 48 hrs. I want to know WHEN we will be paid (& it better be soon). I want to know the EXACT amount. I believe you have our banking information to do ACH. If not, please send us a check instead.

If I don’t get a satisfactory response within 48 hours I will be forwarding a letter of complaint to the Better Business Bureau and the Florida State Attorney General.

In addition, I will post to message boards on Netpond, Ynot, Alt Masters, The Adult Webmaster, the Adult Buzz, Porn Resource, & Adult Net Surprise just to name a few. I will tell everyone how you owe us money, refuse to pay, and completely ignore ALL attempts to get in contact with you. Thousands of webmasters read these boards everyday and I’m sure I could get a few tongues wagging about your business practices. I’ve already read of several instances similar to ours.

Since we dropped iBill back in September we’ve been using Verotel to process our 1-900 transactions. They’ve never missed a payment and anytime we have a question we get an answer within 24 hours. You could certainly take a few lessons.

I’ll be waiting for your prompt reply.
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If anyone has ANY advice or knows anyone at this company that gives a damn, please let me know.

Thanks!

Joey

Wow, I can't believe IBill is still in business and advertising heavily in the adult industry. I encourage you to post this at the boards you indicated. I had the same thing happen with Bedfellow and a company called Web800. I lost thousands of dollars in rebills.

They played the same game with me. Round and round until finally they just stopped answering the phones. Communication stopped and they went under.

IBill is different because they are still in business and they have the audacity to advertise themselves as "safe". They owe you alot of money. Make them accountable for every penny. The need to be shut down and pay you the money they owe you. The only way to do that is to bring this to everyone's attention like you are doing now. If all else fails, definitely follow up through legal means.

I don't even know why IBill is still processing. They have a terrible reputation now. I'm sure you're not the only ones they screwed around. I use Verotel now myself and I'm very happy with them. I wish you luck as you might really have to fight hard to get anything from them.

HH

It seems only appropriate to note herre thea in Ibill's TOS it indicates that they will not pay you untill they receive payment from the phone provider for the 900 number.

I don't like the situation, but I think you cannot blame them for this problem.

They do act for you as a payment processor and they do a good job I think for the most part.

They are only doing what you agreed to when you signed on.

It is to bad that Worldcom went bankrupt.

It would be a nice gesture if Ibill could pay you some of the money. However I do not think you have a valid complaint here, as this was specified in your sign up agreement with Ibill.

Mr. Licious

Well, in speaking to iBill they have admitted that they owe me approximately $400 and it's due to be paid (apparantly Worldcom did pay them for part of it). I forgot to mention this earlier. They're not flat out refusing to pay me the entire amount. But it's been over 8 months since we've done business with them and they still haven't paid and noone there can (or will) tell me WHEN we will get paid.

Also, it says volumes about them as a company if I've been emailing them for EIGHT months and not had one response. I've called them numerous times and noone can help me. I've emailed our so-called account rep, the accounting department, & their legal department and I don't even get so much as a "fuck you...we're keeping your money, now go away". They just ignore me.

And yes, it does say in their TOS that you don't get paid until they do, but I don't think that anyone who has ever signed up to have iBill process their payments ever thought that this would be a problem. But, apparantly iBill did because they put it there so they could get out of paying their clients.

It seems to me that they've lost alot more out of this by trying to hang onto their money than if they had just done the right thing and paid me (& the countless other people they screwed). Even if they had said they didn't get paid but they'll pay half I would have accepted that. As it stands they have lost me FOREVER as a customer. And judging from some of the responses I've gotten on this and other boards they've lost alot more people as well.

Excuse me if I sound a little "rilled up" by all of this, but this is a pretty sore subject with me!

To be sure, I cannot blame you for getting upset about the situation.

It is really to bad that World Com f'd up the way they did.

Also, Ibill should be more open in their communication with you about this matter.

I do not know why they simply will not pay you what is owed you immediately. They should be seeking the goodwill of webmasters such as yourself, to help their business prosper. But I guess they are going through some stressful times at the company.

As an affiliate webmaster who promotes others sites, I have not had any problems with getting my payements from them however from what you are describing, it sounds as though they may be a bit disorganized right now.

I hope you get it worked out to some level of satisfaction. .



Mr. Licious

I dont want to comment one way or another in respect of iBills business practises seeings as how they are an advertiser of GA Media it wouldnt be right of me however...

That said, it may be a good point to remember that they recently let a lot of seasoned employees go because of re-organization of their company etc etc.

Obviously something of this nature can ad will affect how a corporate entity operates on a much wider scale.

My advice would be to keep contacting them and trying to work out an amicable solution from what i understand they have had a few other similar cases.

That said, from a business point of view i have nothing bad to say against iBill, i have never used them as a payment processor so cant really comment on your situation :(

Sorry i couldnt be much help on this matter.

Regards,

Lee

Well...my iBill adventure continues...

Someone on the Ynot board gave me the direct number to the "Premium Account Manager". Well, I called her on Monday, Wednesday, & Friday. I left her messages all three times & I know she was in the office because she changes her message daily. Still no answer.

I swear...I hate this company SO damn much!

I'm going to be in Miami in August and I swear if I can't get this resolved by then I'm gonna raise holy hell at their damn booth at the show!

Anyone have any suggestions?!

That 6 million dollar fine they got hit with surely drained their resources

Sh*t, I just checked my revshare stats on an old ibill account and it looks like they have been screwing up my stats as well. It is not a lot of cash, but never the less these guys are supposed to be the "big reputable billing company" and they have not paid me my meager payouts since last October.

I have written them, hopefully they will correct it quickly.

Cheers,

Luke

Good luck Luke! If you hear from anyone that's any good please let me know. I'm still not having any luck. From what I've heard from alot of people they are no longer the "big reputable company"...just the big company.