ynotpayment - my experience

[Chilihost]

I have been testing ynotpayment for a client this past week. I have not found anything on any boards about this new payment system. I also realize they have a policy of not answering questions in forums. IMHO, this makes it very difficult to evaluate so I thought I would share my experiences here:

1) the application process is simple and straight forward, but they do not approve applications until they have it in their hands with a copy of your ID (only accepted via post)
2) it seems their support is limited to USA business hours. From Australia it always took at least one day before I got a response.
3) the password script that is required on your server is php. I thought this was insecure so I asked if they had any .htaccess file that could be used to protect their script by limiting the IP address to their own servers - they did not and they warned against doing this as it would cause problems when they changed their IP address. They did inform me that the script has its own security mechanisms.
4) on the paysite's join page, you have to include a call to load their java scriptlet, unfortunately this is extremely slow and resulted in the test join page load-time going up from a few seconds to well over a minute
5) I tried a test signup to see what the surfer would experience. Their signup pages force you to enter a telephone number so their automated system can call you and provide you with a pin number to complete the signup procedure....but they don't tell you how to enter international phone numbers. Interesting security measure, unfortunately, I could not get this to work.
6) their signup pages also ask you for your name & address which is normal, but for some reason it would never take my address info. My first try was with a po box, they informed me that they do not accept po boxes. My second try was with a normal address, it still did not work. I wrote them about this and 2 days later I still have not heard back.
7) their signup pages have a "click for live help" link, nice feature but unfortunately it did not work. I enquired about this and the response was "We have received your comment and forwarded it to the appropriate department." Unfortunately I have not heard back on that one either. That one is 3 days outstanding now.

Overall, I think they need time to work through these issues before I would recommend this billing solution to anyone.

cheers,
Luke

[Slade]

Wow..sounds like a big thumbs down.
Thanks for sharing that info.

[Squirt]

I also realize they have a policy of not answering questions in forums. IMHO, this makes it very difficult to evaluate ...

Of all the things you pointed out.. I think the above comment is most telling.

Interesting that a company who started out as a public webmaster board, and supposedly discusses everything in forums publicly, refuses to address their own issues publicly.

I haven't met Bob, but heard he's a great guy. Their policy of not talking negatively about a business experience on their board, and now what you said above, severely handicaps open honest discussion, and worst of all, improvement of their business and quality customer relations. IMHO :francais:

Thanks for the heads up Luke

[Chilihost]

just a quick follow up, I got a response this morning to my email about the 'entering my address' issues, they do seem genuine about wanting to help me get this sorted and they also assured me that thousands of others are not having this issue.

cheers,
Luke

[tyrain]

Thank you very much Chilihost for posting this information. Most everyone in the industry knows the name Bob/Ynot. I fondly recall once being in a ynot live chat with Dokk and won a scanner in late 1999.

Like you, I was curious and hoping that a new subscription method was being introduced. I was dismayed though when in signing up, they wanted personal info sent not encrypted. I sent an email expressing concerns and asking guidance. I got an automated response.

On 4/22/2005 at 4:25 PM info@ynotpayment.com wrote:

>Thank you for contacting customer support. Your questions and feedback
>are very important to us. To help us serve you better, please be sure to
>include as much information as possible when contacting us including
>website, membership number, and username if possible. A customer service
>representative will be contacting you.

It is now almost a month later and I am getting gray hairs awaiting their response.

Due to my experience and Chilihost's comments, I would advise to stay away from them until they stabilize their business and learn the importance of customer service for future clients and subscribers.

I fully understand the telephone call confirmation but I suspect many sales I generate are from closeted men.

[Squirt]

I fully understand the telephone call confirmation but I suspect many sales I generate are from closeted men.

Excellent point! Not only that... the guy, straight or Gay, up late at night surfing porn while the house is asleep, only to awaken everyone with the ring of a porn subscription verification call LOL

All being said, at least it's something new, and hopefully those involved have the drive to significantly improve it. Bob doesn't seem the type to do things this sloppy, but also not the type to give up to easily... time will tell :turban:

[Lee]

Actually,

To be fair to the guys at Ynot, i can appreciate why they dont answer stuff on their message board (or any board for that matter).

Its often counterproductive to answer support questions in full view of everyone and i know that we prefer taking issues in private rather than dealing with them in full view.

Although it has to be said, judging by the responses here, they should speed up their response time a little.

Regards,

Lee

[gaystoryman]

Well personally as one who well remembers the AdultCheck nonsense with ACPay and later EGSPay, the comment then was the same... we conduct business in private... only trouble was they rarely responded to the average joe in any sort of timely manner... and here we are seeing that apply to YNot... at the very least when someone is posting about this, there should be some official at the least coming and saying email on its way.. not necessarily posting the response... but to not even do that makes the red flags fly at full staff.

in my mind some things need to be transparent. When you are bucking the established norm especially such as with VISA. Given past history of some companies, one would think that in this instance they would at least at the start up be more open. By not doing so they increase the natural skepticism that people have, especially given all the processors going under the last few years.

I suppose in a sense its a hobby horse of mine, to be on the opposite end of what most are willing to accept. I also have a good memory of things past...

Don't get me wrong, YNot can and could be 100% different than AC was... though the signals are certainly ominous in my personal view.. and no I don't know YNot Bob or the organization really... it just never was one that clicked for me like say GWW or Bentboard did/does. Doesn't make them bad either but I just don't think secrecy in this field is condusive to establishing trust.

Just my opinion & mini tilt.
Ian

[Mamakity]

Hi guys. Just wanted to add my .02 cents.

The guys over at YNOT, Bob and Jay and many others are people I consider my friends. I know them from the boards and in person and I can attest to the fact that they are honest and sincere guys. I believe that if you have a problem or an issue with one of there programs they would gladly jump through hoops to figure out a solution.

I can see that you are already working towards a solution. I think once they get the kinks out it will be a really nice service.


Bob and Jay are on my top 10 list of the most honest and sweet peeps in this biz.

I do appreciate everyone's opinion on this issue bu I had to give mine too.

[Gary_G]

Hi everyone. I just wanted to make a quick announcement here regarding YNOT Payment and the service delays that some of you have been receiving.

I know that some of you applied for YNOT Payment Seller Accounts and have experienced long delays in the processing of your applications. I also know that some of you have emailed questions to the YNOT Payment support teams and have not received timely replies to those inquires. Obviously this concerns me, and I want to assure everyone who has experienced a problem that I am personally working to resolve these concerns right now. Last week I jumped on a plane and flew out to Germany so that I could take a direct look at all customer support procedures, make sure that all existing applicants are taken care or, and where appropriate make changes to our customer support structure. We are making very good progress, and I expect that all outstanding issues will be resolved shortly.

Currently we're replacing our email support system and it will be up in the next 48 hours in the mean time anybody experiencing problems can email me directly at gary@ynot.com.

Anyhow, I just wanted to acknowledge those of you who have experienced delays and assure you that we are working hard to resolve all outstanding issues. Thanks for your patience and understanding, everyone. We
sincerely appreciate all of the support that we have received in launching this new payment service.

[Chilihost]

Gary, I was hoping you guys would get things working smoother, thus my final comment was to wait and give you time!

thanks for the update.

cheers,
Luke