Author Topic: my absence... (Read 2312 times)

jacquesm · « **on:** February 11, 2005, 02:50:34 AM »

It seems like I have a serious problem...

The company that does our online billing (IBill) has not been paying out for almost 4 months now. This means that I have to devote a large amount of my time to our online business. I'd rather be building windmills, that's for sure, but right now my priorities are to get some kind of cashflow going so that we can continue our other projects.

IBill has been particulary nasty in that they keep stringing us along with promises of 'payments next week', without ever following up on them.

A nice article about all this is here, the writer seems to be much better at articulating what he thinks of all this than I am.

To put it bluntly I've never seen anything so callous as the way we get treated...

Anyway, I hope this sufficiently explains my absence, don't take it the wrong way, I'm not giving up, just totally tied down elsewhere for the time being. As soon as I have an income stream going that is enough to sustain us and our various development projects I'll be back in force.

rotornuts · « **Reply #1 on:** February 10, 2005, 09:28:29 PM »

I wish you luck. I used to subcontract as a framer in Calgary till exactly this kind of thing happened one to many times. Always nice crafty little ways to string you along till one day your bank account is dry and the bills are piling up and you have to cut your losses and walk away. It finished me and I no longer frame houses but hopefully you can pull through.

good luck.

zubbly · « **Reply #2 on:** February 11, 2005, 04:39:38 AM »

Hi Jacquesm!

Really have missed your work here lately as well as the good conversations with the gang on irc.

I am sure you know this, but efforts are always more powerful in numbers. The others that are having the same problem i am sure can create a much louder voice and push when banded together.

wishing you the best !!

zubbly

TomW · « **Reply #3 on:** February 11, 2005, 05:00:22 AM »

Jacques;

Well, and here I thought I had finally tossed an insult you took to heart!

Been thinking of calling but figured you were as busy as a one legged man in a butt kicking contest.

IRC is waiting for your return and I think you will be surprised at the advances Don is making on projects.

Cheers.

TomW

iFred · « **Reply #4 on:** February 11, 2005, 05:59:43 AM »

Jacques; Been there, bought the tee shirt and then some. learned from the experience, paid the crooked &*^@##&(#&)(#$@)( * Lawyers, do not trust them!! (which made more then I did), sometimes it is best to just cut your losses, let go and be done with it. It does take the wind from your sails however momentary.. I wish you the best of luck, your going to need it!

monte350c · « **Reply #5 on:** February 11, 2005, 08:16:07 AM »

I read that and I'm sorry that happened to you and your business.

With your setup, surely there's a way to set up your own merchant account. You might want to look at some non-conventional banks here in Canada. The options are better now than they were a few years ago. If you can get your own account you will be free of those bas**rds for once and all.

Check digitalriver they have been around a while and have a good client list. Like 3M, Staples, autodesk etc.

Very best of luck with it and I hope you're back collecting cash instead of promises in the very near future.

Ted.

jacquesm · « **Reply #6 on:** February 11, 2005, 02:51:14 PM »

Ted, which other banks ? I've been by royal bank, TD, bank of montreal, HSBC and Scotia bank. 0 luck with all of them... Online ? user generated content ? no thank you....

Any pointers towards something that will work are much appreciated...

I'm trying to get a merchant account in the Netherlands (where I still have a corporate presence), but it will take another month at least before that's anywhere near workable...

monte350c · « **Reply #7 on:** February 11, 2005, 03:56:46 PM »

Not surprised about the answer from the 'big boys'. The big thing they want to see is lots of collateral - you know - in case you run "rampant" with customers' card numbers!

As usual with those guys if you have lots of cash they will be happy to extend some credit etc. but if not - oh well.

Of the other big banks you could try ING.

Also it would very much be worth a trip to your local Credit Union. Often they are much more receptive to new ideas and since they are local to the area where you are they tend to be more a part of the community and will base their decisions locally not from some office in TO or Montreal.

Try www.digitalriver.com and see if they have anything that would work. I know a lot of companies use them and some very big names rely on them for online purchases using credit cards.

If I can think of anything else that might be remotely useful I'll send it.

Ted.

monte350c · « **Reply #8 on:** February 11, 2005, 08:11:40 PM »

When they ask, instead of 'user generated content' how about 'user managed storage' which seems to be quite in fashion these days...

Ted.

SDO · « **Reply #9 on:** February 14, 2005, 10:20:08 PM »

I'm not sure what the specific problems with IBill are, or if you have

complaints lobbied against you, however using an account like PayPal

requires litterally next to no setup and effort, just an account that

you can associate and then you can take payments directly. It may

take more time and effort, but then again missing payments for 4 months

is something that I would avoid by going and having your own accounting

guy/girl in house deal with incoming cash/payments.

Sorry to hear you are having payment problems, I too like a few here

know all too well what that can do to someone mentally, emotionally

and economically. It almost destroyed me two times, now I just sit

back and watch the world implode. Its an interesting show.

picmacmillan · « **Reply #10 on:** February 16, 2005, 06:19:37 AM »

hi jacquism, like the rest i feel for you during this tough time...i been there did that....i would just as soon deal with the devil himself than the banks...they love you when you have tons of money, but as soon as something happens, injury, lay off, doesn't matter...you're then what they call special needs and they don't want you...besides wanting 200,000 worth of collateral for a 2000 dollar loan, they are rediculous.....i forget what kind of asset its called that you must have for them to lend money, but it's the same as cash...something you could cash in right away if needed.....the problem is , if you had cash, why would you deal with those snakes.....have you tried private lenders?...i have found if you look in the right spots, there are some good people out there, just not at the banks....good luck..pickster

thunderhead · « **Reply #11 on:** February 17, 2005, 01:24:05 AM »

Sorry to hear about your problems with banks. There are no polite words. Sadly it doesn't surprise me that the people here have had so many bad experiences with banks.

And, if you bank with this bank, think again.

nack · « **Reply #12 on:** March 06, 2005, 10:08:03 PM »

I am very sorry to hear your plight. You have probably already tried anything I can think of offhand, but just in case...

(1) Perhaps set up a plain old business account at the bank of your choice, then work them up to the web billing thing... Look for one that will lease you a POS, and allow for phone ordering, then move them to web sales (try not to specify any particular product line, or put up a site that sells some kind of physical goods, then once the billing channel is open...)

(2) Contact FirstData and see if you can either work directly with them, or failing that if they could recommend one of their partners to replace iBill.

(3) - variation on (1) - Approach the bank wanting to accept credit card payment for professional services (IT consulting/contract programming/whatever), web billing would be essential because of the many clients you still have in Europe who desire to settle electronically. When you slip your existing operations in, try to describe is as anything but user generated content - "user managed storage" might be a good one, or "web based archival service", or abstract the exact service from the billing and just say "member fees". If they call you on it, just say that you (perhaps on the advice of your accounting staff) have decided to consolidate all billing operations to reduce operational costs and complexity, and if they are no longer interested in skimming your revenue, could they provide a grace period while you transition to another bank that does want your money. Once they see that you are actually conducting business with integrity, and they are not plagued by requests for chargebacks, allegations of fraud, and other hassles usually associated with questionable web businesses, they will probably want to keep your money.

One other thought, the article you linked to mentions that Penthouse bought iBill, then "backed away" from it when they realized the problems... I wonder how you "unbuy" a business. Is there any chance that Penthouse, as owner of iBill, could be vulnerable to litigation? IBill might not be solvent, but Penthouse certainly is, and generally speaking, it is hard to buy a business for it's assets without also taking on the liabilities - they may have an enforcable hold harmless from indemnity clause in the purchase agreement, but then again, they may not.

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