Charge.com
reviews and complaints

I own a pay per minute chat site as well as an adult novelty store. I found charge.com on google search engine and decided to try them out because they have a 24 to 48 hour approval process and no start up fees. Being a new business I wanted to be a cost friendly as possible so I started filling out the applications on-line. After having some issues loading the application I called the 800 number listed on the web stie for further assistance. I spoke with a representative from charge.com who said he had the account registration and we would be notified with approval. Within the 48 period I was approved for my account and had my webmaster install the terminal on the website so we could start making money, a proud day for my company to say the least. A week later after no funds had been deposited into my account, I decided to call charge.com and find out what the problem was, I was told by charge.com that I need to call cenergy and talk with the risk department which I did on April 21, 2010. I was informed by Shenka @ Cenergy risk department that my account was on hold due to terminal not matching with the type of business performed. I was completely shocked considering I spoke with a charge.com representative who I was completely up front about my two on-lines businesses, per Shenka we were only approved for the adult novelty store and not the pay per minute chat site. I was under the impression that since I explained to the charge.com representative that there were two businesses that the terminal could be used for both businesses. Shenka informed me that I was unable to do business on the pay per minute chat site until I opened another account with charge.com. She explained that charge.com only set up an account for the novelty store and that since my terminal wasn't approved for what I was supposed to sell that all my funds would be placed on hold for 180 days to see if there are any chargebacks. After getting the devistating news I immediately did what the risk department suggested and called charge.com. At 3:00 pm on April 21, 2011 I made my first call to charge.com I spoke with the recepitionist Chris who informed me that I needed to speak with Greg. I left a message for Greg to call me back and closed my website down just like instructed to. I was in a complete state of panic, I was in the hospital after minor surgery, had my models calling me asking my why they can't work, members calling asking why they can't log on, no money and no one calling me back to resolve the issue. Friday April 22, 2011 I made several calls that morning to charge.com leaving messages for anyone to call me back to help resolve the issue. After the 5th call and after 24 hours of my site being shut down, I began to get angry with the respectionist only after demanding I was told the VP of sales Randy would contact me about my account within 15 mins. Exactly 1 hour and 15 mins later Randy finally calls me back I explain to him the situation listed above. He ensures me all I need to do is full out another application and He would get Bob right on the account so I could be back in business, after he verified that they accepted pay per minute chat sites. Which should have been the first red flag because the original representative told me they did accept PPM chat sites. Randy returns my call says they do accept PPM chat sites to fill out the application and Bob would get right on it. I filled out the application in record time and had it to Bob. After the application was received on friday Bob emailed me a listed of documentation he needed such as bank statements, drivers licenses, business licenses, tax id number, etc etc, etc, I immediately gathered all the information required and faxed a copy of all the documents to Cenergy and Bob @ charge.com. I waited until 4:30 on Friday to call because I had heard no response from Randy or Bob on my account status. I was informed by Randy that my site would not be up and running until monday at the very latest. I was again upset because this is an up and coming business and closing on a holiday weekend could be devasating. He acted as if he didn't care and told me that if I kept calling and being rude to his staff he would cancel my account. Which was a complete shock to me because I had only called 6 times and I was rude to one representative only after my site was shut down for over 24 hours. I explained to him that I was just upset because my site was down and I understood that this type of business was hard to find a processing company that would accept it. That was the last thing I heard from Randy who still will not return my phones calls. I waited until 10:30 am monday April 25, 2011 before I emailed Bob, checking the status of my account. He emailed me back and said that he needed more information to get the account approved and needed some items added to the web page. Which I immediately did all he asked and emailed him promptly when all the requirement he requested were done. Monday goes by still no terminal set up. Tuesday morning I begin emailing Bob and calling Shenka about my account. I was told they are still working on approval process and to wait it out it should be soon. I was told my Bob on April 26, 2011 we were waiting on the bank for approval. April 27, 2011 I emailed Bob asking him for the status of my account being that it has been almost a week now with my site being down. He informs me he will let me know the status of my account as soon as he hears something. Exactly 20 hours ago Bob emails me and stays my account was approved. Of course I was so excited that my site would be up and running yesterday! Only after calling cenergy.com to find out the status of my account to get the new terminals do I find out that visa and mastercard have to be approved that it would be an additional 2 days before I was able to get terminal numbers. I email Bob back and asked him what to do. He said he spoke to soon and that it was a process that couldn't be rushed. I then explain to him that it has been 6 days that my site has been down due to someone else clerical error and my patience was starting to run thin as I have done everything they asked me to do on my part. I get no response back from Bob. So this morning exactly 1 week of being out of business because of this company, I emailed Bob asking him who I could speak with about getting the terminals up. He emails me back saysing that it was a process that can't be rushed and it would be best if I didn't contact anyone. I emailed him back telling him I know that calling doesn't get you anywhere and asked him what happened to the 48 approval and what were the other processes? Bob emails me back at saying he isn't answering any of my emails and that I should try another terminal. I emailed him back telling him I have already applied for other terminals and I don't understand why I couldn't get any answer to my two questions about the 48 approval process or the other processes my account must go though. he then emails me back @ 9:08 am this morning telling me he was 1 second away from Randy canceling my account. I informed him I would be contacting my attorney and BBB. I have never been treated so poorly or had such unprofessional service in my entire life. My site has been down for exactly 1 week, I have been given the run around by this company and they are holding $440.00 of my money for 180 days. I have been given the run around. And screwed out of my hard earned money.