Stripe
Reviews and Complaints

Had Stripe as my processor for a very brief time for a side project. Stripes application from the beginning seemed more invasive than any other merchant account I’ve had over the decades. From merchant accounts with banks to payment processors such as Square and PayPal. Yet, they were the only processor for the platform I was working with, so gave them a try.

About two months into the project, Stripe got heavy handed, demanding more financial/private info from me and to literally scan my head. No processor nor bank has ever requested that, and it was unreasonable and outside the scope of a legitimate business dealing to have that requested. Thankfully, as this was just a side gig I hadn’t invested too much time into yet, and all my customers were also with my other company, so I could dump the project and Stripes games with no more loss than the small amount of time invested.

I believe if I had played Stripes games then, it would have been one continual issue with them after the other in being paid. Once the cream goes sour, it never goes sweet again. If a company doesn’t have money to pay out what they are collecting on behalf of clients, they try to hold onto that money as long as they can and collect interest on it or some other shenanigans. Stripe is likely not as well funded or as financially stable as they try to appear.

We used Stripe in a fundraiser to bring hemp to Ethiopia (https://youtu.be/-5McamOfS2M). It's early stages, raising money for paperwork. We were rejected for being "cannabis related," we appealed on the basis the focus is on industrial hemp, we lost and were given a deadline to cease using Stripe for this purpose. We complied with the deadline, but Stripe kept the funds raised before the deadline.

This holiday season, I've encountered significant issues with Stripe. They erroneously flagged several payments as unauthorized and issued refunds. Despite providing all necessary documents and involving my clients to resolve the issue, I've been hit with unwarranted processing and refund charges. My Stripe account is blocked, preventing access to my remaining funds. Moreover, they incorrectly refunded the wrong customers and payments. Stripe's communication has been impersonal and unhelpful. This situation is not just a financial setback, but a distressing experience during what should be a festive period. I'm urgently seeking support and resolution during this challenging time.

On Dec 17, 2023, my client paid 114,354.39 USD via Stripe, split into four transactions. Stripe flagged these payments as unauthorized on Dec 22, planning to start refunds from Dec 28. I submitted all required documentation for review and involved my client in the communication. After further review, they maintained their decision. Stripe blocked my account and proceeded with the refunds. On Dec 29, my client's company confirmed they received some but not all refunds.

I questioned Stripe about the missing refunds and the charges since they initiated the refunds. Stripe replied that they would keep the processing fees and charge the refund fees. I emphasized that I didn't initiate the refunds; they did, and hence, I shouldn't be charged for these fees. In response, Stripe sent an irrelevant email about there being no technical time limit to issuing a refund. On Dec 30, I discovered that Stripe had refunded the wrong payments to the wrong customers.

Stripe's total refunds amounted to $69,031.07, with a fee of $1,699.14. They have not refunded all payments or granted access to my funds, which leaves their intentions for this money unclear.

Stripe is a credit card payment processor that many people are familiar with. However, they have a reputation for being strict when it comes to accepting new businesses. I knew this from the start, but I decided to contact them anyway to make sure that my business was eligible for their services. They went through my website and confirmed that my business met their standards, so I thought everything was good to go.

I verified my ID as they requested, and my clients started making payments. However, after a few payments, I received an email from Stripe stating that they were going to close my account due to a "restricted business model and fraudulent payments." This was confusing to me because we only accept 3DS payments, which require authentication from the client. We also have rules in place to block any credit cards that don't permit 3DS payments. Despite this, Stripe claimed that they had identified unauthorized payments on my account.

To make matters worse, Stripe also had my personal information stored, which made me feel uneasy. They claimed that they were going to refund all of my clients who had received services from me, which was frustrating because my business had been approved by them in the first place.

Overall, I would not recommend using Stripe as a payment provider. They may seem like a good option at first, but their strict standards and confusing policies can cause a lot of problems for businesses. It's better to find a payment provider that is more transparent and reliable.

I recently used Stripe through Freshbooks to receive payments from clients. Normally, I would just receive checks and cash, but due to Covid, more clients want to pay by credit. I signed up for Stripe because I couldn't find WE pay on Freshbooks, which is what we usually use other than Pay Pal. When I signed up, it didn't mention anything about risk assessments, and I didn't know that I needed a social media account. Also, they hold on to 25% of your payment for 2 months because of a risk assessment based on the type of business you have. I was caught off guard! I am a general contractor custom build Finish Carpentry, and I'm a small business. They have responded to me, but they will not close my account and give me $500 due to me. They keep saying it is to mitigate any disputes with customers who may want to charge back. After 2 months, they will reassess? This is BS and nonsensical as I am Bonded and insured, and if a client is unhappy, they call me, and I work it out with them. I have savings to repay a client for any issues that may arise. After sending documentation and telling them all this, they still refuse to send MY money and close this dreadful account! I now called Freshbooks for help, and they have been great and agreed with me that this does not seem right. I have contacted a lawyer about how they advertise the use of their service and fees and then suddenly they are emailing about risk crap. I've never had a client request money back, and my reviews are excellent, and I've been in business licensed since 2014. Don't use them at all! Be careful! They will hold money based on a risk and give no details.

My experience with Stripe was a complete nightmare. When my company launched and went international, we decided to use both PayPal and Stripe as our payment gateways. While PayPal worked fine, Stripe's fraud protection system was a complete disaster.

Despite being 100% legitimate, Stripe listed all of our transactions as fraudulent based on our EIN numbers. They took over $3000 in prior sales, $1200 of which came directly out of someone's social security funds. This former US Marine was thrown into a PTSD episode after Stripe stole his money, and they even complained to the authorities about harassment when he tried to get it back.

Stripe tried to return $515 of that man's money, which was immediately followed by his detainment. He spent two months in jail over harassment of his social security funds being garnished illegally, and there is now a no-contact order between him and Stripe's CEO, Jon Zeiger.

To make matters worse, Stripe still has not returned his cash, nor have they followed up with proper research on the business transactions which were shown as legit. They even labeled donations from menial fundraisers from local friends as fraudulent.

If you're thinking about using Stripe, beware. They will rob you blind and use the FBI and local authorities to cover up their own illegal activities. Their game is simply to create a system that taxes the merchant literally out of business, by way of financing and product.

Personally, this experience has completely ruined our lives. We will be seeking damages from Stripe for their illegal and unethical practices.

I recently had a terrible experience with Stripe, a company that I thought was trustworthy and reliable. My business involves renting out vacation rentals through Booking.com, and we have been using Stripe as a payment method for our guests. However, things took a turn for the worse when Stripe suddenly informed us that our business was considered high risk and that they could no longer support us. As a result, they blocked our account for future transactions, which contained a whopping 42,000 euros - all transactions with 3DS.

What's worse is that Stripe paid everything back to ALL customers, even though we could clearly prove that it was not us but the customers who did the charging! We were left with no choice but to deal with 100 robot emails that were sent to us, and none of the stripe "review team" ever reviewed anything. All we got were excuses and obfuscation, which made us feel like we were dealing with a MAFIA / GANGSTER company.

I would never recommend anyone to work with Stripe, as they are a scam company that doesn't care about their customers. They are quick to label businesses as high risk without any proper investigation, and they don't bother to listen to their customers' concerns. It's a shame that we had to learn this the hard way, but I hope that others can learn from our experience and avoid working with Stripe at all costs.

This company is not the best in the business. They seem to have a lot of issues and their customer service is not up to par. I decided to sign up for an account with them and even spent money having a gateway developed around Stripe for my website. However, I encountered some problems during the testing phase with their sandbox and then tried it live with one test payment. Unfortunately, it didn't go through and I thought it was not working. A few days later, they closed my account saying I violated their TOS. I was surprised because I looked at their TOS and I didn't violate anything, so I contacted them. They were quite rude, but after a few emails after asking them to explain, it was discovered that they think I was doing a prohibited business.

My business doesn't even do that and doesn't even use Stripe. They apparently looked at another one of my websites and saw something that was on there and indiscriminately closed the account without looking further. The TOS says that we wouldn't USE Stripe to accept payments for any prohibited business. First, that site didn't USE Stripe at all which they didn't check. Second, that site doesn't even Sell the item, it was an affiliate link to the seller, who doesn't even use Stripe. Because of that, they closed the account, and the other site I have using stripe can't use it anymore. I've wasted money all for nothing.

I guess this can be a blessing in disguise as I don't have to lose much more when customers start buying things like others have. Because, if I have a balance and then they decide to close my account, I'd be in worse off shape. STAY CLEAR OF STRIPE. They will close your account for NO REASON and you don't have any recourse. You can't contact them and they won't care what you say at all. Save yourself the trouble and find another company to work with.

I gotta tell ya, I had a really bad experience with Stripe. I mean, like, the worst. If you're thinking about using them for your business, I'd strongly advise against it. Seriously, don't even think about it. They'll put your whole operation at risk.

I had been using Stripe for two years with no problems. No chargebacks, no complaints, nothing. But then out of nowhere, they shut me down. Just like that. And they didn't even give me a good reason why. They just said I violated their terms of service and that was that.

Now, I'm scrambling to find another payment provider. And I only have five days to do it. That might not sound like a big deal, but trust me, it is. I have hundreds of customer profiles, payment information, subscriptions, and products that I need to move over. And Stripe won't even let me export my data. Can you believe that? It's like they're trying to make it as hard as possible for me to leave.

And don't even get me started on their customer support. They don't have a phone number, and their blog article about phone support is a total lie. I tried calling them multiple times, and I never got through to anyone. It's like they don't even care about their customers.

If you're looking for a payment provider, I'd recommend Paymentcloud or SpotOn or Square. I've used Square before, and they never did anything like this to me. Stripe is just too big to care about small businesses like mine.

Honestly, I think Stripe is just a dishonest company. They don't care about their customers, and they'll shut you down for no reason. If you're thinking about using them, don't. Just run far, far away.

And if you're as mad as I am, make a YouTube video about it and tag Stripe in it. Google loves video, and maybe if enough people speak out, they'll start to listen. I'm also working on getting all the bad reviews in one place, so if you want to email me, my address is ***@pcprojectsllc.com.

We were super stoked to get stripe.com on board with our website as they offer some pretty sweet APIs for software developers. The integration process was a breeze and we were up and running in no time at all. However, things took a turn for the worse when we started using Stripe for credit card transactions. We encountered a major issue with their service that left us feeling pretty frustrated. Here's what went down:

One of our clients accidentally ended up double charging their credit card when they ordered one of our products. We're not entirely sure how this happened, but they reached out to us to let us know that they had a duplicate charge on their credit card statement. We immediately refunded one of the charges via Stripe's online console, which worked just fine. However, we quickly realized that Stripe didn't refund us the 2.9% credit card transaction fee when the payment was refunded. This was a pretty significant fee of $116 in our case. When we contacted Stripe about this, they gave us a canned response that basically said that their policy is to keep your transaction fee even if the payment was refunded!

Now, let's think about this from a merchant's perspective for a hot minute. Not only do you have to pay Stripe 2.9% of all sales you process through their service, but you also have to pay them 2.9% of sales that you DID NOT make! It's not enough that you lost the sale, profit, and maybe even the shipping fee, but you're also getting penalized by Stripe for the refund! Refunds are a totally normal part of the credit card business, and for Stripe to penalize its clients for them is just plain outrageous. Other merchant account companies we've used in the past didn't do this. They refunded all the fees and only charged us a measly $0.30 (30 cents) transaction fee for the refund. That was it. They didn't keep 2.9% of the sale amount like Stripe does.

Needless to say, we're on the hunt for a different credit card processing company. We're beyond disappointed with Stripe and the fact that we wasted so much of our time implementing their lousy service. It's a real shame, too, because we were initially so excited about the potential of their APIs. But when it comes down to it, we just can't justify sticking with a company that treats its clients so poorly.

I am extremely disappointed with the service I received from Stripe. I wish I could give them less than one star. My experience with them has been nothing but a runaround. They are holding a refund of $7,400 hostage for one of our clients. This has completely ruined the trust we had with our client. I was promised that the refund would be processed by now, but it has been 20 days (15 business days) and we still haven't received it. I will never use this company again. Their policy states that refunds should be processed within 5-10 business days, but it seems like they don't care about their own policy.

I find it very fraudulent that Stripe is engaging in this kind of behavior. They withdrew the money from our account over two weeks ago and have not released it to the client. I have lost count of how many times I have called them. They make it seem like they are being helpful by answering the phone quickly, but it's no use when the representative can't do anything and keeps telling me that they will have to email their tier 2 support because they don't operate via phone. Then I get an email with no explanation, just a promise that I can expect the refund in a few days.

I was finally able to speak to a supervisor, but that didn't help either. He assured me that I would receive the refund within 24-48 hours, but that was last Thursday. It's now the end of the day on Tuesday and I still haven't received anything.

This is complete incompetence and fraudulent behavior. Stripe is a BAD company and I would not recommend doing business with them. The only reason to use their services is if you want to ruin your reputation with your high-value clients. Other than that, look elsewhere.

Dear Stripe, when do you plan to issue the refund? You have already taken the client's money and our money. Where is this money? Is it just sitting in your bank account? Do you realize how much money we have lost trying to get you to do your job? We have called you probably over 10 times, sent numerous emails, and wasted so much time.

Will you reimburse us for our time? Holding people's money and making them do your job for you is a sure-fire way to ruin morale and waste resources. Please complete this refund as soon as possible.

I gotta say, I made a big mistake when I decided to use Stripe instead of Paypal. I sell online webinars and educational material through a membership subscription, and once my membership got over 500, they started holding my payouts. It took a lot of inquiries just to find out that they considered my business HIGH RISK, even though I barely have any disputes. They blamed a mysterious fraud charge for holding my money, but I don't buy it.

Their customer service is a joke, too. You can only talk to them through email, and they all give the same generic response. They keep telling me they're checking into it and that they understand my frustration, but they're not doing anything about it. Currently, they're holding over $12,000 of my money, and I'm not getting any answers.

I even gave them free membership to check out my account, but they're not doing anything. I'm pretty sure they're just stealing my money and making interest off of it. This is a crooked company, and I'm not the only one who thinks so. The Better Business Bureau is getting flooded with complaints about them, and they're not doing anything about it.

If you're a startup, stay away from this company. Paypal may have its issues, but it's a much safer choice. I've even lodged a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission and I'm laying the groundwork to file a civil action against them in Federal Court. This is the only thing that will get their attention once they have enough lawsuits lodged against them.

Their customer service is TRASH, and they're just stealing money from people. Don't pay attention to any of the positive articles you see online. Check the Federal Trade Commission and BBB if you want the truth.

Stripe is a company that I had high hopes for, but unfortunately, my experience with them has been nothing short of a disaster. I opened an account with them a while back, but I didn't need to use it until recently. However, when I tried to log in, I found that my account had been locked. I assume this was because I hadn't used it in a while.

When I tried to unlock my account, Stripe asked me to verify my identity by providing the date of the last two transactions on my account. The problem was that I had never used my account, so there were no transactions to provide. It took me two whole days to get through to their "support" agents that this method of verification was not going to work.

Eventually, I was asked to send a photo of my passport with the date of the day written on a piece of paper next to it. I did as they asked, but the agent claimed that he couldn't see the date, even though it was clearly visible in the image. It took another two days to convince him that the date was there and that he could see it with his own eyes.

But then, the agent asked me to write the date in my own handwriting. This made no sense to me, as they had no sample of my handwriting to compare it to. I could have easily gotten someone else to write the date for me. Nevertheless, I complied and sent them a new photo of my passport with the date written in my own handwriting.

Over the next three days, three more agents got involved, each asking me to do the same thing. I sent them the same image each time, but they kept asking for it again and again. When I asked if my account had been verified, they didn't reply for another day or so.

After I posted a review of my experience on Trustpilot, they finally responded, asking me to send an email to their "special" help email address. I did as they asked, but it's been five days, and I still haven't received a response.

Since then, I've received 31 emails from them, all asking me to provide the same ID information that I've already sent them. It's been a complete nightmare, and I still don't have access to my account.

I wouldn't recommend Stripe to anyone. They're completely incompetent and seem to have no idea what they're doing. It's hard to imagine anyone willingly choosing to use them as a payment processor. They're the worst company I've ever dealt with, and I wouldn't be surprised if they went out of business soon.

I would like to share incredible story how Stripe.com is treating businesses which are working with them. I registered my business on Stripe.com. There was no issues I provided everything they have asked and they approved it. I started to process payments from my costumers. In some point they have asked me to provide photos of my products with the piece of paper in which was written a date. They wanted a non stock photos so they requested to unpack it. I explained that I am using a fulfillment center, my products are in different country and this task will be really expensive. I received an answer from them that they approve it without those photos and we are good to go. After some I received an email that they are closing my account. I appeal to that decision because this option was available. I have some orders processed through Stripe.com and decided not to wait their decision and fulfill them. After ma week even though they guaranteed a response within 48 hours and numerous emails written to Stripe.com support I received an answer that they won't be able to accept payments. Which is fine because many companies are doing the same. BUT THEY SIMPLY REFUNDED ALL COSTUMERS THEIR MONEY INCLUDING THE PAYMENTS FROM TRANSACTIONS THAT WERE ALREADY FULFILLED. SO THEY BASICALLY STOLE MY FUNDS! Please do not use this payment processor because they one day will just close your account and steal the money which are not sent to you. I attach an emails from them. Please take a close look to the time and dates.

They deal with money and they have no phone number!
Is it normal, you think? Looked through the whole website carefully and didn't find anything.
My issue is that several payments I made didn't go through, there were denials, so I was recommended to contact them directly. But how?
Should I send them a letter in an envelope? No mail, no phone number. Just online form, that doesn't work properly. I submitted 3 tickets and there's still nothing. Appalling.

I used the services from the company www.stripe.com. I overcharged and the rep refused to return money back. Also he told that it was my fault, ‘coz i haven’t provided some payment and form on time, but they never told me about it before. I was shocked with such attitude and wanted to ask for help. Maybe someone has any ideas how to return money back, please contact me then or leave a comment. Thanks.

I worked with the company Stripe Inc., but it was worst experience I ever had. After I worked for them several weeks, I spent more than $ 10, 000 on investments. One day I received email from them that they didn’t need me more and they stopped to answer to my emails. So I wanted to warn everyone, don’t deal with this company. I lost money and I have no choice to return them back. Please leave comments about your experience with this company.