Please indulge this incredibly long post so I can get the word out about my horrible experience with Google Checkout. The short version is: don’t use it. I’ve stuck the long version after the jump for those who want details.
You’ve probably heard Google Checkout referred to as a “PayPal killer” and my only response is “Let’s hope not.” And this is from someone who LOVES Google. I use tons of their apps and have never had a problem before.
It all started with good intentions.
Last February right before Valentine’s Day I decided to splurge and buy Mr. Plain a Bourgeat copper pan. He told me which one he wanted and I searched around for the best deal.
Fast shipping wasn’t a big concern for me — I knew I wasn’t going to get it in time for Valentine’s Day. So looking for the best price, it came down to two stores. One of them used Google Checkout and the other did not. I chose the one with Google Checkout so I could see what all the fuss was about. I also felt that if they were working with Google I would be safer than just choosing a random online store.
Boy, was I incredibly wrong.
I placed the order February 10th. The web site stated that the pan was ready for shippment, and my card was charged $160.73 (I told you it was a splurge :), and I got the confirmation email. And then… nothing.
I forgot about it for a while, and then on February 27th I sent them this note:
Where in the world is my pan? I paid for it over 2 weeks ago. Erika
No response. On February 28th I sent this:
WARNING: IF YOU CONTINUE TO IGNORE MY REQUESTS FOR SHIPPING STATUS I WILL ESCALATE MY COMPLAINT TO BOTH GOOGLE AND MY CREDIT CARD COMPANY.
Again no response. So I registered a complaint with Google Checkout on March 4th.
I have tried contacting the seller two times and have never gotten a response. Please refund my money ASAP.
Thanks.
The same day I got this response from Google Checkout.
Hello Erika,
Thank you for your email. I understand that you would like to get your money refunded for your recent order with Instawares, LLC. I have reviewed your account and have determined that your request must be addressed by the seller. We will contact the seller to request that they respond to your inquiry. Please allow 3-5 business days for sellers to follow up with you.
Keep in mind that the seller is responsible for the following actions:
- Order modifications
- Shipping changes
- Charges to your credit card
- Cancellations
- Refunds
If you receive conflicting information from the seller’s customer support staff or are told that your order cannot be located, you may want to ask that your case be escalated to the representative who can best address Google Checkout order issues.
You can always track any changes to your order from your Google Checkout account. Here’s how:
1. Sign in to your account at https://checkout.google.com.
2. On the ‘Purchase history’ page, click the item you’d like to review.
3. Review your order details at the top of the page.
For general program or account questions, please review our Help Center at http://checkout.google.com/support.
Please feel free to reply to this email if you have any additional
questions.
Sincerely,
Hemanth
The Google Checkout Team
Then, miracle of miracles, on March 5th I got an email from the company I ordered the pot from! I thought I was making progress, until I read their reply.
Thank you for your email. We are showing on the item MTG-369024 there is a lead time of 21-25 business days. Please let us know if there is anything else that we can assist you with.
So I went to the web site, and looky there — it suddenly DID say there was a long lead time. But still, shouldn’t it be shipping soon? Oh no, this wasn’t going to be over that easily. My response:
Great. That wasn’t on the web page when I placed my order, but I see it is now. I paid you February 10th and it is now almost a month later. Ship my product or refund my money.
No response. On March 15th I sent this to Google Checkout:
I am ONE HUNDRED PERCENT dissatisfied with my first google checkout purchase.
They only respond to my emails when you contact them. I paid over a month ago and nothing.
When I placed the order the page did not state that there would be a shipping delay, but now it says 21-25 days. OK, so where is my product??
Please just cancel my order with these scam artists. I want my $160 back.
Thank you,
Erika
Google’s response on the same day:
Hello Erika,
Thank you for your email. We understand your concerns and have determined that your request must be addressed by the seller. We will contact the seller to request that they cancel and refund your order. Please allow 3-5 business days for sellers to follow up with you.
Keep in mind that the seller is responsible for the following actions:
- Order modifications
- Shipping changes
- Charges to your credit card
- Cancellations
- Refunds
If you receive conflicting information from the seller’s customer support staff or are told that your order cannot be located, you may want to ask that your case be escalated to the representative who can best address Google Checkout order issues.
You can always track any changes to your order from your Google Checkout account. Here’s how:
1. Sign in to your account at https://checkout.google.com.
2. On the ‘Purchase history’ page, click the item you’d like to review.
3. Review your order details at the top of the page.
For general program or account questions, please review our Help Center at http://checkout.google.com/support.
Please feel free to reply to this email if you have any additional questions.
Sincerely,
Eugenia
The Google Checkout Team
On March 19th I sent this response:
Good GRIEF! I paid for this February 10th and have not heard from them and still do not have the product. If I don’t hear today I’ll just have to work with my credit card company to get this resolved.
Your resolution procedures are completely ineffective and I am out $160. I’ll use paypal in the future.
Erika
Their response from March 20th:
Hello Erika,
Thank you for writing back in with an update to your situation. We have reviewed your account and can confirm that Instawares has yet to process your refund. We will contact the merchant once again to request that they promptly process your refund.
In the meantime, please continue to monitor your Google Checkout account for any refunds that may be applied. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this has caused.
Please feel free to reply to this email if you have any additional questions.
Sincerely,
Eugenia
The Google Checkout Team
My response from March 23rd:
I WANT MY MONEY BACK. You are clearly the advocate for the merchant and not for the customer.
At least I’ll get good traffic boost from my upcoming “Google Checkout Sucks” blog post, but seriously — is this your policy? You just ask the merchant nicely to please refund the money and if they don’t do it you do nothing???
$160 may not be a lot to you, but it is to me. These scammers have had my money since February 10th and I WANT IT BACK NOW.
Erika
Their response from the same day:
Hello Erika,
Thank you for following up on this issue. We have re-escalated your refund request to the seller. Please let us know if your concerns are not addressed within five business days.
Please keep in mind that the seller is responsible for shipping, charging, and refunding all orders through their Google Checkout system, as we cannot perform these tasks on the seller’s behalf. Although Google Checkout is where you entered your billing information, it is the seller that charges your credit card and ships your items. While Google Checkout cannot make changes to orders or process refunds for orders that have already been sent to the seller, we’re happy to communicate your concerns to the seller in order to expedite a resolution to your concern.
We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this has caused.
Please feel free to reply to this email if you have any additional questions.
Sincerely,
Eugenia
The Google Checkout Team
My response on April 2nd:
I still have not gotten my money back. I cannot believe you are partnered with these thieves. I also cannot believe that the only thing you can do is request that they give my money back. Useless.
Erika
Their response from April 3rd:
Hello Erika,
Thank you for your patience. We will continue to escalate your refund request to the merchant. Please continue to monitor your Google Checkout account for any refunds that may be applied.
As an alternative, you may consider contacting your credit card issuing bank for other options. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this order has caused.
Please feel free to reply to this email if you have any additional questions.
Sincerely,
Eugenia
The Google Checkout Team
Then, miracle of miracles, I got a shipment notice from the company I placed the order with. Shipping April 3rd to arrive April 10th. Two months to the day from when I placed the order.
Needless to say, unless Google Checkout gets some teeth to protect consumers, I will be sticking with PayPal from now on.
Stay tuned for my post on the company that sold me the copper pot. I’ll post that one after I get the pot and inspect it carefully. If you’ve read this far, bless you! And let this be a warning to you. When you see the words “Google Checkout” — run for the hills!
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Wow, that is not good customer service. I can’t wait for Google’s reply when they see this post. I think I’ll stick with Paypal.
Wow, I mean WOW! WTH?!
As far as I know, Google just provides the software for the site. I use paypal on mine to protect both the client and myself. Especially when it comes to CC transactions.
Sorry you’ve had such a nightmare.
Yeah, I have paypal on my store as well, and I quite like it as a seller as well as a buyer. And now I know to just keep using them!
HOLY SHIT. Thank you so much for posting this. I was thinking about trying it. Not now. THANK YOU.
Thanks for posting this! I love sticking it to companies who deserve it.
No Google pay thingy for me. Ever.
Have you actually had better experience with PayPal? When I had a dispute there (Seller listed a book as hardbound when it was a board book) it took a month to get a “resolution” through PayPal. And what was their resolution? That I “might” be entitled to a refund of the item’s purchase price. The item was 2.97; the shipping was about 8. I would have to absorb the cost of the original shipping and the return shipping as well-when the dealer was clearly in error. I know it is a funny example because the price was so low, but it was egregious enough that it was clear to me that I would deal strictly through the credit card company in the future.
Ay yi yi, that’s crazy. I’m with everyone else, I won’t be using Google checkout, ever.
Sarah: I assume this was a purchase on eBay? That’s always a “buyer beware” situation. I probably wouldn’t have bought from someone who was charging such high shipping on a book. Fee circumvention is frequently an indicator of a shady seller.
Yes, it is true that paypal only reimburses you for the item cost and not shipping. And that is precisely why sellers like that choose to make their money through non-refundable shipping charges. Did you know that they also don’t pay listing fees on their shipping, just on the item amount? Anyway, this is a long way of saying that you probably were dealing with a jerk of a seller and that paypal was just caught in the crossfire.
Sorry that you had a bad experience on eBay!
Ivy: Ditto!
Sounds like Google learned it’s insanity-inducing customer service tactics from Verizon, my phone company.
Your pan nightmare would make an excellent “pan” over at Props and Pans.
As someone who has recently worked on the receiving end of the same kind of emails you sent – I have to say that there is usually very little the middle man can do besides continue to send emails and make phone calls to the vendor.
At least Google is big enough that whoever sent the emails is somewhat anonymous. I work for a smaller company and I was the only person addressing these issues and people would send emails directly to me as if what was happening to them was my fault when usually it was their fault for not reading carefully before placing their order. (not saying you did that but – that is what I dealt with).
I think you did the right thing by continuing to contact them. Although with a larger company the executives are not easily accesible like they are in my company. Continuing to be your own advocate is the right thing to do. Registering a complaint with your credit card company to try and get the money back might be a good diea. Also filing a complaint with the BBB might light a fire. Of course posting on your blog with the company’s question is a good idea too.
That really sucks this happened to you. I’ve experienced similar issues with buying things online. I hope you get your order or a refund soon.
It might be a good idea to call online company’s you haven’t worked with before and ask what the usual ETA is for an item- barring your order doesn’t some how get lost; which is far more common than we all realize.
I see your point Maria, but I never attacked the customer service people personally. And if they couldn’t help me, and clearly they couldn’t, they should have escalated my case to someone who could. They are the public face of Google Checkout, and if GC sucks, then they’re going to deal with a lot of pissed off people like myself.
Since they couldn’t help and wouldn’t escalate, I was stuck dealing with them as my last resort to get my money back or at least get what I ordered.
You refer to them as the middleman, but they are the people who took my money, so I don’t see them that way at all. This is the major problem with the GC service — they take your money, but then don’t offer any protection to you from the people that they then hand the money off to. This is a very flawed model.
I see what you are saying.
They definately should have escalated the issue the first time you emailed intstead of sending you that crappy email twice in row and being of no assistance at all.
I’m a die hard PayPaler – so I will continue to heed your warning. :D
I hope you plan to report both to the Better Business Bureau!
Ridiculous!
Incidentally, I used Google Checkout on eBags to order a gift for my dad at Christmas. I needed it giftwrapped and sent to him. But while eBag offered these options they were not offered to me by Google Check out. The thing was shipped to me instead of him (with no way to fix it 30 seconds after the order was placed) and was not giftwrapped. I’ll never use Google checkout again either.
Fomr a merchants point of view, I’m from the other side of the fence but with the same conclusion: GCO sucks.
Their integration is imposible if you want to do anything beyond a simple “Buy NOw” button. Which is why, despite it being free for sellers, you don’t see a lot of sellers offering it: They can’t.
If I could save thousands of dollars a year by using Goog’s checkout, I surely would. But I can’t. It’s too messed up.
I also was very dissatisfied the first time I used google Checkout. The free shipping option from my purchase was non existent and I was charged taxes for no good reason since I’m not from the same state as the store and they do not have a store in my state. I still have not seen the 10 bucks I was promised for signing up, my credit card was charged the full amount. In this case I was overcharged $33.00. And nothing but lame email responses from Google. No more Checkout for me ,it was a mistake from me to go for their 10 dollar carrot.
I placed an order via google checkout the delivery date came and went, I contacted the retailer via the link on my google checkout order page. They responded saying we know nothing of this order. Ironic as I placed other google checkout orders the same day that have arrived! I’ll use it as long as the £10 off all orders applies. When that finishes I’ll checkout from using google. I also will always ONLY pay with a ‘proper’ credit card (not a debit card) for protection.
The only reason I can see anyone would use google checkout is for added protection from the big google brand. As that seems to be lacking they are basically just an elevated email gateway why add the extra level of complexity and awkwardness for no gain?
I am currently going through the same pain as the Copper Pot lady
I ordered a home office desk, $239, I placed my order 10th April and got the confirmation, since then nothing
The URL for the web site doesnt work and I call and email and nothing
Ive now said to Google give me my damn money back so lets see how long this escapade goes on for.
Im wondering if the credit card company can get the refund?
So there it is.
I ordered thru Google Checkout a putter from Global Golf and was charged $249.08, Google takes my money ,but does not pay Global golf ,the result is easy to figure ,no putter,
Then I cancel the purchase thru G Checkout and nothing, meanwhile I bought the putter with my Amex card for $229 from Global and it was shipped the same day. I now have two charges on my Amex card ,$249 and $229. I emailed Google and ask them to refund my $249 so far nothing,I have contacted Amex and filed a dispute for the charge.Google keeps putting the blame on the merchant. As far as they are doing they are doing fine ,its the merchant that’s delaying the process.
So why did I use G Checkout? I just added a middle man in the process that charged me more and screwed the all show.They can shove their $10 carrot.Here is the beauty ,if you delete your Checkout account,your email account gets pulverized into thin air also. This is where the similarities btw Checkout and Paypal starts ,they have a way of forcing you to cooperate or else.
I don’t think Paypal is a bad company. I have dealt with them for years and have always had fair dealings with them. I really think they go out of their way to make sure your information is safe and not hackable. Random little websites could be hacked or the owner could be bad, but Paypal has never been hacked, and certainly never since Ebay has owned them. I love google as a search engine, but being a payment processor seems to me to be a complicated business not to be entered into lightly, proven by the horror stories posted here.
And an FYI, you can ALWAYS dispute the charge with your credit card company, and your bank for debit card charges. If Google Checkout is acting as the payment processor, then the credit card company will charge THEM back and they have to get proof from the seller that the items either weren’t received or not as described, and then they can be refunded by the seller. You, as the credit card holder, in most circumstances, are credied immediately and then the dispute is with Google and the seller, leaving you with your money back and some of your sanity. Only if you did receive the item and failed to let your credit card company know it was received, will you then be re-charged for the item. I have worked in the credit card business for 15 years and I hope this helps you all!
Dog girl is right ,I totally trust my credit card company when I have problems with purchases. Google could be a little more efficient, when I make a purchase online I want instant result and confirmation,them sitting on my money and the merchant not sending the item is definitively a big drawback. I buy online because its faster. This all bad experience could have been averted, if Google integrated the Checkout system with the merchant website.Instead there is bad and very sporadic communications btw the two. I have noticed that Google put all the blames on the merchant. I got my money back on Amex. I never ever will use this system again.I give Google Checkout an F
I’ve just used google checkout and I have been scammed for £1500 (about $3000) via google checkout the payment was made through google checkout to a company called dirtbike and quad world. I’ve contacted the police they are saying they can’t do much about it because they don’t know where dirt bike and quad world are based and because I used google checkout a 3rd party, credit card company is holding me responsible so I have to pay! Google are a disgrace and I think they are part of the scam. They are encouraging fraudsters to use their checkout so that they can make their commission. Can anyone help?
I just been scammed for the amount of $375 to a company named “Wicker Electronics” using the google checkout. The only reason I made the purchase was thinking that I was going to be secured since the Google brand, well I was wrong about them. This is the first and last time I’ll use something other than paypal to make my purchases online.
I believe I’ve just be scammed by the same company
Paypal is just as worthless. I know how frustrating that can be. Sorry you went through it. My personal advice to anyone is give paypal or google 1 day to fix the problem and then call you cc company. CC companies are very efficient at this. I’m about to follow that advice myself. I got to you post because I was trying to figure out if google has a forced refund policy since a seller will not reply to me. I think I’ll just take my own advice and call my cc today. Thanks for the post.
To John. I can get you details about dirt bike and quad world scammers. Please contact me admin@125bikersclub.co.uk
Those bastards got me, they double charge your account, just in time for christmas. I ordered a computer as a gift, $918.01..Google charged my card 918.01, then $1.00, then another $871.01 which will supposedly be payed back to my account after the first one clears..WTF!!!! screw google and all thier crap I will never use anygoogle crap ever again!
I just used Google checkout for the first time on an Ebay purchase with a 100% positive seller and I was scammed. Like many here, I trusted the Google name much more than I should have. Turns out the vendor has a faulty address listed in Michigan when they are actually in Louisiana. Telephone numbers are all dead and contact names are also aliases. I thought for sure Google would require some level of verification before they set people up with accounts. They are the new breeding ground for scammers. it used to be Western Union but now it’s Google Checkout. Too sad. I expected more from Google. I lost about $1000. Beware..stick with paypal.
Wow, that is harsh. I hate attempting to resolve an issue like that for months on end.
The thing that is really sad is that all the seller needed to do was stay in contact and let you know what was going on.
I must say, that I have had a similar problem with Paypal who simply left me hanging for 30 days and then said something about my sale not being covered. The seller eventually did get their act together.
ah well.
cheers – Ryan
You think google is bad? Try paypal. I bought some cell phones for our company from a place and they offered paypal. I always thought paypal protected you. NOT!!!! Paypal says in thier own terms of service Paypal is no friend to online buyers.
In fact, the company’s terms of service even states “(PayPal) does not ensure the quality, safety, or legality of the merchandise received, nor that the seller will even ship the merchandise.”
Paypal does not care about the customer or the business. They only care about themselves and with that they put us as a company and you as a customer at risk.
So anyway back to my story. here i paid over $4800 to someone. Funny thing i never heard from them after i sent the money. Till about a week later then he sent a USPS shipping notice. When it arrived i knew it was not 20 cell phones the box was way to small and hardly weighed 5 pounds. It was 3 books. Just some blank $2 journals i could pick up at wal mart. I told paypal what happened and filed a claim.
Its not almost 30 days later i still have not heard anything from paypal other then that he sent them the email with the tracking info and they said they showed it had arrived and was wondering if i wanted to cancel my claim. I said no and so they are still looking into it.
I have emailed many times saying there is nothing to look into. He scammed me and i can prove it but nope paypal still cant decide.
Then i paid another person via the money i had in my paypal account rather then sending it to my bank then back to him via credit card. Well he never sent the merchandise. He says he was ripped off as well from his supplier. I filed a complaint in paypal. Took them more then a month but they decided in my favor but i did not get any money.
They said we were unable to retrive any money from the sellers paypal account at this time. If the seller puts money in thier paypal account in the future they will suposdly put it in my account. I am now working with the FBI to see what can be done.
If you paid with a credit card weather its google, paypal , 2checkout or any other source by all means just call your bank and complain. They will do a chargeback for you and they will fight it for you.
I hate bank of america for alot of reasons but when it comes to credit card fraud they area always quick to refund me usually issuing me a temp credit within 48 hours and they have won every chargeback i have filed. AMEX is also very good. AMEX if you are a merchant you better treat your customers well. AMEX will come after you and wont stop till they get the money if you rip a customer off. and if you use AMEX or discover for paypal or something not only will they go after paypal or google but they will go find the merhcant you paid and hunt them down.
Thank you for warning people considering to use GC (like myself). You have probably saved me hours of frustration and worry!
A huge thanks again.
Brenda
At least you got your pan!
Here’s the response I received from Google, when the merchant selling me DVD’s just disappeared off the face of the planet… as I’d paid by debit card, I’ve no recourse to recover the amount paid, and Google are clearly not taking any responsibility.
Copied here:
Hello Ben,
I am contacting you in relation to your order #xxxxxx.
We have contacted xxxxxx on your behalf but unfortunately we have not
received a response.
If the matter is still unresolved, we would advise you to contact your
payment card issuing bank to request a chargeback. A chargeback is a
process whereby your card association investigates your disputed
transaction and recovers the funds as appropriate. Google will work with
your card association to help resolve the matter.
If you made this purchase with a debit card, rather than a credit card,
alternative procedures may apply as debit cards carry different terms and
conditions depending on the issuing bank. Specific chargeback procedures
can be explained by your bank representative.
We regularly review sellers to provide the best possible service and your
experience with this seller will be taken into account as we continue to
enhance our product.
Kind Regards,
Alex
The Google Checkout Team
A debt card is a credit card. You are using the visa or MC logo on your debit card which makes it a credit card. Its only a debit card when you use your pin.
I think Google should provide some sort of service but if they are not going to then why not use some other services.
I dont understand i purchased something that apparently was suddenly out of stock and i (apparently) was refunded then.I got a email from Google checkout bout the refund but guess what my bank said i have 70 euro that has to be payed so i cant take it out .but is still in the credit card .whats gona happen now ?if google says youve been refunded in full how long will this take for my refund?
Google checkout sucks. I purchased from buy.com and they say there’s no way for them to change my shipping address after my order was placed. And the dorm I am living will be closed and who knows what will happen with the package after that.
It sucks to have a very stupid system like that.
I’ll never buy anything from buy.com and never use Google Checkout again.
Sad to hear that you had such an awful experience with Google Checkout. Last week I ordered a Bluetooth headset from Buy.com using Google so I could get a $10 credit (ended up paying 76 cents total for taxes). My package arrived 3 business days later exactly as stated.
Be wary of who you do business with. Nothing is 100% secure or reliable online.
I’m owed 130 USD from a vendor I paid via Google checkout. Cannot even get a response from checkout. What is the email address pls?
I sell clothing online and use Google checkout, all they do is provide the software, i am sorry but your problem was not google checkouts it was the company’s which sucks, if they can no reply to you then contact your credit card company they will protect you if you did not receive the item as long the complaint made in time. As far as paypal goes, they suck sure they have buyer protection but they screwed me over more than enough and froze money i needed to ship customer order’s and could not ship customer’s items due to paypal freezing my money so i had to refund everyone. Google checkout does not provide buyer protection but nor does barley any merchant service they just provide the ability to purchase a product, It the company and credit card company’s responsibility.
I am having the same problem with Buy.com and Google Checkout. Buy.com had a deal on the software
Dragon Naturally Speaking v 9 for 43 and if I signed up for Google Checkout the software would come to $ 33. It was never delivered. The USPS(after receiving from UPS-MI) tagged the package as “undeliverable as addressed”. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the address. Neither Buy.com nor the USPS could tell me why. Buy.com customer service was awful I asked Google Checkout to intercede. They said they would and I got the same type e-mails as noted at the top. I told both parties I wanted the software, and to just send it with no excuses. I was promised a refund(so far never received) in e-mails from both parties . I will never again purchase anything from Buy.com or through Google Checkout. I will soon alert Visa. Amazon has excellent customer service
I ordered a motherboard from TigerDirect. It arrived DOA. Tiger’s website stated that the manufacturer (Asus) is responsible. Asus’ website says to contact the reseller.
What gives?
I was shocked to find there was no way to put a hold on the payment until this is resolved.
PayPal has better security anyway if you use the security dongle.
You got your product, Sure google shouldnt let tem do business with them. But paypal are thieves, they would have kept your money even when you didnt receive anything. google “paypal sucks” compared to “google sucks”!
I ordered a cellphone through Google Checkout and my credit card was billed and was told the item shipped. After waiting 2-weeks trying to track it with their tracking number, it said the item was shipped on such and such date. After 30-days, it still was showing the same information until finally I found it never left the original Post Office. It was return to the supplier as non-deliverable. I canceled the order and the supplier tried to make me pay all the shipping cost. After several emails and threat, they credited my account.
I will never use Google Checkout again…
Apparently you haven’t heard of the problems and issues paypal causes:
http://www.paypalsucks.com
Also, you should have just done a chargeback with your credit card company.
Thats not the worst of google checkout. If you are a seller and they close your account for whatever reason they will refund EVERY SINGLE ONE of your payments no matter if they are shipped of how old they are. all of them!
Here we are in late September 2008 and I experienced the EXACT SAME THING from Instawares (order in June, no product or refund to date) and Instawares is still a Google merchant.
GOOGLE SHOPPING SUCKS! I’LL NEVER USE THEM AGAIN!
We also had very bad experience with google checkout. As a online merchant I heard and experienced many of the horror stories about paypal and was really hopeful when Google came along. Now I find myself with even more trouble from this rather amateur payment processor, they closed our account and refunded most payments (after we shipped the goods)with no explanation. It is very difficult to get a hold of anybody at Google and if you do all you get is always different person and same cookie cutter excuses. They told us they can not tell the reason they closed the account for. At the same time they restricted our access to the account they continued taking some payments and it took 3 weeks on average complaining from us and the buyers to finally issue refunds. Since then we are in process of acquiring a real merchant account from our bank and simply using check by fax. Even though we had bad experiences it does not mean Google will not work for everyone, but we had a legit product, verified ups shipping, a registered Cooperation and no luck with Google. All best to you guys.
Hi Folks,
I am both a user of the GoogleCheckout payment system and a merchant. The company you had to deal with is just another online hack trying to turn a fast buck selling items they are not big enough to keep in stock, or they have it drop shipped to you. This is a very bad way to do business.
I feel if you do not have products in house, you should NEVER be selling them to the public. This is not the way I run my business. I have invested millions into doing it right. We stock all of our products right in our warehouse.
Yes, GoogleCheckout should do a bit more checking on who they give an account to. PayPal is even worse about this. But please know, Google is telling you like it is. This is how it works with any merchant account. You have to dispute the charge with the credit card company.
GoogleCheckout is only a gateway service. PayPal will flat out steal your money. They will take it back from the merchant and the customer. Then they put it in their own pocket as a profit. PayPal really stinks.
I have an issue with a GoogleCheckout merchant as we speak. I bought a system from Protium Fuel Systems about 18 weeks ago. I still do not have what I paid for, about a $1,000 charge. Again, this is a company selling things they don’t have in stock. They even told me this.
Before you buy online with a new company.
(1) Make sure they have a phone number, and make sure it is good.
(2) Call and ask if the item is in stock.
(3) Ask if they dropshop, or do they actually have it on hand.
(4) Inform them you will do a charge back if they do not take care of you.
(5) Be sure you have a set delivery date.
(6) The squeaky wheel gets the grease. COMPLAIN EVERYDAY!
Yes, you should not have to go through six steps to order online. It kind of takes away from the whole point of it.
I’m very sorry to hear what happened to you. Do know GoogleCheckout is not all at fault. Again, they are the gateway, the transport for the credit card number. They are not at all like PayPal who profits from your loss.
Many online merchants would like to kill me for what I’m about to say, but if they are doing business they way they should be, they have nothing to worry about.
The word “chargeback” will get more done for you than 10,000 words of how unhappy you are. We get about 1 chargeback out of every 10,000 orders, and this is because our customer forgot who we were and why we billed them. No merchant ever wants to hear that word. It can cost them their merchant account if they get too many. And they do charge the merchant like a $10 fee for each one.
I can not express enough how this one little word will create action for the customer.
GoogleCheck is like paying with your credit card on any site. Once the merchant has your money, and will not give it back, a chargeback is the only way to fix the problem.
Many Blessings
Bullseye Services LLC
Thanks for the tip about the chargeback, Robert. I’ll use that in the future if I ever have reason to.
Hi Erika,
I have an unresolved problem with a purchase I recently made through Google Checkout. The merchant seems OK and has responded to me on several occasions stating that he can ship my item today except Google Checkout haven’t passed payment to him yet! Google Checkout however seem to be in denial and keep insisting I wait a further 5 business days as they claim to have contacted the merchant, asking him to send my item!
I don’t think the Google Checkout Team actually read your emails as the response is always the same!
Like so many others, I will not be using Google Checkout again.
Well Erika, I unfortunately only saw your post after having problems. However, I still had the same experience as you a year and a half after your post. Google hasn’t changed a thing. I guess according to Robert’s post, they can’t? I will be doing the chargeback today.
Hi Jeff & Friends,
Some banks only allow you to do a chargeback within the first 90 days from the date of the charge. Check the back of your credit card statement for more details.
It’s easy to forget about these things until it’s too late. You should have a toll free number on the back of your credit card. Have the name of the company and the
date the charge was posted to your card ready for them when you call. They should be open 24 hours, so you can call right now.
Someone sure needs to put the hurt on all the horrible retailers that are popping out of the woodwork here lately! I still think GoogleCheckout needs to get a better
handle on just exactly who they are allowing to use their payment system. It’s still pretty new, and I’m sure they will soon understand what they need to do in order
from becoming just another PayPal. Google is full of bright young people with great ideas. I’m sure they will come up with some sort of better verification system.
But again, they are just the gateway for these bad business, who seem to slip in through the backdoor somehow. It would have happened with any processor. It’s
the businesses that stinks and don’t take care of their customers, or sell you things they don’t have, forget where their next dime is coming from, etc..
On a brighter note, and I will name the company (www.BuyerIsland.net). I just purchased some solar equipment through GoogleCheckout with them on the 22nd.
They are located in Hong Kong. Well here it is the 23rd…. and guess what? I already have the product right here on my desk. :) They were taking PayPal, before I
turned them on to GoogleCheckout. Now why on earth can a small business thousands of miles away get my order from China within two days, and a bunch of Yahoos in Oklahoma (Protium Fuel Systems) have taken nearing 19 weeks? I tend to trust the guy working out of his basement far more than I do any corporation anymore. Big business in America is just Bad Business in America. We have already lost jobs to China, so now are we going to give them all of our online sales too?
I work so very hard to keep my customers happy and taken care of, than you get a few bad apples who want to go and scare people away from ordering online. It’s very disheartening.
Best Wishes On Your Chargeback :)
Many Blessings
Robert Russell
I bought a office 2007 cd from a person, then paid through google. What a mistake! Then 3 days latter got a copied office cd. This is the second person to sell me a copy, first one paypal refunded me asap! Now the problem is on google the person i bought from must of closed account & don’t reply to any emails. I can’t even contact google as there is no phone # or email to contact them about. I guess the $45 is a lessoned learned & google sucks big time, paypal would of fixed or help fix.
You can do a chargeback or you can contact GoogleCheckout at: http://checkout.google.com/support/bin/request.py
If you want to do a chargeback, I would get on it ASAP.
Good Luck
Robert Russell
Erika: before sticking with paypal, you should take a look at this website:
http://www.paypalsucks.com
It might save you some problems.
I was scammed the same way by a person in FL. with a copied version of office. Then top it off they used someone else address for return address. I have tried endlessly to get my refund back.Google just sucks as to no way to call or email or way to get your money back! I use paypal every day & never ever had a problem that could not work out or get money back. This was my first & last time use google checkout! Google sucks big time!!!!
If someone scammed you on Google it means you paid with a credit card.
call your credit card company and do a charge back.
Never let anyone get away with it.
Paypal is worse then google in my openion. Paypal freezes accounts at the drop of a hat,
With paypal if you use money in your paypal account or pay with your bank account and not a credit card its worse.
Say you buy something from me. You use paypal balance and you pay me. I tell you ok it will ship in 48 hours. IN 2 days i send you a tracking #. Say it goes ground and takes 4 days to get to you. You get home and there is a box you think its what you ordered.
Then you see that its not what you ordered. It a box of rocks or who knows what. So you file a claim with paypal. They tell you it can take up to 30 days. Well even 10 days later paypal comes back says you won your claim but we can not recover any money because the person closed their account.
That is why paypal is not any better
yep, having problems right now. My problems is from the selling end though. I only opened a google checkout merchant account because I had a client that uses it. I designed a wordpress header for $100 about 2 weeks ago and the money is still tied up in google checkout. I only opened it so that I could accept payment. Every email I’ve been sending “the google checkout team” has stated that I wish to cancel my merchant account and wish to receive my money. I keep getting impersonal emails about bs verification and links to the help center. So yea, the customer got a wordpress header, the customer’s credit card was charged, but it looks like google got paid instead of me!
Anyway, yea it SUCKS. For the buyer and seller. I’ve NEVER had a problem like this with paypal.
Dear Anthony,
Take a look at: http://checkout.google.com/support/sell/bin/answer.py?answer=134476
I have never had a problem with Google Checkout as a merchant. Google Checkout is a great service. It does not suck. In fact, for some merchants, it is the only they can take credit cards. We use it in all of our carts, along with our regular merchant accounts.
Once a customer establishes a Google Checkout account, it’s a quick two click process to make a purchase. This has generated a great number of extra sales for our company we would have never had without offering Google Checkout to our customers.
Make sure you meet the guidlines setforth by Google in order to be paid. You may have just missed one thing. I know nobody likes to read those long agreements. I assure you, Google makes nice deposits in our bank account each and every business day. If you think Google Checkout sucks, try and deal with PayPal. Google is not in the business to hold your money like PayPal is (and has been taken to court many times for doing so). “Don’t be evil” is the informal corporate motto (or slogan) for Google. And in the many years I have been dealing with Google (the first day they went online) I know this to be true. Use the help center and you WILL find your answer.
Many Blessings
Robert Russell
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