Plastiq has previously offered a promotion where you got the first month fee waived when you scheduled six months or more with any credit card. Plastiq has sent out e-mails & charged fees to people that participated in the promotion and then cancelled the scheduled payments. Here’s a copy of such an e-mail:
The fine print of the offer did clearly state that they reserve the right to retroactively apply this fee, so this is just confirmation that this is being enforced. It is worth mentioning that a lot of people cancelled their scheduled payments because Plastiq changed the way these payments were coding.
Hat tip to reader David
I’m just annoyed I didn’t remove my card
That would not have done anything. I still got charged and have had no cards on file for 2 months.
There was a loophole in their system in the past. I took advantage of it for some fee free payments. Good time.
I don’t see bait and switch there. But I do see greedy here.
And I have the chatlog to prove it.
Plastiq online chat told me they WOULD NOT charge me if I cancelled the reoccuring payments (prior to signing up). I received the email today informing me of the retroactive charge and will resolve it with Chase if Plastiq does not keep their word…
In this game, you know that CSRs are only right 50% of the time at best. I hope you kept the chat log. Otherwise, good luck. Might as well try to get Chase to reverse your mortgage payment as well, while you’re at it. /smh
After complaining and having them check the online chat log, I was able to get a full refund.
Plastiq clearly said they would do this upfront, so don’t know why anyone would be surprised. The level of entitlement of some is amazing. If you are obviously trying to game the system and get caught, don’t act like a victim.
I set up 6 payments and just changed the card each month to hit minimum spend requirements. I wasn’t sure if they might try to claw the fee credit back, but so far I’m in the clear.
I was wondering did you guys leave your credit card on the plastiq account? I didn’t get this email yet but I also removed my card after they messed up all the credit card categories so I stopped using it all together.
Nice. Will try this next time they offer a promotion.
JK, I will not.
I removed the credit card from my plastiq account and also did not get the email or a charge on my credit card (yet). Maybe they don’t retain the credit card information you use for payments unless it’s saved in your account?
Yep. They got me. Oh well, it’s not that bad.
The thing is we cancelled because Plastiq changed both the way they coded mortgage as well as later removed visa cards as a payment option. So they actually did a bait and switch….got their customers by using a specific travel category and then switched it later and even removed VISA cards as payment option. So at least as a customer service courtesy they should not have charged these fees. While they may be on firm legal ground, it is poor customer service to actually pull this money without proper notification from their customers cards.
That’s a good point, will update post.
VISA worked as long as you didnt change it. They no longer allowed you to set up with a visa or change to a Visa. If your auto payment was with VISA, it continued to work seamlessly. You may not have gotten a bonus category, but plastiq never promised that. This compnmay also has great customer service, They are just really slow in processing payments.
Yeah I dropped the recurring rent payments when they changed to not code as travel. Them sending an email and charging the retroactive fee simultaneously rubs me the wrong way so don’t think I will use them again. Wasn’t very impressed with the 1 rent payment process in the first place.
Bait and switch? Not with me. They were perfectly honest in two online chats when I asked about these issues ahead of scheduling any payments to get the free month. They specifically told me that MCC codes had previously changed without notice by their payments processor and it could happen again and they had no control over it. They promised that if their fee changed they would honor it for all payments, but they couldn’t control what their processor might do. That’s why I decided not to commit to 6 payments to get the one free month. Also, my understanding is that Visa, not Plastiq, disallowed using Visa for mortgage payments, no?
So, I disagree on the first point: “Plastiq got their customers by using a specific travel category”
YOU took the risk of trying to do this for extra points. Plastiq never said they would guarantee how banks coded Plastiq transactions. I believe this is mostly up to the bank/payment processor. Show me where in the advertisement did they mention that as one of their selling points.
I don’t have much familiarity with them dropping Visa, but if that is true, then that’s the only case where there’s just cause to stop using Plastiq.
As I have said it before, legally there is nothing wrong in what they have done now – this is more of a customer service issue. They could have handled it different if they really wanted to enforce it – put a box saying hey if you cancel now, you will be charged x amount per the terms. Nothing of that sort was shown when cancelling the payment. It is not good for a company and their reputation to play games and charge or not charge fees as and whey they want to. Yes, legally they can do what they want within their set rules.
The coding and payment processor excuses they use sound very very fishy and I don’t buy that. Why would payment processors change codes? Does it happen for grocery purchase? For Office supplies? Maybe once in several years, but not so many changes in a a mater of a few months. Why only at Plastiq? Do your Amazon or Staples or other purchases code differently one month and a different way in another month and keep changing every so often?
I think VISA stepped in to stop this game that Plastiq was playing and that is how it ended.
Payment processors and banks will force companies to change codes especially when it is resident’swhich this clearly was. Certain codes have lower fees. You think the companies don’t know how some will miscode to get a lower fee? The banks likely hammered Plastiq and took back a huge chunk of change that was falsely miscoded. I doubt they had a choice.
Sorry. The word is fraudulent.
And that is my point as well. Plastiq was playing a game here with the customers being enticed by the better points and Plastiq was not paying for that from their advertising budget – it was the banks that were paying for it without really signing up for that.
Plastiq was thus gaining customers without spending anything. To me it appears that what Plastiq did (knowingly miscoded mortgage and rent as travel) was willful and illegal on their part. They certainly have to pay up for that both to the banks and to their customers.
There is no way this would hold up in a court. I work in the financial industry and VISA gave a mandate that people could no longer use VISA credit cards to pay for loans, especially mortgages. As they are contractually tied to VISA, they are legally obligated to follow that. You are going after loopholes and then claiming entitlement. Don’t waste your time.
Not sure what you are talking about but you can certainly pay such things with a visa but just now at the regular rate.
I don’t think they want you back as a customer, so really no loss on their part. They don’t want anyone that is reading about their bad faith deals on churning-related sites.
I guess they will claim that the credit card companies changed the coding and not them. Now if it turned out they new this change was coming and ran the promo they might be on shaky ground. Either way its poor customer service to enforce this policy given the way conditions changed.
I dont see how they pulled a bait and switch. All rent payment services say you can gain points on your cc by paying rent – that does not mean they were explicitly stating that it would be coded as travel. Whether or not they initially coded it as travel on purpose or not, you played the game and knew the risks. Additionally, they mentioned that if you cancelled before your 6 months, you would get charged. I see no wrong doing in their part