I am posting here out of frustration.
Firstly, I have been playing chess here since 2004 and have played over 1500 games. I am currently leader of Devoted to Dogs. I'm only an average chess player.
But, last week my membership subs was due, so I tried to pay up, which in the past has been easy to do. I was surprised to find that the site no longer accepts debit cards. I don't use a credit card so the only way I could pay was by cheque (is this the 21st century?) or paypal. As it happens I do have a paypal account and although I did not like all the information they asked for when paying by paypal I did so. That was several days ago and although I have asked my account to be upgraded to a paid member this has not happened and no response has been received to emails I have sent.
As a none paid member I get annoying adds, and have restricted privileges with messages, so I cannot send messages to my clan members. This is unacceptable.
If I don't get this sorted by Monday I will leave the site and play elsewhere. But before I go I want to thank all the people I have played over the last 5 years. It has been fun and I thank you all.
I will post once more before I go. On Monday.
Goggy (Grumpy Old Git).
Originally posted by C J Horsehmm you cant criticise a customer because you dont offer their preferred payment method
It's obviously worked as I can see your star. As you say, this is the 21st century so why not have a credit card? There's no annual charge and you are not compelled to use it if you don't want to, but it is useful for things like this.
this is a massive global website now and all major cards and stored value methods should be offered.
Owners of the website are losing potential revenue and we are losing potential opponents 😉
Originally posted by C J HorseHaha, good point. Ok, maybe I was having a pram session. But as I get older I do become grumpy ever so easily. I don't expect, and I hate poor service and I felt I was getting that here.
Actually I can criticise him as much as I wish - he's not my customer🙂
I too would rather pay by debit card, but I'm not going to throw my toys out of the pram because I can't have that option everywhere I go.
However, maybe I should have been more patient. Yes, I am now a paid member, but why did it take so long. I think the system needs looking at. In this day and age for any business to refuse to use a debit card is odd. Credit cards are one of the reasons people get into debt, cheques are past their sell bye date and paypal is not used by many, although I now use it because of eBay.
I'm still here though, and no doubt will be for at least the next year.
I work for Bank of America...I can certainly understand why you wouldn't want a Credit Card. Furthermore, I can reccommend that you remain so diligent and disciplined.
The site DOES need to make a change if you can no longer use Debit Cards.
Sounds like someone tried to save a buck on there merchant services and lost some
needed functionality to me 😞
Originally posted by C J HorseWell, la-dee-dah! Your response reminds me of the "let them eat cake" widely (though wrongly) attributed to Marie Antoinette, to the effect that the poor should stop complaining that they can't afford bread because they could just eat cake instead.
As you say, this is the 21st century so why not have a credit card? There's no annual charge and you are not compelled to use it if you don't want to, but it is useful for things like this.
Not everyone can get a credit card. In fact, there is a large segment of our society who cannot qualify for a credit card, so they must use debit cards or nothing. An even larger segment cannot qualify for a credit card that has no annual charge. Do you consider them unworthy therefore to be able to play online chess?
I looked at 'moneymatters' and a few surveys as I wondered whether it was typical not to allow payment by debit card. The answer is no but I chanced upon a few simple facts..There are too many studies that prove making payment difficult actually impacts upon sales. It ( sales ) should be the 'easiest most time efficient process,' to quote an online survey conducted by Cornhil insurance ( not entirely insurance related ) recently. The survey concluded that in 'excess of 10% of people would simply move on and seek a company that accepted their preferred payment method'...a massive 20% would even 'change their minds altogether and delay their actions, considering whether the purchase is essential or not.' This segment is to do with online purchases in the main.
I'd hazard a guess that the latter would make up the greater number of non subscribers considering whether to 'opt in' or not, when not offered a way of payment that is suitable. A similar argument could be engaged for those that may wish to purchase for birthdays or Xmas, for a non subscriber...if it's too hard a task, why not buy some dvd's instead :-) ? Funnily enough, there are 69.9 million credit cards, 67 million debit cards and 4.7 million charge cards in the U.K alone. Paying by 'pay pal' accounts for 'about 60% of those using charge cards' !!!! Is having the pay pal facility, to the detriment of a debit card, really worth it ?
get yourself a credit card.
If you use a debit card and someone rips you off or steals your PIN you're screwed! that's that, and you'll have no way of proving it was NOT you who made the withdrawls.
With a credit card it's easy to make any purchase plus you have protection. If some fraudulent charge is made on your credit card, just call them and let them know it's been compromised. You'll be safe.
Credit card is always a better practice over a debit card.
Originally posted by NowakowskiPay Pal seems like a pretty safe way to go to me. I found it awfully slow though getting the money where it was suppose to go. My time lapsed on another site and I had done the payment 15 days before my Membership was due. Unlike here they took the membership right away, so I had team games hanging.
I work for Bank of America...I can certainly understand why you wouldn't want a Credit Card. Furthermore, I can reccommend that you remain so diligent and disciplined.
The site DOES need to make a change if you can no longer use Debit Cards.
Sounds like someone tried to save a buck on there merchant services and lost some
needed functionality to me 😞
I have been paying by money order on this Site, but will probably switch to Pay Pal when my membership is next due. I just have to make sure I give it more than 15 days.
Originally posted by pijunExcept when you find you have an x thousand pound bill to pay off.
get yourself a credit card.
If you use a debit card and someone rips you off or steals your PIN you're screwed! that's that, and you'll have no way of proving it was NOT you who made the withdrawls.
With a credit card it's easy to make any purchase plus you have protection. If some fraudulent charge is made on your credit card, just call them and let the ...[text shortened]... mpromised. You'll be safe.
Credit card is always a better practice over a debit card.