My company was an iBill client for many years back in the day when they were still a reliable and respected service. They processed for several of our bondage/fetish websites - and for the most part we enjoyed a good business relationship with them.

But we were caught in the big mess along with everyone else when revenue payments abruptly ceased back in the fall of'04. We were owed thousands in revenue, and despite all our attempts to be paid, the effort was mostly futile for more than a year and a half. We were handed promise after promise by more iBill reps than I could count. We went through runaround after runaround, and wasted an enormous amount of time and long distance phone charges to Fla. in our attempts to resolve the matter.

Finally, under advisement from our attorney, we managed to coax a full settlement out of iBill about a year and a half after the last payment. It was no easy feat, and required a LOT of time, effort and well-worded public bluffing on our part.

After extracting a final promise-to-pay from them, we received the full settlement check. We rushed it to the bank, cashed...and deposited it. We waited for the check to clear.

Surprise - it bounced. It came back non-sufficient funds.

But this was a good thing as far as we were concerned. We were now in possession of a potentially fraudulent check - which was in breach of our written agreement with iBill. The moment we were notified of the NSF check, I phoned our attorney...and then phoned iBill. Basically I told them they had twenty-four hours to wire the funds directly to our account...or we'd be filing both civil action against them along with reporting the fraud to federal authorities.

They followed through with a wire transfer of the full amount within a day (along with an apologetic phone call!), and we rid ourselves of iBill forever.

My company is a small 'ma-and-pa owned' production company - with a modest operating budget. Although the money owed to us by iBill was relatively small in comparison to stories I've heard from fellow colleagues and webmasters - it represented a serious blow to our company's financial stability...and for a while it looked as though we were on the verge of bankruptcy ourselves.

Fortunately, we were able to switch gears, re-gather lost momentum and weather the storm - in spite of the bullsh*t we suffered at the hands of iBill. And even though we were finally paid by them long after it had been promised, the hardship they made us endure throughout the ordeal has left a lasting animosity and utter contempt for these jackals.


S.K.

Edited by SilentKnight - 31 Oct 2006 at 5:30pm