You're another very good man, Tim. The people who read this content genre on Substack are not stupid, so if they act in this way it means they're irresponsible and selfish. Also, possibly, it's a deliberate counter offensive to cause you problems. Either way it's very wrong. Don't let them grind you down.
The same happened to me! I contacted the subscriber and she said she did NOT dispute it. I did a deep dive, and it was her bank that filed the dispute -- twice for the same subscription -- so I had to pay the dispute fees twice. I argued and argued with Stripe, but we're powerless.
Stripe's response was infuriating. They said that all the dispute fees go to the bank/credit card issuer (B***Sh**). And they said I should try to prevent disputes in the future by making sure my subscribers understand this is a recurring subscription. (?!)
In my case, what happened is that my subscriber didn't recognize the name that appeared on her bank statement. (It's my business name, not my first and last name). She then called her bank, and they gave her my phone number. The only problem is the number they gave her was not the number I had provided. It must have been an error on the bank's part. So that's why the dispute was filed. And then the bank filed _another_ dispute for another payment of the same description.
Hope this information helps you to figure out what's going on.
Stripe and the credit card companies are making a killing off us.
This is one reason I have doubts about Substack!!! Why would they use, and ONLY use, a very nasty financial "mechanism," or whatever might be an uglier term for those scoundrels... ? Well. We should all write EN MASSE to Stripe and tell them to leave Tim alone. They badgered me for MONTHS, if not years, when I'd never owed them a DIME.
Ah, yes, I've seen other Substack writers lament this very thing, and I'm so sorry that you're having to deal with this behaviour. It should be clear to anyone with a functioning brain and moral compass that Chargeback is the nuclear option: to be implemented *if and only if* the vendor has (a) misled the customer; (b) not provided the promised goods or services; (c) acted outside of their Terms and Conditions – and when contacting the vendor directly has proved fruitless. None of this applies here, so it appears that those subscribers who are immediately going down the Stripe/Chargeback route are, at best, being ignorant and thoughtless of the consequences. At worst, they are bad actors deliberately out to create mischief. And Stripe needs to take responsibility for allowing this to happen: their policy of automatically taking the customer's side without following due process is plain unacceptable. Hope you can get this resolved with long-term peace of mind.
I agree. This seems to be intentional. One should be able to cancel at any time. That is no longer allowed. People are being put in a position to use credit “because of federal reserve” issues.
Love always, and may We strip the moneyed psychopaths in control on Our planet (by virtue of money) of Their tool to power, able therefore to ALL live richly without the psychopathic manipulation of Humanity!
I would help if I could, but presently, for My knowledge of free energy tech and efforts to free Humanity from this hellish moneyed mess, I am targeted, and homeless, and destitute...
So sorry to hear that! What I am proposing is not something that would disrupt You, though. Imagine products, made to last!, available on the web, which can be ordered and delivered, with no need to pay anyOne, except in social currencies - thanks, appreciation, lauds, etc., provided by automation and Those who love to create what is offered.
We're all living as richly as We choose, and real medicine prevails, not the crap We see offered for profit and control. No jabs o' toxins.
I completely understand you situation. Very reasonable request of your subscribers who have had a change of heart, mind or just have too much month at the end of the money, which I can imagine is more likely the situation. Keep up the good work and don’t worry. Things tend to work out.
From years of first hand experience at this (I also use stripe and PayPal) may I also suggest that you take a morning or an hour to establish a solid
Connection with a stripe tech support person who can give you a personal email account (go daddy does this and it’s super helpful) and over time your discuccionsntienmintonreliable and friendly help at the drop of a hat/ spur of the
Moment… whatever idiom you like — and in this way you can lay
Them know when you get a complaint or they have one about you and you are made aware of it only after the situation has been registered as fraud.
It’s the resoonsibiiity of the buyer, client, subscriber,!patron or what have you, to cancel their subscription when they want to.
What usually happens is they forget the date of the annual renewal and also you do.
so.
unless you’ve set up an auto annual renewal
Reminder for your customers (the way the higher end banking or stripe /paypal-wix or go daddy software apps now do, by the way) it’s important because it allows someone that window to exit prior to the renewal, and so so seamlessly and gracefully)
But herein lies the double edged sword under that generous silver lining you can soptiinsllyborovide for your clients an in so doing bypass all this stress-producing shyte you are neck deep in at the moment (this, too, shall pass).
And that is, by warning them that the auto renewal upcoming, many will heave a sigh of relief and unsubscribe without thinking twice. Because ? They haven’t had time to really engage as they envisioned they would with your content, or some other reason that makes saving that annual fee a darn good idea
I have to disagree with you that stripe will flag/tag you, or accuse you, a valued who yields them more than 29% per subscriber, by the way, a FRAUD because your clients forgot to unsubscribe prior to the overlooked or forgotten renewal date .
Doubtful. I’m a stripe reliant vendor and if they pulled that crap with me it would last a minute. It’s not my job to warn people. It is my job to have a clear ly stated set of terms and conditions that outlines what we are speaking about now as the inevitable hassle that can eat up time money and nerve cells iFB, at th outset, it isn’t clear how you as a vendor are required to conduct yourself on behalf enteric you need (or at one point needed) and from which mutual benefit accrues until a dung into the whirling fan blades episode like this throws the who catastrophe into question.
Get a clear set of terms (stripes and yours, which are the SAME ) sent to each client after you receive an annual
Payment. If you have the time or a helper put the name and email every new subscriber onto your Google Calendar, and set it on there seven days prior to the annual recurring payment (agreed to by customer) date … you have a realistic low stress way going forward to provide a legit heads up and if they don’t reply and don’t cancel and then go after you with help from stripe? You can provide the advance email dispatched as a courtesy to let them know the due date is a week out and any assignment to you of fraud by strip is easily countered with the threat of a lawsuit for defamation of character and interfering with clients business (yours) that has unequivocally demonstrated the willingness and decision. To take the high road and advocate for your shared customers (they are a customer of stripe as a subscriber, too, remember…and you should als check out the terms and conditions stripe offers them, as well as you. You make them more money but they are also obliged to protect your customers from fraud if the vendor is a crook. Many are. You are not.
So relax and take a day to think it through, google and Chat GOT for ideas and new ways to abounds in the future.. you tube university likely has other solutions to this conundrum that haven’t occurred to me yet, as well.
Keep writing, unless you don’t enjoy it. Start working on your book, and don’t worry. It’s going to work out. You have more in common with your subscribers than either of you do with stripe, is my best guess. Set them up to understand how to exit gracefully and on time, and this unpalatable chapter will soon fade from memory.
I thought for a moment that you were talking TO JUST ME, lol. Heart beat is chilin' now...
If you would like, send me a private message and let's chat a bit... I know you're in the UK, but I sooooooooo know what it feels like to be under the gun of poverty and living "large" in the great outdoors, as it were...
I can't do a LOT, but I'll send you some bucks. Message me. I'm Jaan Carter, the Word Herder.
I appreciate the heads up. Sometimes I forgot to set a reminder on my calendar. I didn't cancel one of subscriptions, forgot the renewal date, it was triggered and owner of the Substack wouldn't even respond to my request - which I sent to him within 48 hours. Substack told me to contact the writer. I ate that oops, and have a very negative opinion of the writer. So, I like a heads-up. I wish Substack would do it. Maybe the writers can ban together to do that. I despise automatic renewals. TC does the same, automatic withdrawal, no heads-up, no money back upon request.
Is it at all possible this is "their" way of some sort of censorship? But in a backhanded way. Wear down the Substack writers so they no longer want to engage... instead of outright censorship so they can say they're for freedom of speech?
Sorry this is happening to you. Personally, the few Substacks I subscribe to are on a monthly basis, and I can just cancel if needed. At times I have simply donated to the person through their donation link or Ko-Fi, or whatever, as a one time donation.
Does Substack use Stripe as the payment processor? I do not like them or trust them. Just saying.
A few years ago, the private school my grandsons were attending switched to Stripe only as monthly tuition collection. After reading the Stripe “agreement”, I declined to accept. The agreement stated that I was giving Stripe access to my personal bank account info including monitoring all of my transactions. Are you kidding me?! GTFOH I explained to the school why I wouldn’t do that and they were like “nobody else has a problem with it”. So we moved on. I’m sorry this happened to you Tim, I can imagine the stress it’s causing. You and Mike are such a breath of fresh air and your work has been so helpful. I loved the guitar session, too! Maybe this is what “He’s Us” meant by “throw out the Money changers”. Much love and respect.
You're another very good man, Tim. The people who read this content genre on Substack are not stupid, so if they act in this way it means they're irresponsible and selfish. Also, possibly, it's a deliberate counter offensive to cause you problems. Either way it's very wrong. Don't let them grind you down.
Oh, I think there's probably more stupid people than you think... As to the tech, at least.
LOL
No offense to anyone, but people can be very cool, or very sweet, or whatever, and be stupid in the tech realm.
PLUS: STRIPE IS EVIL.
The same happened to me! I contacted the subscriber and she said she did NOT dispute it. I did a deep dive, and it was her bank that filed the dispute -- twice for the same subscription -- so I had to pay the dispute fees twice. I argued and argued with Stripe, but we're powerless.
Stripe's response was infuriating. They said that all the dispute fees go to the bank/credit card issuer (B***Sh**). And they said I should try to prevent disputes in the future by making sure my subscribers understand this is a recurring subscription. (?!)
I will start keeping track and writing to upcomings.
In my case, what happened is that my subscriber didn't recognize the name that appeared on her bank statement. (It's my business name, not my first and last name). She then called her bank, and they gave her my phone number. The only problem is the number they gave her was not the number I had provided. It must have been an error on the bank's part. So that's why the dispute was filed. And then the bank filed _another_ dispute for another payment of the same description.
Hope this information helps you to figure out what's going on.
Stripe and the credit card companies are making a killing off us.
STRIPE IS EVIL.
This is one reason I have doubts about Substack!!! Why would they use, and ONLY use, a very nasty financial "mechanism," or whatever might be an uglier term for those scoundrels... ? Well. We should all write EN MASSE to Stripe and tell them to leave Tim alone. They badgered me for MONTHS, if not years, when I'd never owed them a DIME.
Ah, yes, I've seen other Substack writers lament this very thing, and I'm so sorry that you're having to deal with this behaviour. It should be clear to anyone with a functioning brain and moral compass that Chargeback is the nuclear option: to be implemented *if and only if* the vendor has (a) misled the customer; (b) not provided the promised goods or services; (c) acted outside of their Terms and Conditions – and when contacting the vendor directly has proved fruitless. None of this applies here, so it appears that those subscribers who are immediately going down the Stripe/Chargeback route are, at best, being ignorant and thoughtless of the consequences. At worst, they are bad actors deliberately out to create mischief. And Stripe needs to take responsibility for allowing this to happen: their policy of automatically taking the customer's side without following due process is plain unacceptable. Hope you can get this resolved with long-term peace of mind.
Stripe is a bad actor in and of itself.
I have NO faith they will ever act in GOOD faith.
Substack provides a way to cancel subscriptions before renewal.
Exactly!!! ❤️
And if you forget to do it, you should pay it and not dispute it. Cancel after that.
Be responsible.
Where is that function?
I'm not sure. Sometimes you have to cancel your subscription to stop the auto renewal. Your subscription is still good until it it runs out.
Most subscriptions make it difficult to cancel.
Substack is no better , in my somewhat limited experience.
I agree. This seems to be intentional. One should be able to cancel at any time. That is no longer allowed. People are being put in a position to use credit “because of federal reserve” issues.
You may have just set yourself for targetted attacks in this method.
I doubt these are accidents. This is deliberate.
The test of this hypothesis: if it increases after this post.
I understand your point.
I will try to get a person at Stripe to talk to.
If you are right, then instead of this plea stopping the incidents - as would happen if people were of good faith - they would indeed increase.
Love always, and may We strip the moneyed psychopaths in control on Our planet (by virtue of money) of Their tool to power, able therefore to ALL live richly without the psychopathic manipulation of Humanity!
I would help if I could, but presently, for My knowledge of free energy tech and efforts to free Humanity from this hellish moneyed mess, I am targeted, and homeless, and destitute...
May We succeed...
Let’s Obsolete Money and Get Rid of Cartels! (article): https://amaterasusolar.substack.com/p/lets-obsolete-money-and-get-rid-of
Yes let's...if only I could control my addiction to AMAZON.
Unfortunately I am trapped at home with a "vaccine" injured spouse who can barely walk
So I use AMAZON to get things I need. I know its wrong. Just can't stop....
So sorry to hear that! What I am proposing is not something that would disrupt You, though. Imagine products, made to last!, available on the web, which can be ordered and delivered, with no need to pay anyOne, except in social currencies - thanks, appreciation, lauds, etc., provided by automation and Those who love to create what is offered.
We're all living as richly as We choose, and real medicine prevails, not the crap We see offered for profit and control. No jabs o' toxins.
Have You Ever Paid AnyOne in Attention? (article): https://amaterasusolar.substack.com/p/have-you-ever-paid-anyone-in-attention
Social Currency (article): https://amaterasusolar.substack.com/p/social-currency
I completely understand you situation. Very reasonable request of your subscribers who have had a change of heart, mind or just have too much month at the end of the money, which I can imagine is more likely the situation. Keep up the good work and don’t worry. Things tend to work out.
It’s the yearly subscriptions that people decide they want to cancel AFTER the repeat date that are dragging me under.
You should consider to only allow monthly subscriptions.
From years of first hand experience at this (I also use stripe and PayPal) may I also suggest that you take a morning or an hour to establish a solid
Connection with a stripe tech support person who can give you a personal email account (go daddy does this and it’s super helpful) and over time your discuccionsntienmintonreliable and friendly help at the drop of a hat/ spur of the
Moment… whatever idiom you like — and in this way you can lay
Them know when you get a complaint or they have one about you and you are made aware of it only after the situation has been registered as fraud.
It’s the resoonsibiiity of the buyer, client, subscriber,!patron or what have you, to cancel their subscription when they want to.
What usually happens is they forget the date of the annual renewal and also you do.
so.
unless you’ve set up an auto annual renewal
Reminder for your customers (the way the higher end banking or stripe /paypal-wix or go daddy software apps now do, by the way) it’s important because it allows someone that window to exit prior to the renewal, and so so seamlessly and gracefully)
But herein lies the double edged sword under that generous silver lining you can soptiinsllyborovide for your clients an in so doing bypass all this stress-producing shyte you are neck deep in at the moment (this, too, shall pass).
And that is, by warning them that the auto renewal upcoming, many will heave a sigh of relief and unsubscribe without thinking twice. Because ? They haven’t had time to really engage as they envisioned they would with your content, or some other reason that makes saving that annual fee a darn good idea
I have to disagree with you that stripe will flag/tag you, or accuse you, a valued who yields them more than 29% per subscriber, by the way, a FRAUD because your clients forgot to unsubscribe prior to the overlooked or forgotten renewal date .
Doubtful. I’m a stripe reliant vendor and if they pulled that crap with me it would last a minute. It’s not my job to warn people. It is my job to have a clear ly stated set of terms and conditions that outlines what we are speaking about now as the inevitable hassle that can eat up time money and nerve cells iFB, at th outset, it isn’t clear how you as a vendor are required to conduct yourself on behalf enteric you need (or at one point needed) and from which mutual benefit accrues until a dung into the whirling fan blades episode like this throws the who catastrophe into question.
Get a clear set of terms (stripes and yours, which are the SAME ) sent to each client after you receive an annual
Payment. If you have the time or a helper put the name and email every new subscriber onto your Google Calendar, and set it on there seven days prior to the annual recurring payment (agreed to by customer) date … you have a realistic low stress way going forward to provide a legit heads up and if they don’t reply and don’t cancel and then go after you with help from stripe? You can provide the advance email dispatched as a courtesy to let them know the due date is a week out and any assignment to you of fraud by strip is easily countered with the threat of a lawsuit for defamation of character and interfering with clients business (yours) that has unequivocally demonstrated the willingness and decision. To take the high road and advocate for your shared customers (they are a customer of stripe as a subscriber, too, remember…and you should als check out the terms and conditions stripe offers them, as well as you. You make them more money but they are also obliged to protect your customers from fraud if the vendor is a crook. Many are. You are not.
So relax and take a day to think it through, google and Chat GOT for ideas and new ways to abounds in the future.. you tube university likely has other solutions to this conundrum that haven’t occurred to me yet, as well.
Keep writing, unless you don’t enjoy it. Start working on your book, and don’t worry. It’s going to work out. You have more in common with your subscribers than either of you do with stripe, is my best guess. Set them up to understand how to exit gracefully and on time, and this unpalatable chapter will soon fade from memory.
Good luck
That’s brilliant advice thank you. Will have to read it several times.
I have a message from Stripe in front of me.
They clearly say FRAUDULENT !
Perhaps it’s to do with the bank as in the first comment… suggesting a stolen card
Ugh! Are ‘we’ having fun yet! Tip o the iceberg I dare say. Love you and your ❤️, dear Dr. Mike and helpful Tim
Tim, Hello.
I thought for a moment that you were talking TO JUST ME, lol. Heart beat is chilin' now...
If you would like, send me a private message and let's chat a bit... I know you're in the UK, but I sooooooooo know what it feels like to be under the gun of poverty and living "large" in the great outdoors, as it were...
I can't do a LOT, but I'll send you some bucks. Message me. I'm Jaan Carter, the Word Herder.
Blessings and appreciation from Sydney Australia.
I have had the same thing happen to me many times, thanks for speaking to this.
I like the direct-to-provider payment method. Scrooge the money changers.
Can you have an "your account is going to renew is five days, if you want to unsubscribe please do so before then.'
I guess we will have to do that if Substack doesn’t!
I appreciate the heads up. Sometimes I forgot to set a reminder on my calendar. I didn't cancel one of subscriptions, forgot the renewal date, it was triggered and owner of the Substack wouldn't even respond to my request - which I sent to him within 48 hours. Substack told me to contact the writer. I ate that oops, and have a very negative opinion of the writer. So, I like a heads-up. I wish Substack would do it. Maybe the writers can ban together to do that. I despise automatic renewals. TC does the same, automatic withdrawal, no heads-up, no money back upon request.
Is it at all possible this is "their" way of some sort of censorship? But in a backhanded way. Wear down the Substack writers so they no longer want to engage... instead of outright censorship so they can say they're for freedom of speech?
Sorry this is happening to you. Personally, the few Substacks I subscribe to are on a monthly basis, and I can just cancel if needed. At times I have simply donated to the person through their donation link or Ko-Fi, or whatever, as a one time donation.
Does Substack use Stripe as the payment processor? I do not like them or trust them. Just saying.
A few years ago, the private school my grandsons were attending switched to Stripe only as monthly tuition collection. After reading the Stripe “agreement”, I declined to accept. The agreement stated that I was giving Stripe access to my personal bank account info including monitoring all of my transactions. Are you kidding me?! GTFOH I explained to the school why I wouldn’t do that and they were like “nobody else has a problem with it”. So we moved on. I’m sorry this happened to you Tim, I can imagine the stress it’s causing. You and Mike are such a breath of fresh air and your work has been so helpful. I loved the guitar session, too! Maybe this is what “He’s Us” meant by “throw out the Money changers”. Much love and respect.