I hope I fixed the issue making American Express bounce subscriptions. If you use Amex, please let me know. The last month has been an object lesson in the power of financial intermediaries.
Alex you are wrong. I worked in payment processing in a previous life.
Your decision to call your company “Deep Blue” generated too many inquiries to AMEX or chargebacks and that’s why they flagged your account and started rejecting it.
AMEX is a lot more proactive in terms of fraud than others so that’s why even an inquiry into AMEX asking “what is this charge from Deep Blue?” will flag your account.
This has nothing to do with your content and everything to do with you not understanding the business side of payment processing and you choosing a too-clever name that no one recognized. Even I saw this charge and was going to chargeback but I did a little digging and realized it was you. After seeing that, I predicted you were going to run into issues and it looks like I’m right.
Again, this has nothing to do with your content and everything to do with the fact you choose a poor name for your merchant name that confused your customers and caused too many inquiries and chargebacks.
Yes, they are held unaccountable. This is unfortunate but it’s just how it works. I’ve seen plenty of people cut off from payment processing for reasons that we never found out but could only guess. Maybe it was related to their content, ie porn or drugs or related to guns, or maybe it was related to a faulty product that generated a bunch of chargebacks, or maybe it was related to confusion over the product. They however never disclose their reasons.
This is similar to when people get kicked off YouTube or ads because of supposed fraud. YouTube isn’t held accountable either and peoples entire careers are cut off instantly with no explanation.
It’s not fair but it’s how business is run right now. I doubt it will be changed any time soon unfortunately. With all the harping by the likes of Elizabeth Warren and others pretending to protect Americans, things like these that can end peoples businesses in a heartbeat are things that politicians don’t care about.
I am a founding subscriber. I saw the $300 charge from "Deep Blue" on my Amex bill, searched a bunch of email accounts and online and could not find any reference to "Deep Blue," so flagged your charge as fraud on Amex and had to get a new card and number. This likely happened all at the same time with a bunch of your founding subscribers, since we all signed up at the same time. When Amex gets a bunch of fraud reports all at the same time they block the vendor.
I, too, am a Founding Member of Don Surber. Once upon a time, we had a blue button to separate us from the commoners. Now those with poor eyesight cannot identify the founders from the others. Wonder if the authors really care?
Remember how the BANKS tried to remove Trump after the J6 con. IF coup-mala had in fact been placed into the WH in this last election no doubt we would be seeing a TON more of this type of thing with financial institutions. Remember what happend in Canada with the truckers. Its what countries like CUBA or CHINA have been doing for years with it's people and the modern neo Marxist DEM adores the commie ways and wants IT. Just so grateful Nov 5th happened as it DID!
Elizabeth Nickson highlighted in a recent commentary how Canada is debanking citizens:
"Seven years recommended for the secretary Tamara Lich, who handled the logistics of the trucker convoy. She should get the Order of Canada and sit in the Senate. But our judiciary hates the founding culture and hates Canadians. Her fate hangs in the balance. This week, the Royal Bank, the eighth biggest bank in the world, debanked Eve Chipiuk, the attorney for the trucker convoy." And then Nickson cites the sentencing lengths for rapists, murders, etc. -- similar to that of the U.S.
I find it intriguing how many people I see these days who are being debanked for one reason or another. Debanking politically unfashionable businesses was government policy during the Obama Administration (Operation Choke Point) and I was fired by my merchant services provider (Intuit, yes that Intuit) after ten chargeback-free years.
No one from the media gave a shit back then. And they didn't seem to care when the Canadian government went after their own homegrown deplorables a few years ago using similar tactics.
Maybe as more people who are not in unfashionable industries note the same Sword of Damocles hanging over their heads many of the rest of us have dealt with for years, this issue will get a little more mainstream traction.
Several years ago I subscribed to a vendor based in Utah, where many MLM-type businesses originate. For over a year, my charges with them went through with no issues, and I did business with them every single month.
Then suddenly my bank rejected the charges as fraud. I called, talked with the fraud detection department, pointed out that there had been no issues for a year, etc. and their solution was for me to call them EVERY MONTH before my order was due to go through, and tell them to allow it. They had no systems in place to flag the vendor as OK. This went on for at least six months, I had to call them to allow my purchases to go through. Just for that one vendor.
They also told me that they had several other customers who were having this same problem with that exact vendor. Still they "couldn't" fix it across the board.
I literally had to open an account at a different bank so I could switch that subscription to a card that wouldn't reject it every month.
Just had this issue with the Bad Cat, but at least you advised us to look for Deep Blue. How the hell would I guess Honey Badger PR was Bad Cat? So thanks for the post!
Mine was initially flagged but I told Amex it was a good charge. Just checked and the charge successfully went through on August 1. Although not as Deep Blue but as Alex Berenson. Just glad I'm paid up.
For what it is worth, ACVF (American Conservative Values Fund) keeps a list of "woke" companies that they will not invest in. AMEX is on that list. Not even close to a smoking gun, but if you see the list, you will see that anything is possible with some of these companies. High DEI IQ's, let's just say. Disclosure: Yes, I am an investor. No, this is not investment advice.
I have always never wanted an American Express card. And now I have one more reason why that was a good choice. They send me applications in the mail and I shred them.
Amex used to be the best of the credit card companies. They had real customer service that made a difference. They actually practiced their "we have no arbitrary limits -- your payment history will determine what your limits will be". All of that changed about a year ago. They are now among the worst of the companies out there. Like virtually every other company they have eliminated ALL ability to have a conversation, to properly remediate most anything, and to separate any individual from any other. We are now ALL lumped and abused...if you have not run into it yet, you will. I have been an AX holder (multiple cards) for 50 years, but the last year has been a complete deprecation of everything that made them good before.
So you are just caught up in their complete takeover by the (as Eugyppius says) School Marmocracy. Sucks, but this seems to be today's world. Eventually all of us will abandon AX for something cheaper because they have no advantages to offer any more.
Alex you are wrong. I worked in payment processing in a previous life.
Your decision to call your company “Deep Blue” generated too many inquiries to AMEX or chargebacks and that’s why they flagged your account and started rejecting it.
AMEX is a lot more proactive in terms of fraud than others so that’s why even an inquiry into AMEX asking “what is this charge from Deep Blue?” will flag your account.
This has nothing to do with your content and everything to do with you not understanding the business side of payment processing and you choosing a too-clever name that no one recognized. Even I saw this charge and was going to chargeback but I did a little digging and realized it was you. After seeing that, I predicted you were going to run into issues and it looks like I’m right.
Again, this has nothing to do with your content and everything to do with the fact you choose a poor name for your merchant name that confused your customers and caused too many inquiries and chargebacks.
Bill - I am absolutely willing to believe this. The problem is that they
A) Didn’t tell me
B) lied to a customer who asked them the reason they’d done what they did (assuming your explanation is right)
It’s a power issue. They are essentially unaccountable.
Yes, they are held unaccountable. This is unfortunate but it’s just how it works. I’ve seen plenty of people cut off from payment processing for reasons that we never found out but could only guess. Maybe it was related to their content, ie porn or drugs or related to guns, or maybe it was related to a faulty product that generated a bunch of chargebacks, or maybe it was related to confusion over the product. They however never disclose their reasons.
This is similar to when people get kicked off YouTube or ads because of supposed fraud. YouTube isn’t held accountable either and peoples entire careers are cut off instantly with no explanation.
It’s not fair but it’s how business is run right now. I doubt it will be changed any time soon unfortunately. With all the harping by the likes of Elizabeth Warren and others pretending to protect Americans, things like these that can end peoples businesses in a heartbeat are things that politicians don’t care about.
very sad. I'm a subscriber but haven't had issue --that I know of....
Why are you charging credit cards and not Substack? Why is not Substack charging with proper description?
Substack.com : Unreported Truths?!
Let Substack pay Bluee Deep.
You can use a DBA that references your name for the substack stripe transactions.
I am a founding subscriber. I saw the $300 charge from "Deep Blue" on my Amex bill, searched a bunch of email accounts and online and could not find any reference to "Deep Blue," so flagged your charge as fraud on Amex and had to get a new card and number. This likely happened all at the same time with a bunch of your founding subscribers, since we all signed up at the same time. When Amex gets a bunch of fraud reports all at the same time they block the vendor.
I, too, am a Founding Member of Don Surber. Once upon a time, we had a blue button to separate us from the commoners. Now those with poor eyesight cannot identify the founders from the others. Wonder if the authors really care?
I experienced the absolute helplessness you feel when Chase debanked me and wouldn’t tell me why. A customer for 25 years. Sapphire card.
I soent some money in a gun store. Was that it?
Congress could require banks to give the reason behind debanking. And they should.
Chase is the worst- Wouldn't answer my query, I didn't pay them. Knocked my credit from 822 to 622..
Remember how the BANKS tried to remove Trump after the J6 con. IF coup-mala had in fact been placed into the WH in this last election no doubt we would be seeing a TON more of this type of thing with financial institutions. Remember what happend in Canada with the truckers. Its what countries like CUBA or CHINA have been doing for years with it's people and the modern neo Marxist DEM adores the commie ways and wants IT. Just so grateful Nov 5th happened as it DID!
Elizabeth Nickson highlighted in a recent commentary how Canada is debanking citizens:
"Seven years recommended for the secretary Tamara Lich, who handled the logistics of the trucker convoy. She should get the Order of Canada and sit in the Senate. But our judiciary hates the founding culture and hates Canadians. Her fate hangs in the balance. This week, the Royal Bank, the eighth biggest bank in the world, debanked Eve Chipiuk, the attorney for the trucker convoy." And then Nickson cites the sentencing lengths for rapists, murders, etc. -- similar to that of the U.S.
Unfortunately Canada continues to be LED by the same globalist commie types. It will not change until Canada has a Nov 5th happening as America DID!
Yes, Nickson lays it out in excoriating detail!
I find it intriguing how many people I see these days who are being debanked for one reason or another. Debanking politically unfashionable businesses was government policy during the Obama Administration (Operation Choke Point) and I was fired by my merchant services provider (Intuit, yes that Intuit) after ten chargeback-free years.
No one from the media gave a shit back then. And they didn't seem to care when the Canadian government went after their own homegrown deplorables a few years ago using similar tactics.
Maybe as more people who are not in unfashionable industries note the same Sword of Damocles hanging over their heads many of the rest of us have dealt with for years, this issue will get a little more mainstream traction.
Rosanna Rosanna Danna was right, "It's always something." If I have misspelled her name I apologize. SNL, Gilda Radner--that Rosanna
Ha! I have unwittingly stumbled into this terrorist network of unreported truths. 😎
Several years ago I subscribed to a vendor based in Utah, where many MLM-type businesses originate. For over a year, my charges with them went through with no issues, and I did business with them every single month.
Then suddenly my bank rejected the charges as fraud. I called, talked with the fraud detection department, pointed out that there had been no issues for a year, etc. and their solution was for me to call them EVERY MONTH before my order was due to go through, and tell them to allow it. They had no systems in place to flag the vendor as OK. This went on for at least six months, I had to call them to allow my purchases to go through. Just for that one vendor.
They also told me that they had several other customers who were having this same problem with that exact vendor. Still they "couldn't" fix it across the board.
I literally had to open an account at a different bank so I could switch that subscription to a card that wouldn't reject it every month.
Ugh. Sometimes true, you can't fix stupid.
Just had this issue with the Bad Cat, but at least you advised us to look for Deep Blue. How the hell would I guess Honey Badger PR was Bad Cat? So thanks for the post!
Trump preps EO to prevent financial firms from debanking people over politics after he was dropped by JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America
https://thepostmillennial.com/trump-preps-eo-to-prevent-financial-firms-from-debanking-people-over-politics-after-he-was-dropped-by-jp-morgan-chase-bank-of-america
Mine was initially flagged but I told Amex it was a good charge. Just checked and the charge successfully went through on August 1. Although not as Deep Blue but as Alex Berenson. Just glad I'm paid up.
Something rotten here, I suspect.
For what it is worth, ACVF (American Conservative Values Fund) keeps a list of "woke" companies that they will not invest in. AMEX is on that list. Not even close to a smoking gun, but if you see the list, you will see that anything is possible with some of these companies. High DEI IQ's, let's just say. Disclosure: Yes, I am an investor. No, this is not investment advice.
I have always never wanted an American Express card. And now I have one more reason why that was a good choice. They send me applications in the mail and I shred them.
AMEX is the worst
Might be Discover! But they just might be going away….
Discover isn’t going anywhere. They just were bought out by capital one.
Amex used to be the best of the credit card companies. They had real customer service that made a difference. They actually practiced their "we have no arbitrary limits -- your payment history will determine what your limits will be". All of that changed about a year ago. They are now among the worst of the companies out there. Like virtually every other company they have eliminated ALL ability to have a conversation, to properly remediate most anything, and to separate any individual from any other. We are now ALL lumped and abused...if you have not run into it yet, you will. I have been an AX holder (multiple cards) for 50 years, but the last year has been a complete deprecation of everything that made them good before.
So you are just caught up in their complete takeover by the (as Eugyppius says) School Marmocracy. Sucks, but this seems to be today's world. Eventually all of us will abandon AX for something cheaper because they have no advantages to offer any more.