EventElephant

stage01

Hi all,

Looking to take payments online. Event elephant looks to be a good setup for us but its fairly steep in terms of cost 7.5% approx per transaction.

Can anyone recommend any alternatives to event elephant?

Cheers

dearg lady

stage01 wrote: »

Hi all,

Looking to take payments online. Event elephant looks to be a good setup for us but its fairly steep in terms of cost 7.5% approx per transaction.

Can anyone recommend any alternatives to event elephant?

Cheers

I can only comment as a consumer but I've had trouble with event elephant and will never use them again. They seem to have glitch on their system which tells you an error occurred and to re input details...then get charged twice but only one set of tickets! And they will not refund, which is very poor service.

Happyman42

OP...you might want to have a look at the content on the home page here
www.theflatlakefestival.com

Reamer Fanny

Would recommend Realex payments for processing transactions online although I don't know their rates per transaction

Barnstorm Theatre Company

I used EventElephant for a project and found it difficult to get final payment - our small conference happened in Oct 2011 but we only received settlement 6 months later!!

petronius

7.5% sounds extortionate.
Used Realex a couple of times and it works out a lot cheaper than 7.5%

WAPAIC

We also had difficulty getting our money out of Eventelephant, had to get a solicitor to help us draft a few stern emails and were all ready to start sending solicitor's letters when they finally relented. Their communications with us were littered with inaccuracies and contradictions - a lot of their arguments suggested our entire takings was affected by chargebacks which is ridiculous. We even offered to contact each participant to see if they had raised a query about the payment. Took a few months and caused a lot of stress. Would never use them for anything again.

fcrossen

Why not Wordpress and an eCommerce plugin? Shouldn't take too long (or too much programming expertise) to set up. Paypal are even less than 7%.

Evil Phil

I've used event brite as a customer, and was happy with the service. Don't know anything about them from the sellers side however.

asimonov

sorry for digging up an old thread.

We used eventelephant for a business conference event in march of 2012, thought we'd do the right thing by supporting an Irish company over eventbrite. The conference organisers are still awaiting payment from them. We'll be looking for an alternative for next year.

Enigma365

Just used EE for an event. Website very good but in terms of fees, it adds up a bit.

Note they charge

1) 4.75% fee on all ticket purchases. PLUS even though it doesn't say it anywhere on their site(as far as I can tell), they charge VAT of 23% on top of this. So this fee is really 5.84%.

2) A 3.5% payment processing fee on top of this unless you want to use your own paypal in which case it is .5% on top of paypal's own 3%ish fee.

In the end we paid just shy of 10% in fees. We likely would not have chosen them if we had realised how expensive they were.

Enigma365

Apologies, when I saw VAT added on in the invoice I thought it was on top of the 4.75%. I appreciate that it was just breaking it down completely and that the VAT added on was still part of the 4.75%.

Site was excellent otherwise. Very well designed.

Roscoe Holscomb

We have used EventElephant and are still waiting for payment more than one year later. All we have got is either no communication or obfuscation, we have been told the payment has been made 3 times without any transfer taking place. Really appalling customer service and I would never go near them again.

Enigma365

Alas I thought these were extreme examples but we are also now awaiting payment more than a month after our event and each time a deadline passes, they come up with a new excuse as to why payment has been delayed.

My worry is that they have a funding problem and cannot pay their customers. Their facebook page is littered with complaints about non payment. If only I had seen that before. May have to get the lawyers involved. Argghh

AVOID AT ALL COSTS

Roscoe Holscomb

Hmm, seems we are not alone...

http://i.qype.co.uk/place/2063174-EventElephant-Richmond

dearg lady

How on earth are they still going, I haven't heard a single good report. I've warned anyone I know who runs an event anyway.

Enigma365

They tell lie after lie. Until today they kept coming up with new excuses to delay us. I told them categorically that if they come back to us and tell us that we have charge backs on our event(which I had read was a trick they try on everyone else), I would pursue legal action.

Despite my warning them not to try this trick, I received an email today from their Finance Director claiming that 8 out of our 120 attendees, nearly all of whom I know personally, were pursuing chargebacks on their £5(6EURO) ticket and that this would delay our payment further.

The idea that 1 person, let alone 8 would pursue a chargeback, a long and drawn out process, on a 6 Euro ticket to a charity event is so far fetched I am astonished they even bother to try it.

Now to involve solicitors...

bobdome

your wasting your time with legal action.by the time you get a court date they will have gone bust,you must act now.im just out of a five month nightmare tryin to get my money off these gangsters.i tried every thing from going into the office(but the director left through the back door) to sending solicitors letters.it was only last wk when i rang the ceo and told him he had five days to pay the money he was illegally holding or i was gonna start a media campaign that would uncover them,starting with a piece on joe duffy.low and behold every cent owed to me was paid back,even the money that was tied up in there so called ''chargeback'' threshold.there a bunch of liars,believe nothing they say.go public with this,i have already been on to the liveline team and they are well interested in doing a peice.
good luck and feel free to contact me if looking for advise....
bob

stage01

Thanks for responses all, glad I posted on here, they sound like a right shower.

Hope you can sort it out

RDKK

Alas I am another victim of this company. 4 months following a charity fundraising event and still no payment – not at all surprised having read all the extremely negative reports about Event Elephant here and on other forums – pity I didn’t read them before making the fatal decision to run with them. As I set up the payment mechanism through Event Elephant as a favour for the charity event organisers, I felt personally responsible. As a result I have handed over €2,500 to the charity from my personal funds as I do not want to drag them through the mud and more importantly they must be left to focus on the fantastic work they do. However, I do not plan to let this lie and have begun a campaign to make event organisers and charities aware of the tactics this company employ, so that they do not fall into the same trap. I have already begun making calls and suggest that all those with similar stories relating to Event Elephant get together to share our collective experiences with media researchers. THIS COMPANY SIMPLY MUST BE EXPOSED. I was going to go down the legal route, but all things considered, I would prefer to put my energies into nationwide exposure, as I hate to think of the amount of cumulative funds they are with-holding from charities and fundraisers across the country. Anyone interested in joining me?

Event Elephant: Alan

Hi All,

EventElephant do not have control over chargebacks and so we give the option to all event organisers to collect the funds in real-time using their own PayPal or merchant account. This is something which we are ensuring that all event organisers are aware of and we are actively encouraging this option. If you have used EventElephant's client merchant account to collect your funds and if there have been chargebacks on your account this does delay payment but our finance team liaise with the bank on this daily to get all chargebacks resolved asap. We do apologise for any inconvenience caused but as mentioned the chargebacks are out of our control. We do not hold your funds following your event. These are held by the bank and as soon as the funds are cleared the transfer is made to the event organiser.

If you require any further information on the above or would like to talk to one of our finance team please do not hesitate to contact us at finance@eventelephant.com

Cork Boy

Event Elephant: Lisa wrote: »

Hi All,

EventElephant do not have control over chargebacks and so we give the option to all event organisers to collect the funds in real-time using their own PayPal or merchant account. This is something which we are ensuring that all event organisers are aware of and we are actively encouraging this option. If you have used EventElephant's client merchant account to collect your funds and if there have been chargebacks on your account this does delay payment but our finance team liaise with the bank on this daily to get all chargebacks resolved asap. We do apologise for any inconvenience caused but as mentioned the chargebacks are out of our control. We do not hold your funds following your event. These are held by the bank and as soon as the funds are cleared the transfer is made to the event organiser.

If you require any further information on the above or would like to talk to one of our finance team please do not hesitate to contact us at finance@eventelephant.com

Dear [Generic Responder],

Many thanks for taking the time to personally respond to my questions regarding [insert specific query].

Please be assured that your response has been noted and will be treated with the utmost urgency.

Should you have any further queries regarding [insert issue here], please feel free to contact us at this_wil_lnever_be_read@mail.ie[email].[/email]

RDKK

If Event Elephant have no control over charge-backs why on earth do you offer this as a service at all? Your apology for ‘any inconvenience caused’ is little consolation to the charities that have NO ACCESS to the funds THEY HAVE RAISED and small businesses who CANNOT FUNCTION in the current environment when there are 5 figure sums belonging to them sitting in YOUR MERCHANT ACCOUNT for up to ONE YEAR in some cases (and these are just the cases I am aware of). Do you think anyone in their right mind would opt for this "SERVICE" if you were upfront with them about the likelihood that they would have NO ACCESS TO THEIR FUNDS or NO LINE OF SIGHT ABOUT WHEN THEY MIGHT RECEIVE THEIR FUNDS, INDEED IF EVER? And then you actually charge people for this as if it were a great service???!!! I already have 19 pages of repetitive emails from the finance@eventelephant.com robot and your Finance Director, who also responded to me on the 28th Nov 2012 stating that my charity event's charge-back queries had “now fallen below the 5% threshold”.

You state on your website that....
“We transfer all the money that we have for your event over to you. This is subject to the threshold set by the card companies of 5% of the total number of bookings made. This is to reduce their risk of further charge backs.”

Why then have I NOT since received the funds - it is now March 6th 2013, over 3 months since that email ???

Having been in contact with others who are experiencing the same nightmare with Event Elephant, it seems that I can expect to wait at least another 6 months, if not more.

And it seems that your CEO does not think it worthwhile to respond to emails ...so in the meantime I will continue to highlight my own and others plight with your company TO TRY PREVENT others from falling into a similar situation which I might add brings with it SEVERE STRESS for fundraisers and small businesses out there breaking their backs trying to contribute and do their best to keep charitable services funded and businesses afloat. This so called 'service' provided by Event Elephant is an absolute disgrace.

riveratom

RDKK wrote: »

If Event Elephant have no control over charge-backs why on earth do you offer this as a service at all? Your apology for ‘any inconvenience caused’ is little consolation to the charities that have NO ACCESS to the funds THEY HAVE RAISED and small businesses who CANNOT FUNCTION in the current environment when there are 5 figure sums belonging to them sitting in YOUR MERCHANT ACCOUNT for up to ONE YEAR in some cases (and these are just the cases I am aware of). Do you think anyone in their right mind would opt for this "SERVICE" if you were upfront with them about the likelihood that they would have NO ACCESS TO THEIR FUNDS or NO LINE OF SIGHT ABOUT WHEN THEY MIGHT RECEIVE THEIR FUNDS, INDEED IF EVER? And then you actually charge people for this as if it were a great service???!!! I already have 19 pages of repetitive emails from the finance@eventelephant.com robot and your Finance Director, who also responded to me on the 28th Nov 2012 stating that my charity event's charge-back queries had “now fallen below the 5% threshold”.

You state on your website that....
“We transfer all the money that we have for your event over to you. This is subject to the threshold set by the card companies of 5% of the total number of bookings made. This is to reduce their risk of further charge backs.”

Why then have I NOT since received the funds - it is now March 6th 2013, over 3 months since that email ???

Having been in contact with others who are experiencing the same nightmare with Event Elephant, it seems that I can expect to wait at least another 6 months, if not more.

And it seems that your CEO does not think it worthwhile to respond to emails ...so in the meantime I will continue to highlight my own and others plight with your company TO TRY PREVENT others from falling into a similar situation which I might add brings with it SEVERE STRESS for fundraisers and small businesses out there breaking their backs trying to contribute and do their best to keep charitable services funded and businesses afloat. This so called 'service' provided by Event Elephant is an absolute disgrace.

Surely the easiest solution is to tell them you'll go to Joe Duffy, who is only waiting to do a piece on them? It worked instantly for one of the posters above!

I see from their website that they are hiring people, so they can't be that hard up! They must be just trying to keep their cash flow nice and high. Eventbrite may be the ones who profit from this...

LordSinclair

stage01 wrote: »

Hi all,

Looking to take payments online. Event elephant looks to be a good setup for us but its fairly steep in terms of cost 7.5% approx per transaction.

Can anyone recommend any alternatives to event elephant?

Cheers

That's an absolute rip off, get onto Realex for authorisation and get onto an Irish bank for a merchant services internet trading account. I'm with AIB, I HATE giving them the money but they do what it says on the tin once you have it set up, and charges are around 2.5% for credit card and mastercard and around 22 cent for laser & Visa debit.

You'd want to be having a very high margin to be able to surrender 7.5% of your gross take per product for handling the payment! Then you have to deliver the product via a carrier such as Fastway, etc. Margins are under pressure every minute of every day so you'd want to have some product to be able to run with that kind of a payment processing charge (7.5%).

RDKK

Yes Joe Duffy is on my list. I have already submitted a summary of my own situation to the RTE Consumer Show. I am currently talking to others affected with a view to joining forces to submit multiple complaints to highlight the gravity of the situation to Enterprise Ireland, The Advertising Standards Authority of Ireland, The National Consumer Agency, Conor Pope, The Consumer Show etc. Any other ideas are very welcome....thank you.

dearg lady

RDKK wrote: »

If Event Elephant have no control over charge-backs why on earth do you offer this as a service at all? Your apology for ‘any inconvenience caused’ is little consolation to the charities that have NO ACCESS to the funds THEY HAVE RAISED and small businesses who CANNOT FUNCTION in the current environment when there are 5 figure sums belonging to them sitting in YOUR MERCHANT ACCOUNT for up to ONE YEAR in some cases (and these are just the cases I am aware of). Do you think anyone in their right mind would opt for this "SERVICE" if you were upfront with them about the likelihood that they would have NO ACCESS TO THEIR FUNDS or NO LINE OF SIGHT ABOUT WHEN THEY MIGHT RECEIVE THEIR FUNDS, INDEED IF EVER? And then you actually charge people for this as if it were a great service???!!! I already have 19 pages of repetitive emails from the finance@eventelephant.com robot and your Finance Director, who also responded to me on the 28th Nov 2012 stating that my charity event's charge-back queries had “now fallen below the 5% threshold”.

You state on your website that....
“We transfer all the money that we have for your event over to you. This is subject to the threshold set by the card companies of 5% of the total number of bookings made. This is to reduce their risk of further charge backs.”

Why then have I NOT since received the funds - it is now March 6th 2013, over 3 months since that email ???

Having been in contact with others who are experiencing the same nightmare with Event Elephant, it seems that I can expect to wait at least another 6 months, if not more.

And it seems that your CEO does not think it worthwhile to respond to emails ...so in the meantime I will continue to highlight my own and others plight with your company TO TRY PREVENT others from falling into a similar situation which I might add brings with it SEVERE STRESS for fundraisers and small businesses out there breaking their backs trying to contribute and do their best to keep charitable services funded and businesses afloat. This so called 'service' provided by Event Elephant is an absolute disgrace.

And just to make it slightly more ridiculous, when I applied for a refund from Event Elephant very soon after an event which they charged me twice for, they refused, saying the money had already been released to the event organiser, and I should get on to the bank to request a chargeback. Seems they make up the rules as they go along, and have soem of the worst customer service I've ever experienced.
I hope you get you money sorted soon, it's an absolute disgrace. Go public if necessary. As a consumer I would even refuse to use them now.

RDKK

I totally agree - their tactics are just appalling - there is no other way to describe it - however...I must say at this point, nothing further I hear about Event Elephant would surprise me in the absolute slightest!

ChRoMe

riveratom wrote: »

I see from their website that they are hiring people, so they can't be that hard up! They must be just trying to keep their cash flow nice and high. Eventbrite may be the ones who profit from this...

Its a LTD company so you can just pull their accounts/returns to see how healthy they are.

Roscoe Holscomb

My understanding is that there is a a maximum time limit in which chargebacks can occur, in the order of six months. So tell us EventElephant is this correct?

ChRoMe

Roscoe Holscomb wrote: »

My understanding is that there is a a maximum time limit in which chargebacks can occur, in the order of six months. So tell us EventElephant is this correct?

I'd be surprised if they return to this thread, but I really hope they do

Event Elephant: Alan

RDKK wrote: »

If Event Elephant have no control over charge-backs why on earth do you offer this as a service at all? Your apology for ‘any inconvenience caused’ is little consolation to the charities that have NO ACCESS to the funds THEY HAVE RAISED and small businesses who CANNOT FUNCTION in the current environment when there are 5 figure sums belonging to them sitting in YOUR MERCHANT ACCOUNT for up to ONE YEAR in some cases (and these are just the cases I am aware of). Do you think anyone in their right mind would opt for this "SERVICE" if you were upfront with them about the likelihood that they would have NO ACCESS TO THEIR FUNDS or NO LINE OF SIGHT ABOUT WHEN THEY MIGHT RECEIVE THEIR FUNDS, INDEED IF EVER? And then you actually charge people for this as if it were a great service???!!! I already have 19 pages of repetitive emails from the finance@eventelephant.com robot and your Finance Director, who also responded to me on the 28th Nov 2012 stating that my charity event's charge-back queries had “now fallen below the 5% threshold”.

You state on your website that....
“We transfer all the money that we have for your event over to you. This is subject to the threshold set by the card companies of 5% of the total number of bookings made. This is to reduce their risk of further charge backs.”

Why then have I NOT since received the funds - it is now March 6th 2013, over 3 months since that email ???

Having been in contact with others who are experiencing the same nightmare with Event Elephant, it seems that I can expect to wait at least another 6 months, if not more.

And it seems that your CEO does not think it worthwhile to respond to emails ...so in the meantime I will continue to highlight my own and others plight with your company TO TRY PREVENT others from falling into a similar situation which I might add brings with it SEVERE STRESS for fundraisers and small businesses out there breaking their backs trying to contribute and do their best to keep charitable services funded and businesses afloat. This so called 'service' provided by Event Elephant is an absolute disgrace.

Stating that the funds are "sitting in YOUR MERCHANT ACCOUNT" is incorrect. We do not hold onto the funds. These funds are held by the bank and not by us. Once the funds have been released by the bank we then transfer them to the event organiser.

We make the option of using your own merchant or PayPal account clear and we advice it to all out event orgnaisers. By using your own PayPal or merchant bank account you can use all of the same functionality of the site and collect your funds in real-time.

I cannot comment on your particular event (I cannot tell from your post what event it is nor can I give the details of your event on an open forum) but if you would like to email us at marketing@eventelephant.com we will be happy to help in anyway we can or request any further information that you require.

WAPAIC

At one stage they told us all 200+ participants had initiated a chargeback. They weren't impressed when I said that was fine, there was 40 of us in the organisation, we would ring five of them each tonight and see what the story was. They had another story the following day. Something about "uncleared revenue", if I remember correctly. Nonsense.

The best part was that one of their staff rang me a few months after we managed to resolve it asking for my feedback on how they could improve their service. I thanked her for giving us our money before we incurred legal fees:mad:

I would never ever use them for an event again.

Event Elephant: Alan

Roscoe Holscomb wrote: »

My understanding is that there is a a maximum time limit in which chargebacks can occur, in the order of six months. So tell us EventElephant is this correct?

Chargebacks queries can be requested up to 6-8 months (depending on the method of payment i.e. card or paypal) following the transaction. However, the time in which it then takes to resolve the query can vary. We facilitate the banks and work with them daily to get these queries resolved as quickly as possible.

Roscoe Holscomb

Of course thats why we are waiting for payment for 18 months?

RDKK

I am very surprised you don’t know who I am – you hardly get many emails telling you that a 19 page document has been compiled containing all the fruitless email correspondence I have had with you over the last number of months for issue to The Consumer Show on RTE? If you check your email inbox, you will find that you (marketing@eventelephant.com) were copied on this email, as was your CEO on Feb 13th 2013. Needless to say, no-one responded.
And why do your staff keep repeating over and over that there were other options to choose from at the outset? What good is this to me or any of the other charities and businesses trying to operate without access to THEIR FUNDS. Rather you might tell us all why you think it is reasonable to market a ‘so-called service’ where-by you advise customers that they will be paid within 14 days of the event close off and then link it to small print that talks about some possible delays. Had I even seen this reference when signing up, I would have understood 'a delay’ to mean a week or possibly 2-3 weeks or maybe even a month, but CERTAINLY NOT 6 Months, a year or 18 MONTHS as posted by yet an another unfortunate victim who posted on this forum today.
Blame ‘the bank’ if you wish - I have NO appetite to waste any further time engaging in fruitless private emailing with various staff in Event Elephant to absolutely no avail BUT I will continue to air my grievances on every public forum available to me until you SORT THIS OUT.

Tar.Aldarion

WAPAIC wrote: »

At one stage they told us all 200+ participants had initiated a chargeback. They weren't impressed when I said that was fine, there was 40 of us in the organisation, we would ring five of them each tonight and see what the story was. They had another story the following day. Something about "uncleared revenue", if I remember correctly. Nonsense.

The best part was that one of their staff rang me a few months after we managed to resolve it asking for my feedback on how they could improve their service. I thanked her for giving us our money before we incurred legal fees:mad:

I would never ever use them for an event again.

Dear lord.



You'd think people charging more than the competitors and somehow still getting custom would not be shooting themselves.

Mary Y

The Leenane Mountain Walking Festival is also waiting for over 7,000 to be paid since last May 6th 2012. We are a small voluntary community group and we cant get our money. They say we have 6 chargebacks but the longest both visa and mastercard say a chargeback can be contested for is 118 days. We are just over a month shy of a year. Where is our money - please don't anyone else use them and end up in the same boat as ourselves. They should be ashamed of themselves

RDKK

Hi Mary and all else unfortunate enough to have been compelled to come on this forum and tell their stories. If interested in joining me and others to take action against Event Elephant, please private email me via this forum. Thanks, Rosie

Mary Y

The more people that join forces the better - we have to get the word out there that Event Elephant are not a good company to work with as our experiences have shown. Both Visa and Mastercard have 118 days as the limit that chargebacks can be contested for so how come some of us are waiting nearly a year for payment. Everyone in Event Elephant are getting their monthly pay cheques I presume on the back of our money - how they can continue giving out the same emails to all of us and not feel totally ashamed of themselves I do not understand. If I was benefiting on the back of many small suppliers not getting paid due to their company not paying out money I would be.

frank74

So if there isn't a charge back issue, where does the money go after tickets have been paid for: what is 'THE BANK' ? Not the bank of the person who bought the ticket (3rd party)
What about the interest on money owed from 2012?

We've put our hard work and good will in our event and this is just very disappointing.

Any people in the process of legal action against Event Elephant?

Event Elephant: Alan

Hi Frank,

If there are no chargebacks raised on the event then the funds are transferred to the Event Organiser 14 working days after the event has been closed. However, if there are chargebacks on the event and these are above 5% of the bookings, the bank will put a hold on all of the funds until the chargebacks are cleared. If there are chargebacks raised on an event we liaise with the bank on a daily basis to get these resolved. We also allow for Event Organisers to collect their funds in real-time by using their own PayPal or bank merchant account so that they have access to the ticket funds as and when the bookings are made.

For further information on the above or to discuss your event funds please contact finance@eventelephant.com

Roscoe Holscomb

An what happens when to the funds when the period (118 days) for querying chargebacks is expired? Where does the money that EE refuses to pay up go then? I'd really love to know.

Event Elephant: Alan

A chargeback can be raised up to 8 months after a booking is made. Once it has been raised it then needs to be resolved and this can take some time. You will need to speak with our finance team though to get the full details as they will be able to give you the info that you require. Once the chargebacks are resolved the bank release the funds, they are transferred to the Event Organiser.

Roscoe Holscomb

By some time do you mean another 12 months after the 8 months? Is that what you mean?

Event Elephant: Alan

There is no set timeframe for the resolution of chargebacks. Our Finance team can give you more information on the subject of chargebacks finance@eventelephant.com. They will be happy to help with any financial issues or queries you may have.

Roscoe Holscomb

Jesus, so you might never get paid???

Event Elephant: Alan

No, that is not the case at all. All funds are transferred to Event Organisers. In most cases it is transferred 14 working days after the event has been closed.

Also, as mentioned before Event Organisers have the option of using their own PayPal or bank merchant account to collect the funds in real-time.

frank74

and what about interest on the funds from 2012 or even 2011?

ChRoMe

Event Elephant: Lisa wrote: »

No, that is not the case at all. All funds are transferred to Event Organisers. In most cases it is transferred 14 working days after the event has been closed.

Also, as mentioned before Event Organisers have the option of using their own PayPal or bank merchant account to collect the funds in real-time.

Its quite telling that you keep regurgitating the same lines rather than attempting to help resolve the issues that are being raised on this thread.

Its painfully obvious you have no interest in providing any customer service.

Event Elephant: Alan

ChRoMe wrote: »

Its quite telling that you keep regurgitating the same lines rather than attempting to help resolve the issues that are being raised on this thread.

Its painfully obvious you have no interest in providing any customer service.

Our finance team are working on this daily to get these issues resolved. I am sorry if you are unhappy with our responses but I cannot discuss a person's account on a public forum but if you contact finance@eventelephat.com they can answer your queries.