EventElephant

Below is the contents of an email I have received from the chargeback section of a merchant bank. I dont understand how these chargebacks are not getting resolved


In general terms if a card is reported stolen the issuing bank stop thecard, on receipt of a chargeback we would need to see how the transaction wastaken ie) chip and pin is the best defence of all and we would absolutelydefend any chargeback where chip and pin is used.

When a transaction is E-commerce unless it is 3d secure the situationchanges, we cannot defend these and the liability is with the merchant whoprocessed the transaction.

We have 42 days to respond to a Chargeback and then The issuing Bank hasa further 30 days to respond to us, if they choose to continue thedispute. We then have a further 30 days to respond further to the 2ndChargeback or pre-arbitration. At this point they then have a further 30days to respond to our defence. After this if we are going all the way tofiling (rare in these cases) we would have to wait for Visa to make adecision.

However I must add in cases of fraud it would be rare for a case to go “allthe way” as fraud is usually identified early on in the case and unless thetransaction is chip and pin or a signed and swiped voucher or 3d secure Ecommerce there would be no defence.

I note that there is a judgement registered against Event Elephant in this weeks Stubbs Gazette. I don't know anything about it, but thats the fact.

How about a "Waiting to be paid thousands of euro" testimonials page as well?

Lisa you just make me laugh. You are unbelieveable. Start up a page for the negative experiences. See this link for what the people in the UK has done http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/event-elephant-ltd-pay-your-creditors-on-time

My company, Eastcourt Manor, used Event Elephant last year for our events. Initially there were no problems but the service deteriorated significantly during 2012. Event Elephant currently owe us just over £550 (including interest) for events in November 2012, January 2013 and February 2013.

Trying to talk to Event Elephant's finance department is pointless. Email replies are generic and identical. Phone conversations are with people who really have no clue what's going on.

I have communicated by email with every single person who booked on these events and they've all confirmed that they have paid (one has even sent me his credit card statements!). My customers are horrified that they've paid for an event in good faith but the organiser hasn't received payment.

Event Elephant provide a terrible service, avoid at all cost.


Gwen Nathan
Eastcourt Manor

P.S. Lisa - the IDs of my events in dispute are 15445, 16480 & 16481 - if you feel unable to respond to my complaints in a public forum, please do get in touch via gwen@eastcourtmanor.co.uk. I have email correspondence with all six of the bookers for these events whose payments could be subject to query under your 'terms' of business, all of whom have confirmed their payment. If you would like copies, please do let me know.

Event Elephant: Lisa wrote: »

Many of our organisers who have had a problem with chargebacks on their events switch over to using their own merchant account to collect the funds for their future events. See what they had to say about using their own merchant account http://www.eventelephant.com/own-merchant-testimonials

I see its more Smoke and Mirrors from eventelephant, trying distract from the real issue i.e. where is the the money they are withholding for many many months from a lot of its customers for questionable reasons. Blaming these same customers for stupidly using a service which Eventelephant offered and charged for.

We and others used and paid for this service, as we were not in a position to open our own merchant account, so all this bluff that we could have set up our own merchant account is a red herring by them to sidetrack the argument away from the core issue - where is the money?

We no longer believe the reason given by them of chargebacks and actually feel that they never existed as
1. No evidence of them has ever been provided
2. Other organisations have contact every one of those that paid money and none had initiated charge backs and we have confirmed this with many those that donated money to us.
3. The alleged number of chargebacks are massively above industry norms, with chargebacks in relation to charities even rarer
4. There is a very tight timeframe for chargebacks to be resolved which looks to be have way exceeded in these cases
5. The small sums of money involved in the transactions means that its highly unlikely given the cost involved that anyone would process far done the chargeback process, ie a few months

So Lisa, where is our money? i.e. money donated to our charity, a volunteer 999 service.

This has been a very unpleasurable experience for us and a distraction from our work for nearly 12 months now. Their customer service has been terrible and they seem to spend more time on social media than working to pay back peoples money. So is you are thinking of using this company we advise to do your research and think again.

Bordeo wrote: »

is there anyone getting any new info on their funds due from event elephant? we are still getting the same waffle and its so frustrating

I do want want to be prejudicial, so I will just state the following facts:

• There are 2 recent judgements against them for a total of €63k
• They have not filed their accounts within the deadline required by the CRO
• Their last accounts had a Balance Sheet deficit of over €1m

These are facts, draw your own conclusions.

Enterprise Ireland are listed as a shareholder of Event Elephant. They will be getting an email from me and so will the government department that funds it.

Mate they are just a joke. Where are the thousands of euro been held. They wont give any proof that they are been held independently.
does anyone know what regulatory body they can be reported to

two of their directors have resigned in the last month according to their cro filings. they have changed address to a house in meath. the warning signs are their that this company is going to the wall

I prefer the generic response from EE Lisa to those from EE Alan. Should we have a poll?

not many staff left in event elephant now. they are all jumping ship

Event Elephant: Alan wrote: »

For anyone affected by chargebacks we provide all details to the card companies and liaise with them on a daily basis in order to get them resolved asap. Please note that all funds are transferred to event organisers. We do not hold onto any event organisers funds. If there is a delay due to chargebacks these funds are held by the card companies and not EventElephant. We understand that these can cause difficulties for our event organisers but unfortunately these are beyond our control.

Mr Barrett - I see you still pursue the "chargeback" excuse. We do not believe the reason given by your company of chargebacks and actually feel that they never existed in the first place,
1. No evidence of them has ever been provided
2. Other organisations have contacted every one of those that paid money and none had initiated charge backs and we have confirmed this with many those that donated money to us.
3. The alleged number of chargebacks are MASSIVELY above industry norms, with chargebacks in relation to charities even rarer
4. There is a very tight timeframe for chargebacks to be resolved which looks to be have way exceeded in these cases
5. The small sums of money involved in the transactions means that its highly unlikely given the cost involved that anyone would process far done the chargeback process, ie a few months

So Alan, where is our money? i.e. money donated to our charity, a volunteer 999 service. We see that an examiner has been appointed to your company. So maybe we will let the readers of this post decide the answer to the above question themselves

I repeat from a previous post that this has been a very unpleasurable experience for us and a distraction from our work for 12 months as of yesturday. Their customer service has been abysmal and they seem to spend more time on social media than working to pay back peoples money. So is you are thinking of using this company we advise to do your research and think again!

Now folks, you heard Alan, nothing to see here, move along...