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IKOBO.COM REALLY SUCKS!
Their system has abundant technical problems and they have PISS POOR customer service.
I should have known something was up early on in the game but I really liked having the shopping cart system on my website.
I signed up for the IKOBO account on 2/16/04. Shortly thereafter I tried repeatedly to add a recipient to my account - my son, Scotty. Unfortunately each time that I tried to add him I would see displayed on my computer a message saying that the transaction failed. On 2/24/04 I received 2 e-mails time stamped 12:09AM. From that time until this date I have not been able to delete the duplicate entry and no one in IKOBO's staff has been able to delete the duplicate entry either despite repeated requests.
I sent them an e-mail on 3/18/2004
From: Charley [mailto:Charley@<EDITED>]
Sent: Thursday, March 18, 2004 4:35 PM
To: Luis Garcia
Subject: another problem / request
1. When I go to the "recipients" screen my son "Scotty Schmelz" appears twice. Try as I might I cannot get the 2nd entry deleted.
2.on the following screen there should be a couple changes:.....
I DID get an e-mail ELEVEN DAYS LATER as follows:
Date: Mon, 29 Mar 2004 15:29:15 -0500
From: "lgarcia" <lgarcia@ikobo.net>
To: "Charley" <Charley@<EDITED>
Subject: RE: another problem / request
Charley,
We are addressing all of these issues and you will soon see changes.
Please try to delete the second Scotty from your list, you should be able to
do it now. If you can't please let me know.
Thank you for choosing iKobo
Luis R. Garcia
iKobo Money transfer
866-800-4562
678-483-4562
Unfortunately "should" be able to doesn't mean that I could. I did notify them again and again but try as I might I could never get rid of the 2nd Scotty.
Here is another e-mail that I received from their system...
Subject: PIN for Your Recipient's i-Kard
Date: Mon, 01 Mar 2004 18:03:49 -0500
Dear Charles <edited>,
Thank you for choosing iKobo for your money transfer needs, You have sent money to � @h�?pi�?8i�?y?@@h�?4-{pi�?. The i-Kard will be shipped on the next business day.
The PIN for the i-Kard is 1456
Please provide � @h�?pi�?8i�?y?@@h�?4-{pi�? with the PIN.
Netscape displays some of the characters a little differently, buy y'all get the
idea.... I still don't know if this was supposed to be for Scotty or if
this was supposed to be for my ikard.
For the longest time I was calling them complaining that every time someone bought one of my products I had to e-mail them to get their shipping address. It took maybe 15-20 phone calls before someone on their staff was bright enough to be able to tell me that I hade to edit each of my items to reflect "shipping required".
Imagine my surprise and HORROR when 5/5/2004 I get the following e-mail - not
once but 4 times:
Title: Notice - Transaction Failed
A buyer from United States attempted to make a purchase item type: small item from you, however their country did not have a shipping method assigned to it. If you have purposefully chosen not to ship products to this country, please ignore this message.
Well it turned out to be not so bad - despite their e-mail(s) they didn't actually fail the transaction but it was a pain in the ass to have to call their customer service department yet again just because their system is designed in such a customer unfriendly manner.
Everything had been going just fine for the most part - a few technological glitches here and there - still not able to delete 2nd Scotty but I could live with that...
One of the tech glitches went something like this:.. I had received 2 "notification of payment received" e-mails 1 each for $35.00. Imagine my shock when I went into my account to find some $500+ in my account....
E-mail from myself to customer and reply...
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Charley" <charley@EDITED>
>To: <EDITED>
>Sent: Tuesday, March 30, 2004 11:46 AM
>Subject: Greetings
>
>>I am informed that you have made 2 orders for videos.
>>
>>Order #1 is for SVV #5 - VHS
>>
>>Order #2 is for SVV #5 - SVV #16 - VHS.
>>
>>I am wondering if you really intended to order 2 copies of #5?
>>
>>Please call me at 1-866-870-8962 so that we can get this matter
>>straightened out.
>>
>>Thanks and have an ORGASMIC DAY!
>>Charley
>>
CUSTOMER wrote:
>Hi Charley.
>
>I had a little problem with the online secure pay system that you use. I
>first tried to order videos 5-16 (I ordered 1-4 previously). The pay system
>informed me that I was over some ordering limit, and that the request did
>not go thru. I then tried to order less and less videos, in several steps,
>in an attempt to get under the ordering limit. Finally, the pay system did
>accept an order for just one video -- #5. I assumed that I might be able to
>order the other videos, as long as I went thru the entire process for each
>and every individual video, one at a time, but by then I was exhausted.
>
>According to the pay system, I was charged for video #5 only. Please send
>video #5 for now. After I get my next credit card bill, and confirm that
>the pay system did indeed work correctly, and only charge me for the one
>video, I will undoubtedly try to order the rest of the collection.
>
>Great work! I enjoy the videos, especially because you use "real women" as
>opposed to actresses. If we can only get the bugs in your pay system worked
>out, I will order the rest of the collection in the near future.
>
>Have a good day,
>CUSTOMER
Well despite According to the pay system, I was charged for video #5
only Ikobo actually charged him $490.00 for 14 videos + $35.00 for
the #5 video. Fortunately for me I discovered IKOBO's VERY SERIOUS ERROR and
managed to make satisfactory arrangements with my customer. It took IKOBO many
days to finally figure out that the transaction occurred and that one of their
software programs crashed in the middle of the transaction and that was why I
didn't get an e-mail notification.
Then here comes the child's report card... 6 "A"s. Well I figure just for the heck of it lets send the child (vacationing in another state) $30.00 on an ikard.
I received the following e-mail:
Date: Tue, 15 Jun 2004 19:34:52 -0400
From: donotreply@ikobo.net
To: charley@<EDITED>
Subject: Recipient has been added
Dear Charles,
This email is just to notify you that a recipient (Russell <EDITED>) has been added to your account. The recipient's iKobo account number is
<EDITED>.
Thank you for choosing iKobo,
The iKobo Team
During this same time period I also attempted to send Russell the small sum of $30.00 and immediately found that they had, for reasons that they to this day cannot or will not explain completely blocked my account. Note that it occurred within 2 minutes of adding Russell as a recipient to my account.
Date: Tue, 15 Jun 2004 19:36:52 -0400
From: donotreply@ikobo.net
To: charley@<EDITED>
Subject: Account Blocked
Dear <EDITED>,
Your account has been blocked. You can currently not process website sales or receive payments. To remove the block on your account you must complete the form located at http://www.ikobo.com/blocked.html
If your account is not unblocked within 24 to 48 hours of completing the form, or if you have any other questions regarding your blocked account, please contact us using one of the following methods :
- Chat with us using the icon in the upper right corner or
- Report the problem using our customer service system at https://www.qualte.com/Templates/TemplateBlank.cfm?C=22047
- Contact us at (678) 483-4562
We appreciate your patience.
Thank you for choosing iKobo,
The iKobo Team
<snip>
I immediately contacted their "customer service" department when this happened and their rep said that my account was blocked by "the financial department". When I demanded to speak with someone from the "financial department" the rep told me that there was no one present in the "financial department". I find it difficult to imagine how this "financial department" could block my account when there was no one present. Their rep told me that I had to wait until "business hours" the next day in order to get an answer and have my account "un-blocked". When I repeatedly called during business hours the next day I was repeatedly told that "no one was available". Extremely frustrating indeed. I will admit to using some bad language during the last couple calls and because of that they have decided "We have decided not to service you anymore..."
To this date (6/24/2004) I have still have not heard any explanation whatsoever why adding a recipient and trying to send them $30.00 would result in the immediate blockage of my account which immediately resulted in my inability to have my merchant account work so my website could not make sales. Since this whole thing started I have received 2 e-mails telling me that they have transferred money (they had held back some of my funds) to my account but since they have totally blocked my account I have no means to transfer the funds from my account to my ikard.
While attempting to reconcile with this apparently uncaring and unforgiving company I have discovered these other IKOBO horror stories on the net.
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?threadid=252075
http://www.small-business-forum.com/showthread.php?t=663&page=4
http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=158896&page=2&pp=25
http://www.complaints.com/directory/2004/may/10/3.htm