Interesting. If that's true, then Dwolla comes off very very badly here.
Look, I understand their position: They're a young and hungry startup, they have an awesome plan, and it doesn't quite work; they end up needing to pass the chargebacks on. I'm okay with that. But it needs to be communicated to their clients, with a date (and not in the past) when the change will take place.
If they changed it without clear communication (or, worse, announces the change retroactively) then they've screwed over their customers, and may well be legally liable. And that brings us to the press release, dated today, where Dwolla is claiming that "we’ve always had something in our terms of service about chargebacks since Day One." In other words, they're saying there was never a change - and if your information is correct, then this is a boldfaced brazen lie that destroys all credibility they might ever have had[1]. I kind of hope you're wrong. :(
[1]: Alternatively, they could be playing word games - maybe they had "something" in their TOS since day one. After all "no chargebacks" is "something", right? In which case they still have destroyed all credibility they might ever have had. And I don't think I'm exaggerating here; so far Dwolla is doubling down and claiming that they've done nothing wrong. Either they're completely right and everyone else is wrong, or their reputation is toast.
We've always tried our hardest to be the Good Guys, to not put burdens on our clients. Unfortunately, we're seeing a large amount of fraudulent activity that has forced us to implement chargebacks. We're sorry, and despite this we will continue to fight as hard as we can and then some for you, our clients. Thank you for your patience and understanding.
Then, you're clear. You may lose some clients, but you won't be the assholes who sold your product as, "X, but without the terrible Y!", then went behind your clients' backs and implemented Y after you realized the big boys did it for a reason.
Look, I understand their position: They're a young and hungry startup, they have an awesome plan, and it doesn't quite work; they end up needing to pass the chargebacks on. I'm okay with that. But it needs to be communicated to their clients, with a date (and not in the past) when the change will take place.
If they changed it without clear communication (or, worse, announces the change retroactively) then they've screwed over their customers, and may well be legally liable. And that brings us to the press release, dated today, where Dwolla is claiming that "we’ve always had something in our terms of service about chargebacks since Day One." In other words, they're saying there was never a change - and if your information is correct, then this is a boldfaced brazen lie that destroys all credibility they might ever have had[1]. I kind of hope you're wrong. :(
[1]: Alternatively, they could be playing word games - maybe they had "something" in their TOS since day one. After all "no chargebacks" is "something", right? In which case they still have destroyed all credibility they might ever have had. And I don't think I'm exaggerating here; so far Dwolla is doubling down and claiming that they've done nothing wrong. Either they're completely right and everyone else is wrong, or their reputation is toast.