Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/09/2024

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  This third-party has been sneakily charging my card for two years WITHOUT MY AUTHORIZATION. I never signed up for any of their subscriptions, have never had an account with them and have not received their services. Furthermore, they are claiming the charges are VALID because they have my email information. This is CRIMINAL. My email address has been in numerous data breaches, my info has been compromised and this company charged me without my permission for two years. Furthermore, after I got a "renewal" email from them in April 2022, the only communication I have received about an alleged account, and asked them to stop billing me because I don't know who they are and to stop charging me, they CONTINUED TO CHARGE ME. This company is a scam and does not honor customer requests nor follow the law by charging customers without their permission. Please refund me over $100 of charges ($112 exact) from being billing fraudulently for TWO YEARS! Thank you.

  Business Response

  Date: 08/13/2024

  Epoch is a third-party payment facilitator, i.e. we process credit card, debit card and other payment card transactions for thousands of websites on behalf of e-commerce merchants and do not own, operate nor are in any other way associated with those websites.
  
  We could not locate this consumer in our records so we called the consumer.  While speaking to the consumer, we have confirmed that the consumers complaint is NOT related to us but is rather a complaint against The Epoch Times. 
  
  As noted many times in the past to the Better Business Bureau itself and various consumers that have had issues with The Epoch Times and erroneously filed the complaint against us, we have nothing to do with The Epoch Times and are in no way associated with it and as such are unable to address any complaints related to that company.  The consumer will need to get in touch with The Epoch Times so as to get the issues raised in this complaint addressed.
  
  As a public service, we would also like to flag to all consumers that whenever a consumer has any issues with any merchant, the consumer need not waste time with that merchant but can and should rather contact its own card issuer and request that the card issuer decline any future attempts by that merchant to charge its card.  This will immediately stop any further charges.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:07/15/2024

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I purchased a subscription on a **** website through paypal/epoch.com. The site was fraudulent and I asked for a refund through epoch.com. Epoch denied my refund and told me I must contact the website directly. I contacted the website and the following day or two i received 7 or 8 emails referring to me as a "cunt" and other such terms and telling me my information was posted online and that I was going to be prosecuted etc. etc..Epoch has ignored me and done nothing. What I must have is contact with *************** and Paypal because I know all of these agencies will not accept this.

  Business Response

  Date: 07/16/2024

  Epoch is a third-party payment facilitator, i.e. we process credit card, debit card, prepaid card and other payment card transactions for thousands of websites on behalf of e-commerce merchants and do not own,control, operate nor are in any other way associated with these websites.
  
  Our records show that this consumer placed an order for a monthly membership on July 3, 2024 and canceled it the next day.  Our records also show that the consumer then contacted us on the same day and requested a refund as the consumer was unhappy with the content of the website and refund had been issued. 
  
  Pursuant to the complaint, we have now also contacted the merchant about the allegations made by the consumer regarding threatening e-mails from the merchant and merchant had assured us that nothing had been posted online.  We have also made it clear that such behavior and treatment of consumers is not acceptable and will not be tolerated.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 07/16/2024

   
  Complaint: 21986348
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  I contacted Epoch as required, to ask for refund. This was rejected and I was told I must contact the merchant directly. This is not acceptable by my standards or by ****** etc. standards. Once I did contact the merchant, he called me a "cunt" many times and told me I will be prosecuted, that my information is posted online etc. etc..

  I am demanding to have access to Epoch's Merchant account and I'm looking for a contact for ***** I did contact paypal and have not heard back yet. I will call them tomorrow.

  Epoch refuses to give me any information. I spoke with *******************? fake name?

  The merchant who attacked me this was is ******************* and he assured me, my personal information is posted online as well as many others.

  Clearly I expect Epoch to cut ties with ******************* as just as clearly **** and their merchant account would force them to do. Epoch is keeping these contacts from me because they know this. Epoch forced me to deal with Grooby knowing this man is abusive and knowing he posts peoples information online.
  Sincerely,
  
  ***********************

  Business Response

  Date: 07/17/2024

  Merchants have procedures in place for how they wish customer service inquiries to be handled.  Some merchants want to handle customer service on their own while other merchants are happy to leave customer service to us.  This particular merchant likes to handle its own customer service which is why consumer was initially instructed to contact the merchant.  However, as previously noted full refund had been issued on the same day.
  
  Our nearly a decade long history of processing payments for this merchant indicates that this isnt the way this merchant normally handles its customer service.  Nevertheless, as already noted we have made it very clear to the merchant that this type of behavior is not acceptable nor will be tolerated if it happens again in the future. 
  
  Consumer is welcome to submit copies of any correspondence that the consumer had with this merchant as well as any evidence of any posts to ******************************** as had already been requested from the consumer and we will investigate it further as needed and as may be appropriate.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 07/17/2024

   
  Complaint: 21986348
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  This person is lying. Epoch never asked for anything. I sent them 7 or 8 hateful emails sent to me by *************************** and Epoch ignored them all.

  Again, I demand to know who Epoch's merchant account is through, as I'm sure they would want to know about Epoch's behavior along with ********.

  I am still searching the internet for where ******* claims he posts peoples personal information, which he calls "bad customers". I have to go through his many emails to find where he stated he posts this information. He mentioned two.

  I attached two emails from Groober but they would not send. So here is a quote from one "I publish all of these on my 'bad customer' blog and social media." and "******, whether there is a collection or not, you're a bonafide ****.", he used the name on my email and assumed I was a woman. I sent this to Epoch "Epoch. I asked this person to stop contacting me and he
  refuses. This is stalking and harassment." Again, Epoch did nothing about all these threats and name calling. I sent all of the 7 or 8 messages to Epoch and they ignored them, now they want me to show them? Again, they are lying. Here is another to Epoch "this is your third threatening email sent to me. Please stop stalking and harassing me."
  

  One more quote: "You love the one but of attention you are getting. That's what a c*** like you enjoys." and "I'm the company owner you defrauded. I look forward to taking legal action against you - we've already had you blacklisted from other adult processors."
  

  I will also send you the online ratings for Groober which show he's been abusing people for years. Epoch knows this but their merchant account and **** etc. do not. I only want to contact these people so they know what Epoch is allowing their merchants to do. And I want Epoch to cut any ties with Groober.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***********************

• Initial Complaint

  Date:05/13/2024

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Hello there was payments made through my paypal issued by this company that I have never authorized on May 11 and today (May 12th). At first I brushed it off thinking I must've had a subscription somewhere and i was charged. But it reoccured today 3 times so i decided to throughly check my paypal and saw that my card got charged 7 times in total in the span of 2 days. I immediately removed my banking information and changed my passwords as I have never recognized this type of payment on my banking account. I don't know if the company is just pre authorizing the payment for it to go through but this is just completely baffling. It was the same charge of $14 each time. I am requesting an investigation and a full refund compensation because I have never heard of this company and why it started charging my paypal out of nowhere. I have locked my account from making any payments because I am scared of whats happening. A few months back a university I used to attend (**********************) had a data breach and leaked loads of personal information so im speculating if its tied to that. I would be very thankful if you can help refund my losses as now i locked my paypal from making any more payments but am in desperate need for compensation for the money i lost.

  Business Response

  Date: 05/16/2024

  Epoch is a third-party payment facilitator, i.e. we process credit card, debit card,prepaid card and other payment card transactions for thousands of websites on behalf of e-commerce merchants and do not own, control, operate nor are in any other way associated with these websites.
  
  Our records show that this consumer has made many purchases through us.  We also reached out to the relevant merchant and the merchant confirmed that this consumer has been an active member of its community since 2019 and has registered for 28 different accounts since then.  We have shared this information with the consumer and the consumer no longer disputed anything.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 05/21/2024

   
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***********************

• Initial Complaint

  Date:05/03/2024

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  This company charged my account a $25 monthly fee that I did not authorize through PayPal. I cannot dispute the charge in my PayPal account and have never purchased anything through this service. The company is a scam and stole my money. I am special needs and a vulnerable person and am being targeted by this business.

  Business Response

  Date: 05/13/2024

  Epoch is a third-party payment facilitator, i.e. we process credit card, debit card,prepaid card and other payment card transactions for thousands of websites on behalf of e-commerce merchants and do not own, control, operate nor are in any other way associated with these websites.
  
  We have attempted to get in touch with the consumer to discuss this matter but all of our attempts have been ignored by the consumer.  We have then forwarded consumers complaint to the relevant merchant that operates the websites from which consumer made the purchase and the merchant had informed us that its records show that the consumer logged in and used the purchased membership throughout the membership term for which consumer was charged, including logging into the website on the same day when the consumer canceled his membership on this own and that therefore no redound was due.  However, as a one-time courtesy to the consumer,merchant had issued a partial refund for charge for the last month of the paid membership.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:04/10/2024

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Currently showing 3 fraudulent charges on my bank account that were made to epoch multimedia that i did not authorize. Was told that they would escalate the situation to thier fraud department and would hear back within 24 hours. Please help in having them reverse those charges and help me recover my money please. Thank you

  Business Response

  Date: 04/17/2024

  Epoch is a third-party payment facilitator, i.e. we process credit card, debit card,prepaid card and other payment card transactions for thousands of websites on behalf of e-commerce merchants and do not own, control, operate nor are in any other way associated with these websites.
  
  Our records show that this consumer has made hundreds of purchases through us,service (for which he paid) rendered and received over and over again and then charges charged back to us or a claim of unauthorized charges made to us.  If consumer needs a reminder of the service which he had received, he is welcome to use our purchase finder available on our website and then contact the relevant merchant and merchant will gladly provide a copy of chats, messages, IDs provided by the consumer etc.  Since the service has been rendered and received by the consumer, no refunds are due. 

• Initial Complaint

  Date:04/08/2024

  Type:Order Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I am confused as to why you are charging. Would desire explanation.

  Business Response

  Date: 04/16/2024

  Epoch is a third-party payment facilitator, i.e. we process credit card, debit card,prepaid card and other payment card transactions for thousands of websites on behalf of e-commerce merchants and do not own, operate nor are in any other way associated with these websites.
  
  Our records show that the consumer purchased a couple of recurring memberships which have never been canceled and for which he was charged accordingly.  We have attempted to reach the consumer so that we can provide information about those memberships to him but have been unable to reach him.  Information is also available to him 24/7 through our purchase finder available on our website (epoch.com). 
  
  Both memberships have now been canceled, full refund issued and card blocked in our system so as to prevent any future attempts to use it at any websites for which we process online transactions.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:04/04/2024

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  On April 2nd 2024, at 5:17 PM, I received a text alert from my bank ***** of America) warning me of a suspicious purchase that was made through this company. The purchase was for $216.01, and I want to make it clear that we have never done business with this company, ever! I have documentation of the fraud claim I filed with my bank, and will give it below. I did go on this company's website, chatted with somebody from there, who gave me phone numbers to contact them directly, but I just don't trust it. That is why I am coming to the better business bureau on this matter to make sure that they do contact me and that this is resolved.My bank is working to reverse the charges, but I want to contact somebody from this company, to let them know that these charges did not, I repeat did not come from my husband and I. We have no idea who you are, nor do we ever do business on your site, so we want these charges removed. We strongly suspect that someone fraudulently obtained my husband and I's credit card information and is using it fraudulently. We want to make sure that this charge is erased from our credit card account. We also want to find out who did this, so that they could be prosecuted.

  Business Response

  Date: 04/09/2024

  Epoch is a third-party payment facilitator, i.e. we process credit card, debit card, prepaid card and other type of online payments at thousands of websites on behalf of e-commerce merchants and do not own,control, operate nor are in any other way associated with these merchants/websites.
  
  We are not sure why the consumer appeared to have been under the impression that the appropriate way to get in touch with us was to file a complaint with Better Business Bureau instead of just calling our customer service (for which a toll free number is listed on consumers card statement)but nevertheless now that this issue has been brought to our attention, full refund has been issued and card blocked in our system so as to prevent any future attempts to use it any of the websites for which we process online payments.
  
  Regarding obtaining information found in our records about this transaction, consumer is welcome to get in touch with us or have relevant law enforcement agency do so on his/her behalf.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 04/09/2024

   
  Better Business Bureau:
  

  Please do not mind my having contacted you this way. At first, it was the only method that I could given the circumstance, but I did speak with a very nice person through your company who has taken care of this, so as of right now the money has been given back to us, and everything is now taken care of.
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***** And *************************

• Initial Complaint

  Date:03/04/2024

  Type:Order Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  3 unauthorized transactions showed up on my bank account on 03/03/24 from epoch which i did not make. Upon looking further into it and contacting epoch about the transactions, it cane to realization that my bank card along with my online banking had been compromised. They stated it was used on xHamsterlive.com using the email ********************** which I have no tie to or knowledge of. I right away asked epoch to please block the account using my card from being able to make any more transactions. I also asked for a refund for the 3 fraudulent transactions to which they denied because apparently the person who compromised my bank account was able to verify the charges(not sure what this means). I let them know regardless it was not me who authorized the charges and i am the owner of the bank account. They still refused and blew me off. Please help in recovering my money. This is such a scam and shady practices. I want a full refund of my money please

  Business Response

  Date: 03/11/2024

  Epoch is a third-party payment facilitator, i.e. we process credit card, debit card, prepaid card and other type of payment transactions for thousands of websites on behalf of e-commerce merchants and do not own, operate nor are in any other way associated with those websites.
  
  Pursuant to the complaint, we have attempted to get in touch with the consumer so that we can explain the verification process which indicates high likelihood that while these transactions may not have been authorized by the consumer, it is very likely that they have been authorized by a member of his/her household which a refund isnt going to address nor stop in the future from happening all over again. 
  
  Nevertheless,we have forwarded the consumers complaint to the relevant merchant and the merchant has chosen to issue full refund for it.  Card had also been blocked in our systems so as to prevent any further attempts to charge it at any websites for which we process online payments.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:02/26/2024

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  My money was taken. I asked for a refund. I was given over to an *********************** where I explained the situation. I repeatedly referred to "B of A." This rep repeatedly asked what that stands for. Really? I finally went TO their offices in ******************. A woman there told me she had no idea what I was referring to. They don't do that. An older gentleman appeared. *******************. He asked how I "found them." As we sat in a glass walled conference room, there was some lemming trying real hard to look scary. I finally asked ************ if I should toss him a bone or something. He looks hungry. At the conclusion of our meeting, ******************* said he would need documentation. I emailed that to him. Nothing ever happened. The money wasn't returned. I've been ignored.

  Business Response

  Date: 03/05/2024

  Epoch is a third-party payment facilitator, i.e. we process credit card, debit card,prepaid card and other type of payment card transactions for thousands of websites on behalf of e-commerce merchants and do not own, operate nor are in any other way associated with those websites.
  
  We are not sure why the consumer could not explain what B of A abbreviation stands for to our customer service representative (it is not entirely clear that our customer service representative even realized that it was supposed to have been an abbreviation).  We are also not sure that we understand why would a consumer think that showing up at our corporate office would be an appropriate way to seek a refund when we are not a retail shop.  It would be like showing up at Apples corporate office in ********* to seek a refund for an iPhone.  The consumer also failed to mention that he visited our offices nearly 2 years ago but our CFO does remember it (even though he could not confirm the name as the consumer also declined to share any personal details unlike our CFO who provided his business card to him) and he mostly remembers it because in over 2 decades that we have been in business no consumer had ever been under the mistaken impression that showing up at our offices would be an appropriate way to seek a refund for a transaction that we may have processed on behalf of a merchant which is why our CFO was a bit dumbfounded by his visit.  Our CFO never received anything from this individual following this visit which is why no refund ended up being issued at that time.
  
  Pursuant to this complaint, we attempted to call the telephone number listed in the complaint which turned out to be an invalid number.  We were however able to get in touch with this consumer over e-mail and have issued the requested refund. 

• Initial Complaint

  Date:01/25/2024

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I have been charged $38.70 once for the past three months. I have no recollection of ever subscribing to this service and would like any membership I have to be cancelled. I have tried emailing customer service twice after seeing the transaction last month and havent heard anything back. You need to cancel this and give me a refund.

  Business Response

  Date: 02/01/2024

  Epoch is a third-party payment facilitator, i.e. we process credit card, debit card,prepaid card and other payment card transactions for thousands of websites on behalf of e-commerce merchants and do not own, operate nor are in any other way associated with those websites.
  
  We are not sure that we understand why the consumer would be waiting for us to get back to him when our website allows consumers to cancel everything on their own without any need for our assistance.  Furthermore,our website also allows consumers to chat live with our customer service once again without any need to wait on a response to an e-mail as well as to request that our customer service calls them for free at any time should there ever be a need for it. 
  
  However,as a one-time courtesy to the consumer we have issued a full refund as requested in addition to cancelling the membership and blocking his card in our system so as to prevent any further attempts to charge it at any websites for which we process online transactions.