Attempt 1 Conclusion
On July 13, 2004, the transaction was cancelled. My MasterCard was never charged.
However, I did notice that my limits as a sender and receiver had been unilaterally raised to $500 USD. I had not contacted iKobo by telephone or email with regard to raising
my limits, nor had I sent any of the "required" documentation.
It also appeared that Penny Wang was correct. MasterCard does appear to cause processing difficulties with the iKobo system.
Attempt 2 - Success in Sending Money via VISA
On July 13, 2004, I attempted to resend the $10 USD via iKobo using my VISA. The transaction went through successfully and on July 16, I received the small withdrawal amount on my VISA statement. I entered this amount in and the transaction was verified and the withdrawal amount refunded two days later. However, a loss of $0.23 occurred when iKobo refunded the money due to a change in the USD to CAD exchange rate.
My staff member received the I-Kard on July 23, 2004, 10 days after the transaction start date and 7 days after its approval.
No transactions have appeared from iKobo or any other retailers before or since the initial two attempts on either of my credit cards.
Support Email
I attempted to send the following email on July 8, 2004 to mailto:
E-mail eohuche>
E-mail eohuche, as well as mailto:
E-mail support>
E-mail support:
To whom it may concern,
My name is (nom de plume), and I have been hired by ADAM Web Design to write feature articles for the articles section of the ADAM Web Design web site. This section may be found at
adamwebdesign.com/articles .
I have become aware of iKobo recently and will be writing a feature article about you.company, as it is one of the relative newcomers to the payment processing market. In the process of performing my research, I have uncovered some information an.comments which I find rather concerning from the standpoint of the end user of your products. In the interest of fairness, I would like to give you the
Opportunity to state your side of the story to any readers of the ADAM Web Design website.
Please note that I will be publishing both this email and the response to it (or lack thereof) in the ADAM Web Design iKobo article, as a means of documenting my research on this subject. This article will be syndicated throughout various article publication websites and other channels of distribution. These channels of distribution can greatly benefit you.company and provide it with some additional exposure, should my findings be favourable. Your response will be a factor in determining how favourable my review will become.
My questions are listed below:
The first testimonial on your website refers to a site (
everythingforeveryone.com) that is under construction despite the followin.comments:
"Like every business person goes, I was in search of a reliable and easy-to-use merchant service. I traveled through each and every search engine to find the best merchant service that would use credit cards. The services I offer, paying online would make things go pretty fast. One fine day, after exhaustion, I found iKobo and it was my lucky day!! I registered right away and launched my site the very next day! Thanks iKobo for launching such a great, reliable and easy service."
Fatmah Azam Ali
Owner,
everythingforeveryone.comThe website mentioned in the second testimonial (
CyberSamrat.com) does not have any open mention of iKobo.
None of the other customers listed have websites using iKobo as well.
Do you have any merchant websites which openly use iKobo, so that I may question them about their experiences as I research this article?
In your Help section, there is an FAQ that reads as follows:
Q: What is iKobo?
A: iKobo is the fastest most convenient way to send and receive money world wide. You can send and receive money anytime in over 240 countries. Using iKobo you can send funds from your home or office, and your recipient can access the funds at over 800,000 ATMs worldwide using the iKobo i-Kard. Our Affiliate and Merchant programs are the best and most rewarding opportunities on the internet.
Since there aren't 240 countries in the world (not counting dependencies and territories), are dependencies and territories being included in this calculation?
Some countries, such as the country of Georgia, are able to send money but not receive it. Why is there a restriction on the receipt of funds?
Why would mailing an i-Kard be necessary, as opposed to email confirmation of payment similar to the way in which banks perform email money transfers? Does this not add unnecessary expenses to the service, thereby increasing its cost?
Why is information such as a credit card statement, utility bill, and/or birth certificate necessary for the raising of limits, and why do you offer the relatively non-secure method of email as a possible means of document delivery as opposed to a secure upload/download site?
What do people who don't have either a driver's license or a utility bill require in order to raise their limits?
What exactly does iKobo to manually validate information in order to raise a limit? And what do they do in areas where privacy acts may make it impossible to run a check on a driver's licence?
What exactly does checking this information establish? All you can do with a driver's license in Ontario, for example, is check to see that it's valid. That doesn't necessarily imply that the person who owns it has neve.committed a fraudulent act. The same logic would apply with a utility bill.
There are many posts on various Internet-industry-related discussion boards that tend to arouse suspicion. A few such examples are below:
