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If banking partners are the problem, why did you mislead him by blaming "customer disputes"? (Pedantic note: I know full well that the second part of the sente

If banking partners are the problem, why did you mislead him by blaming "customer disputes"? (Pedantic note: I know full well that the second part of the sentence that actually places the blame on the "risk" doesn't mention customer disputes as the source, but the former part does, and since it's clearly intentionally misleading I am asking why it was necessary to mislead him by mentioning customer disputes. Those seem far from the core problem here, if not outright irrelevant.)

anurag 11y ago
(I work at Stripe.) I agree our response should have explained the marijuana restriction. I can't go into specifics for privacy reasons, but I'll add that facilitating marijuana sales wasn't the only factor contributing to the text in this email.
- wfunction 11y ago
  I realize there were probably other factors that contributed to the text in that email, but I think what is interesting to know here is: Were there any other significant factors specific to his business that made you mention customer disputes as such a significant reason? (Note that I'm not asking what the factors were, I'm just asking if there simply existed any.) The reason I ask is, I imagine there might have been other similar businesses with a high rate of customer disputes, and I imagine there may have been other factors in his business that could have resulted in you not wanting to work with them, both of which would be reasonable justifications for avoiding this business -- but what baffles me is how a company with "zero customer disputes over [their] entire history" can get an email blaming his customer dispute risk as the primary concern. Note that I'm not disagreeing with the soundness of your ultimate decision here, I'm just confused by the email you sent justifying it.
  - anurag 11y ago
    > Were there any other significant factors specific to his business that made you mention customer disputes as such a significant reason? Unfortunately, yes. Still, explaining the marijuana restriction should've been our primary focus in that email. In general, we would never close an account that had a reasonable explanation for high dispute rates (unless card networks or banks forced us to). Our goal is to help users manage their disputes, and in the long term to not have to worry about them at all.
    - wfunction 11y ago
      Ah, okay thank you for clarifying!

anurag 11y ago

(I work at Stripe.) I agree our response should have explained the marijuana restriction. I can't go into specifics for privacy reasons, but I'll add that facilitating marijuana sales wasn't the only factor contributing to the text in this email.

wfunction 11y ago
I realize there were probably other factors that contributed to the text in that email, but I think what is interesting to know here is: Were there any other significant factors specific to his business that made you mention customer disputes as such a significant reason? (Note that I'm not asking what the factors were, I'm just asking if there simply existed any.) The reason I ask is, I imagine there might have been other similar businesses with a high rate of customer disputes, and I imagine there may have been other factors in his business that could have resulted in you not wanting to work with them, both of which would be reasonable justifications for avoiding this business -- but what baffles me is how a company with "zero customer disputes over [their] entire history" can get an email blaming his customer dispute risk as the primary concern. Note that I'm not disagreeing with the soundness of your ultimate decision here, I'm just confused by the email you sent justifying it.
- anurag 11y ago
  > Were there any other significant factors specific to his business that made you mention customer disputes as such a significant reason? Unfortunately, yes. Still, explaining the marijuana restriction should've been our primary focus in that email. In general, we would never close an account that had a reasonable explanation for high dispute rates (unless card networks or banks forced us to). Our goal is to help users manage their disputes, and in the long term to not have to worry about them at all.
  - wfunction 11y ago
    Ah, okay thank you for clarifying!