Ikobo - can't send money...

Well you can access your Ikobo funds, just go to an ATM and withdraw them.

I tried with my card, and i can see all my transactions.

The problem is that i also have an 100$ i want to reverse/chargeback because Monday i was to an ATM , and it wrote me "The transaction can not be processed because of technical problems" but it took my 100$ off

But i tried the card this days, and i can see the balances in my ikobo history

 

Any news when this Comes Back UP?

 

I only know this is the 6th day and tomorrow is weekend

 

I use ikobo and have been trying to send all week, and can't. And yes, I'm concerned. My recipient is even more concerned than me, to say the least. I've used them since January and have never had any propblems. So this bothers me - a lot. No response to my email, no one answers the phone and can not chat. I can log in to my account, see my other transfers, update my information etc, but can not send money. That tells me their web servers are up but not their transfer server, and it's like there is no one there.

 

I've used Ikobo for probably more than 2 years with multiple senders and it has always worked perfectly. I wasn't too satisfied with the transfer rates but this is the only service where you can withdraw cash immediately after it has been sent.

This has never happened before. This break is just too long even for serious issues...I am loosing hope they will ever come back.

 

Hey , they where updating their send money page
...
www.ikobo.com go there and click on send money


IMPORTANT NOTICE: We are no longer accepting new customers or further loading at this time. Please stay tuned for updates.

And i have 100$ i never get because of a system error, and ikobo have to cancel that transaction

 

Well, that is not a good sign! I wonder what happened?

 

Take a look at what e-mail I got!!!!



Dear Coca Bogdan,

We regret to inform you that iKobo is discontinuing services. Effective immediately, no further money transfers to your iKobo account will be allowed. Your card issued by Palm Desert National Bank will continue to be active until November 13, 2008. Your card will no longer work after this date. However, the card funds are safe and guaranteed, even after the card is de-activated.

Please use your card at an ATM or to make purchases between now and November 13 to spend down the balance of funds on your card. Any remaining balance as of November 13, 2008 will be refunded to the sender, the US resident, as stated in the bank cardholder agreement (https://www.ikobo.com, link at bottom of page to “US Program Terms and Conditions”) .

We will assist you in any way possible. If you have any further questions regarding the above notice please contact us at .

It has been a pleasure serving you and we appreciate your business. We apologize for the inconvenience this may cause.

Sincerely,

iKobo

 

I got the email too - that is too bad - it was a convenient service ...

 

Wow. Now what to use? Western Union is just too expensive for international transfers. This sucks. I wonder what happened too.

 

No actually Ikobo is more expensive then Western Union.

First of all to send 1000$ to ikobo was costing 35$.

At this 35$ you must to add at less 2$ to your credit card company... your bank will also charge you something for this transaction ... dunno how much maybe 0.00 ...but let's keep it at 0.00

then ...
you must to wihtdraw money...

ok
...
here local atms don't support more then 300$ at a time

so to withdraw 1000$ i need to query 4 times, but let's say just 3 times

ikobo ask ~2$ for each queury so that's 6$

and here we are 40$ for 1000$...


now...
after you will grab your 1000$ you will see some minus in your ikobo , around up to -3% , that's calling exchange fees! lol ...

local ATM they pay your dollars at their exchange buy dollars rates, that are much lower then exchange offices (non banks ones) , and now ikobo also charge you 30$ for exchange fees...


we also add here some maintenance fees,etc

Anyway 1000$ via western union from USA to Moldova it's only costing 40$...
20$ for 500$
and 11$ for 100$
so i don't know what to say...

 

I know, I'm stuck for a solution too - no other providers that I know of allow for instant access to funds on the card (except for Paypal of course, however that has limitations) ...

 

Actually you can find a few.

Ikobo bought their cards from MetaBank

take a look at back of your card , it;s writen MetaBank

they where a reseller of MetaBank www.metapay.com

now they had to move Palm National Bank , or however they are called

seems that they did a bad move...

Also you may try out www.payoneer.com , but you need to work on www.rentacoder.com or in any of their partners in order to get a card... but once you get it, you can get up to 1000$/day from others parties

 

i signed up for plimus to try and get a payoneer card, we shale see how that goes. i also am stumped for alternatives and have been searching since i got that crappy email. lets hope ikobo changes there minds if enough of us email them and plead =(

 

If you can update this thread when you use your payoneer card, that would be great - I will keep an eye out for it - who knows, maybe that is the solution we need to replace ikobo (BTW, I think pleading with them to change their minds would be not so effective )!

 

I've tried a test upload with my Payoneer ("Rent a coder") card yesterday because I was desperate to find an alternative to Ikobo. I've done some work, people need to send me money and Ikobo is dead. Not good.

So, since I have the Payoneer card for sometime but never used it as I didn't do any work on Rent a coder since, I thought I could upload some test funds to myself and see if it works. I've uploaded $20 because that's a minimum. First of all, they take away the funds from the sender immediately (I was the sender and the receiver in this case ). Then, they inform you as a receiver that the payment is being processed. I've read on some forums that this delay in sending the money to the receiver can take a while - probably 3-5 business days till they use that money to earn some more or whatever they're doing with it for so long.

I check the page again only to see that my payment has been rejected! Then I try contacting their live support and after talking to one of their agents find out that I will get the money back in couple of days (happened a couple of hours later), that only a partner can send money to me (in this case Rent a coder) and also that after the initial payment from the partner it is *possible* to receive money from other people, but ultimately Payoneer makes the decision at their discretion. So, don't count on receiving the money via Payoneer if it's not paid by the partner. It's possible, but it's not a rule.

 

Well, that is definitely a thumbs down! We should all get together and form a corporation with $20 each and make our own payment processing system ... I would do it if 200 other people join me - LOL, it would probably take more than that, but probably worth exploring ...

 

They told me that because i received my first time payment from a partner i can get up to 1000$/day from non-partners...

 

Well, then all I need to do is get a non-partner to send a bonus via rent a coder, loose some money because RAC will deduce their fee and then I can continue using Payoneer just ilke Ikobo? (the only difference being that I need to wait 5 days for the cash to become available)

 

I had to chat with them again and clear some things up, so here it is:

"agent: Hello and welcome to Customer Support, How may I help you?
moobarack: Hi
moobarack: I have 2 questions
moobarack: I've read on some forums that after the initial payment from the partner (in my case rent a coder)
moobarack: I can continue to receive payments from non-partners...is that true?
agent: all private payments must be approved by our Payment Approval Department
moobarack: so it's per payment
agent: even if you receive your first payment from your partner
moobarack: each time I receive a payment, your department has to approve it?
agent: yes
agent: Private payment
moobarack: why would I want to use your service if it's that complicated?
moobarack: how long before I can withdraw the cash once it's approved?
agent: The primary use of your Payoneer card is for receiving payouts from our partners. Payoneer also offers the option to load funds privately to our cards, but approving such payments is done at our discretion and payment may not always be approved. We will consider additional private loads to your account once the account becomes active in receiving payouts from RentACoder
moobarack: that will happen soon enough
agent: ok
moobarack: but I can't really ask someone to load the funds only to be rejected at your discretion
moobarack: I hope you understand that
agent: that is your decision. We cannot promise that private loads will be approved.
moobarack: very well
moobarack: please tell me about the cash availability
agent: I do not understand the question
moobarack: " moobarack: how long before I can withdraw the cash once it's approved?"
agent: If it is a Credit Card load, it takes 2-3 business days for the amount to be loaded on to the account
moobarack: you mean if the partner is using a credit card to send the funds?
agent: are you talking about private loads or partner payouts?
moobarack: I am learning that there is a difference just now
moobarack: how long in case the partner sends the funds
agent: you can choose an immediate load, paying an additional fee
agent: and than the money is loaded immediately
moobarack: If I pay additional fee after the partner sent the money, I can go to ATM and take the cash immediately?
agent: you will need to wait 2-3 hours
moobarack: ok
moobarack: what's the fee?
agent: I will be right with you.
agent: $5.00
moobarack: it's always $5 dollars whatever the received amount?
agent: yes
moobarack: ok, how long in case the cash has been approved but loaded by the private party?
moobarack: that's 2-3 days?
agent: yes
moobarack: ok thank you...one more question and I'm gone - what does it usually take for the payment to be approved?
agent: it depends, but usually up to 2 days
moobarack: ok thank you - bye
agent: have a nice day"