Shopify Verification Team is useless and does not respond even after tens of follow-ups!

[SyedKhalid71]

Hey,

I applied to Shopify Capital's offer I received, and while reviewing my application, the Merchant Verification Team asked me several questions. I responded promptly, but they rejected my application for Shopify Capital and disabled my Shopify Payments. When I asked why they disabled Shopify Payments, their answer was: "Please note your business must have a physical presence within the region to be eligible for Shopify Payments, according to point A.3 of our terms of service (A.4 In the US). Virtually rented addresses which your business does not actually occupy, business registration documents, or bank accounts, are not sufficient proof of physical operations within the region. Your sales do not have anything to do with this decision."

I clearly have my business operating within the USA along with a physical office address, but they do not want to see any of my legal documents proving that I do have a physical office in the US and have been operating my business in the region. Moreover, what's surprising to me is that when they initially granted me access to Shopify Payments, they took close to a month to verify all my LLC and EIN documents before granting access. Brett, the merchant verification team member, said that he did not want to see any of my legal documents and that his decision is final, with no chance to appeal.

What is this behavior? Does this not go against the merchant's rights? Do I not have the opportunity to appeal or escalate his decision?

I escalated this to Shopify's Internal Team, though I'm not sure which team this is. Every time I reach out to their support team, they sometimes inform me that the matter is being handled by the trust and safety team, and other times they tell me that the verification team is working on it. Different stories continue.

This is the fifth day, and I have not received a single response from their "Internal Team" referencing the assigned ticket number. The Shopify Support Team does not have a clue when they will reply or resolve this matter.

What can I do in this case, and where can I escalate this matter, as it is causing my business significant losses?

[Imogen]

Hi there, @SyedKhalid71. Thank you for taking the time to reach out to the Shopify Community regarding this situation with your Shopify Payments Account. My name is Imogen. It's good to meet you.

To set some expectations for you, we're unable to authenticate users here in the Community. This means that I'm unable to access your account, account information, or any ongoing support tickets that you may have with us. As such, I'm only privy to the information that you have shared here in your post.

To comment on reaching out to our Support Team, the folks that you reach via live chat are Support Advisors, and not specific members of our escalated teams. This means that if there is a situation being handled by an escalated team, our Advisors won't be able to get specific insights into the situation, as these are handled exclusively by those escalated teams. This is why, when you reach out, you will hear that a different team is addressing the situation you're reaching out to back, and that you will need to wait for a response from them.

Based on what you've described, it sounds like you have gotten in touch with folks at Shopify already regarding this decision. As such, it would be best to allow whatever team has been handling your request the time they need to evaluate things, and follow up with you accordingly. If you have ongoing support tickets with our Team, you can reply to your support email thread directly to have your questions delivered to those folks for them to follow up on. For now, however, I do recommend allowing our Team the time they need to follow up with your request, based on the information that you've shared here outlining that you have a ticket being handled by one of our escalated teams. Once they have had a chance to review the escalation, they will be following up with you directly. Additionally, you can reply directly to the email that had come from 'Brett' with any feedback or questions around this situation.

[SyedKhalid71]

Hi Imogen, 
Thank you for your quick response. What is the average timeline for your escalated team to respond? Are they going to reply after a week or a month or so? Yes, I did reply to the same email I got from Brett, but he refused to look into my request further. This is what he said "There is no escalation or further person you can speak to. This decision is not up for review at this time." Am I not allowed as a merchant to appeal to a wrong decision? I just initiated a new conversation email referencing the assigned ticket and I will see when your merchant verification team replies.

[Imogen]

Thanks for following up! We're unable to advise on specific timelines. Our Escalated Teams could be backed up with requests at any given time, and this can impact turnaround times, so making a promise of a specific time-frame wouldn't be fair, especially if something related to your ticket requires additional insight from other teams.

I can't speak to any tickets that you may have ongoing, or the details or them, but following up on your ticket with Brett (which gets your questions directed back to their team) as well as waiting for the result of this new escalation you have had created would be the next course of action here.

[SyedKhalid71]

Yes, that's what I'm doing now and FYI, this is the 5th day since I escalated the issue. I will come back here every day and post a new comment with an update, and that's how we all know how they are handling an escalated case. 

[SyedKhalid71]

I wish they could also reply and address the issues the way and your support advisors team do. I have not received a single update referencing the assigned ticket number even after many follow-ups from your advisors' team on a daily basis. 

[SyedKhalid71]

Day 7 and I have not received even a single update from your "Internal Team" and I am following up with your support team on a daily basis. Yesterday, when I reached out to your support team, I was told that now, I will get a response to my request, but still not a movement. 

[mcu514]

Hey - any updates here? I'm going through this process currently and though I have all supporting documents, I am growing pessimistic about how this will turn out for me. 

[mcu514]

Hi - are you able to help me with my issue? Please let me know as I have not hear back from the Merchant Verification Specialist in more than a week and the issue is time pressing. 

[SyedKhalid71]

What do need help with? They've not resolved my issue and you can see the
duration.

[mcu514]

I need help connecting with the Verfication Team as they've gone silent on me.