Shopify Team are not answering while killing my store

[jorgehp1]

It has now been 10 days since Shopify abruptly shut down my online store with no warning or explanation. In that time, I have sent multiple emails to their legal team trying to get information and find a resolution, but I have not received a single response.

This lack of communication is causing major issues for my business. I have angry customers demanding refunds and updates on their orders that I cannot provide. I'm also getting hit with chargebacks that I cannot process since my store is inactive. Yet Shopify's legal team seems to be giving me the silent treatment.

As a small business owner who relies on this ecommerce store, having it shut down so suddenly with zero clarity from Shopify is extremely stressful and damaging. I'm losing money and customers every day this remains unresolved.

Has anyone else dealt with such a maddening lack of response from Shopify's legal team? After 10 days of being ignored, I'm at my wit's end. Any advice on how to finally get through to them would be appreciated. I just want my store back up so I can service my customers and run my business properly again.

[jorgehp1]

If someone competent can help me, this is my ticket id: 72ae0e4b-7cbf-4eef-a4c9-386d865b9559

[ThisIsReallySad]

I'm going thru the same thing my friend, the best I can advise you to do is stop taking new orders, and find a new payment gateway. These people are crooks. If they were putting peoples money on hold for a legitimate reason, then they would simply say the reason. But instead, they ignore, lie, and give people the run around... all while having the nerve to ask you to keep sending them your customers.  My store was fully verified, with my business details, and I have screenshots showing when it was verified.... they tell me that my store is ready to go live. We post the link on our account, followers start supporting and everything was going good. Then two days before first payment, they put my account on hold... and start telling me lie after lie about why its on hold, and when to expect it to come off hold. Companies dont lie to their customers unless they're doing something shady. I've had 3 support agents, straight up lie to me about why the account was on hold, and when to expect it to come off hold.  They'll blow smoke up your tale and tell you that its been escalated, and blah blah blah... but its all lies. A simple search on Google, Reddit, Quora, and other platforms and you will see this is something normal at Shopify. There are plenty of people who have put out warnings about not opening a store, because of this reason.... I just didnt do my research before opening the store. I didnt expect a company to be able to legally steal peoples money, and hide behind support agents that are of zero help.  I would recommend getting a list of all their corporate emails, and mass emailing them everyday until you get an answer. Its pretty childish, but when a company wont communicate with you and is holding on to your money, sometimes you have to do what you have to do.

[Alex872]

Hello!
I have the exact same problem.
Did you solve it?

[ThisIsReallySad]

I surprisingly was. After a week of being given the run around, someone
from the backend finally reached out to me, and said that my payments were
turned back on, and that it was a standard review, and also that I needed
to make a change to my product description. I was very persistent with them
from the time my account was placed on hold... and very vocal about what
happened on every social platform I use. Whether that played apart in
getting things resolved quicker or not, I don't know... I just know I
didn't appreciate the way I was treated. I hope you're able to get your
situation resolved. Be persistent, and despite how upset you may get, try
and stay respectful.

[Alex872]

Very glad you were able to solve your problem. I hope it works for me too

[ThisIsReallySad]

Thanks man. I honestly did not think it would get resolved, because they don't tell you any information while you wait. But one thing I can say is, the person who did contact me in the end, explained everything that they did and why they did it. Whether I agree with that, is another story... but I can atleast say in the end, they were transparent and helpful. Cause although they turned my payments on, they disabled my Shopify payments account due to my product description.  They're allowing me to appeal the decision with my new product description, and hopefully I will be able to continue to use Shopify payments. If not, then I can still use the platform but will need to find another payment gateway.  Seems the problems never stop.

[Alex872]

Try a Stripe. There are far less problems with it and the shop will definitely not be blocked.

[jorgehp1]

Hey Alex, any update? They still remain in silence with my case

[ThisIsReallySad]

Sorry to hear that man. Stay persistent with them. I was contacting them
multiple times a day despite if I wasn't getting anywhere... just to show
them I was serious and wasn't going anywhere.

[jorgehp1]

I still hope, I'm contacting twice a day, they already created 3 new tickets and I filed a complaint on the p2b complaint form. I just hope that will work and next week my store can be active again. I'm now fighting with chargebacks on paypal and angry customers asking for their money which I can't refund. What a joke

[ThisIsReallySad]

Although they did finally pay me, my store is still offline. They approved
our store, and we went live and did well.. now all of sudden our
description isn't descriptive enough and they won't approve us for
selling. Seems like if it's not one problem, it's another.

[Alex872]

Unfortunately no. I have already sent all the necessary documents for verification, but there is no response yet.

[jorgehp1]

I don't know if this will work but I filed a complaint here: https://www.shopify.com/legal/p2b

[Alex872]

This form is for European companies. I filled out something similar for our company in the US a couple of days. Now it seems we have to wait

[jorgehp1]

Hey, they finally replied me and opened back again my store, it was the same day I made the complaint form. What about your case?

[Alex872]

Unfortunately, I'm still waiting for an answer.

[RafaKL1]

Any updates? My hold is because of a standard review but its been since last friday.

[Alex872]

Nope

[RafaKL1]

Very weird that there is little to no communication and the support team dont have any insights on this. 

[Alex872]

The last time they responded was a week ago. It was a request from comanad verification, but after that I've been waiting a week for a response.

I wrote them a ticket, but it didn't help. Started moving to WooCommerce today

[RafaKL1]

Yeah moving to another platform is a no go for me because shopify is holding all of my money since friday, for a "standard review". My first hold was done in 2hours and this 2nd hold almost a week. I wonder what the thing is behind all of this. How was your experiences with standard review holds?

[ThisIsReallySad]

Well, this the aftermath of my "standard review". It took them approx 1
week to resolve the issue, and during that one week they didn't tell me
much and left me thinking they were trying to steal our money. On the 8th
day, they contacted me and told me that I had a standard review... and that
I wouldn't be able to continue selling due to my product description. They
paid me the money they had on hold, but disabled my Shopify payments
account. Although my Shopify payments account was disabled, they said I
could continue to use their platform via another payment gateway. Being a
newly registered company, with proof of earnings, we was able to get a
merchant account. The merchant account was fully approved and ready to
connect with Shopify as of yesterday. So it took about a week and a half to
register with the merchant, and have them verify our business documents.
Will we use Shopify + new payment gateway? We're still up in the air about
that, as going thru what we just went thru was not cool. We'll keep the
account on standby for the moment, and explore other options. We want to
make sure to never be put in this position again, as it's a pretty messed
up feeling, especially when no one wants to give you answers. Hope you get
your situation resolved, hopefully you won't have to go thru everything we
did! But just know they should be contacting you back... just stay
persistent with them, as I found out in the end that the first 2 support
reps hadn't escalated my case like they claimed. It took getting one
support rep who actually cared about what she did for her job, she
apologized, broke down everything that took place with the account since it
was put on hold, she also recommended that I take screenshots of where the
other reps claimed they escalated the case, but really hadn't. She then
actually escalated the case, and made me a CC in all her contacts with the
team that handles the situation. So I was able to see everything she was
saying to the team, and I could see all their responses to her. That is
what I call transparency! This lady was awesome, and she deserves a raise.
It's sad that two reps didn't care enough to actually escalate my case..
but is also proof of why you need to be persistent, and don't depend on
"we'll contact you". Well, that's my whole experience with Shopify to
date. Have experienced both and good while here. Peace.

[RafaKL1]

Thanks for sharing your experience. What is the best thing to do now? Mine is still in review, should I start a convo everyday with the live support?

[ThisIsReallySad]

Hello. Yes, that's what I would do. I think you need to be really
persistent with them, because as I stated.. two agents told me they
escalated my case, and it took another agent to tell me the reality of the
situation. And I still have those support tickets if anyone reading this is
questioning if that really happened. But yes, I would definitely reach out
them at minimum once a day. Thats what we did, sometimes multiple times a
day. But that's because we hadn't even recieved our first payment before
they put us on hold. Was scared it was a scam! But turned out to be legit,
just poorly managed support.

[RafaKL1]

Thanks they already resolved it.

[RafaKL1]

And how did you find out it wasn't escalated?

[ThisIsReallySad]

You get a new agent each time, unless you reply to old tickets. So we would
create new tickets daily, and would get a new agent each time. Some of them
you can tell don't really care. Some of them will pretend like they care
and want to help, but really don't care and won't help... and then you have
the ones who take their job seriously, like the lady I got in the end. We
spoke with her for atleast an hour in the chat that night, it was the
longest conversation we've had with one of them. She was very thorough with
everything she was doing.. such as when she had me screenshot the replies
of the other support agents, as it showed proof to the team that a bunch of
my time had already been wasted. From the time she started the email with
the team, it took about 3 days before I got a direct answer from the team,
and a date regarding my payment. I wish you the same luck. Stay persistent.
Contact them daily. Even if you get the same answer. I think they have not
enough members on the team to review cases and is the reason for the
delays. For a company of this size, they really need to be reevaluate
they're doing business!