Verotel frustrations (long rant)

First I'd like to say that my site is up and running now, so I'll give them credit for that much. I'd just like to vent my frustration with their poor communication and business practices. I know they have been reliable with payments and in business for many years, so I'm not saying they're going to run off with my money or anything -- but their service leaves a LOT to be desired so far.

I signed up back in the fall for a Pro account after the PayMonde fiasco. As a small site owner, I asked for a reduction in the setup fee and very gratefully received it. Had a few small issues with communication during the setup process (mostly just not being clear on what was being asked, probably a language barrier here), but it went fairly smoothly.

Then things are about to launch, just around when Verotel launches their "Classic" service level. And it turns out I've been suddenly shifted to this "Classic" plan, being led the entire time as having a "Pro" account. Not the end of the world, I was just upset at never being informed. I don't desperately need the features of the Pro account, but again, no one ever told me, it was just suddenly saying that on my account.

So, my site gets approved about two weeks ago, and I run off to try a test transaction. Declined. Every card I try declined. I email, no response. I try the live chat support, they say they'll get back to me. No response. I call the banks to make sure I'm not crazy, and they say nope, they're not getting the charges.

I email again. I get a form response to my original email. I notice in my account that I'm getting an error when I try to check the "Accept credit cards?" checkbox, apparently due to the Pro -> Classic conversion. I point this out in the chat as the potential cause of the problem and they say it will be looked at and I will have a response within 24 hours. No response.

I hit the chat again and now it's Friday and they say the developers will look at it on Monday and I will get a response asap. No response. On Tuesday I pester them again and notice that I can in fact check that checkbox now, but no one told me. But transactions are still declined. They keep saying it's the banks.

I sent an urgent email on Wednesday while in chat support with someone saying they would escalate it. No response, but I see a test transaction from someone at Verotel go through the next day. On Thursday with still no response, I send a chat request again and have to beg to get any kind of update on my account. He checks the records and says that a note was added saying everything should be fine now. I try it and yep, everything's working.

All of this (nearly two weeks) with absolutely NO communication from Verotel. I had to hunt them down every single time and if I hadn't bugged them, I bet I still wouldn't have received notice that my account was even working

And now as of last night, they're throwing an expired SSL error which will apparently be fixed in 24 hours. So now I'm getting emails from concerned would-be subscribers. Agh!

I hope it gets better from here.