There have been many reports I've seen about Cash Cards. Everyone I know who has a Cash Card or a V-cash account has been having difficulty, and these problems date back to about July 2003. Unfortunately, the problems have been getting worse, and not better.
For my own part, I've had a V-cash account since about March 2002. I've bought a bunch of e-gold from Steve and I think Cambist.net sold some to him while I was still working there. Steve was very reliable, and I was always pleased to refer customers to Cash Cards.
Nevertheless, some bad things happened. I'm not exactly sure what, though there are various flavors of rumor. Maybe Steve would like to report here about it. Several people I know have balances with Cash Cards. Steve has offered reassurances and on occasion has made good on these. It seems likely to me that with adequate capital, Cash Cards would be back on track. Of course, that's always a difficulty - getting money to put into a system that is broken without it. You either cannot get anyone to risk the money, or you have to pay greatly for it. Thus, Cash Cards may be one of those deals that falls apart due to a lack of adequate capital reserves, even though the business plan seemed pretty good.
(Not great. I would have made more extensive use of jurisdictional arbitrage. I mean, +10 points for incorporating in St. Kitts, -2x10^99 points for operating out of Minnesota. Also, the software for their web site has had frequent difficulties, and I would not be surprised to learn of a criminal hack.)
4 weeks ago, I received an e-mail from Steve Renner (CashCards) that they will cancel all the green Vcash cards (that were valid until 11/04) and which I paid $89 for it only 4 months ago, plus shipping costs.
I think there is certainly a problem here. A great many people have paid for these cards, which are no longer valid. One would expect some pro-rata refund, but that would exacerbate what appears to be a critical cash flow situation.
In exchange they issued a Gold Card, for which they charge another $39. By doing this, they violated their own terms of agreement.
It does not appear that any such fee was charged. The message I received indicated that $39 was an annual renewal fee, and for those who were current with it, the renewal fee would not be charged until it was due, and there was no fee for the new cards to those who were current with their annual dues.
There is certainly some loss of style points for canceling cards that should have expired in 2004. It is not, however, necessarily Steve's choice. It could be imposed on him by the bank which issued the cards. Banks have no good reputation with me.
More than this, they charge for the card, even when it was unused, a 3-6$ monthly fee, without any explanation. Sometimes is 3$, sometimes is 6$.
These fees also appear to be explained in the Cash Cards terms of service. If you don't like the fees charged at Cash Cards, you might seek a nice MasterCard from GoldAge.net. Or you might not.
The Gold Cards should have arrived 2 weeks ago, but no sign of them.
I hadn't even heard that the Gold Cards were going to be available until one week ago. In particular, on 30 September, Steve sent out a message saying that the Gold Cards should be arriving in Minnesota "this week" and that was...last week. So, I am completely unable to accept your claim that the Gold Cards would be arriving two weeks ago.
Your error on this matter has to be taken in the context of your other claims to color your entire message as generally false and significantly defamatory.
CashCards announced on Serptember 24th for the first time that beginning with September 25th the Green Cards will be not good anymore.
I got a message to that effect on 23 September, and it indicated that 30 September, midnight, would be the last time for getting funds off the card. Again, I don't agree with your claim that the 25th of September was announced on the 24th. The 23rd is a week before the 30th, which seems at least timely.
I still had funds on it, because I was the only naive person left, and I trusted CashCards and Steve Renner keep his word.
I've found Steve to be very trustworthy in the past. So, I don't distrust him. His business does seem to be in trouble, and I don't know what to make of it. However, what Steve has told other Cash Cards account holders is that any balance left on the old cards after 1 October would be transferred back into the V-cash system, though a 10 day waiting period applied. If I understand his message correctly, Steve is saying that by 11 October, the funds that used to be on cards would be back in the V-cash system. Since that is a day which falls on a Saturday, a patient person would allow for ten business days, which runs out by 16 October.
Well, he does not have a word. Any time I asked him questions, he never replied back. And I asked him questions 2 months ago also, so he had a lot of time to answer. But he likes to hide.
I've never had any trouble getting information from Steve. I don't think he's in hiding. I do think he has a staff for customer service. I also think he is trying to put together solutions to what appear to be major problems with his card vendor and cash flow.
The problem is that I still had $300 on the Green Card. Money that dissapeared (Steve knows where! in his pockets ...maybe... or maybe sure!).
Three hundred dollars, less fees (banks are sure to take some, and perhaps V-cash some) should be available in your V-cash account after the 10 day waiting period mentioned in one of Steve's recent messages. Allowing for ten business days, I'd expect your V-cash account to be credited on 16 October. But, I have no crystal ball for gazing into the future.
It may be that the $39 for your annual renewal will be taken from your V-cash at that time, and a new card sent out thereafter. Though, given your lack of care in reporting here, I would be reluctant to provide you service if I were in Steve's position.
Ok, so THEFT is the policy of CashCards. At least they should state it in their newsletter.
I don't think that's the policy. I do agree that there are severe problems at Cash Cards. I have stopped recommending them to customers. I've had to re-visit my previous defenses of Steve. While my experiences with him have been uniformly good, many of my customers and business associates have had difficulty, especially in the last few months.
I mean I knew the biggest theft in e-gold economy is Ragnar and his criminal company Gold Age, but I knew to stay away from them.
I'm really quite baffled why anyone would make such a statement about Ragnar Danneskjold and his company GoldAge.net. I've done considerable business with Ragnar for many months. He has always been honorable and reliable in every transaction. I've never had any reason to complain. I may be mistaken, but I believe I've done close to $100K in business transactions through GoldAge, either on my own account or with Cambist.net. Prior to being bought by James Bell, Ragnar, and some other investors, GoldAge.net was operated by Parker Bradley. I've hosted Parker here in my home. I think very well of him.
It seems scurrilous to write the bad things you've written about Ragnar, especially when he is completely besides the point of your message - which is Cash Cards. I don't particularly like some of the things you've said about Steve Renner, either, and in the context of your outrageous statements about Ragnar, I don't see how anyone can take your statements about Steve seriously. Your frequent errors about the dates involved in the matter don't seem to be honestly made, given your very aggressive attitude toward Steve.
I am aware of problems with Cash Cards, which is why I don't criticize you terribly about having bad feelings or expressing bad views about Cash Cards. They do have problems, and you may feel justified in making harsh statements about them. But, I'm unable to see any justice in your unbelievable and perverse attack on Ragnar and GoldAge.
But CashCards... I trusted them...
I think Steve may be able to recover Cash Cards. But, it seems like a very tough job.
I'm waiting for everyone's opinions on this.
Well, not everyone has an opinion. Since I never put any money on a Cash Card, I don't really have any reason to worry.
My opinion, based on years of working with Steve Renner on exchanges and seeing him accomplish good exchanges with others is that he is a good guy. It is unfortunate that even good guys sometimes fail in business enterprises. I don't know whether Cash Cards will succeed. But, I don't think claims that Steve is lining his own pockets will prove out, any more than claims that GoldAge.net is a criminal enterprise would.
Regards,
Jim http://www.ezez.com/
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