Last month, I stopped accepting Discover cards, due to their asinine policy of requiring proof of shipment before they paid the merchant (me).

Even though the Discover transactions last month were canceled and my account never credited, I “discovered” that Discover still took their “fee” of nearly $400 dollars, even though I had been promised that this would not happen. I think this is outright theft by Discover, and wrote them a letter to that effect.

They apparently disagree, believing that they still have a “right” to services they’ve never rendered.

The affected customers last month were happy to pay with Visa, and have all had their orders filled weeks ago. Discover doesn’t like this, but it is a fact, there are other card services that don’t rape the merchant or have asinine policies. I now accept checks too, although this is a slow, cumbersome way of doing business, but card services like Discover are forcing merchants to find other means to bypass their dubious “service”.

Here’s what I’d like to know - how many merchants are getting screwed over like this? I’d like to see a class action lawsuit or something put a stop to this kind of theft. Even better, I’d like to “discover” what can be done to companies like this that abuse merchants.

Google has 203,000 hits for “Discover card complaint” and 54,900 hits for “Discover card merchant complaint”. Guess I am not alone. This should serve as a WARNING TO ALL. Here’s a scary one for you, “Discover Randomly Raises 400,000 Members APR“. Looks like they’re not only screwing merchants, they’re screwing you too.

May I kindly suggest that you cut up your Discover card and send it back to them with a kind letter?

I am routinely BURIED with “merchant offers” and credit card offers. Since most of these all come with pre-paid envelopes, I stuff them full of crap and send them back. So far, it hasn’t helped slow down the tidal wave of junk offers.

Suggestions on fighting back bastards like this would be most appreciated. Getting ripped off is simply wrong.