‘This Company Needs An Actual Phone Number’: 25 Frustrated Consumer Complaints Filed With The FTC About Afterpay

In this photo illustration, the Afterpay Limited logo seen displayed on a smartphone. (Photo ... [+] Illustration by Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Buy now, pay later services have become quite a growing industry in the U.S. over the past few years. Afterpay alone reportedly has over 5 million customers who buy goods and then pay them off in installments. But those installments become larger if users miss a payment, and there have been plenty of growing pains for these new companies. And I’ve exclusively obtained documents from the FTC that show some of the complaints happening in this fast-growing industry.

The consumer complaints were obtained from the FTC through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, and while the agency told me they have 1,231 complaints about Afterpay on file, just 200 were released to me in accordance with the law. One of the most common complaints is about Afterpay not having a customer service phone number, forcing customers who may have an issue to conduct all communication through email, something that seems increasingly common in the 2020s.

"It's really difficult to get a hold of Afterpay. I send messages and emails. I want my money back as my order was cancelled. Nobody has gotten back to me," one typical complaint filed with the FTC explains.

"They said they no longer take phone calls and to go through the site. It's almost impossible to navigate. This is a red flag," the complaint says later.

The complaints also show the difficulty that comes with introducing yet another party to the transaction, beyond the retailer and the customer. The complaints often show the retailer telling the customer to speak to Afterpay and Afterpay saying to talk to the retailer. This is common for returns, refunds and hacked accounts and clearly is a point of frustration for users.

The complaints also show orders not going through to the retailer, but still showing as payments due to AfterPay. I reached out to Afterpay about the issues found in the FTC documents, though a spokesperson for the company declined to provide a comment on the record.

Afterpay reached a settlement with the state of California in 2020 for what the state called "illegal loans." California said Afterpay was acting as a "finance lender without obtaining a required license."

"Like other point-of-sale financers, Afterpay targets young consumers who are unable to qualify for traditional financing options like credit cards," California regulators said in a press release at the time.

"Consumers pay Afterpay 25 percent of the purchase price at the time of the purchase and the remainder in three equal installments. Merchants pay Afterpay a cut of each transaction and consumers pay Afterpay late fees if they miss a payment," the statement continued.

I’ve pulled a small sample of the complaints below to give a sense of the frustrations some customers are having with Afterpay. Minor spelling, grammar and capitalization changes have been made to the complaints just for readability.

The FTC redacted identifying information to protect the privacy of those making complaints before they were released to me under FOIA. This makes it impossible to reach out and independently verify the complaints made to the FTC, but the recurring problems in the complaints make them worry of discussion, which is why I’m publishing them in their entirety.

You can learn a lot from the consumer complaints made to the FTC, even if they’re anonymous. And Afterpay is far from the only company where consumers complain that customer service no longer has a phone number to reach. I’ve seen similar complaints at Binance, Robinhood and even Tinder. But at least these people never got scammed out of crypto by Elon Musk impersonators. Those are FTC complaints I never expected to see.

I have contacted Afterpay several times after being charged for an order made on August 24th, 2022 with Nordstrom Rack. I have contacted the merchant who has no order number in their system and have been getting no response from the Afterpay team, I have even contacted them on Instagram and Twitter. The things I’m asking for is a refund for the two payments I’ve made for an order that I will never receive, and for that order to be cancelled. I have been told to dispute it and the dispute never went past the inquiry state. Terrible customer service and just want my money back and order to be cancelled. My spending limit even went down because I don't want to pay for items I will not get.

I used Afterpay to place an order on the Marc Jacobs site on 8/25/2022. My order was said to be received in 3-5 days. My order never delivered and when I check status it still says processing. I reached out to the merchant after one week had passed they had no update on my package. So I asked for my order to be cancelled. When a couple days go by and the merchant isn't responding to me I reach out to Afterpay to file a dispute on my behalf. The payment also still goes through all though 2 weeks go by and I have no package. Afterpay denies my first dispute stating that the merchant complies with their standards! I still have no package. I then continue to go back and fourth between the merchant and Afterpay. The merchant again says we will put in a cancellation request which I also sent to Afterpay. Again no resolution. Afterpay has not reached out to me or tried to help at all! They have no phone number so no one to talk to or a supervisor to escalate this issue! I’m stuck making payments on a item I’m probably never receiving I feel helpless and scammed.

Afterpay has not responded to any of my customer inquires. The card I had on file was lost while I was on vacation. I have been trying to login my account to update info but it keeps asking for old card to verify identity. Afterpay has no phone customer service. I have sent multiple emails and still no help while I am being charged fees for being late with payment.

I have used Afterpay for quite sometime. I have always made my payments on time and for the most part, early. Now all of a sudden they will no longer allow me to use the app, despite having no open/active orders, payments all made early or on time, and having a full 700 dollar spending limit that has been unused. It's no way to contact them either so I need help.

I ordered items from a company on July 10,2022. I never received said products. I advised Afterpay that I never received the products. Afterpay told me to reach out to the company in regards to this matter. I reached out to the company multiple times only to be told the product was on its way it delayed and should arrive by 8/15/2022. Said items still were never received. I reached back out to Afterpay they stated they reached out to the company and never received a response from the company. I followed up with the company and Afterpay still no resolution. I have asked for a refund multiple times yet I still am getting the run around. I did everything Afterpay wanted me to do and still no help.

On Aug 23, 2022, I received a phone call from the automated Afterpay fraud department and a text with a code to try and access my account. Per the automated service, I pressed 1 to say it was fraudulent and I was not making purchases (I was working at the time). I logged into my bank's website to lock my debit card because I watched Afterpay debit my account in real-time in multiple transactions. I immediately Afterpay only to find out they moved their entire customer service online. I filed a complaint, and it was initially denied. I wrote back again and tweeted. I also contacted the merchant (Shein) in hopes of preventing the orders from going out since I did not place them. Of the four orders, one was sent to an address in California and three to my home. Shein notified me that the person who placed the order canceled them directly with Shein. Shein refunded the money to their Shein wallet, and the person cashed it out to their PayPal. Moreover, a few days later, I received an email from Afterpay denying one of the charges because the payment details were invalid BECAUSE I CANCELED MY CARD. If they were to look at these transactions’ date/time history, they were exactly one minute apart. It is impossible for a human to charge so many things at once every minute. Afterpay wrote me last night to say they held me liable for three of the four charges, which amount to $553.44. I have email threads with Shein directly, I also have screenshots of me attempting to call Afterpay to stop the fraud, and they seem to side with thieves instead of clients they have never had an issue with before in the past.

I am filing this complaint as customer service has yet to respond to my emails. There is no customer service phone line available. I have used Afterpay for years. I have spent thousands of dollars using this service. I recently had to order a replacement debit card. It completely slipped my mind to add the new card to Afterpay. This resulted in a missed payment. I made the missed payments THE SAME DAY. My credit limit was immediately reduced to $500, when it previously showed over $1,600. My Pulse Rewards were immediately reset to zero. I lost my status as a Mint member. I lost my ability to pay zero down, and to have multiple orders. Everything that I worked for was immediately wiped. All of this was due to ONE missed payment. This is extremely unfair. I am requesting that my rewards and credit limit be restored.

I purchased a recliner from Bed Bath and Beyond on 8/25/2022 and the order number is [redacted] in the amount of $418.36, I paid using Afterpay (online # [redacted]). I made the first installment payment the day we ordered it. We received the item and once we put it together we noticed it was European made and we could not plug it into our outlets at home because it did not fit. I reached out to the seller on marketplace and shipped the item back. They told me a full refund for the order was processed on 9/5 but I hadn't seen it yet. So I reached out to Afterpay numerous times and they stated they had not seen a refund from the merchant yet. I am writing because I have double payment due on 9/22 that I shouldn't have to pay because the item was returned and refunded almost 2 weeks ago. I just want the amount refunded so it cancels out that order on Afterpay. It just seems I am getting the run around. Bed Bath and Beyond website said refunds paid with Klarna CAN take up to 7 business days; which i understand but its been more than that. The order says I paid with card ending in [redacted] and that is where the refund went but I paid with afterpay as you can see in the last screenshot.

I do not have the original order date. I lost my original debit card which I used to set up my auto payment to Afterpay. I went online to update my payment information but could not log in with what I thought was my password. I chose the forgot password option and it was asking for digits from my lost Debit Card which I no longer have in my possession for it was lost. I want to make my payments and update my Debit Card to my new card but cannot get anyone from Afterpay to reach out to me via any method. They have no customer service phone number which is ridiculous!!! I am getting text messages stating that I am late in my payment and that it will impact my credit score. I have an excellent credit score and I have the means to pay but just cannot get in touch with this company to provide a good Debit Card number. I feel this is bad business! Once I get this account settled I am definitely closing this account. I have messaged them at least 8 or more times requesting someone to contact me. I want to pay, I can pay, I cannot get into my account to update the Debit Card Information.

On 9/7/22 I was on puma.com and purchased items. I check out with Afterpay to have payment installments. There was something with the website because I made two attempts and one transaction was paid and the other was declined. The amount was for $77.95. I am not able to speak with any at Afterpay and when I called Puma and gave them the order number I had they said it cancelled but they are not able to locate transactions with email. I reached out to Afterpay, gave them the order number and they said it did not go through, but my card has been charged for the amount above. I need help with refund or my merchandise.

I placed an order on the Nordstrom app on September 9th, 2022. I paid with Afterpay. I was charged twice for the same order by Afterpay; a duplicate charge of $387.63. I have contacted Afterpay. They first responded I needed a tracking number to prove I didn't receive the order. This isn't possible since this is a duplicate charge. Then they responded again today that Nordstrom would have to refund the order. Nordstrom says this isn't possible because Afterpay charged me twice for the same order, not Nordstrom. I am obviously getting the run-around from Afterpay. They are refusing to refund me for a mistake they made. (I have both emails from Afterpay for each charge. The first email with the legitimate charge shows a Nordstrom order number. The second email with the duplicate charge has no Nordstrom order number included.)

I had made an online purchase on Girlfriend Collective (https://girlfriend.com/), paying through an installment plan with Afterpay as it was offered as an option on Girlfriend Collective's payment methods.The order total was $116: sweatshirt $32.08 + bike shorts $19.75 + crop top $14.81 + leggings $32.08 + bra $17.28. There were 4 installments paid every 2 weeks, each being $29. I have made 2 separate returns for this purchase. The first return was made on Jan 7, 2022 for the sweatshirt. The $32.09 refund was taken out of forth and final installment. This means that I have paid 3 installments totaling $87, and refunded $3.08.The issue I’m having is with the second refund. I have returned the crop top on June 30, 2022. I have evidence of the merchant confirming receipt of the return and their refund of $14.81 to Afterpay, which is information that Afterpay is completely aware of.I have been contacting Afterpay about my refund since July 8, 2022, and to this day I have just been going back and forth with customer service with them refusing to proceed any further than verifying my identity and telling me that they are reaching out to the merchant. They still owe me $14.81.

I placed a Petsmart order on September 11. Afterpay took my first payment then I received an email from Petsmart that they cancelled my order. The order was cancelled for no reason as Petsmart couldn't explain why. It's really difficult to get a hold of Afterpay. I send messages and emails. I want my money back as my order was cancelled. Nobody has gotten back to me. I tried to close my account but it wouldn't let me because of pending payments. My order was cancelled not fault to me. Either cancelled by Petsmart or by Afterpay. Nobody knows. This was my first order and my last. I want my refund and And all payments stopped. Now when you call 18552896014. They said they no longer take phone calls and to go through the site. It's almost impossible to navigate. This is a red flag. I want my refund and my account closed.

I made a purchase on August 31, 2022 for Lush cosmetics and the order never finalized with Lush but I was charged with Afterpay. It was 2 duplicate orders and I reached out to their customer service the next day and they told me I needed to wait 3 days to see if the merchant picked up the transaction. I’ve waited and no refund for either order has been issued. I called the Lush store and they never received the order. I have no email from Lush saying they ever got my order at all. And I still have not heard back from Afterpay yet. I just want my refund for both orders.

I returned part of my order to the store (Nordstrom Rack) in mid August. The full amount of my purchase was $226.01. I returned 4 items in store and the refund amount from Nordstrom Rack was $107.87. But Afterpay only gave me a credit of $70.10. The first time I spoke with an Afterpay representative (mid August before I paid all 4 installments), he told me I needed to contact Nordstrom Rack because they needed to update the refund amount in their system. The first time I spoke with a Nordstrom Rack representative I was told they could see my full refund amount and wasn't sure why Afterpay was only showing a refund of $70.10. He told me to try contacting the store for more information in which I did but of course it led me back to Afterpay considering it was Afterpay I was paying the installments to. Also, I was told by Nordstrom Rack that when I returned my items, it should have automatically reflected on Afterpays end and after contacting them it should be an easy fix. Apparently not. I have spoken to several online customer service reps and 2 different store managers at the Nordstrom Rack store where I returned the items and was assured everything has been updated on their end and that it was Afterpay who had dropped ball. Also, as you can see from the attached screenshots- the correct refund amount is clearly reflected on my end just as Nordstrom Rack said it would be. As of yesterday (September 13th) Afterpay has closed my latest dispute (I’ve done several) claiming there is nothing they can do, that they will not provide my refund and that the merchant is responsible. I was then told by Nordstrom Rack that Afterpay would have to return the monies. At this point, it's looking as if Afterpay is responsible since it was their system which showed the incorrect amount. $37.77 was fraudulently pulled from my bank account and I need my money returned to me ASAP.

I placed an order which was never received by the merchant. I have a merchant order number and when I called the merchant they have absolutely no evidence that this order was placed on their end. I would like some answers as to why the money is coming out of my after pay but the merchant isn't even aware of the order.

I purchased an item from the RealReal using Afterpay and I then returned the item because it was fake. So the RealReal accepts the return and makes a full refund on August 10th 2022. I then contacted Afterpay and they have not made the refund towards me yet. I have contacted Afterpay several times via email with no success. I need your assistance so I can get my refund from afterpay.

Afterpay has violated my rights, treated me unfairly. While they can send emails, text messages to me they have locked my account as August 26 2022. I cannot view my acct online as they intentionally locked, sent multiple requests in writing to Afterpay's website along with additional emails my account was locked. They have refused to reply. I tried to reset and not receive an email to reset password. At this point I only receive incorrect bills via email and no response to my help or passwords. If I go to the ap, reset password, tried a different email I received messages to contact help desk as I completed info and still no response or a text stating your acct is locked. This is not how a professional company does business. I have sent multiple inquiries re: refunds as they will to cover their scam and say they refunded my account when they didn't. I have a copy of my acct for the last 2 years and very few refunds when more than half of the Afterpays were returned. They stated to you they refunded my acct is a flat out lie, or stated refund to an acct that does not belong to me. Also there are other refunds where I returned items as they don't give me all my money back, approx 10 as they make up excuses to buy time and after over 3 months still no refund. This is a true scam and something needs to be done about it. No way to contact is UNFAIR. No support, no response, no phone number to contact and they locked my acct and now taking amounts from my account everyday without my authority, refuse to prove to me where they’re getting these amounts from has not happened. They continue to illegally put my acct in an overdraft til the point it's closed. Service is good until you return items and inquire about illegal transactions. I sent a message to CEO via LinkedIn now messages come back as an error. One thing they cannot do is take funds from me, lock me out or provide no support. My rights are violated CFPB including others, multiple class actions complaints as it continues to happen. This must stop. I never missed any payments and had to contact my bank to stop these electronic amounts that I did not authorize. This is a scam company from Australia and treat US citizens unfairly as they refuse to abide by CFPBs guidelines rules and regs, they are running a scam. These companies must be rejected and not be used by US citizens as they get rich off of us by not abiding to US banking reg and rules.

I attempted to use Afterpay to purchase a DNA test (as recommended by my doctor) and a subscription through a company called Self Decode. I tried for hours to get Afterpay to load at checkout with no success. At the end of the day I received TWO order confirmation emails from Afterpay. They charged me twice. I checked my account on Self Decode and I thought it was odd there was no orders showing there. I spoke with Self Decode and they found no record of my orders either and told me it was an error on Afterpay's end. I have been trying to get help from Afterpay for to resolve this issue, I need my money refunded and the false transactions canceled out. They have been extremely hard to get in contact with. They have removed their phone line so it's email only, but they do not help through email and do not communicate. I have sent them emails begging for their help to resolve this issue. I feel robbed. They have taken money from me but there is no order. I have never experienced anything like this with a company before. I have put off re-ordering my DNA test kit because I’m waiting to get this issue resolved and get my money back. If there is anything BBB can do to help me it would be greatly appreciated.

On 9/6/22 I attempted to purchase an order on Wayfair using Afterpay. I have never used Afterpay before and wanted to break my order up in installments. I was taken to the Afterpay page, filled out the information, and provided a deposit of $208.29. Afterpay then sent me back to Wayfair check out where there was an error stating that the process could not be completed and to choose another payment method other than Afterpay. I checked my account and the deposit had already been taken. There has been no word from the company since and no email stating that they see the order was cancelled and they will be refunding me. The charge is still showing as pending but I have emailed them, requested cancellation, and filed a complaint and have not received a response and this occurred almost 24 hours ago. I understand refunds take time, but I would at least like some acknowledgment and to know that a refund is being processed as the order never went through. After this instance I will not be using Afterpay again.

First let me start by saying I love and appreciate the concept and business that is Afterpay. It helps me out a lot to pay for things more comfortably in installments. I’ve made several Afterpay orders and will likely make several more. Bad merchants are not Afterpa's fault. However, I would like to see Afterpay treat customers a bit better when a merchant is unresponsive and all roads point to irresponsible at the very least. I ordered a suit from a company named Viossi. Had no idea until after the fact that the company is located in Turkey (I typically do not buy items from foreign countries.) Website indicates that they ship in 1-3 business days and item should arrive in 2-4. Shop is their tracking APP. I placed the order on 8/22. 8/24 it sent an indication that a shipping label was created. After a few days of no movement I emailed Viossi. They told me to contact UPS. I figured that would be silly because the tracking info indicates a label was created but nothing was shipped. I call UPS and of course they tell me to contact the shipper because the item hasn't yet been shipped. It's not 9/6 and the item still has not even been shipped. I put in a dispute, took Afterpay a couple days to respond which is fine. But I’ve made a second payment on an item that I will likely never receive. Since my initial communication with the seller (Viossi) I have not heard a thing back from them. I believe situations like this Afterpay should move swiftly to refund the customer and get rid of the merchant for bad business so that others don't have this problem. It's a bit frustrating to pay for something I’ll likely never receive. But the company seems deceptive because they weren't honest in their first email response and have not responded now at all. It seems Afterpay is not as swift in dealing with things like this from the customers perspective. I hope this can improve and that merchants can be held accountable.

Afterpay is charging me for an order that was never finalized with Dicks Sporting Goods. I have provided proof to Afterpay from Dicks Sporting Goods showing that the order was not finalized and that I shouldn't be charged for it and Afterpay will not respond to my issue. I have been waiting for a response since 8/30/22.

My order through Bed Bath and Beyond was $326 and Afterpay has charged me $409. There is no customer service number or chat line to rectify this. I have tried to get into my account, but they are asking my to verify my account with a card I removed from my payment options because it is closed and I have no way to know what the first 6 digits are on the card. It is impossible to get through to them to stop them from charging me.

I am very confused and concerned. I have tried to call customer service and Afterpay no longer has a phone support for customer in the United States stating it's faster to message through the app or email and all messages will be answered as soon as possible. I have sent several emails and messages for awhile now informing of a fraud charge on my bank account and waiting for new debit card. I informed Afterpay of this before my payment was due on the 31st and I could pay on the 2nd when the bank opens to get debit new debit card due to current one being shut off due to fraudulent charge. I paid on the second and checked my account that night and account was still good. I then after logging in received an email I had to pay to not be charged a late fee. I emailed back sending proof i had paid that morning. I woke up on the third, logged into Afterpay and was surprised to find I was severely penalized. I have used Afterpay off and on for over 3 years with no issues always paying on time. Not once late, I have tried contacting after over several weeks and have not recivied any communications back.

This company needs an actual phone number so you can reach someone right away!!!! I sent in a complaint TWO days ago and no one replied to my issue. I have a complaint about an order. The American Eagle Order [redacted] I just made a payment for $30.26 which is due in Sept 5th. I look and see ANOTHER PAYMENT is due on the 5th as well! I am not making another payment. This is supposed to be every 2 weeks with this service. I returned part of the order so Afteray needs to move the last 2 payments 2 weeks apart! I am not making another payment on September 5th. The attachments shows the payments are TWO WEEKS APART!!! I SHOULD NOT BE MAKING TWO PAYMENTS FOR THE 5TH OF SEPT!!! I ALREADY MADE A PAYMENT FOR SEPT 5TH!!! AND I BETTER NOT GET A LATE FEE IF I DO!!! IT BETTER BE REMOVED! AND I BETTER BE ABLE TO PAY ON MY OTHER ORDERS IF THIS ISSUE IS NOT RESOLVED BEFORE THE 5TH!