Many of you have been diligently asking about paying for your ice. Today, we released a new version of Ice+ and we will be asking our members to settle their account (i.e. pay for their ice) starting October 1 and then monthly going forward.
Please see the FAQ below on how payments for ice will work in Ice+. This FAQ is also in the user guide on Ice+.
Thanks and happy account settling!
Information on payments
- I am very excited to pay for all of the ice I am using, how do I do it?
Starting October 1, 2020, you will be getting an invoice and paying monthly for ice that you booked. You will be presented with each session that was booked and its price, and your invoice will be offset by any credits such as monitoring credits. We will notify you by email when the invoices are ready, and you will be able to see (and pay) from the menu item ‘My Account- Check and Pay’. There is a button at the bottom of your invoice that says ‘Pay Ice Bill’- click this to initiate payment. - How does it work?
When you click the ‘Pay Ice Bill’ button, you will be directed to the STRIPE web site (STRIPE is the club’s payment processing platform) where you will enter your credit card number to make payment. You can also use Apple and Google pay if you are one of those forwarding thinking savy payments people. Once you have completed entering your information on the STRIPE site, you will be brought back to shakerfigureskatingclub.org and informed of the status of your payment. Some payments take up to 24 to 48 hours to process, but most are instantaneous. - I have multiple skaters in my family- do I get multiple invoices?
No. Each family only gets one invoice for all of the sessions booked by everyone in their family. - This seems like a fly-by-night operation. It is one thing to tell you my moves test level, but I am not sure that I can trust you with my credit card!
We understand! The way we have our payments setup is such that your payment information (i.e. your credit card) is captured directly by STRIPE, and is never exposed to our Ice+ servers or software. While no system can ever be fully guaranteed to be secure, STRIPE is the same payment processing platform that we used on EntryEeze, and is used by other famous merchants such as Instacart, Amazon, and Google. According to their website, they process billions of dollars each year, including processing 13,000 payments per second. You are likely in the 90% of US adults who have brought from businesses using STRIPE. However, if you want to make alternative payment arrangements (like a cash briefcase), please let us know and we can work something out. - Why monthly and can I pay more often?
We felt that monthly payments would be easiest for our members– it allows the quick booking of ice without having to pull out the credit card (and yes, there are many of you that book ice between 2am and 4am who likely want the process to be very quick) and avoids having to manage many charges flowing through. Plus, it simplifies the lives of the club Ice Administrator and Treasurer (remember we are volunteers) as we have fewer payments to reconcile. If you would like, you can pay any time you have a balance, but you will still be required to pay your balance at the beginning of every month. - Hey Gordon Gecko, what is with the administrative fees?
We get charged by STRIPE for payment processing as they assess their own fees and then they themselves need to pay interchange fees to your issuing bank, the merchant bank, Visa or Mastercard, etc. (you didn’t think your “free” airline miles or cash back rewards were a result of the generosity of banking institutions?). Our administrative fee charges recover these charges with a little (tiny bit) extra to cover the cost of the hosting of Ice+. When we used EntryEeze for contracting, the convenience fees were approximately 6%- these are now just over 3%, as we no longer have an additional EntryEeze imposed fees that we need to recover. So, it is overall less expensive for our membership. There may be some instances where if you have a very low ice bill (like under $5), the administrative fee, given its partial fixed component, may be disproportionately high. If this is the case, please contact us and we can figure something out. - When is my payment due each month?
We ask that you pay within five days (so on the 6th of each month)– if you need to make alternative arrangements, please let us know and we can figure something out. - It says I have no payment due and I don’t see the ‘Pay Ice Bill’ button.
You can trust that message and you do not need to pay if you have nothing due. - What if someone “forgets” to pay, or doesn’t want to pay? I am asking for a friend.
While we have highest confidence in the integrity of our membership, in the absence of payment, the system will send you gentle reminders and ultimately prevent any other activity until your account is settled. Not paying for or unreasonably disputing charges that you owe could be a violation of your membership agreement and the US Figure Skating Code of Ethics. Again, please contact us if you would like to discuss alternative arrangements. - What if I see sessions that I know my skater didn’t skate or if I see I am being billed for the same session twice?
Keep in mind that the sessions that you see when you pay your ice bill are the sessions that you initially signed up for. If you then cancelled that session for make up time, it will still show the original session that you booked. You can check how your make up time was earned and used under the menu item: ‘My Make Up Time’. If you signed up for a session, cancelled it and got make up time, used that make up time for another session, and then decided that you want to do the original session, you would see two legitimate charges with the time of the original session. Please contact us if you have questions. - I am being billed for a session that I signed up for, but ultimately wasn’t able to make.
We feel like our make up time policies and procedures are very generous and way beyond what other clubs offer. However, if you signed up for a session but didn’t cancel it, you still owe for the session. Remember, though Ice+, you can cancel any session you have registered with at least 24 hours notice for make up time. If you need to cancel a session but you are past the 24 hour window, please reach out to the Ice Administrator. Outside of highly extenuating circumstances, we won’t be able to honor requests to cancel made after the start of the session. - Some of the charges seem like a trip down memory lane.
If you had an outstanding balance or credits in EntryEeze at the end of August, we moved these balances and credits over to the Ice+ system (and removed them from EntryEeze). If you have questions on any of these, please let us know. - Something went wrong and I got charged the wrong amount on my credit card or I feel like I need to dispute a charge.
We of course wouldn’t anticipate this happening, but if you have a charge on your card that you don’t recognize from us, or the amount is different than what you expected, please let us know and we will work with you to try to resolve. While you always retain the right to dispute a charge through your credit card company, the club is assessed significant fees when our members dispute and so we ask that you please try to work with us to resolve directly first.
