Mac

Mac Clone Maker Digs its Own Hole

Credit card payment processor PowerPay has terminated Psystar's account for not being upfront

By Filip Truta, Apple News Editor

21st of April 2008, 20:41 GMT

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Computerworld is reporting the most predictable piece of news we could read this time of day. Psystar, the bold Miami folks responsible for creating lots of waves last week, have apparently and reportedly been "terminated" by a credit card

payment processor.

Of course, it's not Psystar themselves that got terminated, but rather just their account with PowerPay. Stephen Goodrich, the chief executive of the Portland, Maine-based credit card payment processor said that, "in its application to PowerPay, Psystar stated it expected to process a specific amount of credit card transactions per month, and that the product or service being sold was 'consulting for information and communication solutions'."

The Miami-based wannabes exceeded their transaction limit rather fast, and were selling wares "substantially different from what was described in the application," Goodrich said, adding that Psystar never validated the cardholder's consent to the charges either. Wow, that's a lot of boo-boos for not even being in business yet.

"[Psystar] processed almost 200 percent of [its] anticipated annual volume over just a few days," said Goodrich. "In doing so, the applicant never used AVS (address verification services) which is a vital part of validating cardholder consent. This, coupled with the fact that [its] product was substantially different from what was described in the application left PowerPay no choice but to suspend services."

But the list of mistakes on behalf of Psystar, as sad as it already is for the Miami-based computer maker, doesn't stop here. Even more discrepancies have been acknowledged, regarding Psystar's mailing address for example, which "only add[ed] to our discomfort with the account," Goodrich explained. Psystar has listed as many as four different street addresses on its website since beginning to advertise the Open Computer (formerly known as the OpenMac), which goes for $399. The company also offers a replica of Apple's Mac Pro. It is dubbed the OpenPro and Psystar is selling it for $999 (pictured above).

Goodrich asserted that if Psystar had acted in a more straightforward manner about its intentions with the Mac clones, it wouldn't have gone into business with them in the first place: "In all likelihood, the application would have been declined and never activated had the applicant accurately reflected transaction volumes and product types in its application," Goodrich concluded.

Sure enough, Psystar's image was that of a company run by 6-year olds from the moment they started advertising the OpenMac.

Via Macworld

TAGS:

Psystar | Miami | OpenMac | Open Computer | PowerPay

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