There has been lots of commentary on the Paymex debacle, and today I see that Paymex’s site is up, and there is a comment on this news entry from the “new owners”.
Some advice, for free:
1: if you want us to trust you, please tell us who you are
2: If you want us to trust you, guarantee to pay back everybody – it’s not that much money
3: If you want us to trust you, then do a heck of a lot better than this:
Hi Everyone
We are the new owners of Paymex.
[who the hell are you? Why should we trust you? why is this post a response to a news item, rather than a new news item?]
Over the last 7 days we have been working non stop with the bank to set up a system which protects the users further.
[Which bank? A system protects the users further from what exactly? What is a user? How much money are you putting in?]
Part of this means that you will notice some process changes and functionality which will become more obvious once we go live. Some examples are a more in depth sign up form and processing limits to avoid run away transactions (there will still be the option to process higher amounts on an application basis).
[what is a run away transaction? why do you need more information from us?]
We’ve also spent the last 7 days making changes to the system which further improve on the securities.
[“the securities”? you have securities? – I hope they are not CDO’s. Or did you mean “Security”?]
As soon as we get the green light we will be able to tell you exactly what those added securities are so you can feel confident that your funds are safe.
[Green light? from whom? what happens if you do not get the go signal?]
We are aware that the previous owners of Paymex have made a complaint against the BNZ through the Banking Ombudsman as they believed that they were operating a Trust Account in the true sense of the word. They are attempting to get back funds to customers who are owed. They will be in touch with those affected customers once they have new information.
[who are the previous owners? are any of those individuals associated with the “new owners”? How long will the funds take to be restored? why are you not guaranteeing them? How much money are you putting in to fund this?]
In the meantime, we appreciate your patience and loyalty.
[why the heck should we be at all loyal? once bitten…]
We aim to be able to provide with a new and improved Paymex very soon.
All further enquiries can be directed to enquiry@paymex.co.nz.
[how about a person’s name, and even a phone number instead of an anonymous mailbox?]
Lance Wiggs 
Just a quick question; why do you care so much? How does it benefit/affect you?
To be honest I’m over this whole debacle ready to move on with life.
It seems that some people have nothing better to do than let sleeping dogs lie… bring back your other posts; they are certainly a lot more interesting.
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Hi All,
As the new owners of Paymex, we’d like to answer some of your questions.
Who are we?
We are Enform, a Web Solutions Provider who have been operating for the last seven years. We are part of a larger group of technology companies. Feel free to check out our website http://www.enform.co.nz. We are currently in the process of building websites for Trust Power, Pacific Steel and Plumbing Plus.
Why should you trust us?
The software called Paymex operates securely. The issue was a fraudulent customer. What we’ve done to protect you and your money from fraudulent customers is:
We’ve set up a Trust Account which is audited quarterly.
We’ve placed transaction limits so that large transactions cannot occur without us authorising it.
We’ve ensured that larger transactions have additional security steps. If anyone wants further information regarding these steps then please feel free to contact us directly by phoning 0900 555 44 or email support@paymex.co.nz.
Which bank will we be using?
When we go live later today we will be using the National Bank of New Zealand and Eftpos New Zealand. The National Bank is aware of what has previously happened and therefore have made sure that we have the correct Trust Account set up. We have written assurance of this. This is available to view by contacting us and we will be posting it on the Paymex website as well. The reason that we’re emphasising that we have a Trust Account is because previous customers have had their funds frozen by the Bank of New Zealand because the bank claims it wasn’t a Trust Account when they told the previous owners it was. This matter is currently in front of the Banking Ombudsman.
What is a Trust Account?
A Trust Account is an account that is specifically designed to hold other people’s money. It doesn’t allow the option to withdraw funds to invest elsewhere. All funds will be held in this account at all times and can’t be withdrawn unless it is to an approved bank account.
Who are the previous owners?
The previous owners are Paymex Limited. The new owners are Enform (www.enform.co.nz). There was no previous relationship other than the fact that Enform was a customer of Paymex.
How can you contact us?
All contact details for Paymex can be found at: http://www.paymex.co.nz/ContactUs.aspx. All contact details for Enform can be found at: http://www.enform.co.nz/contact.php.
This will be our last blog. We go live later today and our efforts will be focused on continuing to provide the Paymex service. Please feel free to call or email us because we’re more than happy to talk to you.
Regards
The Paymex Team
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Hi All,
We are the previous owners of Paymex. We’d like to provide our customers the opportunity to ask any questions for us to answer.
We’ll start with some basic information.
What happened?
In a nutshell, we had one fraudulent customer who processed over $140,000 of fraudulent transactions. This sent Paymex down.
Why have some customers not yet received their funds?
The Bank of New Zealand has frozen the funds stating that they were not in a Trust Account. We asked for, and were told that we had a Trust Account – this issue is currently with the Banking Ombudsman of New Zealand. Until we hear the outcome we cant give any promises. We can however tell you that it is our top priority to have these funds returned to their rightful owners. We strongly believe the operating with a Win/Win policy at all times and the fact that some customers are out of pocket is not something we want to have over our heads. As soon as we hear something we will advise those affected.
Are we affiliated with the new owners of Paymex?
No we are not. Enform was a customer of Paymex however that was the only relationship we had with them. We are spending the next couple of weeks assisting Enform to get the Paymex service up and running as quickly as possible to benefit our customers.
If you have any questions that you feel have been unanswered then please feel free to post them here and we will reply.
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Thanks Old Paymex, thanks New Paymex.
Enform, owners of the new Paymex, are part of Converging Equities, a private investment company with interests in Enform, other website design brands, and a company that has rights to distribute a golf swing technology in Singapore.
Principals are Brian Rankin and Jonathan Woodhams.
Brian “..has held national roles in some of New Zealand’s largest companies, including the Bank of New Zealand and Telecom.”
Jonathan used to be CEO of Blue Chip Financial Solutions, a property investment and financial services firm. Oh – and it recently failed badly. I didn’t follow up as to when Jonathon got out of Blue Chip.
Splint – a tough question – I guess the question may also be why blog?. This Paymex debacle is not really being covered anywhere else, people are out of pocket and payment systems are one of the critical elements for a successful internet economy. If we can help Paymex start operating well then we can hopefully all benefit.
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Hi Lance,
Hi also to the past and new owners of paymex.
As a customer caught up in this from a merchant and having to reverse payments etc in order to sort out situation, I am GLAD Lance seemed to be the only contact I could get that even card about my situation.
My merchant and I were left reeling when the company seemed to be trading insolvent taking my payments on the day they went bust!
To the person who asks Lance why he is discussing this I ask? so why do you seem to take offence to him taking an interest on behalf of people such as me? How are you affiliated to paymex?
Good on you Lance,
and thanks for all the help through this sorry mess.
Sam
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Hmm; you have a point there Lance – if it improves the end product then that is awesome.
What I’ve personally had enough of is conspiracy theorists I guess; it seems to be everywhere I look! e.g. police fining $2000 for not helping is for increasing profits, government is forcing a recession to pull out election stops etc etc. I seem to hear it every day with people complaining about this and that, speculating on stuff and then jumping to crazy conclusions with no backing whatsoever!
If a blog (or comment for that matter) has a positive intent to it then I will fully support it; so my apologies for the stroppy comment! Hopefully the new owners do take everything under wing and put out an awesome new service that deserves our trust.
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Lance, the Paymex debacle is being covered on this forum http://groups.google.com/group/paymex/topics , and has about 1/3 of Paymex creditors signed up.
I didn’t reliase that the new owners director is the former CEO of Bluechip. You should also note that the website was taken over/sold to the new owners only 2 days after the liquidators took it over, and the new owners company address is on exactly the same street and the old owners.
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Paymex has gone again…
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WHO IS GOOD FOR PAYMENT PLACE, CAN GET FAST,
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