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Sleepbox

sleepbox.com

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Re: Sleepbox

#61

Post by dangrossman »

w1ntermute wrote: post #55
rabidsnail wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But once you have those pictures what do you do? Take them to court?

Would you have to go to court to dispute the chargeback? Couldn't you set up some kind of system to send them to the credit card company if a customer attempts a chargeback, so they can verify that the chargeback is invalid?

It doesn't matter. The chargebacks count against your limit whether you dispute them or not. You must get less than 1% of your monthly gross volume back in chargebacks if you hope to stay in business. If you're above that for several months in a row, 99% of MSPs will terminate your account immediately.

As far as Visa and MasterCard are concerned, if you're generating chargebacks on a regular basis, something is wrong with your business model and you must either correct the business model or stop accepting credit cards as payment for it. It's not a question of whether you were legally owed the money or not; it's about protecting the card brands from whatever negative experience you're creating such that customers feel forced to go to their banks and complain about the charges.

Re: Sleepbox

#62

Post by ranprieur »

"Sleeping in public causes security, privacy and hygiene issues."

This sounds like a rationalization. For me, the reasons not to sleep in public are that public spaces are designed to discourage it, and cops will wake me up.

Public sleeping should be a right, but if something like Sleepbox becomes common, it will become even harder to sleep without having money.

Re: Sleepbox

#64

Post by the1 »

corporalagumbo wrote: post #57

you could potentially integrate physiological sensors to monitor for occupant numbers and elevated heart and breathing rates to detect for sexual activity, then have some sort of warning, alarm and deterrence system if you were interested in preventing it from happening. or customers who use the pod for sex could automatically be billed a premium/fee (assuming credit card use). molecular sniffers might be possible to…

What's wrong with sex in the box? Why not just install camera then?

Re: Sleepbox

#65

Post by [deleted] »

damian2000 wrote: post #27
DennisP wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Make them a little smaller, and transparent. Like sleeping on a bench, but you're shielded from noise and people bumping into you or taking your stuff.

Yeah but usually people like to sleep in the dark. Good point though.

[deleted]

Re: Sleepbox

#66

Post by w1ntermute »

dangrossman wrote: post #61
w1ntermute wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you have to go to court to dispute the chargeback? Couldn't you set up some kind of system to send them to the credit card company if a customer attempts a chargeback, so they can verify that the chargeback is invalid?

It doesn't matter. The chargebacks count against your limit whether you dispute them or not. You must get less than 1% of your monthly gross volume back in chargebacks if you hope to stay in business. If you're above that for several months in a row, 99% of MSPs will terminate your account immediately. As far as Visa and MasterCard are concerned, if you're generating chargebacks on a regular basis, something is wrong…

It's very unfortunate that credit card companies are willing/forced to take the side of the consumer even when they're clearly in the wrong. Maybe this will have to be revisited when/if a more impartial payment system becomes common.

Edit: it seems like the endpoint of all this is the banks. If the credit card companies could send the pictures to them, maybe things could be resolved? But I doubt the banks would want to get involved in that. Either way, if I were running a bank, I would take Visa or MasterCard's word over that of any individual customer.

Re: Sleepbox

#67

Post by mikecane »

stevenleeg wrote: post #25
mikecane wrote: post #24

Wow. That's going to wind up to be the filthiest box in NYC. Word will spread among the homeless and drug addicts. Need a quick place to shoot up? There's the Sleepbox. Given the state of public restrooms in NYC, you're also just asking for bodily fluids everywhere. This is not a business in America. It's a money sink and an exercise in frustration. And if you think you can "limit" who uses it, good luck fending off…

That's why it would be stupid to stick this on a street. In places like airports or offices, where drug addicts are going to be significantly less numerous, something like this makes a lot more sense.

Homeless and Living at the Airport http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9109795...

Re: Sleepbox

#68

Post by dangrossman »

w1ntermute wrote: post #66
dangrossman wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't matter. The chargebacks count against your limit whether you dispute them or not. You must get less than 1% of your monthly gross volume back in chargebacks if you hope to stay in business. If you're above that for several months in a row, 99% of MSPs will terminate your account immediately. As far as Visa and MasterCard are concerned, if you're generating chargebacks on a regular basis, something is wrong…

It's very unfortunate that credit card companies are willing/forced to take the side of the consumer even when they're clearly in the wrong. Maybe this will have to be revisited when/if a more impartial payment system becomes common. Edit: it seems like the endpoint of all this is the banks. If the credit card companies could send the pictures to them, maybe things could be resolved? But I doubt the banks would want…

I disagree. The only flaw in the policy of low chargeback limits is that it doesn't discriminate between chargebacks due to stolen cards and chargebacks due to extreme customer dissatisfaction.

If a large percentage of your paying customers are so angry with you that they'll complain to any 3rd party they can find, something is wrong with your business and no other brand should want to be associated with the experience you're creating.

A low chargeback limit makes policies like "bury a $300 cleanup fee in the fine print" non-viable. That kind of thing shouldn't be viable even if it's technically legal. If you find a way to charge a cleanup fee and not surprise and anger customers when doing so, you won't get chargebacks. If you find a way to operate the pods without attracting people that will trash them, you won't get chargebacks.

Speaking to your edit: the banks and credit card companies are not separate entities. There are only the banks. The banks own the card brands, and the card brands are not involved in the chargeback process. You dispute a charge by calling your card-issuing bank. The phone number on the back of your card is your bank's number, not Visa's. Visa does not interact directly with customers. Your bank sends the dispute to the bank underwriting the merchant account, which sends it to the merchant. The merchant presents its evidence to its bank, which forwards it back to the card-issuing bank of the customer for a decision.

Re: Sleepbox

#69

Post by jagermo »

ajlburke wrote: post #42

I saw similar booths in the Munich airport a few years ago, where they were called "NapCab". I had had a rough overnight flight and a messy transfer in Heathrow, a six hour layover in Munich, and of course server problems came up while I was in the air - so a small private room with calm lighting, power, and an internet connection was a godsend. It worked with a credit card and cost (IIRC) about 15 euros per hour (10…

it is still there, sadly only at Terminal 2: http://www.munich-airport.de/en/consumer/aufenthalt_trans/ho...

Re: Sleepbox

#70

Post by learc83 »

Many comments seemed concerned about the public perception that these will often be used for sex.

Since this is aimed at business travelers, it shouldn't be too hard to limit it to single occupancy.

Just add some kind of occupancy sensor--weight distribution on the bed maybe--that alerts an employee when it detects more than one person.

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